Santorum Quits

Why now? Why not two months ago?

Whatever he says in his formal announcement, here's the real deal. He was headed for a humiliating defeat in his home state of Pennsylvania. Republicans had already made it quite clear that they did not want a social conservative who is actually a progressive and favors using big government to promulgate his personal ideas of morality on the country. And there was no statistical way he could have won the nomination.

The only trick he had left in his bag was a divisive, scorched earth floor fight to feed his personal anger and ego. And I'm reasonably certain that some of the GOP's movers and shakers made a phone call or two to Mr. Santorum warning him that if he played that game, his future in the Republican party was a memory.

By getting out now, he can keep his hopes alive for a 2016 race if Obama wins, and maybe push his way into a gig at FOX or one of the alphabet networks as a talking head. As a good example of the kind of phoney 'conservative' boogie man the Left adores parading, I'd be surprised if the offers weren't already coming in.

Senator Santorum deserves credit for doing his very best to tie up the party in a divisive primary long after it was necessary that used up time and resources better spent unseating the current occupant of the White House. Not only that, but he ignored Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment and provided the Obama Campaign with a decent amount of material to use against the GOP nominee, Mitt Romney.

Thanks loads, Rick! Good riddance.

A Romney Sweep? Primaries In Wisconsin, Maryland And DC

The GOP contest for the nomination continues today, with three primaries and 98 delegates up for grabs.

According to most polls, Mitt Romney is expected to win all three handily.

Governor Romney spent most of yesterday traveling the Badger State accompanied by Rep. Paul Ryan,who has endorsed Romney. In his stump speech, Romney continues to ignore Rick Santorum and focus on the main challenge, the upcoming contest with President Barack Obama.

“He takes his political inspiration from the capitals of Europe,” Mr. Romney told supporters in Green Bay. “His version of a perfect world is a big-spending big government.”

Santorum, on the other hand continues to attack Romney and mocking republicans who think the race is over.

Presently, Governor Romney has far more delegates than all of his rivals combined.

In Wisconsin, the focus is not as much onth eGOP Presidential primary as it is on the Democrat's efforts to unseat Governor Scott Walker, with the Democrats and public employee unions spending millions on a recall election scheduled for this June.

Scorched Earth: Santorum Says GOP Floor Fight At Convention Would 'Energize Party'

More proof, if any more were needed, that Rick Santorum is unfit to be president:

Rick Santorum says a fight at the GOP convention over the party's presidential nominee would be "energizing" for the party.

Campaigning in Wisconsin Monday, Santorum pressed his argument that front-runner Mitt Romney isn't the strongest Republican to go up against President Barack Obama in the fall.

The former Pennsylvania senator says a convention floor fight over which candidate should be Obama's general election opponent would be a "fascinating display of open democracy" and would encourage more Republican voters to participate.

This is likely a response to polls showing him losing tomorrow in the Wisconsin winner-take-all primary tomorrow..not to mention the primaries in Maryland and DC.

The idea that some disgruntled failed candidate would try to set off a bomb at the GOP convention just to massage his own ego and try rationalize the damage that would do to himself by saying it would be 'energizing' is simply disgraceful.As I've noted before on other occasions, he doesn't deal with pressure well. President Obama would destroy him in the general election.

Did Senator Santorum forget the main exercise, ridding the country of President Barack Obama? Is he so wrapped up in his own feelings that he thinks a prolonged floor fight televised nationally is going to contribute to that effort?

It's interesting to note that in 2008, Mitt Romney withdrew from the race when he was doing far better than Rick Santorum ( a decision CPAC mourned) and urged people to strive for party unity to defeat Obama and get behind John McCain, the presumptive nominee at that time.

Governor Romney, say whatever else you want about him, is a man who thinks big, beyond himself. Senator Santorum is a much smaller man.He needs to do some real soul searching at this point.

Romney On Jay Leno: 'Rick Santorum For Press Secretary'

Yesterday,after a fresh round of attacking Governor Romney, Rick Santorum magnanimously announced that he'd be willing to serve as Mitt Romney's vice president. Here's Romney's hilarious answer, on Jay Leno's show...

Santorum: 4 More Years Of Obama Better Than Romney

Like I said previously, one of Rick Santorum's weaknesses is that he doesn't handle pressure well.

His latest, in response to a crushing loss in Illinois? That four more years of President Obama would be better than electing Mitt Romney.

“You win by giving people a choice. You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future.”

Even Newt Gingrich did a double take on that one, tweeting, “Rick Santorum is dead wrong. Any GOP nominee will be better than Obama.”

The Etch A Sketch remark refers to an interview a Romney campaign aide gave on CNN where he made an unfortunate remark to the effect that “everything changes” for the fall campaign. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.”

If you take the out of context remark to mean that all presidential candidates campaign towards the center once the primaries are over, it's the simple truth but poorly phrased, to say the least.

For Santorum to make statements like this is so far over the top its ridiculous.He obviously never heard of Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment.

For one thing, calling Mitt Romney 'just a little bit different' than President Obama is absolute lunacy, as is speculating that another four years like the ones we've just seen would be anything but disastrous for the country. For another, it's actually Rick Santorum who is a lot closer to President Obama..just from the other side of the spectrum. He's certainly not a conservative.

At this point, all but the diehards are urging him to think about quitting the race. I doubt he will, especially with the Louisiana primary coming up where Louisiana's Catholics can be expected to vote for him and he's favored to win.

Senator Santorum has proven on many levels that he's not ready for prime time. There's no way he can win, and the longer he stays in, the more he helps President Obama's effort for re-election. He needs to put the country ahead of his own ego and get out of the race.

UPDATE: Walkback city...Santorum now has 'clarified' his remarks to say he'll vote for whomever the GOP nominee is against President Obama.Notice he said "vote for" rather than support. Pathetic.

Which Way Is The GOP Race Headed?

Now that the Illinois primary is over, it might be a good time to actually examine the GOP race in the cold light of fact. And the fact is that Rick Santorum faces an almost impossible task in getting the GOP nomination barring something crazy happening. And that's especially true since he lost huge in Illinois tonight.

Let's take a brief look at the actual math involved.

To get the nomination, you need 1,144 delegates.

Right now, not taking Illinois 54 delegates into account, Mitt Romney has 521 delegates, while Rick Santorum has 253. Newt Gingrich, who's no longer really a factor has 135.

There are 289 unbound 'super delegates' not pledged to Santorum, Gingrich or Paul. Mitt Romney already has 33 of those delegates..giving him a total of 554.

The next slew of upcoming primaries include 329 delegates who will be awarded on a winner take all basis, all in states Romney is heavily favored to win - Maryland (37), Washington DC (16), Delaware (17),California (169), NewJersey (50), and Utah (40) that gives Romney a total of 883, not counting Romney's Illinois win ( 54 delegates) , not counting any delegates Romney picks up in other states that award delegates proportionately and not counting any additional super delegates that get behind the front runner, as they always do towards the end.

The other upcoming proportional primaries in New York (95 delegates) and Rhode Island ( 19 delegates) also strongly favor Romney.

Even if Rick Santorum wins the only other winner take all primary in Wisconsin, (42 delegates), even if he wins most of Louisiana's 46 delegates, even if he manages to get most of the delegates in his home state of Pennsylvania, even if he wins the majority of the 155 delegates in Texas ( and I think both Texas and Pennsylvania going totally to Santorum are doubtful ) the math just isn't there for him to get to 1,144.

Unless Mitt Romney commits such a huge gaffe that he simply knocks himself out of the race.

What I think this means is that both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich need to do some serious thinking. Both of them say they want to defeat Barack Obama in November, and neither of them have any strategy left to get the nomination outside of some kind of sabotage at the convention.

Meanwhile, as the contentious GOP primary continues eating up oxygen and money,President Obama is flying around the country at the taxpayer's expense and building his campaign and his war chest unimpeded.

I hope both of them sit back, take a deep breath and reflect on these two facts.

Gingrich's Supporters Evenly Split Between Mitt and Rick For Second Choice

Now this is interesting.

According to Gallup:



Apparently if Newt Gingrich drops out of the race (and I doubt he will unless he runs out of money) Santorum might not benefit as much as some people think.

Apparently some people have noticed that in spite of his labeling himself a 'conservative', he's really just a Big Government guy from the other side of the spectrum.

(h/t, Ace)

The Latest Proof Rick Santorum Is No Conservative

His latest crusade? In a statement on his website, he promises "vigorous enforcement" of laws that “prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier.”

“The Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography and has refused to enforce obscenity laws.”

Regardless of how you feel about pornography, keep in mind that this is exactly how the Left behaves..stretching laws and engaging in selective prosecution in order to impose its morality on the general public.

What Santorum would have to do to put this into place is quite interesting.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the private possession of most kinds of porn is not illegal, there's no particular protection for distribution.

What a President Santorum would have to do, first of all, is shut down a $14 billion plus industry completely. To put this in perspective, that's bigger than the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball combined.

That would include blocking domestic websites, shutting down rental channels, studios and outlets that retail DVDs. Aside from the dislocation taking a $14 billion industry down and putting thousands of people out of work would cause in an already shaky economy, it's a fact that a number of very large corporations have a significant amount of money invested in these companies, and they're not going to let these valuable assets be destroyed without a long, bitter and expensive court fight.

And that also doesn't account for the fact that Rick Santorum's standards on what's obscene likely differ quite a bit from the mainstream. That's another recipe for court fights galore, especially when the selective prosecutions start.

To add to the irony, foreign websites and marketers would be unaffected...unless President Santorum either goes to congress to get legislation for blanket filters for foreign sites or simply decides to impose by executive order if the votes aren't there. Sounds like another president we're familiar with, doesn't it? And just where does the line get drawn according to Mr. Santorum? Just porn, is it going to include sex toys as well? Is he planning on reviving the sodomy laws too? In his statement Santorm pledges to appoint an Attorney General that would carry out his wishes to the letter.

Don't misunderstand me. I can empathize with the feelings people have about what talk show host Laura Ingraham calls 'the pornification of the culture'. But frankly if people wish to watch what I'll call mainstream porn (the naked bodies of consenting adults assuming various poses or engaging in various kinds of sexual activities) they have a perfect right to, and the cure someone like Rick Santorum proposes is far worse than the disease. People, at some point, need to take a certain responsibility for what they read, see, or allow into their homes.

This is simply Big Nanny Government from the Right side of the spectrum, and it tastes just as foul as it does coming from the other side.

I can only imagine what the Obama Campaign would do with this if Santorum actually got the nomination. If you absolutely hate Mitt Romney and are firmly in Santorum's camp for whatever reason, I'm sure nothing I say would convince you, but it would be an absolute disaster for him to be the GOP candidate.

If he's the nominee and runs against Obama, I'll vote for him, holding my nose while I do it. I'd vote for Daffy Duck instead of the current occupant of the White House. But mark my words....a Santorum - Obama match up is going to look a lot like the map after election day in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson ran against Barry Goldwater.

The War Goes On - Santorum Wins Alabama And Mississippi, Romney Wins The Most Delegates

Rick Santorum won decisively in yesterday's Alabama primary, and managed to eke out a win over Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in Mississippi, while Romney easily won Hawaii and American Samoa.

However, in terms of delegates, Mitt Romney increased his lead, ending up with 41 delegates as opposed to 35 for Santorum and 24 for Newt Gingrich, who finished second in both states.Romney wins in both Hawaii and American Samoa and his showing in Alabama and Mississippi enabled him to come out ahead.

What this means is that the bloodletting en route to the GOP convention in Tampa is going to continue, sucking up money and infrastructure and keeping the spotlight off President Obama and his record.

It's pretty easy to figure out why Romney didn't do better than he did..the Deep South is not exactly friendly territory for Mormons, and unlike other states, the Evangelicals broke heavily for Santorum.In pre-election polls, Romney wasn't given a prayer of winning anyway.And Newt Gingrich's constant referring to Romney as 'the Massachusetts Moderate' could also be counted on to stir up a few long-standing regional prejudices.

It remains to be seen whether those numbers would hold up in the general if Romney ends up being the nominee.

For Rick Santorum, it was a badly needed win. It's obvious that Santorum has successfully positioned himself as the Anti-Romney candidate. He's now finished ahead of Newt Gingrich in 20 out of 24 state match ups.

What isn't clear for both Ric Santorum and Newt Gingrich is to see how they get to the magic number of 1,144 delegates needed to get the nomination. Santorum now faces winner take all contests in DC (where's he's not on the ballot), Delaware, New Jersey, Utah - and California, if this goes on that long. Mitt Romney is well placed to win all 6 contests, and given his count already and how he's likely to do in the other states where delegates are awarded proportionately, it's hard to see how either Gingrich or Santorum make the nut, unless something crazy happens.

Gingrich pretty much realizes that now, and is already talking about a 'Santorum-Gingrich alliance.' I think he's kidding himself. In spite of the bad blood between Romney and Santorum, if Rick Santorum finishes that close to the money, a Romney-Santorum ticket is much more likely.Gingrich simply isn't going to end up with enough to bring to the table.

Keep in mind that most delegates are bound to vote the way they're pledged for only the first ballot. The possibility of a brokered convention just got a lot more likely.

Michigan Primary: Santorum A Willing Tool For Daily Kos And Soros Media In RoboCalls

A few weeks ago, the far Left site Daily Kos suggested that 'progressives' vote en masse for Rick Santorum in the open Michigan GOP primary , someone they clearly see as the weaker and more easily beatable candidate. Talking Points Memo and the rest of the Soros media slaves soon picked up on the idea, and they found a willing tool in Santorum himself.

Santorum blanketed Michigan with robocalls criticizing Mitt Romney for opposing the GM and Chrysler bailouts:

“On Tuesday, join Democrats who are going to send a loud message to Massachusetts Mitt Romney.” says the Santorum robo call to Michigan Democrats.

“Romney supported the bailout for his billionaire buddies but opposed the auto bailout. That was a slap in the face to every Michigan worker,” the robo call adds. It ends with the line: “Paid for by Rick Santorum.”

Of course,the call doesn't mention that Rick Santorum also opposed the auto bailout.

It's interesting that just a few weeks ago in Minnesota, Rick Santorum was strongly against open primaries like Michigan's, saying: "We want the activists of the party, the people who make up the backbone of the Republican Party to have a say in who our nominee is as opposed to a bunch of people who don't even identify themselves as Republicans picking our nominee. I don't like that. I believe that states should only allow Republicans to vote in Republican primaries."

Ah well. Like Boss Tweed, he seen his opportunities and he took 'em.

The way things appear to be playing out now, Mitt Romney is projected to have achieved a narrow win in Michigan, 41.3% against 38.7% for Rick Santorum. Arizona is still voting, but expected to be a decisive win for Romney.

Michigan awards it delegates proportionally on a congressional district basis, while Arizona is winner take all. So all Rick Santorum appears to have done is shown that he's more than willing to embrace some fairly sleazy behavior while actually achieving very little. And of course, keeping this going for himself a bit longer.

For interested parties, Newt Gingrich ended up finishing dead last,with projected tally of about 6.5% of the vote while Ron Paul ended up with 11.2% as of this writing.

GOP Agonistes - Last Night's Debate

As always, I watch these things so you don't have to. But truthfully, there's more meat in what didn't happen and what shouldn't have happened than what actually did.

What shouldn't have happened is 20 odd GOP debates, especially with people like John King and George Stephanopoulos as 'moderators'. Half as many would have served equally well, and with a far different group of people running them.

The only people who benefited from this nonsense were the Obama campaign and its assorted media lackeys with a vested interest in seeing our Dear Leader re-elected. And the overkill has arguably turned a GOP base that was engaged and ready to get behind a standard bearer to take on probably the most dismally failed presidency in U.S. history into a jaded group that will now have to be re-energized by whomever is the nominee.

I still remain amazed that the Republican candidates agreed to perform in this circus. You would think they'd know better. The doubling down by the candidates last night on the Obama campaign's birth control setup when they should have been talking about taxes, jobs and gas prices was beyond embarrassing, and there were oly two bright spots. First, Mitt Romney's slapdown of John King's attempt to interrupt him in mid answer and drive the agenda.

Second Newt Gingrich's reminding the world that President Obama is a rabid fan of infanticide with a position more extreme than NARAL's, and that the media never questioned it and did their best to cover it up during the 2008 campaign. Unfortunately, he didn't go into more detail on what a hideous revelation this actually is and what is says about the current occupant of the White House. In more enlightened times, Barack Obama would have been driven out of decent society by that alone.

Last night's debate was Rick Santorum's chance to prove that he was ready for prime time, could trade punches with the big boys and is capable of taking President Obama on. He isn't, he can't and he's not.

It doesn't matter that some of the attack lines were unfair or unreasonable. It was Senator Santorum's task to hit them back over the net at his opponents, and he didn't, not in any convincing way. This leads me to believe that as likeable as he is, he has problems performing under pressure, something I've noticed more than once. And petulantly claiming after the fact that the fix was in and people are ganging up on him is not something that inspires confidence.

Another point worth mentioning was Senator Santorum's demeanor. Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich appeared relaxed and confident. Santorum appeared anxious and ill at ease, like a man with a jock strap one size too small.

If he's behaving like this now, one can only imagine what he'll be like he's debating President Obama i a debate 'moderated' by PBS when the fix will really be in and anything he's said in the past that's remotely questionable will be warped, taken out of context and looped endlessly by Soros' media galley slaves.

Republicans as well as the American people seem to be taking a more critical look at Rick Santorum as well. From having a solid lead in Michigan, he's now pretty much dead even with Romney, who is also up in favorability ratings against Obama according to Gallup.

Mitt Romney actually had a fairly decent night of it, and his tying of Santorum's endorsement of RINO Arlen Spector to the passing of ObamaCare ( Spector was one of the deciding votes) was a blow that caught Santorum flat footed and really hurt him.

The voting in Arizona and Michigan cometh, and it remains to be seen whether Rick Santorum's performance last night hurt him. I think it did, and badly.

Jesus, The Devil And The GOP

As Rick Santorum surged to become the Republican party frontrunner, I predicted that the Left and their media lackeys were going to frame him as a religious extremist nutcase. And that they'd have plenty of help from a great many things the Senator has said over the years.

The problem is not so much the demonization - that would be expected towards anyone running against our Dear Leader in 2012 - but the way it's been handled by Santorum and his campaign. And the fact that he actually is an outspoken social conservative who favors big government solutions to the issues.

Instead of saying something along the lines of 'this president wants to make this campaign about religious faith and contraception to deflect the American people from looking at his abysmal record and his mismanagement of the economy', Senator Santorum jumps in and questions the president's Christian values, calling the president’s environmental extremism representative of a “phony theology”....instead of hammering him on Solyndra and the green energy scams involving millions of taxpayer dollars doled out to deserving campaign contributors. Or going into a few details on what the president's war on coal and oil companies has done to the price of food, gas and commodities for the average American.

Even worse, after getting nailed by the media frenzy, he walked it back, saying he 'of course' wasn't really questioning Barack Obama's Christian values. After which the regime's media lackeys unearthered past video snippets of the senator doing exactly that!

Assuming he felt he had to mention theology at all, just imagine if instead of backing off he'd doubled down like this:

"I actually do question the president's values. No one who sat in Reverend Jeremiah Wright's church for two decades and listened to the bile featured there could possibly call himself a Christian, in my view. Nor would a Christian vote to deny medical care to living infants who survived an abortion, a position more extreme than even NARAL's. Or hold a luxurious Superbowl party while women, children and old people were freezing to death in Kentucky and FEMA dragged its feet for weeks .

I don't know what President Obama's religious views are, and it has no bearing on the issues of this campaign. But in my opinion, he does not reflect Christian values as I've understood them since childhood."

Of course, Rick Santorum did nothing of the kind - which is exactly why he's likely headed for defeat in the general election against the president.

Senator Santorum is a decent, likeable man with very little executive experience and apparently no real understanding of what its going to take to defeat President Obama in November. Even worse, he's essentially a big government conservative who insists on making a crusade out of cultural, religious and social issues.

'Satan has his eyes on America'? The definition of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is 'to do the morally right thing'? How religious do you have to be to board this train, and who judges?

And the fact that Senator Santorum is correct in much of what he had to say doesn't matter one bit. Moderates and even small government conservatives are going to jump off the train in droves if Rick Santorum is the nominee.

Rush Limbaugh, astute observer that he is instantly realized how bad it's going to be to try to defeat President Obama on religious values rather than his abysmal performance in the Oval Office.

Nor has Mitt Romney been doing much better of late. While he would probably do better against the president in the general, he also seems to lack the fire to take this president on in the way he's going to have to if he wants win. And he has noticeably failed to excite the base.

Again, it seems to me that the GOP movers and shakers have decided to forfeit this election, at least as far as the presidential race is concerned. They're probably figuring on the economy collapsing somewhere during Obama's second term and picking up the pieces in 2016.

Except there are a few points they're leaving out of their calculation.

First, the down ticket effect of a GOP loss means that at best, control of Congress is going to remain split between the two parties. At worst, it could mean a Democrat takeover of both Houses.

That means ObamaCare isn't going to be repealed and that President Obama will have four more years to incorporate his radical agenda. This country will be unrecognizable by 2016, and the fiscal nightmare we're facing might not even be repairable by 2016 no matter who gets into the Oval Office. You can also count on President Obama to continue to gut our military and to worsen the foreign policy blunders that even now are starting to become evident.

Second, the next president is going to be able to pick two new Supreme Court Justices at least, and looking at whom the president's choices have been thus far you can just imagine what he's going to pack the Court with. The ramifications will go on for decades.

And third, if the GOP establishment figures things are going to fall nicely into their laps in 2016, they're going to be in for a rude awakening. 2012 might be the last time the American people are going to trust them with governing.

The election of 2012 was an election the Republicans should have been able to win handily.If they fail to unseat President Obama I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see them go the way of the Whigs, as a new party forms to try and restore our Republic and takes in a lot of the old Reagan coalition, including a lot of the GOP's rising stars .

Santorum Time?

It appears after his caucus sweep last week, Senator Rick Santorum is finally getting what he wanted all along - a two man race against Mitt Romney.

Santorum has surged, tying Mitt Romany in the Gallup polls and Pew shows Santorum actually beating him in Michigan.

Also helping to move Senator Santorum into a solid position was a successful appearance at CPAC, as opposed to Governor Romney awkward characterization of himself as a 'severe conservative.'

As I mentioned a long time ago, Rick Santorum is a likeable man of high character who is also a big government style conservative, and one whose insistence on pushing social conservative issues is going to hurt him badly with the electorate:

One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the whole sexual libertine idea … Many in the Christian faith have said, “Well, that’s okay … contraception’s okay.”

It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. They’re supposed to be within marriage, for purposes that are, yes, conjugal … but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen. We take any part of that out, we diminish the act. And if you can take one part out that’s not for purposes of procreation, that’s not one of the reasons, then you diminish this very special bond between men and women, so why can’t you take other parts of that out? And all of a sudden, it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure. And that’s certainly a part of it—and it’s an important part of it, don’t get me wrong—but there’s a lot of things we do for pleasure, and this is special, and it needs to be seen as special.

Again, I know most presidents don’t talk about those things, and maybe people don’t want us to talk about those things, but I think it’s important that you are who you are. I’m not running for preacher. I’m not running for pastor, but these are important public policy issues.

No, senator,these are private matters, not public policy issues. The idea is to get government off our backs and out of our lives to the degree possible, not to bring them into our bedrooms. There's far too much of that already.

I admit to being a bit dispirited over the events of the last few weeks. Given how both front runners have handled themselves, I almost think that the movers and shakers in the GOP have already conceded this election and are setting their sights on 2016. I hope I'm wrong.

Given that the budget for the first two years of the next president's term has already been spent and squandered, their thinking just might be to let President Obama fully inherit and own the abysmal mess he has made for us all rather than saddling a Republican president with it.

The problem there is that Supreme Court justices go on for a long time, that I'm not certain how the country will weather four more years of misgovernment and that if the Republicans blow this election, it might just end up being their last.

New Life For Santorum As He Sweeps primaries

Senator Rick Santorum's campaign got a major boost in last night's primaries and caucuses,winning decisively in in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

In Minnesota's caucuses, Santorum won with 45 percent of the vote. Congressman Ron Paul was in second place with 27 percent and Mitt Romney was third at 17 percent.

Santorum beat Romney by 30 percentage points in Missouri, 55 percent to 25 percent. That vote was a so-called 'beauty contest', a non-binding primary with no delegates at stake, but it had value as an indicator of support in a battleground state.

In the Colorado caucuses, Santorum won by 5 percentage points over Romney, 40 percent to 35 percent.

Several things can be drawn from this.

First, the attacks on Romney are likely having an effect. Second, Rick Santorum is now the 'anti-Romney' in the GOP race, and Newt Gingrich is likely on his way out unless something changes.And third, while this shows Santorum has some momentum it also shows that his support may be somewhat limited. With the exception of Missouri,all of his wins have come in caucus states, and as I've explained before, the name of the game in caucus states is to get your foot soldiers out to the various caucuses in bad weather and dominate them. All three of last night's contests, by the way, had notably low turnouts.

In the other states with actual primaries ( New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina) Senator Santorum has not done well..and the results from Florida and South Carolina might indicate trouble for him in the South.

Nevertheless, it was a good night for Rick Santorum, and I'm hoping to see the race narrow down to him and Romney shortly.

South Carolina...And Beyond

I'm not encouraged by the results last night.

There's absolutely nothing more President Obama and the Democrats want than a prolonged, drawn out primary campaign that spews bad blood and wastes resources..while the president continues to consolidate his re-election campaign unopposed on all fronts.

Obviously a part of Saturday's result had to do with the despicable way the dinosaur media besmirched itself and Newt Gingrich's spirited response. The press launched outrageous attacks on both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney and it was refreshing to see them slapped around for it. So the voters of South Carolina apparently surged at the last minute for Newt Gingrich, giving him a lopsided victory over Mitt Romney.

This is all very well, but is 'sending a message' what's wanted or needed? Especially if it means re-electing President Obama, or even worse, putting another unfit individual in the Oval Office?

I want emphasize again that there is no true Reagan-type conservative in this race as of yet. Newt Gingrich in his own words is a Teddy Roosevelt-style progressive , Rick Santorum leans towards 'compassionate conservatism ' ala' George W. Bush and Ron Paul is an isolationist conspiracy theorist fruitcake, while Mitt Romney as I've pointed out before is a pragmatist rather than an ideological conservative, who bends according to what he feels he can get accomplished.

None of them is going to change the climate in Washington significantly, so competence and character take on an increased significance.At present, we have neither embodied in our current president, and it's essential he be defeated.

The simple fact is that in my opinion, Newt Gingrich lacks the basic character and demeanor to be president.

Intelligent and articulate? Definitely so, but much of his career has been a series of questionable and self-serving events. In that, he resembles both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who also saw government as a path to personal entitlement and wealth.The incident of his throwing a tantrum during his tenure as Speaker over being seated in the rear of Air Force One en route to the Rabin funeral and being asked to deplane via the rear exit upon returning is a revealing one.

If you look at the Republican members of Congress he led, not only did they ask him to resign as Speaker but few of them if any have anything good to say about him or his leadership. That says something to me ...as does his personal history.

The thing that bothers me most about Newt's Gingrich's story with both his ex-wives is not the adultery per se - stuff happens, after all - or the 'he said she said' stuff, but a simple, easily proven fact - in both cases, he started sniffing around, found someone willing to cheat with him and dumped wife # 1 and wife #2 once he found out they had become ill, #1 with cancer and #2 with MS.

To my mind, that's simply not how a decent man acts.And again, it says a great deal about how he would conduct himself as president.We had a number of similar danger signs about both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Admittedly, Newt Gingrich would likely squash President Obama in a debate, but only if there's actually a debate. President Obama is not obligated to hold one, and if the president is significantly ahead in the polls,he might use the excuse that he's simply 'too busy' running the country to do so. Meanwhile President Obama's shills in the dinosaur media would be broadcasting every nuance of Newt Gingrich's foibles - and there's quite a bit to get into.

In short, even if he were to win, there's a good chance we might come to regret a President Gingrich for the reasons I outline here. Character is destiny, as a very wise man once said centuries ago.

My preferred candidate chose to sit things out in Wasilla, and I did a great deal of thinking about the GOP field, based more on what I consider character and fitness for office rather than ideology or a chimera like 'electability'. All the stuff about the GOP establishment aside, there are a lot of reasons I consider Mitt Romney to be the most qualified and the best choice based on the field as it exists today.

If Newt Gingrich runs against Barack Obama, I will vote for him, but with my nose held and with a deep sense of foreboding. I simply don't think he's what the country needs at this juncture. People change, but we had better think very carefully before we anoint him.

My good friend Hube also weighs in on this subject here.

The Disgrace Of The Fourth Estate - The Obama Media Group

Interesting times, to say the least.

President Obama's surrogates in the dinosaur media are wasting no time in attempting to clear the way for him the same way this president has always won elections - by using Alinskyite tactics to destroy opponents in advance.

It worked with Jack Ryan, whose divorce records were mysteriously unsealed by Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama's pals on the Chicago Tribune to the point where Ryan dropped out of the race and Obama coasted to an easy victory in a race he likely would have lost otherwise.

It was done to John McCain, where the campaign started with a bogus front page New York Times story about an affair he supposedly had with a lobbyist, and even continued with attacks on his war record, his age and his spouse's character.

And it was done to Governor Sarah Palin, with tons of opposition researchers combing Alaska, the setting up an entire network of local Democrat operatives, using the Journolist network to plan media strategy to demonize her, having the campaign collude with with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson in advance of the Palin interviews, mounting an organized attempt to bankrupt the Palin family and even stooping to attacking her children.

The same forces are at work once again. We've already seen the media hit jobs on Michele Bachmann attacking her religion, her relationship with her husband, and her generosity of spirit in adopting foster children. We saw how anxious the media were to jump on Herman Cain. We saw how the dinosaur media attacked the record of one of the most successful governors in America. Rick Perry.

And now, the assault is focused on Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

I think Rush Limbaugh is entirely correct that Matt Drudge threw a monkey wrench into the works by exposing the ABC interview with Newt Gingrich's ex-wife in advance.

The day before, ABC had gone after Mitt Romney with two stories so bogus they don't even qualify as intelligent commentary, let alone journalism. The first one attacked his Mormon faith directly and his charitable contributions to the Church of the LDS in terms that were designed to convey the impression of a sinister, behind the scenes religious right wing mafia in which Governor Romney's part was now 'newly uncovered'. The second focused on portraying him as a tax cheat and plutocrat with 'millions parked in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven'.

The original waited until the very end of the story to inform you that what Governor Romney was doing was entirely legal and that he pays taxes on the money. It has since been changed to include a line in the second paragraph saying 'spokesperson for the Romney campaign says Romney follows all tax laws and he would pay the same in taxes regardless of where the funds are based.'

A number of people sounded off in the comments section on how ridiculous the article was. Here's a sampling:

This article is completely uninformed and misleading. Investment groups use Cayman entities to avoid DOUBLE taxation of capital gains for foreign investors. It is not in any way depriving the US IRS of any money it is entitled to. There is no "hidden" money in this. Will the reporters simply call any reasonable corporate attorney who knows about fund formation to understand this, and then do the responsible thing - retract their story or clarify the intent of these Cayman investments. It is driving me crazy to even think about how misleading this article is. And judging by the comments, people are buying into it. Again, ask ANY corporate attorney that knows about fund formation. There is NO tax evasion that comes from this, and there is NO undeclared money in these Cayman funds. This is allowing international investors to invest through a single Cayman entity as opposed to investing through hundreds of foreign companies (German, Italian, Singaporean, etc.).


Very common for American Companies to set up operations in Cayman Islands an Bermuda. Virtually all major corporations do it. The impact has been litigated several times overs - and the tax rules are clear cut. It is common largely for corporations that self insure. There aren't all that many jobs connected with the overseas operations - a few accountants generally. Some of the resasons they do it have to do with holding foreign currencies. I don't think it is allowed here - but managing currency re-evaluations is a major risk management necessity for corporations. Nothing to see here.


Average Americans making $36,000 - $55,000 only pay 3.1% in income tax.yes, 3.1%, that's it.I'm actually impressed that Romney pays 15%, because take Obama's buddy, Warren Buffett, for example: Warren Buffett is far, far more wealthy than Romney,and Warren Buffett pays Less Than 1% in income tax.


I am writing in response to your article about Mitt Romney's use of Cayman vehicles. This is truly irresponsible reporting. I know first-hand about these structures, and they are completely legitimate. There is NOTHING unethical about this as the article's innuendo implies. This is legitimate, ethical, and the responsible thing for Bain to do for its investors. The motive for doing this is exactly as they explained. The corporations that Bain invests in pay their corporate taxes. The partners at Bain pay taxes. The investors in Bain pay taxes. They are helping their investors avoid DOUBLE taxation on capital gains. A foreign investor in say... Germany can buy a US company stock in Germany on the stock exchange. The US company will pay its taxes, so the IRS gets everything it is due. The German stockholder is ONLY liable for capital gains taxes in Germany, not the US. Now for a fund like Bain, they have investors in many countries. If Bain sets up a US corporation, LLC, or Partnership as the holding vehicle for all of their investors, then every investor will be subject to US capital gains taxes - even if they have no business, presence, or operation in the US. Then they will also have to pay their taxes in their homeland. This is ONLY because of using a US holding company. If the German investor invested directly through a German company, they would not be subject to US capital gains taxes. It isn't practical for a company like Bain to set up hundreds of holding companies for each country that they have an investor from, so they set it up in a tax jurisdiction that is neutral such as the Caymans. That way Bain doesn't have to set up hundreds of holding vehicles, and foreign investors who WOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY US TAXES ON CAPITAL GAINS ANYWAY can all invest through one vehicle. This is to reduce the number of necessary entities and avoid DOUBLE taxation on capital gains, not to avoid taxes period.


Being a CPA, I know that dividends and capital gains are taxes at a 15% tax rate, What this article fails to mention is that this income comes from corporations that pay 35% in income taxes. Therefore the effective rate of this income is closer to 50%.

The entire idea was to slime Romney enough so that Gingrich either won South Carolina or finished a strong second and then unleash the interview from his ex-wife to take him out as well. Matt Drudge simply forced them to unleash it prematurely..not that it mattered to the media. CNN's John King's opening question in last night debate was to ask Newt Gingrich to respond to his ex-wife's recent television interview describing his desire for an open marriage. Gingrich's response:

GINGRICH: I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.(APPLAUSE)

KING: Is that all you want to say, sir?

GINGRICH: Let me finish.

KING: Please.

GINGRICH: Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine. (APPLAUSE)

My two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate. (APPLAUSE)

KING: As you noted, Mr. Speaker, this story did not come from our network. As you also know, it is a subject of conversation on the campaign. I'm not -- I get your point. I take your point.

GINGRICH: John -- John, it was repeated by your network. You chose to start the debate with it. Don't try to blame somebody else. You and your staff chose to start this debate with it. (APPLAUSE)

Let me be quite clear. Let me be quite clear. The story is false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period said the story was false. We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren't interested because they would like to attack any Republican. They're attacking the governor. They're attacking me. I'm sure they'll presently get around to Senator Santorum and Congressman Paul.

I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans.

Actually, they're already getting around to Rick Santorum, alleging that his wife had an affair with an abortionist before the Santorum's marriage - as if that has any place in a presidential campaign. They will not go after Ron Paul in great detail, and I've already explained to you why.

Meanwhile, hardly anyone in the dinosaur media has any interest in exploring Fast and Furious, Solyndra and the other Green Energy scams. Or President Obama's relationship with the Nation of Islam, Rashid Khalidi, Khalid al-Mansour and Edward Said, or his corrupt deals with people like jailed bagman Tony Rezco, Big Pharma and a host of others.

With few exceptions, they aren't journalists in any sense 0f the word. They aren't even commentators for the most part, because commentators of whatever viewpoint usually attempt to present things honestly from their own viewpoints.

They're just campaign operatives in masquerade, following marching orders from upstairs including from the White House. They're simply bought and paid for whores, with the exception that a whore generally provides value for money.

They're worthy of no respect or consideration whatsoever, and it's about time people let them know about it, and often.

Tonight's Debate: The Palmetto Ping Pong Match

Four of the five GOP candidates obviously had a mission tonight, and it wasn't to tell Republicans how they were going to defeat Obama - it was to try and derail Mitt Romney,the front runner.

I doubt they gained much ground.

One positive thing is that this particular debate was moderated by FOX, so partisan antics by the likes of people like George Stephanopoulos were mercifully absent and a much more professional atmosphere ensued.

Newt Gingrich quite correctly caught some heat from Bret Baier about the anti-capitalist attacks on Romney, but also managed to get off a number of good lines, especially when Juan Williams tried to play the race card and accused Gingrich of belittling minorities for suggesting that poor, young kids be paid for "light janitorial work" at school.

Gingrich replied, "No, I don't see that."

"They'd be getting money, which is a good thing if you're poor. Only the elites despise earning money," he said to tremendous applause.

Romney continued to be basically untouched, and continued to concentrate on taking on President Obama.

"I know the Democrats are going to be showing videos of, you know, old people being thrown off cliffs and so forth. But don't forget who it was that cut Medicare by $500 billion, and that was President Obama to pay for Obamacare."

He also did a decent job of defending himself from the expected Bain Capital attacks.

Rick Perry accused Bain of coming into Georgetown, S.C., closing a steel mill and said Bain had "..picked that company over, and a lot of people lost jobs there", Romney replied that Bain had actually invested in two steel mills and invested for seven or eight years, but that the mills closed because of foreign competition which killed their business.

"Ultimately, what happened from abroad, dumping steel into this country, led to some 40 different steel mills being closed," Romney said. "I understand what happens when China cheats, or when others cheat and dump products into this country. That's one of the reasons I'm running, is to make sure we crack down on cheaters."

It's not so much cheating as the problem of unionized American steelworkers competing with Chinese labor, but he's essentially correct and Bain's steel mills weren't the only ones affected.

Romney defended his record at Bain, saying he invested in more than 100 businesses and had an overall successful record of job creation, which is normally what happens when businesses thrive.

"If people want to have someone who understands how the economy works, having worked in the real economy, then I'm the guy who can best post up against Barack Obama," he said.

The only two points were Romney was rocked back for a second concerned calls from Rick Perry and Rick Santorum for him to release his tax records,and accusations that he had failed to challenge a Massachusetts law that that allowed convicted felons to vote while still on parole.

Romeny's answer to the first was that he'd likely get around to doing it eventually, and to the second that he was faced with a state legislature that was 85% Democrat and realized it was a no win situation.

An interesting head to head occurred between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, of all people when Paul cited Santorum's record of voting for raising the national deficit, supporting Sarbanes-Oxley banking laws and voting against right-to-work labor laws, a particular sore point in South Carolina after the dust up over Boeing wanting to relocate jobs here. Santorum accused Paul of quoting left wing Soros backed sources for his information, but didn't really effectively dent them as untrue.

Overall, I don't think anyone particularly did any damage to Romney,although Newt Gingrich may have done himself some good in putting himslef back to the front - by a nose- of the anti-Romney forces.

Rick Santorum looked just uneven enough to give Gingrich the edge, and a lot of what came out tonight about Ron Paul's stance on the military will not play well in South Carolina, although his claim that taxes should be lowered to zero certainly raised a cheer.

Last Night's Debate - 'Moderator' Stephanopoulos Does His Bit For Obama

Last night's debate in New Hampshire was most notable for proving once again that Republicans and especially conservative Republicans should avoid the dinosaur media like the plague.

Last night's debate was hosted by ABC, and moderated by George Stephanopoulos - ex-campaign operative, Senior Advisor on Policy and Strategy and press spin jockey for President Bill Clinton, who walked into his job with ABC as soon as he resigned from the White House.

Stephanopoulos' 'moderating' lacked even a semblance of objectivity or journalistic ethics as he fired over the top broadsides , often hypothetical ones at the GOP candidates to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if he got an early morning call from the White House beforehand. Here's a sample:

“Now, there have been questions about that calculation of 100,000 jobs. So if you could explain it a little more,” Stephanopoulos asked Romney of the former governor’s claims about jobs created by companies he has helmed. “I’ve read some analysts who look at it and say that you’re counting the jobs that were created but not counting the jobs that were taken away. Is that accurate?”

“No, it’s not accurate,” Romney bluntly responded. “It includes the net of both. I’m a good enough numbers guy to make sure I got both sides of that.”

Stephanopoulos did not cite any analysts by name.

In another line of questioning, Stephanopoulos asked Romney if he believes “that states have the right to ban contraception, or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?”

Romney responded by questioning Stephanopoulos’ logic and his choice to raise a hypothetical situation that would never happen.

“You’re asking — given the fact that there’s no state that wants to do so, and I don’t know of any candidate that wants to do so — you’re asking could it constitutionally be done?” Romney asked, with a hint of incredulity.

Stephanopoulos, undeterred, pressed Romney again: “I’m asking you, do you believe that states have that right or not?”

Amid a chorus of “boos” from the audience, Romney again parried the impossible hypothetical.

“George, I don’t know whether a state has a right to ban contraception,” Romney responded. “No state wants to. I mean, the idea of you putting forward things that states might want to do that no state wants to do, and asking me whether they could do it or not, is kind of a silly thing, I think.”

Stephanopoulos also took shots at the other candidates, notably Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. And he deliberately encouraged the candidates to squabble among themselves rather than actually doing what a moderator is supposed to do, keep things on track and on topic. I'm sure that pleased the Obama campaign no end.

Oh, I hear what you're thinking...'hey,George Stephanopoulos is a human being,he has his views, you can't expect him to shut them off.'

Actually, that's exactly what I expect, from him and anyone else in the media who bills themselves as journalists and news professionals rather than commentators or opinion writers.

Tell me, when you go to work in an office, in a factory, or a business environment do you make a point of trumpeting your politics? Do you let them affect your job performance? Let's say you're Democrat plumber whose boss sends you on a job, you make a point of talking politics with the customer and modify your charges and your performance based on their ideology. How long do you think you'd stay employed?

The same thing is true in most work environments...with the exception of academia,Hollywood and the dinosaur media, where voicing conservative views can impact your employment prospects unless you're too well established and entrenched to touch.

A detached, balanced and non-biased attitude ought to be the standard in broadcast news and journalism, and it used to be, at least on the surface. Not any more. If George Stephanopoulos received any negative feedback from his employers at ABC for his performance, it was for not being more subtle about it.

That's exactly why the stocks, the readers and the audience are plummeting at the dinosaur media papers and the alphabet networks, and why the internet, talk radio and FOX, whose motto 'Fair and Balanced' is exemplified by their having Democrat Chris Wallace as their main anchor are seeing their readership and audiences surge. Since the dinosaur media's whitewash of President Obama, more and more people simply aren't drinking the Kool-ade anymore.

If I were running, I wouldn't even go near a debate like this. I think NewtGingrich had a decent idea of making these things Lincoln -Douglas style, with no moderator but a timekeeper and the candidates forced to think on their feet to counter each other's arguments. At the very least, I wouldn't go near one sponsored by the alphabet networks unless I badly needed exposure.

As for the rest of the debate, it was notable that once again, no one has really been able to lay a glove on Mitt Romney. There were a few attempts, mainly by Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, mainly focusing on Romney's changes in his positions and his time at Bain Capital, but they didn't really seem to do much damage and seemed fairly ineffectual.

The primary is Tuesday, and Romney is expected to win. It will be interesting to see how Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum end up finishing as we proceed on to South Carolina.

ADDENDUM: Hugh Hewitt notes that the execrable David Gregory did exactly the same thing that Stephanopoulos did last night in the NBC debate Gregory 'moderated' this Sunday morning.

No question in my mind now that this was coordinated from the White House. Disgraceful.

Summing Up Iowa

The Iowa Caucus has come and gone.

The results were a virtual photo finish between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, but the real winner of course was Rick Santorum.

I say that because Santorum managed to come up on top with a shoestring campaign that spent a fraction of what his opponents did in Iowa, and he did it in spite of being largely marginalized in the debates. He did it in a way that you can really only do in a small state like Iowa - using shoe leather and rental car miles. Like Mike Huckabee before him, Rick Santorum triumphed in Iowa because a lot of people had a chance to meet him and liked what they saw.

Also working in his favor was the high percentage of social conservatives in Iowa and the fact that his rivals imploded. In the end, it came down to a choice between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.

Despite various naysayers, the fact that Mitt Romney did as well as he did in a Midwestern state loaded with evangelicals and social conservatives says something about his relatively broad appeal to various factions. He wasn't supposed to win here, and he actually devoted very little time in Iowa until the last weeks, when polls showed him near the top of the field.

As I wrote on these pages long ago, a significant part of this election after three plus years of Barack Obama is going to be about competency, and Mitt Romney definitely comes across as a competent candidate whom could actually perform well in the Oval Office.

Both Romney and Santorum now proceed to New Hampshire with very different challenges.

Rick Santorum has to raise enough money based on his Iowa finish to put together a campaign organization capable of taking him to the next level. If he doesn't, he simply won't go much further. He also needs to be able to adjust his message sufficiently to appeal to voters more concerned with the economy than social conservative issues.

And finally, Santorum is no longer going to be marginalized as a candidate, with all that implies. He's going to be getting greater scrutiny, and he's going to be a target. How he deals with that will make or break his candidacy. The atacks have already started with the meme in a number of quarters that he's a 'big government conservative.' He is in the sense that like almost everyone else in the GOP fold he believes in a strong national defense,border security, and a sound fiscal and trade policy. He doesn't if you translate it as 'welfare state', which is what it really means today.

Mitt Romney's challenge will be to build on his success. This is going to be a little trickier than it sounds. While Mitt Romney will undoubtedly do well in new Hampshire, he will face increased media scrutiny and is likely to face visceral attacks by Newt Gingrich,who is embittered over his showing in Iowa after leading in the pols there at one point, and blames a series of negative ads run bu a pro-Romney super-PAC.

Anyone whom saw Gingrich's speech last night knows there's blood in the water. I would even say it's to the point where Gingrich, historically a bomb thrower, cares less about winning the White House at this point than he does about doing his best to destroy Mitt Romney. That and trying to hold on until South Carolina and attempt to eke out a win there is pretty much what remains of Newt Gingrich's strategy,and we'll see it unveiled in New Hampshire in the debates and in Newt Gingrich's ads.

Gingrich will also try to contrast himself as the 'Reagan conservative' he isn't as opposed to 'liberal' Romney.

Mitt Romney's challenge will be to defend himself forcefully while not going over the line into anger and tit for tat infighting.

Rick Perry, after a disappointing fourth place finish will probably be looking at South Carolina as his firewall. If he's unable to make a decent showing there, he will likely drop out.

The biggest loser of course was Ron Paul. Due to Iowa's caucus rules, this was probably his best chance to make a decent showing. He bet all his chips on it, and lost.

Iowa's third place finish, well behind Romney and Santorum is probably the best he's going to do in the primaries, although he will continue to be a force in the campaign. His real goal is to be a spoiler and set up things for a third party run.

Alan Colmes Mocks Rick Santorum Over Dead Child - Lowest of The Low

People say FOX News is biased, but I can't imagine how you can possibly believe that when they allow a scumbag like Alan Colmes airtime. Regular members of Joshua's Army might remember that he actually applauded Iran's proxy war against our troops in Iraq and accused Sarah Palin of causing her son's Down's Syndrome. But his latest ought to ensure that no one of any decency has anything to do with him again.

Asked about GOP Candidate Rick Santorum's recent surge in Iowa, Colmes replied: "Well, hah hah. it's certainly hard work in that he visited all the ugly - you know, like every part of the state. And it's also that the Republicans have speed dated every other Republican and so there's nobody left except Rick Santorum. But once they get a load of some of the crazy things he said and done like taking his two-hour old baby who died right after childbirth home and played with it for a couple of hours so his other children would know that the child was real...."

At that point NRO Editor Rich Lowrey, another guest on the panel interrupted him, saying: "That's a cheap shot, Alan. To say it's crazy, something that's that personal and hurtful as losing a child and to mock it like that is beyond the pale and beneath you."

Except that in this case Rich Lowrey is dead wrong. Nothing is beneath this creep..absolutely nothing. Some one should have slapped his smirking countenance out of that chair and thrown him out of the building bodily.

Below, Senator Santorum talks about this son's death, and why he brought his son home for the last time:



Alan Colmes tweeted the following afterwards:

@AlanColmes

just spoke to @RickSantorum. He and Karen graciously accepted my apology for a hurtful comment

I sent a retweet to Alan Colmes telling him exactly what I thought of him. It was not polite or gracious in the least.