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15 Nov 2011 21:58

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Politics: “Republicans are stupid,” says Republican candidate for president

  • One of the Republican weaknesses is that we rely too much on consultants and too much on talking points, and we don’t rely enough on actually knowing things.
  • Newt Gingrich • In an interview with David Brody. Not quite sure what the political calculus is here, as admitting publicly that your entire party doesn’t know what it’s talking about is rarely good politics. However, not “actually knowing things” would seem to be a disqualifying factor for someone running for president, so Newt’s obviously exempting himself from this assessment. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2011 16:08

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Politics: Here’s the thing about the Gingrich surge

  • yeah…Newt Gingrich is, to the surprise and annoyance of pundits everywhere, storing ahead of his GOP rivals in national polls. Newtmentum!
  • but…Polls also show the “ideas man” faring rather poorly against President Obama in a general election, trailing the POTUS by 8–12 points. source
  • » Now is probably a good time to bust out this gem from last summer.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2011 12:44

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Politics: Newt Gingrich barges into the lead

  • Flavor of the Week: It looks like Gingrich is the new Black Walnut. If history is any indicator, Newt’s lead will dissipate in a few weeks and Mitt Romney will once again bask in the warm light of inevitability, but hey, you never know. One thing to keep in mind: Primaries are conducted on a state-by-state basis, so national polls, while telling, aren’t the whole story. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Nov 2011 18:29

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Politics: The Lewinsky scandal’s spazzy little brother

  • “It’s not just men who potentially sexually harass women.” Herman Cain just gave a press conference addressing the sexual harassment accusations his ex-employees keep hurling at him, and we can’t say it went very well. He clarified nothing, repeated what he’s been saying all along (“These women are lying and I never harassed anyone”), and made a few unforced errors–such the true but utterly irrelevant reminder above–that can’t do anything but hurt him going forward. Here are some of the best/worst.
  • On his time as CEO“I have seen instances where it could be interpreted as sexual harassment, and if I saw it…I dealt with it immediately, before the other person perceived it as an infringement of their privacy.” In other words, Herman Cain can detect harassment before the victims even know they’re being harassed!
  • On taking a polygraph“Yes. Yes, I absolutely would [take a lie detector test]. But I’m not gonna do that unless I have a good reason to.” This is the kind of thing someone says when they don’t want to take a lie detector test.
  • On who’s behind it all“The Democrat Machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations.” Cain initially claimed that it was Rick Perry’s doing; now, it’s the Democrats. Also, Cain is fooling himself if he thinks Democrats want to prevent him from getting the nomination. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2011 15:06

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Politics: “Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.”

  • Team Cain triples down: “All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.” That’s the campaign’s official statement on the latest harassment allegations, and it’s a notably firm denial. There’s very little wriggle room; if, say, some sort of evidence were to come out against Cain, he’d have a hard time coming off as anything but a bold-faced liar. This would seem to imply that Cain is confident no hard evidence will surface–a confidence that, in itself, doesn’t imply innocence or guilt. The statement also inexplicably patted Cain on the back for his “clear foreign policy vision,” perhaps in an attempt to divert media attention to another, less salacious Herman Cain controversy. (Picture credit: Gage Skidmore)  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2011 14:35

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Politics: Herman Cain’s accuser speaks out

  • He pulled my head towards his crotch… I said, ‘I have a boyfriend.’ He said, ‘You want a job, right?
  • Sharon Bialek, on Herman Cain • Bialek is fourth former Restaurant Association Employee to accuse Cain of sexual harassment–and the first to come forward publicly. For now, we’ll treat these accusations as just that–accusations. Also notable: Bialek is being represented by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who’s previously taken on Tiger Woods and Meg Whitman, amongst many others.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Nov 2011 22:06

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Politics: Cain’s accuser received one years’ pay in exchange for silence

  • $35k paid by the NRA to one of Cain’s accusers source
  • » That’s the National Restaurant Association, by the way, not the National Rifle Association. The amount was one years’ worth of pay for the woman in question (who, you’ll recall, is one of two women who received severance agreements from the NRA in exchange for silence regarding sexual harassment claims against Cain).
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

31 Oct 2011 15:25

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Politics: Rick Perry, easing off his anti-drug stances?

  • A very, very energetic Rick Perry: In this case, “energetic” is a euphemism for “dangerously over-caffeinated, perhaps to the point of requiring medical attention.” We’re not quite sure what to make of this bizarre speech Perry gave to New Hampshire Republicans a couple of days ago. He’s not just unusually expressive; he looks like he’s about to burst (fast-forward to 2:30 or so if you’re feeling impatient). His frantic performance might make slightly more sense if he were speaking to an ultra-conservative crowd in South Carolina or something, but was a room full of New Hampshire moderates. Color us baffled, but at least he didn’t come off as over-prepared. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2011 14:37

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Politics: Polling roundup: Cain continues to surge

  • 3 states in which Herman Cain now leads everybody else source
  • » All aboard the Cain Train! Republicans in North Carolina, Nebraska, and West Virginia want Herman Cain as their nominee–he leads all of his opponents in a new PPP poll. A Washington Post/ABC poll released today showed Cain tied with Perry for second nationally, and two polls last week also showed evidence of Cain Fever sweeping the nation. This seems to be at the expense of Rick Perry, who’s collapsing just as fast as Cain is rising (in North Carolina alone, more than half of his supporters have abandoned him, and a Fox News poll last week showed him losing ten points in a month). Romney is still the (perpetually-endangered) frontrunner, but there’s a plausible argument to be made that Cain is now in the top-tier of candidates. Of course, the same thing was once said of both Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann, so take that as you will.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Aug 2011 14:57

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Politics: What do Rick Perry and Rudy Giuliani have in common?

  • 26% Rick Perry’s average support in GOP primary polls since announcing his candidacy; he’s now in the lead
  • 29% Rudy Giuliani’s average support in GOP primary polls at this point in 2007; he was then in the lead source
  • » Just a reminder of how difficult it is to predict the outcomes of presidential primaries  six months before Iowa. It’s also instructive to recall another Southern Republican who, four years ago, was seen as a savior by the GOP establishment. He announced his candidacy late in the game, and immediately vaulted to the top of the polls. That candidate was Fred Thompson.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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