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13 Dec 2011 21:15

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Politics: Newt stumbles, Paul and Santorum gain

  • Newtiny on the bounty? This is the second poll this week indicating a slip in Newt Gingrich’s support. The winners are Ron Paul and Rick Santorum (and, to a lesser degree, Jon Huntsman), all of whom saw gains since the beginning of the month. Gingrich’s favorability dropped 19 points in the last week, and on the question of who has “stronger values,” Romney beats him by 21 points. Meanwhile, the oft-forgotten Gary Johnson–who, it’s worth saying, is a libertarian who holds many of the same positions as Paul–is still stuck at 1%. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2011 17:45

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Politics: Is Newt Gingrich beginning to fade?

  • 37.7% Newt’s support from Nov. 30-Dec. 3; that is, in the couple of days before Herman Cain withdrew from the race
  • 24.4% Newt’s support–in the same poll–from Dec. 3-Dec. 7, the first few days after Cain withdrew source
  • » What’s going on here? Actually, we’re not sure. Common wisdom says that Cain’s support flocked to Gingrich after the former dropped out of the race (or, sorry, “suspended” his campaign). So how come the same University of Iowa poll–taken in the state over a weeklong period–shows a drastic fall in the former House Speaker’s support after Cain’s exit? Of course, the standard “this is just one poll” disclaimer still applies; this could just be an anomaly. But a 13.3% decline in one week is significant, and outside the poll’s margin of error. Given the boom-bust tendency of the GOP field this year, we can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Newt (note: it’s rather unusual for a polling house to make available the intra-week trends of a single poll; much respect to Reuters, who co-sponsored this poll, for doing so).
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Dec 2011 19:00

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Politics: Guess we’ve gotta remark on this new Rick Perry ad

  • Rick Perry, jockeying for the anti-gay vote: This ad, called “Strong,” has the Texas governor promising to end the Obama administration’s “war on religion” and touting his commitment to Christianity. “Something’s wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military,” Perry says, “but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas, or pray in school.” It’s unclear what policies President Obama has put in place to deny kids the right to openly celebrate Christmas. As of this writing, the video has 675 likes and 26,650 dislikes. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Dec 2011 17:51

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Politics: Gingrich and Pelosi, reachin’ across the aisle

  • 418 bills co-sponsored by Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich source
  • » Bipartisan support: For twelve years, Pelosi and Gingrich served together in the House of Representatives, and supported a total of 418 bills together. That’s an average of 34.83 pieces of legislation per year that enjoyed Pelosi/Gingrich support (at least, that’s what our team of math experts tells us; we didn’t have time to check their work). One such bill was the Global Warming Prevention act of 1989, the memory of which probably won’t do Gingrich any favors in the Republican primary (relatedly, neither will this). It should be noted, however, that much of this was non-contentious legislation, such as one honoring the 50th anniversary of the National Heart, Lung and Blood instituted.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 21:48

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U.S.: Gingrich: My campaign staff just couldn’t handle my unconventional ways

  • Philosophically, I am very different from normal politicians, and normal consultants found that very hard to deal with.
  • Newt Gingrich • Explaining, with David Brent-esque logic, why his campaign staff keeps quitting on him. We agree that Gingrich is different from normal politicians, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jun 2011 23:35

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Politics: Guess who said this

  • You are not going to see a great philosophical difference between Rick Perry and George Bush.
  • Rick Perry • In a 2000 interview that could seriously hurt his chances at becoming president in 2012. Many people forget that, prior to becoming president, George W. Bush was a moderate Republican governor known for compromising with Democrats in his state. This could have been what Perry was referring to when he made the comparison; however, most people probably won’t make that distinction. If he runs, expect to see this quote repeated ad nauseam by Democrats. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jun 2011 22:15

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Politics: Pawlenty’s extreme tax proposal

  • 73% Pawlenty’s tax cut for the 400 richest Americans source
  • » During his time as Minnesota’s governor, Tim Pawlenty staked out a few moderate stances. This is understandable, as Minnesota is a moderate state. But moderation doesn’t fly in the current incantation of the Republican party (just ask Mike Castle or Bob Bennett). It especially doesn’t fly for Republicans who want to be President, and perhaps no position is as sacrosanct to the modern Republican party as that of low taxes. Still, Pawlenty’s proposed tax plan is really extreme, even by supply-sider standards; for example, he proposes that millionaires alone receive a 41% tax cut. So, while it’s understandable that T-Paw wants quell the concerts of Republican primary voters by tacking to the right, we wonder if he really needed to adopt a tax plan that, in the words of Ezra Klein, “makes George W. Bush look like Robin Hood.”
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Apr 2011 11:12

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Politics: This just in: Allen West causes orificial secretions

  • The idea of an Allen West/Herman Cain all-black conservative ticket would titillate me to the point of secretions coming out of every orifice.
  • Andrew Breitbart • On who he’d like to see on the GOP ticket in 2012. Lovely imagery aside, this sort of reasoning is a reflection of the belief, common amongst some conservatives, that all the GOP needs to do to win over certain demographics is nominate members of those demographics to high-profile tickets. This isn’t the case, as McCain’s VP pick in 2008 proved all too well. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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