Romney Wins Texas and Clinches GOP Nomination

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night (Tuesday) with a win in the Texas primary, officially garnering the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the Republican presidential nomination.  It was a triumph of endurance for the candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals, all slugging it out and scratching to reach the prize.

According to The Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 97 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

Romney is the first Mormon nominated by a major party. His religion has been somewhat less of an issue than it was during his failed bid four years ago; perhaps because the economy is on the forefront of everyone’s mind.  Plus many question President Obama’s honesty about his religion, so believe a Mormon is a definite improvement over a Reverend Wright style Christian or perhaps a closet Muslim.

"We did it!" Romney proclaimed in a message to supporters, noting that "it's only the beginning."

Romney was not in Texas, however, but in Las Vegas at a major fundraiser hosted by supporter Donald Trump.

"An honor and a privilege and a great responsibility," Romney told supporters at a fundraiser in Las Vegas. "And I know the road to 1,144 was long and hard, but I also know that the road to 11-06…  Nov. 6th… is also going to be long and it's going to be hard and it's going to be worth it because we're going to take back the White House and get America right again."

Romney thanks troops in new campaign video

Romney must now fire up those conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team, but in his favor, in an election year that will be heavily influenced by the negative economy… Obama’s economy.

Romney's campaign went on the attack Tuesday, releasing a Web video citing the Obama administration's loan-guarantee investments in four renewable-energy firms that lost money and laid off workers.

The message, "President Obama is fundamentally hostile to job creators",  has been a theme of the Romney campaign since he launched his presidential bid. But sensing this as an opportunity to reach a new audience, the campaign planned to highlight Obama's support for the failed renewable energy company Solyndra, among other private ventures the Obama administration helped support.

"We need to have presidents who understand how this economy works," Romney told reporters Tuesday. "Sometimes I just don't think he understands what it takes to help people. I know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what he's got to do."

Romney's message and his big day, however, were somewhat overshadowed by real estate mogul Donald Trump and his discredited suggestions that Obama wasn't born in the United States.  Course others were cheering that Trump had the guts to say it.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Trump, who had toyed with the idea of running for president earlier in the election season. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump's repeated insinuations to the contrary.

Both Trump and Romney steered clear of the issue at Tuesday's, said to have been successful, fundraiser. (Coincidentally, Romney officially released his birth certificate yesterday.)

When asked Monday about Trump's contentions, Romney said, "I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in." He added, "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

"He's going to turn this country around. He's going to create jobs like you haven't seen for many, many years," Trump declared. "We were a great country. Soon we won't be a great country at all... Mitt Romney will make us a great country again."  Later in the evening Trump told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “Romney understands what needs to be done with China!”

Republicans won't officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Florida. At latest count, Romney now has 1,183 convention delegates.

He won at least 97 delegates in Texas with 33 left to be decided. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote. The other delegates were sprinkled among several candidates.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Solicitor General Ted Cruz were headed to a runoff in July.

With about three-fourths of precincts reporting, Dewhurst led with 45 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Cruz. Dewhurst, however, fell short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate, but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the delegate threshold on March 4, after Romney dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year's primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar because of new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state, changes they seemed to regret as the campaign bogged down.  Plus the Republican electorate seemed to enjoy extending the battle before settling on Romney.

Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and yes… Donald Trump all sat at the top the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. And at one point early on, Ron Paul also appeared to have the ability to secure the top spot for a short time.  But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney's status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year's version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has already been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.  Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

Both Santorum and Gingrich initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney as the left the race but Gingrich is now actively promoting Romney's campaign.

Among those in the crowd in Vegas last night: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who joined his former rival on the trail for the first time since dropping his own bid for the Republican nomination last month.

While Gingrich didn't speak at the fundraiser, he talked to reporters ahead of the event, defending Romney's muted reaction to Trump's birther conspiracies.

"Gov. Romney is not distracted, the Republican Party is not distracted. We believe this is an American-born, job-killing president," Gingrich told reporters, per the Los Angeles Times. "Other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs, but that's an argument over background. The key fact is for any American worried about the economy, Obama is a job-killing president."

Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race thus far, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should have helped Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn't, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.  Not quite sure how that follows, but we shall see!

"Romney's been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he's ever going to be," Galen said. "Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race."

So the general now officially begins!  Game on….

Romney’s official announcement sent out to his online supporters:

Friend,

Tonight, we surpassed 1,144 delegates and secured the nomination. I am grateful and humbled by your support through this process. We did it!

This has been an extraordinary journey. And yet it's only the beginning.

Now all Republicans can move forward toward our convention in Tampa. There, we will stand united as a party with a winning ticket for America. Ours will be a campaign to unite every American who knows in his or her heart that we can do better.

There's much to be done by November 6th - but with your help, we will get it done!

Thank you for standing with me.
Mitt Romney

___

h/t to AP writer Steve Peoples contribution to this report, reporting from Las Vegas. Photo credits to: the Arizona Daily Star

Related:

Romney Should Seek a Big Win

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Game ON! Two Front War

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
- Benjamin Franklin

Andrew Breitbart was right: it is a war. And we fight that war on two fronts: against the Progressives on one side and radical Islam on the other. Both are equally dangerous and hateful in their condemnation of American exceptionalism. They are close kin to one another in the sense that the Progressive Movement seeks to install the state as the replacement for religion and the distributor of our worldly needs; while Islam is a theocracy and the single arbiter of justice and purpose. Neither of these social structures gives a damn about the individual or his freedom–both must be imposed. They are unnatural; it is our nature to resist the shackles of servitude. Freedom is, apparently, not for everyone.

America is a constitutional republic. For this reason, we are inherently vulnerable to apathy. To prevent the government from growing itself, citizens must stay involved. Sadly, that has not been the case in recent decades. We need to forget about Dancing With the Stars and take a sobering look at the number of spears pointed at our country and the American culture.

What Do We Need To Do?

Stand on the courage of our convictions confidently. We have every reason to feel encouraged, not discouraged. The sycophantic news media is never going to like or approve of anything we do. So we may as well do what needs to be done and let them whine and caterwaul to their heart’s content. We need to watch Democrats closely in the coming election and make sure that the dead are not voting and that the New Black Panthers are not intimidating people outside their polling precincts. They will stop at nothing in order to preserve their grip on the throat of liberty. This is for all the marbles.

The media has gone out of their way to say that the Tea Party was no longer relevant and that the Obama crowd is the true mainstream of American thought–like hell! The landslide defeat of incumbent Richard Lugar and the refutation of the union assault on Governor Walker of Wisconsin has them stunned. We were supposed to lie down and let them have their way and instead they got their a**** handed back to them.

In addition to fighting a “two front war,” we fight a war within a war. Equally dangerous to the conservative cause are the milquetoast moderate establishment Republicans.

Moderates suck–in either party–because they compromise (a bad word in the Tea Party mindset). The middle of the road is not some lofty perch from which one can see all, it is a spineless position and only good for being being run over. Do not compromise. Do not accept a liberal premise. It is time that they are made to reach out to us.

Action:

Once we regain control we can begin to work on the restoration process; however, it is going to take several elections to undo the meddling of a Marxist megalomaniac.

Boycott the propagandist news media. The MSM is complicit in the fraud that is Barack Obama. There is nothing that they present that isn’t bent to promote their agenda. They deserve to be ignored for their journalistic negligence and obfuscation of the truth.

Indict Eric Holder! There is no telling how deep this insidious scandal may reach, but there can be no doubt that Holder believes that he is above the law. When we finally regain control of the Executive office, we will need to install a pitbull as AG and literally tear into all of the abuses of power that have become the norm for the Obama Administration.

Investigate Solyndra/Lightsquared, etc. Obama’s green energy policies are nothing more than a money laundering operation to funnel tax payer’s money to his union pals and campaign backers.

Withdraw from the United Nations. The UN has become a joke and there is nothing there that we need to answer for. They are only interested in extorting us and blaming us for all the things gone wrong in the world. They are trying (still) to shove global warming down our throats, despite the fact that it has been exposed as hoax.

Eliminate bureaucracies and repeal regulation. It is time to eliminate the alphabet soup agencies that are regulating our economy to death. The Constitution does not obligate us to preserve ANY of the nonsensical things that these bureaucracies do.

Repeal ObamaCare! No one even wanted socialized medicine before Obama jammed it through the Congress against the will of the people. Not a single Republican voted for it.

Tax reform is long overdue. It is the primary tool by which the progressive institute their social architecture. Flat tax, national sales tax –it doesn’t matter–but change the status quo and eliminate the IRS.

Social Security reform. Entitlement spending is just out of control and must be contained. We cannot continue down the current path. Medicare and Medicaid and all public assistance needs a massive overhaul.

Eliminate the Department of Education–which has polluted the minds of our young people and indoctrinated them into this entitlement mindset that is dragging our society down into the quagmires of hell.

Purge courts of activist “judge-islators.” With every legislative defeat we hand them, we get a lawsuit to thwart the people’s will. Legislation from the bench is the Progressive movement’s alternative strategy. If they cannot defeat us in the arena of ideas, then they simply run to the nearest sympathetic liberal judge and have them issue a ruling that counteracts the offending action.

Keep the House

In light of the November 2010 midterm elections, and the primaries for the coming 2012 election, keeping the House should be a fairly easy task. Congressman Allen West (R-FL) is definitely the bright spot on our horizon. We need to install a true conservative as Speaker and continue our efforts to constrain the cancer of socialism. The House of Representatives is currently the only stronghold of common sense that there is in the 22 square miles that is Washington, D.C. We must retain this, if possible, and increase our numbered advantage there.

Regain Control of the Senate

Investigate and indict Harry Reid–who has not passed a budget in 1,112 days, despite the legal requirement to do so. This man should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Harry has a morgue drawer in his desk where all of the good ideas put forth by the Republicans in the House now reside. (And they accuse us of being obstructionist.) The Senate is a collection of monumental egos–100 presidents in waiting–and their direct election (17th amendment) is something we should seriously consider repealing. Streamline the government and restore it to its original format and structure to preserve the sovereignty of our republic. It is time, as some liberal columnist once quipped, to force the Senate to pull over–“park the clown car and get out to stretch their legs.”

Judge Napolitano: Repeal the “Progressive” 17th Amendment

Our #1 Job

Our first concern is to be sure that we get control of the White House by electing the Republican candidate, which will most assuredly be Mitt Romney.

Then we can hold Romney’s moderate feet to the fire and keep the establishment Republicans under the spot light of truth. He will need to be dragged to the right and told when to compromise. But we can help him. Romney leaves much to be desired in the hearts of true conservatives. But he is not a Marxist; and he is not beneath the thumb of George Soros.

“Applause waits on success.” - Benjamin Franklin

The only weakness that our constitutional republic has is apathy. Citizens need to pay attention and participate, or their freedoms will be stolen right out from underneath them, as has been repeatedly demonstrated by history

Read the entire post here. This post is pretty lengthy but worth the time to read. To win this election and take back our country, we must have a plan and this one looks pretty good to me. What say you?

Whether you are a Newt or Santorum or RPaul fan… or were still hoping that Palin would run, the reality is that Mitt has the GOP nomination. Now until Tampa it is just window dressing. Mitt has the numbers. As Conservatives, Independents, mainstream Republicans, Libertarians, Tea Party activists, disenfranchised Democrats, people of faith, Constitutionalists, Patriots of all stripes, we MUST combine our efforts and elect Romney and REMOVE OBAMA and the Socialist trend forever from the United States.

Time to stop focusing all our energy on what is wrong with Obama but instead on what is right with our guy (Romney) and on what needs to be done to win not only the election but the war!

Source:  Combination Game On – Adapted by LauraJAlcorn, National Director – Conservative 2 Conservative – h/t to Claudia Johnson

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2012 Election Game On: Class vs. Crass… Hope vs. Nope

Video: The Tail of Two Leaders

Mac Lewis: The logic of the ad in one line: “If voters think on election day that Obama is the cool one, but Romney is the competent one, Obama will lose.”

Matt Lewis wrote Wednesday morning that Obama vs. Romney is starting to look a bit like a “Mac vs. PC” commercial. Here’s the RNC kinda sorta embracing that framework to make the point that what America has with The One is the policy equivalent of a Sad Mac.

Lewis:

Republicans, of course, will claim the contrast favors them — that Tuesday night demonstrated a serious candidate talking about serious issues — versus someone “slow-jamming” with a comedian (while the economy crumbles).

But it also reminds me that the Obama vs. Romney clash creates a PR/optics problem for Republicans: Policy aside, Obama seems cool — while Romney seems more like The Man. (This might not matter, however. Voters might decide they personally like Obama, but that they want a technocrat to fix the economy. Sometimes we need The Man!)

Brand images, though, often outlast political campaigns. And from a purely superficial standpoint, the GOP — especially if Romney makes a milquetoast running mate pick — risks reinforcing its image as your father’s party.  So the GOP V.P. pick could be a factor this election and if not for this election, it might reinforce a brand for the next time?!?

With a couple of events and a couple of speeches the 2012 Election focus was set and the race is on, all in one day.

While President Obama appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for some slow ‘jammon’ that ended up looking and sounding anything but presidential except to the (MSM) media Obamabots, Mitt Romney took the stage in New Hampshire and claimed his position as the presumptive GOP nominee after winning 5-primaries on Tuesday. That one move showed leadership and has changed the conversation.  Within 24-hours Gingrich announced that he was leaving the race, former GOP primary candidate endorsed Romney and the RNC announced that Mitt Romney was now their presumptive nominee unveiling their support and the support of many behind the scenes already working together to defeat Barack Obama, including with the Ron Paul Campaign though Paul has no plans of dropping out of the race..

Romney looked and sounded presidential creating an echo over the blogosphere and even among some mainstream media outlets that a presidential Romney made slow jammom Obama look anything but presidential.

Mitt Romney Kicked-Off His Presidential Campaign with the words “A better America begins tonight”.  Romney hit all right notes, said all the right things and sounded believably concerned.

Transcript of Romney’s “A Better America” Speech:

"Thank you Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York! And tonight I can say thank you, America. After 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days and more than a few long nights, I can say with confidence – and gratitude – that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility. And, together, we will win on November 6th!

We launched this campaign not far from here on a beautiful June day. It has been an extraordinarily journey.

Americans have always been eternal optimists. But over the last three and a half years, we have seen hopes and dreams diminished by false promises and weak leadership. Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired, and many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working harder for less.

For every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her kids that she needs to take a second job … for grandparents who can’t afford the gas to visit their grandchildren … for the mom and dad who never thought they’d be on food stamps … for the small business owner desperately cutting back just to keep the doors open one more month – to all of the thousands of good and decent Americans I’ve met who want nothing more than a better chance, a fighting chance, to all of you, I have a simple message: Hold on a little longer. A better America begins tonight.

Tonight is the start of a new campaign to unite every American who knows in their heart that we can do better! The last few years have been the best that Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do!

Tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years and the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together.

This has already been a long campaign, but many Americans are just now beginning to focus on the choice before the country. In the days ahead, I look forward to spending time with many of you personally. I want to hear what’s on your mind, hear about your concerns, and learn about your families. I want to know what you think we can do to make this country better…and what you expect from your next President.

And I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. I’ll probably start out talking about my wonderful wife Ann – I usually do – and I’ll probably bore you with stories about our kids and grandkids. I’ll tell you about how much I love this country, where someone like my dad, who grew up poor and never graduated from college, could pursue his dreams and work his way up to running a great car company. Only in America could a man like my dad become governor of the state in which he once sold paint from the trunk of his car.

I’d say that you might have heard that I was successful in business. And that rumor is true. But you might not have heard that I became successful by helping start a business that grew from 10 people to hundreds of people. You might not have heard that our business helped start other businesses, like Staples and Sports Authority and a new steel mill and a learning center called Bright Horizons. And I’d tell you that not every business made it and there were good days and bad days, but every day was a lesson. And after 25 years, I know how to lead us out of this stagnant Obama economy and into a job-creating recovery!

Four years ago Barack Obama dazzled us in front of Greek columns with sweeping promises of hope and change. But after we came down to earth, after the celebration and parades, what do we have to show for three and a half years of President Obama?

Is it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you making more in your job? Do you have a better chance to get a better job? Do you pay less at the pump?

If the answer were “yes” to those questions, then President Obama would be running for re-election based on his achievements…and rightly so. But because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions, distractions, and distortions. That kind of campaign may have worked at another place and in a different time. But not here and not now. It’s still about the economy …and we’re not stupid.

People are hurting in America. And we know that something is wrong, terribly wrong with the direction of the country.

We know that this election is about the kind of America we will live in and the kind of America we will leave to future generations. When it comes to the character of America, President Obama and I have very different visions.

Government is at the center of his vision. It dispenses the benefits, borrows what it cannot take, and consumes a greater and greater share of the economy. With Obamacare fully installed, government will come to control half the economy, and we will have effectively ceased to be a free enterprise society.

This President is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars. He’s asking us to accept that Washington knows best – and can provide all.

We’ve already seen where this path leads. It erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help. Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty. Other nations have chosen that path. It leads to chronic high unemployment, crushing debt, and stagnant wages.

I have a very different vision for America, and of our future. It is an America driven by freedom, where free people, pursuing happiness in their own unique ways, create free enterprises that employ more and more Americans. Because there are so many enterprises that are succeeding, the competition for hard-working, educated and skilled employees is intense, and so wages and salaries rise.

I see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. I see children even more successful than their parents - some successful even beyond their wildest dreams – and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.

This America is fundamentally fair. We will stop the unfairness of urban children being denied access to the good schools of their choice; we will stop the unfairness of politicians giving taxpayer money to their friends’ businesses; we will stop the unfairness of requiring union workers to contribute to politicians not of their choosing; we will stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits than the taxpayers they serve; and we will stop the unfairness of one generation passing larger and larger debts on to the next.

In the America I see, character and choices matter. And education, hard work, and living within our means are valued and rewarded. And poverty will be defeated, not with a government check, but with respect and achievement that is taught by parents, learned in school, and practiced in the workplace.

This is the America that was won for us by the nation’s Founders, and earned for us by the Greatest Generation. It is the America that has produced the most innovative, most productive, and the most powerful economy in the world.

As I look around at the millions of Americans without work, the graduates who can't get a job, the soldiers who return home to an unemployment line, it breaks my heart. This does not have to be. It is the result of failed leadership and of a faulty vision. We will restore the promise of America only if we restore the principles of freedom and opportunity that made America the greatest nation on earth.

Today, the hill before us is a little steep but we have always been a nation of big steppers. Many Americans have given up on this President but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America.

In the days ahead, join me in the next step toward that destination of November 6th, when across America we can give a sigh of relief and know that the Promise of America has been kept. The dreamers can dream a little bigger, the help wanted signs can be dusted off, and we can start again.

And this time we’ll get it right. We’ll stop the days of apologizing for success at home and never again apologize for America abroad.

There was a time – not so long ago – when each of us could walk a little taller and stand a little straighter because we had a gift that no one else in the world shared. We were Americans. That meant something different to each of us but it meant something special to all of us. We knew it without question. And so did the world.

Those days are coming back. That’s our destiny.

We believe in America. We believe in ourselves. Our greatest days are still ahead. We are, after all, Americans!

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."

To quote Jedediah Bila, “With this one speech, Romney changed the discussion from class warfare to a discussion of hope and choice.”

SuperPac American Crossroads also produced a new video entitled: “Cool” - After four years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?  It is focused toward the young…

Meanwhile Obama looked foolish and inept appearing in one of the worst skits ever, demeaning his position and the office of presidency after having spent taxpayer money to campaign and to promote his new student loan program into an election issue.  But the problem with that is Obama’s record and that Romney agrees with Obama on helping students with their loan debt while the economy keeps them from getting jobs, making it a non-issue.

Under Obama:

• 1 in 2 recent college grads are jobless or underemployed
• 85% of recent college grads are moving back with their parents
• Student loan debt exceeds 1 Trillion Dollars

Breibart.com:

And now it seems that Obama’s Fallon appearance violated campaign law

Last night, President Obama appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s unwatchable show to “slow-jam the news.” By this, Fallon meant that Obama would read a campaign speech about student loans, Fallon would utter a few lines to back him up every so often, and his lead band singer would warble in support of Obama’s propaganda.

Only one problem, aside from the fact that this was possibly the worst “comedy” segment in the history of mankind: it violated campaign finance law.

The equal time rule states that if a licensee permits a person “who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.”

There are exceptions to the rule: appearances on (1) a bona fide newscast, (2) a bona fide news interview, (3) a bona fide news documentary, or (4) on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events.

Only the second provision could be construed as saving NBC from giving Mitt Romney equal time. But this was not a bona fide news interview. In fact, it wasn’t an interview at all – no questions were asked, no answers were given. It was literally Obama reading a campaign speech over a guitar, a horn, a keyboard, and some drums.

Not only was this appearance in violation of equal time law, it was clearly an in-kind contribution by NBC to the Obama campaign. As the Federal Elections Commission states, “A donation of services is … considered an in-kind contribution.” Under applicable law, contribution of broadcast time is considered such a service. This was a campaign commercial for Obama, and the Obama campaign was not charged for it. A minute of network time can cost up to a couple million dollars; this segment ran a full five minutes. There is no doubt that Obama was given millions of dollars of free advertising time, and the Romney campaign should invoke all available law to make that clear.

NBC should be punished to the fullest extent of the law (because they are a repeating offender). Mitt Romney should be given equal time, and an equally sycophantic propaganda piece by Fallon. Obama should be ashamed of himself (though, of course, he has no capacity for shame).   Video HERE

Speaker of the House John Boehner also weighed in this week on Obama campaigning on the public dime.  Boehner said Obama misuses Air Force One for political trips and that he is now trying to make a political issue out of student loans, hitting swing states to make speeches without having to cover the cost for campaigning.  Using taxpayer dollars to fly to battleground states to make political points is 'pathetic, said Boehner.  Read more Here.

Of course violating campaign laws, ethics or tradition doesn’t seem to matter to Team Obama.  He has been campaigning and appearing at fundraisers on the taxpayer dime for months.  Yet, they had the audacity to announce this week that President Obama would be beginning his official campaign in about a month.  At some point the American people are going to get tired of being played for fools on top of watching their country being spent into bankruptcy.  As Mitt Romney said the other night, “It is still about the economy and we’re not stupid”

By Ask Marion~

The Tea Party… Madness from the Left

The tea party is not a party… It is a movement more than a party. And rarely has a movement been so anonymous, so faceless.  The tea party, taking their name from the Boston Tea Party in colonial times when they stood up to the King of England against taxation without representation… for being taxed too much, against their will and without being heard by the Crown, is an idea that developed into the modern day movement made up of everyday… ‘main street’ Americans.  It is a movement of “We the People” who have woken up and are standing up against our King George and his unbridled spending and ‘for’ fiscal responsibility and governance based on the U.S. Constitution, things those colonists who dressed up as Indians that threw tea that was being unfairly taxed into Boston Harbor and their compatriots went on to spill their blood and give their lives for… so we could live free as part of the ‘Great American Experiment’… the hope for the average man not only in America but around the world.

You can always tell who and what the Left fears or is throwing a wrench into their plans (Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, the Tea Party Movement) because that is who they go after and demonize relentlessly through the mainstream media which they all but control.  It is part of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and the Cloward and Piven strategy to create chaos and Obama, the people he surrounds himself with and the Progressive leftist elites subscribe to.  If you are not read Rules for Radicals and are not familiar with Cloward and Piven it is essential to understand the madness!  Making sense of the left’s actions without reading those is like going to church without ever opening the Bible.

The Democrat’s latest mantra is if you can’t blame George Bush… blame the tea party.

After the debt ceiling fight in Congress our Vice President Joe Biden condemned Tea Party Republicans for "acting like terrorists" during the debt fight, sources said and there were plenty of sources and witnesses. (This is not that unusual for this administration who had the head of Homeland Security create a watch list almost first thing after taking power of patriots and people of all kinds who disagreed with them like conservative bloggers.)

Biden made the shocking statement during a closed-door meeting with House Democrats to try to whip up support for the debt-limit deal, according to the sources… and some were willing to spill the beans to the NY Times.

The vice president was reacting to an irate Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), who said Democrats "have negotiated with terrorists," Politico.com reported.

"This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money," Doyle added.

Biden agreed, saying, "They have acted like terrorists," the report said.

The over-the-top rhetoric hit a nerve with Republicans.

"With the president holding the American economy hostage, I would prefer to think of myself as a freedom fighter," bristled Tea Party champion Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

"The only people taking hostages around here are those who want to continue our path toward economic ruin."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus demanded an apology and said Biden "more than crossed a line."

Biden later denied making the comment, insisting to CBS News, "I did not use the terrorism word."

"What happened was there were some people who said they felt like they were being held hostage by terrorists. I never said that they were terrorists or weren't terrorists, I just let them vent," Biden said.

We all know Biden’s penchant for colorful remarks and language and his less than good judgment in choice of time and place to use them, making it even more believable that he said exactly was reported by the NY Times (read full article)

Smearing the tea party is a strategy that just might back fire on them however, because lets face it, attacking the tea party is attacking middle America, concerned Americans and fiscal conservatives from all parties and alliances: Democrats, Independents, Libertarians as well as Republicans.

As initial survey data showed (click here), a sizable portion of the Tea Party movement is non-Republican. A Gallup poll from March 2010 found that 50% of "Tea Party identifiers" were Republicans while 43% identified as independents and 7% as Democrats. That's a perfect 50:50 split. If anything it has become more mixed by party affiliation and race since then.

And to assume that these attacks come from Joe Biden alone or a small handful of people on the left is just another example of the Ostrich Syndrome.  Within hours of the disappointing and unpopular debt ceiling and crisis compromise and then the AAA credit rating downgrade by S&P blame was focused on the tea party by Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid, ultra-liberal Senator John Kerry, and just about every Progressive Democrat that made a comment.  There was obviously a  ‘Progressive memo’, with the phrase ‘tea party downgrade’ and similar follow-up comments sent out and then repeated all over the news virtually verbatim.  The origination of the term ‘Tea Party downgrade’ is being credited to Obama henchman and campaign strategist David Alexrod who used it in an interview on Face the Nation.

Obama Conversation With Tea Partier Gets Heated – Fox

See Video: HERE  -  I guess asking a question is now unacceptable even when the President goes on the road to ‘talk with the people’?

DECORAH, Iowa – President Obama got into a heated back-and-forth Monday with a Tea Party activist who demanded to know at the end of a town hall meeting whether Vice President Biden had called Tea Partiers “terrorists” during the debt ceiling debate on Capitol Hill.

In public, Obama did not directly answer the question from Iowa Tea Party activist Ryan Rhodes about Biden. But Obama fired back that he knows better than anyone what it’s like to be slammed for his political views and was not about to accept a lecture on the topic.

“Now, in fairness, since I’ve been called a socialist who wasn’t born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I’m all for lowering the rhetoric," Obama said.

Obama did say he would discuss the matter further with Rhodes, founder of the Iowa Tea Party, after the event. And the duo was spotted in an animated conversation a few moments later.

In an interview later with Fox News, Rhodes said that the president had insisted that Biden had not made the original comment.

“He just denied it. He said the vice president didn't make any of those assertions,” Rhodes said. “If he doesn’t want to even admit what was on TV nationally -- all over the place -- then how can you have a conversation?”

Rhodes added that Obama brushed him aside. “Then he said, ‘We can't have a conversation because you're saying I called you a terrorist,’” recalled Rhodes. “The fact is it demonstrates the deep divide that he is unwilling to negotiate without going after the other side. The whole day was about going after Republicans and talking about how unreasonable they are.”

The private conversation between Rhodes and Obama was partially picked up by a TV camera, but the audio was tough to make out. Obama in general seemed to be saying the incident with Biden was misconstrued and that if Rhodes wanted to insist that the word “terrorist” was used then they were never going to see eye to eye.

The incident stems from a private meeting Biden attended, at the height of the debt ceiling debate, with House Democrats who were angry that Republicans were not meeting the president halfway. One lawmaker, Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., went so far as to say that Republicans affiliated with the Tea Party had behaved like “terrorists” during the debate.

Some Democrats familiar with the meeting said at the time that Biden had appeared to agree with the sentiment expressed by Doyle and others as a way of moving the conversation along and convincing Democrats to support the final compromise. But Biden himself denied to CBS News that he had uttered the word “terrorist” in the meeting in the context of the Tea Party.

Here in Iowa, some people in the crowd seemed to be unhappy with Rhodes others were supportive. One woman was overheard confronting him by saying, “That was extraordinarily rude” to the president.

A second woman who did not want to be identified by name said she felt the exchange was “over the top aggressive.”

But others congratulated Rhodes on standing up and felt he was perfectly within acceptable limits and just did what he had to to get the president to even acknowledge his question.

But Rhodes was not backing down. “I said my piece,” he said.  (As it should be!!)

I am someone who has always believed that we need to respect the office of the presidency even if we don’t like the occupant, but even cautious former press secretary Dana Perino said that the President has left himself open for this type of challenge because of his own behavior and actions… or inactions.

As Senator Charlie Schumer (D-NY) recently let slip in a radio interview, there's a concerted effort by Democrats to demonize the Tea Party.  So that being said and with the statements being made, the Tea Party has the right to defend themselves!

The tea party movement is you and me… patriotic concerned Americans who love our Country and who want it to survive for our kids and grandkids.  It, and some of the people the left have demonized the most, are what stands between us and the fundamental transformation of America.  The choice of who we follow and if we care enough to educate ourselves, get involved and stand up between now and the Election in 2012 will determine the fate of the United States of America and the idea of American Exceptionalism!

One of the greatest challenges in the 2012 Election will be voter fraud and that is an area, through volunteering, monitoring and staying engaged that the tea party and concerned Americans in general can make a difference. 

Ask Marion~

If you are not familiar with the grassroots tea party movement there are some books about it: Give Us Liberty, The Tea Party Manifesto and That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom, but the best thing you can do is go to one of their events in your local area or in support of an issue you care about and meet the people involved. You just might run into your neighbor or someone from work or church!!

Election 2012 Is On…

Will Ignorance Lead to a Second Obama Term??

Allen West Speaks to the Folks at Home  -  Florida’s 22nd Congressional District may have to give up a very fine representative, for the good of all Americans.

Sarah Palin Steps Into Wisconsin, Points to Left Field, and Hits a Grand Slam  - Game On~

Run Herman Run

The Trump Factor

Santorum Surprised His Campaign Slogan May Come From… Communist Poem; Ooops!

What the Donald’s Entrance into the GOP Race Means for Palin 

ORANGE COUNTY GOP DENOUNCES PARTY OFFICIAL’S RACIST E-MAIL  - Whooh Can you imagine if it had been sent by Republican…

Election On: Spinmaster Obama Spins Budget Speech Into First Campaign Speech of 2012 Season

Political Nuggets: John Huntsman Jr.’s Leak; Mitt Romney’s Role

White House releases misleading figures for families ahead of Obama’s deficit tour  -  Transparency in Obamaland!?!

Media Doesn’t Ask for Obama’s Full ‘Hot Mic’ Remarks; Heavily Edited Video Available Only  -  Presidential and Transparent??

From the Desk of Donald Trump:  Thoughts on My Speech from Tax Day Rally 

 Congressman Allen West speaks at the 3rd Annual Tax Day Tea Party in Palm Beach County

Bachmann to Vote ‘No’ on Debt Ceiling  -  Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann outlines a plan to lower the deficit and says that the first step is to pay off debt

Meet Your Next President???

 

Video:  Little Suzie for President 2012

Little Susie must live in a Republican State. If she lived in a Democratic Party controlled State, she would be arrested for selling her lemonade without a permit, arrested by the Obama Sugar Police for reckless endangerment, fined by the IRS for not providing Obamacare for her employees, her Federal Taxes would rise 66% as punishment for being a successful small business, and her teachers from school would go picket at her home, screaming "Boycott Susie" because she has non-union employees!

I have to say this is one of the funniest, cutest,and innocent commercials I've seen in a long time. Whoever came up with this one hit the proverbial home run.

It's funny how a dad leaves a smart phone to help his little girl with her lemonade stand and she creates a giant corporation in an afternoon.

In a world full of darkness, it's refreshing to see something entertaining in a wholesome kind of way!!

Meet Your Next President

Written by Jim Funkhouser Apr 18, 2011

Sarah Palin

Yesterday, after a short political sabbatical, I cautiously dipped my toe back into the boiling porridge that now passes for public discourse. Drudge is always first, and it was there that I discovered that Palin had finally made it official: She’s running.

Was there ever a doubt? Talk about anti-climatic.

The big question in my mind was always this: Can she win? Her speech in Wisconsin answered that question for me. Sarah Barracuda’s reemergence finds her in full campaign mode and she is startlingly better than ever before. I know how Chris Matthews feels now.

Could Pawlenty, Gingrich, or Romney have generated the energy and sense of urgency that Palin so effortlessly brought forth? The mind struggles to animate them with such authenticity, and the reason might be obvious: There is always the nagging doubt that they are true believers.

It’s easy for Sarah because she believes everything she says. Her sound conservative agenda is not a political design, it’s an expression of core values, and the passion that issues forth is so genuine that it never occurs to a single person in the audience, on the left or the right, that she is anything other than what she appears to be.

Palin is kryptonite to the Loony-Left and the RINO-right precisely because they all know that she is serious. Does the Left fear Gingrich? Hardly. Any chance that Romney will roll back the welfare state? Puh-lease. Is Tea-Paw (Pawlenty) going to ride into the Beltway and run rough-shod over the Statists? He would struggle to find a Veep with less gravitas. They will all be ignored… until they are nominated.

To gauge the threat measure the heat, and Palin has be hotly scrutinized more than any other politician in history. Her travails with the punditry, mainstream media, and the establishment at every level seems to be remarkably unbalanced… until you calculate two things.

1. Her influence. Romney could release a thousand page theses tomorrow that rivals the Federalist Papers and it would be trumped if Palin tweeted about Michelle’s garden. Is that fair? Nope. But it’s reality. When Sarah speaks, people listen, and everyone knows it.

2. Her spine. Fight like a girl nailed it. The uber-Mama Grizzly is the real deal. Boehner cries because he thinks his navel is the center of the universe. A mother with a child that has Down’s-syndrome knows that politics doesn’t even make the top ten when you list reasons to get emotional. She won’t cry when she’s being sworn in, trust me.

Sarah’s courage is her defining attribute. She has endured a withering assault and is stronger than ever because she has faced it without blinking. The Primary Season may hold surprises, but Palin has already been battle-tested like no other politician in history and I doubt that anyone will be pulling a secret rough-draft Alaskan version of Romney-care out of her closet anytime soon.

America doesn’t need a Republican version of Obama solutionism, it needs a female version of Ronald Reagan conservatism. She will be the default Republican choice for that reason alone. Her flaws are not flaws of character or ideology, and in the end people don’t choose a candidate because they think that Lexington and Concord are in New Hampshire, or that America has 57 States. People choose because they trust.

De Tocqueville knew it was true about America, and I know it’s true about Palin. Sarah is great because Sarah is good. We’ve tried everything else, let’s try honest government again… this time in heels.

The Tea Party Tribune

SarahPac Launches new site: http://www.sarahpac.com/