Texas federal Judge Fred Biery has been a key villain in GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s narrative about why federal judges are supposedly out of control. Gingrich routinely cites a previous decision by Biery holding that the Constitution does not permit a public school district to sponsor a student-led prayer at graduation to justify eliminating courts that displease Gingrich. In … Read More
The Santorum Surge
A new Pew Research Center poll found Santorum and Romney neck-and-neck, with Santorum winning 30 percent of the support among Republican registered voters to Romney's 28 percent — a difference that falls well within the poll's five percentage point margin of error. Separately, Gallup's latest tracking survey of the Republican race found Romney with 32 percent support and Santorum right on his heels with … Read More
GOP Follies Fun Fact
Nate Silver tells us: There have been 10 separate Republican candidates who have led in at least one national poll at some point in this nomination cycle (counting a few candidates who decided not to run officially). They are, in alphabetical order: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney … Read More
White House To Cave On The Contraception Thing
It's an election year, and Obama doesn't want a culture war… even if he IS on the winning side of it, and most people support him on it. The White House will announce some sort of compromise later today. Wooses. And by the way, don't expect the "compromise" to satisfy the right. UPDATE — per a fact sheet being … Read More
The Controversy That’s Not
Culture wars again? There seems to be a LOT of misinformation about this latest so-called "controversy" involving the Obama administration and the Catholic Church and birth control. To hear some people talk about it, you would think that the Obama administration is forcing Catholic institutions to go out and purchase birth control against their will. Let's be clear: the Obama administration … Read More
The Tone-Deaf Romney Gaffe
If you haven't seen it yet, here is the interview in which Romney said he's "not concerned with the very poor." As an sidenote, kudos to Soledad for actually hearing Romney say those words and asking him about it. Good journalists listen, and Soledad is a good journalist. The Romney camp, as well as Romney himself, seem perplexed by this. … Read More
Fun Fact Of The Day
"Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you're in Romney territory." — Associated Press story It should be noted that Romney would be in the top 1% based solely on the income he receives in one week. But I think Steve Benen is right: The problem isn't that Romney … Read More
It’s Over For Newt
Tomorrow will make it official, but it's curtains for Newt. Every available bit of polling data shows a strong trend in favor of Mitt Romney in the Florida. Nate Silver’s fairly conservative projections now indicate a 13-point win for Romney. The inevitable end to Newt's campaign was also spelled out symbolically when he picked up the endorsements of Herman Cain and Sarah Palin. ' … Read More
Last Night’s Debate
I missed it, but from what I gather, Santorum was the one who actually "won" (just like last one I watched), but nobody is going to declare him the victor because he has no chance of winning the nomination. Apparently, I understand that Romney was more agressive against Newt, and some of Newt's attacks (like his now-expected attack on the … Read More
“Ouch”: The Bob Dole Non-Endorsement of Newt Gingrich
I've emboldened my favorite parts. Here it is: I have not been critical of Newt Gingrich but it is now time to take a stand before it is too late. If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has … Read More
The Election Scam That Isn’t
Republicans are concerned, or pretend to be, about voter fraud. They want voter ID laws to prevent all this fraud. It just so happens that voter ID laws discriminate against minorities and the poor (who tend to vote Democratic), but that's not why Republicans are doing it. It is because of the massive voter fraud. Massive, I tells ya! Like what … Read More
Newt Pledges Moon Base By Second Term
That's the headline. It's also the beginning of his very fast plummet, mark my words. UPDATE: Yup, the Newt peak is short-lived…
Gingrich’s Outrage Contained Lies
We all remember it. It was just a few days ago. John King asked Newt Gingrich about his second wife's allegations relating to an open marriage. Gingrich clutched his pearls and said he was shocked, shocked, that such a question would be asked in a presidential debate. He added: "The story was false. Every personal friend I have who knew … Read More
The SOTU
Missed the SOTU speech, but heard it was a barn-burner. Some liberal commentators were concerned because he left nothing for the convention speech. From what I understand, he tapped into the income inequality issue bigtime. He didn't position himself as an anti-capitalist — he just wants to make it such that everyone pays their fair share and the burdens aren't … Read More