Santorum in his sweater vest could prove formidable Republican opponent to Barack Obama, the king of cool

Mark McKinnon writes that: "Rick Santorum may be unfashionable and obstinate, but in the end he could prove the strongest Republican contender."

Sleeveless pullovers were never cool. But neither was the small-town kid who was nicknamed "Rooster" by his classmates for the cowlick in his hair and the obstinacy in his nature.


So how, some 40 years later, can Rick Santorum - who has made the unfashionable knitwear that Americans call his sweater vest a trademark of his campaign - hope to challenge the dapper Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination before taking on the king of cool, Barack Obama?

As someone who loves sweater vests and America I hope McKinnnon is right !

To read the rest click on the title for a link.

The ideal Republican nominee

Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard:

Thus, the ideal Republican nominee is a candidate who can articulate the party’s conservative worldview in a way that attracts the sliver of the electorate that is actually up for grabs. By the same token, a nominee who alienates the center is a danger in an electoral battle that will unify the Democrats around Obama. With a base vote of about 46 percent, Obama needs only to split the pure independents to be favored for a second term. As the battle for the Republican nomination continues, one question primary voters will have to ask themselves is: Which candidate can best articulate conservative principles and policies to attract, not repel, these independents?

Click on the title to read the entire article

Cost does not endorse Mitt Romney but as much as I like Rick Santorum I know he would turn off these independent voters. Conservatives in this country need to be disciplined and not allow their emotions to cloud their judgment.

Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News show tonight:

"This has not been a good week for Senator Rick Santorum and it's not really his fault - he simply told the truth but did so in a way that will hurt him. One of Santorum's big donors is a man named Foster Friess, a conservative millionaire investor. Incredibly, Mr. Friess went on MSNBC to talk about contraception, where he joked that 'back in my days they used Bayer aspirin for contraception, the gals put it between their knees.' Senator Santorum says Mr. Friess doesn't have any power in his campaign, but that's not going to stop MSNBC and other left-wing media from hammering him. Everybody knows the majority of the American media wants to reelect Barack Obama, so why are Republican candidates and their supporters giving the opposition machine guns? Talking about the private behavior of Americans is a no-win situation, so Rick Santorum should have never said that birth control has led to a 'dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases.' The majority of American voters have no interest in politicians talking about private stuff and Mr. Santorum's private view is never going to be accurately represented. If Rick Santorum does secure the Republican nomination, he will be portrayed as a Puritan witch hunter, a fanatical religious guy, a member of the Inquisition. That's how the liberal media will tag Santorum, and to uninformed voters it could do him damage."

Santorum's Reverend Wright !

According to the Washington Post, Foster Freiss (the wealthy investor bankrolling a super PAC for GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum) made the following quote while appearing on MSNBC Thursday to argue that social issues are largely irrelevant.

I get such a chuckle when these things come out. Here we have millions of our fellow americans unemployed, we have jihadist camps being set up in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think that says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. And this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly."

Jennifer Rubin:

must be a contest to see how many swing voters they can alienate.. suddenly Romney looks IN touch by comparison

Democrats for Santorum !

I just knew this was coming.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas has launched a campaign to make life difficult for Mitt Romney, by encouraging Democrats to vote for Rick Santorum in open primary and caucus states.

(click on title for link)

Michigan is an open primary state. That means Democrats can go to the polls and vote for Rick Santorum, who they think is a weaker candidate, to run against President Obama in the general election in the fall.

To quote the Dailey Kos:

it's freaking hilarious. I mean, Rick Santorum? Really? The Republicans have offered up this big, slow, juicy softball. Let's have fun whacking the heck out of it.

Santorum: not a "big tent" Republican

Santorum last October said"

"I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement."

Did he just read me out of the Republican Party and the Conservative movement? I am not a Ron Paul libertarian but there is a strong streak of libertarianism in my Conservatism and Santorum is reading me out ! He is NO Ronald Reagan. Click on the title for more information

Detroit Today...... Oregon Next !

Quote of the Day taken from the WallStreet Journal "Political Diary":

Imagine a city where all the major economic planks of the statist or "progressive" platform have been enacted:

A "living wage" ordinance, far above the federal minimum wage, for all public employees and private contractors. A school system that spends significantly more per pupil than the national average. A powerful school employee union that militantly defends the exceptional pay, benefits and job security it has won for its members. Other government employee unions that do the same for their members. A tax system that aggressively redistributes income from businesses and the wealthy to the poor and to government bureaucracies.

Would this be a shining city on a hill, exciting the admiration of all? We don't have to guess, because there is such a city right here in our state: Detroit.

Detroit has been dubbed "the most liberal city in America" and each of these "progressive" policies is alive and well there. How have they worked out?

In 1950, Detroit was the wealthiest city in America on a per capita income basis. Today, the Census Bureau reports that it is the nation's 2nd poorest major city, just "edging out" Cleveland.

Could it be pure coincidence that the decline occurred over the same period in which union power, the city government bureaucracy, taxes and business regulations all multiplied? While correlation is not causation, it is striking that the decline in per capita income is exactly what classical economists predict would occur when wage controls are imposed and taxes are increased.--Jarrett Skorup writing at michigancapitalconfidential.com on Feb. 14.

Can Oregon be next ?.....

Santorum: ‘Birth control harms women’

I am going to start a new series on this blog about things Rick Santorum has said that will harm him and the Republican Party in the General Election if he gets the Republican nomination. I am a Conservative Republican and don't necessary disagree with these statements but they will hurt us a lot in the Fall. We need to know it now before we nominate him. He is a good man but sometimes his very conservative values will come across in the media and with independant voters as preachy, judgmental and arrogant. In 2006 in an interview he said:

Interviewer Question:

So would birth control be covered by that notion of freedom without responsibilities?

Rick Santorum:

I vote and have supported birth control because it is not the taking of a human life but I am not a believer in birth control. -artificial birth control- Again I think it goes down the line of being able to do whatever you want to do without having the responsibility that comes with that. …

This is from a personal point of view, from a governmental point of view I support ahh, title 10 I guess it is, and have voted for contraception and although I don’t think it works, I think it’s harmful to women, I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or or or tolerated particularly among the young.

I think it has… we’ve seen very, very harmful long term consequences to our society. Birth control enables that and I don’t think it is a healthy thing for our country.

While he may very well be correct this will not help the Republican Party with woman voters and the Republican Party has historically had a gender gap.On the merits of his answer he doesn't even mention the possibility that millions of married couples (lots of them Republican) use birth control! This is one of the reasons he lost his bid in Pennsylvania to be reelected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. It takes a lot to defeat a sitting Senator but Rick managed to have that happen to him.

Ben Johnson Website

Click on the title for a link to a website about one of my favorite character actors and a member of Director John Ford's "stock company." In 1971, he was awarded an Academy Award for for best supporting actor for his performance as 'Sam The Lion' in The Last Picture Show, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. John Ford reportedly had to talk him into taking the part at Bogdanovich's request.

"The Candy Man"

Mitt Romeny.... Man of Action !

Most people have heard the story of when Mitt Romney was head of the Winter Olympics in Utah he saw a traffic jam on the way to an Olympic venue so he got off his bus and directed traffic. Well today I read one less well known but more important .

Washington Post Conservative blogger, Jennifer Rubin had a private interview with Mitt Romney today after his CPAC speech where he told her this little know story about when he shut down his company, Bain Capital in Boston, so many of the employees including himself could go to New York city to launch a search for a partner's missing daughter.

Click on the title for a link and read it yourself.

After relating the story Rubin writes:

That story, and Romney’s reticence about using it tell you much of what you need to know about him. His methodical and cool, data-driven methodology often conceals sentiment. He is by training and mental habit a businessman, who can work through problem better than almost anyone else, but not a politician and not a orator.


This is the kind of person I want to be President of the United States!

No Football this Weekend !

This is the first weekend in 6 months that there will be no football. What will I do ? What will I do ?.................

Put together my 2012 Oregon Duck Rose Bowl Scrapbook !
Let's Go Ducks.... the season never ends !

2012 Rose Bowl Memories

4:06 in the Fourth Quarter of the 2012 Rose Bowl, Oregon Linebacker Michael Clay, # 46, recovers a Wisconsin fumble near the Oregon sidelines and Oregon Coach Chip Kelly jumps three feet.

FINAL SCORE: OREGON DUCKS 45 WISCONSIN BADGERS 38

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! SHOUT OUT !

Your not a kid anymore ! Have a great day. We love you.

Halftime in America: Remy Chrysler Ad Parody

Romney / Santorum Ticket ?

Congratulations to Rick Santorum for winning the Missouri Primary and the Minnesota and Colorado Caucuses. The real loser tonight is Newt Gingrich. All of a sudden we have a new conservative alternative to Mitt Romney and it is not Newt. I like Rick Santorum and he often expresses the frustrations of Americans. I am intrigued by his plan to not tax domestic corporations that manufacture products here in the United States to encourage business to return manufacturing to the United States so every thing we buy is not made in China and/or elsewhere.We need to return manufacturing to the United States and he has a definite plan. This should be popular in the "rust belt" of the U.S. He has a populist appeal because of his blue collar roots.

Santorum still needs to prove he can expand his appeal outside the Republican activist that dominate caucuses.

The advantage of having Rick Santorum, as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, is that in the end Romney could pick Santorum as his running mate (or the other way around) to unite the Republican Party. Romney could NEVER pick Newt if Gingrich was the conservative alternative. In addition to Republicans, Mitt appeals to independents and Rick has the potential to appeal to social Conservatives and blue collar Democrats who are with us on social issues and on a strong defense and foreign policy. The kind of Democrats Obama thinks he is smarter than, because they "cling to their religion and guns." Reagan Democrats!

I support Mitt Romney, but also like Rick Santorum and both will have been tested by the 20 plus debates and a vigorous but not destructive primary campaign. So long Newt !

"Halftime in America"

Last night, Jay Leno observed that it may be

“half time in America, but China’s got the ball and we’re down by 15 trillion!”

Sorry Clint!

(Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl)

UPDATE:

Rich Lowry writes:

Amid all the patriotic piety, Eastwood neglects to mention that Chrysler is now 58.5 percent owned by Fiat, an Italian company. The heart-tugging images of Turin, Italy, apparently were left on the cutting-room floor.

To read the rest of the column click on the title for a link.

Romney Wins Twice in Nevada !

Mitt Romney won twice in the Nevada Caucuses tonight. He won the vote and he won when Newt Gingrich gave a petulant, angry, vicious post vote press conference that is unlike anything I have seen as a political junkie for 55 years. In one press conference he disqualified himself as a candidate for President of the United States. He showed that there is no 'new" Newt but an angry man who is ruled by his emotions and lacks the character and discipline to be President of the United States.

Victor davis Hanson of National Review:

But whether he knows it or not, Gingrich is becoming a caricature of petulance: no concession in Nevada, no call to Romney, no awareness that his inability to raise money at levels of a political rival or to match a competing campaign organization is not necessarily unfair. That’s politics, and Gingrich knows it. I don’t understand why he thinks now losing to Romney in 2012 is solely due to Romney’s innate deviousness in a way McCain beating Romney in 2008 was not — given that Romney was about the same in both 2008 and 2012. Gingrich seems oblivious to the fact that McCain’s style and history gave him advantages over Romney’s money and hardball in ways Gingrich’s own proven liabilities apparently do not.

Gingrich should carefully play a tape of his post–Nevada caucus performance, and then he would quickly grasp that it was little more than a litany of excuses, whining, and accusations — characterized by stream-of-conscious confessionals and rambling repetitions. And, I think, will hurt him more than anything yet in the campaign

To read the rest click on the title for a link.

Time for Conservatives to Stand up to Newt !

After the reports of Newt's campaign sending out robo calls in Florida that say

As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.

I agree with conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin"

It is time for conservatives of good character to stand up to the candidate who has none. Pick a candidate or not. Root for Romney or Santorum. Even indulge in the fantasy that another candidate can come into the race to sweep Republicans off their feet. But please, it’s time to stop encouraging Gingrich. Nothing he has done in the past for the GOP justifies his current conduct.

For more information on the demagoguery of the Gingrich campaing:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/289740/newt-s-unorthodox-attacks-patrick-brennan

Time for Conservatives to Stand up and disassociate themselves from this demagogy.

MOVIE:"Inside Llewyn Davis"

The Coen Brothers are making a movie based on the 1960s folk-singer Dave Van Ronk and the New York folk scene of that era based in Greenwich Village. According to the website Chimesfreedom:

If you watched Martin Sorsese’s documentary about Bob Dylan, No Direction Home, you might recall that one of the most interesting interviewees in the movie was Dave Van Ronk. Van Ronk was a folk singer in Greenwich Village during the 1960s, and he was a friend and supporter to many of the singers who would go on to more fame than he achieved, such as Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Van Ronk passed away in 2002 while he was working on a memoir, which was then completed by his collaborator Elijah Wald. The book, which will be used by the Coens, is titled after one of Van Ronk’s nicknames, The Mayor Of MacDougal Street

I have the Sorsese documentary on DVD and have watched it numerous times and Dave Van Ronk does stand out.

Actors Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund and John Goodman have been cast. Shooting will start in early 2012 in New York according to the IMDB.com.

The picture above is of Dylan, his girlfrend Suze Rotolo and Van Ronk.

"The Kennedys" TV Mini Series

I highly recommend the TV mini series. now out on DVD, about the Kennedy family. It has the quality of the HBO series on John Adams. Greg Kinnear as JFK is great. There were times I had to keep telling myself it wasn't JFK. My start as a political junkie was during the Kennedy/Nixon campaign of 1960 so have some experience with the real JFK. Tom Wilkinson brings "old Joe" Kennedy to life. I have read many books about the Kennedy's but this movie brings it all to life. It starts from when "old Joe" was U.S. Ambassador to Great Briton before World War II and takes us through the assassination of Bobbie in 1968. This movie is more than a greatest hits type of movie but gets into the personality of the family members. The Kennedy family tried to suppress this movie because it doesn't sugar coat JFK's "skirt chasing" or other issues but in the end it is a sympathetic story of a family that faced many tragedies. As someone who always knew "Camelot" was a fraud I grew to like them more after watching this mini series. It shows two sons, Bobby and Jack, driven by their father and who always sought his approval. If you like history and politics this is a must see! It's available from Netflix both streaming and on DVD. I give it 5 stars !

Judy "blue eyes" in Medford Tonight

Yes, I know there is a Republican debate on too !! Judy Collins will will perform at the Ginger Rodgers Craterian Theater. Review tomorrow !

Review:

Before going to the concert last night I was talking with a co worker and she asked what concert I was going to and I said Judy Collins. Her reply was "who is that" ? I said a 60's folk singer and she said "I was born much later than that." I then said haven't you heard of the song "Both Side Now" and she said "no". I then said how about "Send in the Clowns" and she said "didn't Judy Garland sing that" ?.... and I gave up.

My wife and I arrived at the Craterian and waited a while in the lobby. They were selling Judy Collins latest CD album "Bohemian" (see cover above) and I bought it. It was personally autographed by her on the cover. We then ran into some fellow "ducks" and talked with them for a while about the Ducks and what else..... politics. We then went in and got our seats and listened to a 30 minute opening act which was "just OK." The guy was very good on the guitar but I was not a fan of his music.

After a short brake Judy came out and gave a wonderful concert. She is 72 and looks great ! Her voice still can hit the high notes, and once warmed up, she is still a great singer. If you want a "perfect" rendition of her music listen to the CD because even as good as she is she isn't as perfect as she was at 25 or 45. On her first song, "Chelsae Morning," she had to start over because she just wasn't getting it right but she soared thereafter. Judy likes to talk alot between songs, talking about her family and the history of folk music and what it was like in Greenwich Village in New York in the 60's. She talked about meeting the singers of that era including a guy named Bob Dylan. She likes to drop a lot of names. She mentions how much she likes the Britt Festival in Jacksonville and wants to be invited back. Through the years we have seen her twice at Britt. Some people complain that she should talk less between songs but I love it. Sometimes her thoughts are somewhat "scattered" but it makes it all the more endearing. At a point or two I thought I was watching a Smothers Brothers show where they would start singing and then stop in mid song and start talking some more. The two high points for me were when she sang the Joan Baez song "Diamonds and Rust" about Baez relationship with Bob Dylan and when Judy sang "In The Twilight" a new song about her mothers final days. It was very very good and is found on her new album "Bohemian" released in the last year.She also sang "Both Sides Now." She sang from her new album, "Campo De Encino"and "Veteran's Day." I particularity enjoyed the combination of the songs "Leaving on a Jet plane" and Country Roads" and an Arlo Guthrey hit "City of New Orleans." She ended by singing the Judy Garland hit "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." She kept her political talk to a minimum but did make a snide remark about Sara Palin.
She received numerous standing ovations from a full crowd (first floor as far as I could see) who were very appreciative. She left me wanting more. I have listened to her new album today and it is one of her best ! I had previewed it on Amazon.com before the concert but that did not do it justice.

I noted from her concert schedule, on her website, that tonight she gives a concert in Bremerton, Washington and on Saturday in Durant, Oklahoma, and on Sunday in Austin, Texas. That is a lot of travel and singing for someone who is 72 and I couldn't help thinking during the concert we are witnessing something special that won't go on forever.

The Republicans’ Electoral College Newt-Mare

Regular readers of this blog may feel I am obsessed with New Gingrich but his being nominated by the Republican party is one of the biggest hopes Obama has of getting a second term and that scares me !

Click on the title for a link to Larry Sabato's state by state analysis of a electoral win by Obama if Newt his our nominee. I love his color coded maps of the states. In the past I have found Sabato one of the best. He is the head of the University of Virgina's Center for Politics and is a very frequent guest on Fox News with is political analysis.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency

If Newt Gingrich it the Republican nominee Sabato predicts Obama would win between 303 to 357 electoral votes in a landslide.

If a generic Republican (and Mitt Romney is about as generic as it gets) were the nominee of the Republican party the Republican would have 206 projected electoral votes with 85 a tossup. Obama would be short of election at 246. The tossups Romney would have to pick up to win are Ohio, Virgina, Florida and New Hampshire which would give him 270 and the Presidency. He also has a chance in Nevada, Colorado, Iowa and I believe in Pennsylvania and/or Wisconsin for cush.

Sabato's maps are much better at explaining this visually so click on the title for a look.

"RE-ELECT OBAMA: VOTE NEWT!" by Ann Coulter

Even Ann Coulter sees that nominating Newt would be a disaster

Romney is the most electable candidate not only because it will be nearly impossible for the media to demonize this self-made Mormon square, devoted to his wife and church, but precisely because he is the most conservative candidate.

Conservatism is an electable quality. Hotheaded arrogance is neither conservative nor attractive to voters.

Click on the title for a link to her entire column

The good news today is the latest polls from Florida show that Newt's surge has ended and is starting to go back down.

"William Jefferson Gingrich"

Conservative leaders are staring to speak out against Newt Gingrich:

Today it is R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator Magazine who writes:

Newt Gingrich is conservatism’s Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire.

Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy.....

Now he has found his key for hustling conservative electorate.....

Contending with Newt for the Republican nomination are Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney. All three are truer conservatives than Newt. I like them all. But John Bolton, former ambassador the United Nations, and John Lehman, President Reagan’s secretary of the navy, are for Mitt, and they are solid conservatives. Governor Christie and the economic pundit Larry Kudlow laud Mitt on taxes, on spending, and on attacking crony capitalism. Mr. Kudlow calls Mr. Romney “Reaganesque.” Ann Coulter seems to loathe Newt. That is good enough for me.

Back in 1992 I appeared with Chris Matthews on some gasbag’s television show. Was it Donohue? At any rate, I said candidate Clinton had more skeletons in his closet than a body snatcher. It was a prescient line then, and I always got a laugh. I can apply the same line today to Newt, though he has skeletons both inside and outside his closet.

Conservatives should not be surprised by the scandals that lie ahead, if they stick with him.....

By now we know. Character matters. Paul, Santorum, and Romney have it. Newt has Clinton’s character.

To read the rest click on the title for a link.

Newt’s doomed crusade !

S.E. Cupp, conservative columnist, speaks for me when she says "shame on us" for the Conservative Movement's apparent infatuation with Newt Gingrich. In a column subtitled, "The quixotic Gingrich campaign for the White House could sink the conservative movement." she writes in part:

In no measure does Gingrich fit what conservatives want in their candidate.

Tea Party voters want a small-government, anti-establishment Washington outsider. Gingrich fails on all three counts.

Establishment Republicans want an electable candidate. Gingrich fails here, as well.

Social conservatives want a candidate who reflects their family values. Um . . .

So if Gingrich fails to satisfy any of these impulses, I’m left to assume that conservatives are simply out for a good time. They want to be entertained by a Gingrich-Obama slugfest in the general election debates, and they are willing to sacrifice everything — their credibility, their values and the White House — to sit in the Coliseum and watch a Christian get devoured by lions.

Shame on us. The future of conservatism and the future of the country are bigger than debate-night hijinks. If we conservatives are willing to forgive Gingrich his transgressions, I’m not sure what separates us from liberals.

To read the rest of her column click on the title for a link.

As a long time movement conservative I am embarrassed with this infatuation with Newt Gingrich and I can only hope it is temporary. If I make another charge for the Conservative cause you can bet it will NOT be with Newt leading it. We are better than that ! This man is a charlatan.

I would like to write on another subject but this man threatens the Conservative cause I have loved from age 16 and threatens to reelect Obama who has so damaged the country I have loved even longer. This battle is for the sole of the Conservative movement. I stand with the editors of National Review Magazine. See editorial below.