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The Collapse Of The Jon Huntsman Campaign: The End Of Any Chance For Moderation In The GOP!

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Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, arguably the most moderate and qualified candidate in the Republican race for the Presidential nomination, seems ready to implode his campaign.

Consistently low in public opinion polls since he announced his candidacy in June of this year; running out of campaign money, including that of his personal fortune, even before third quarter totals are in; seen as only marginal in his debate performances up to now; and now announcing a boycott of this week’s Nevada debate sponsored by CNN, because of Nevada changing its caucus election date, therefore interfering with New Hampshire’s early primary date, it seems highly unlikely that Huntsman can become even briefly the “flavor of the week”, as Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and now Herman Cain, have been able to accomplish.

Do not be surprised if Jon Huntsman becomes the first of the present eight candidates to withdraw from the race, a sad moment for the party when it does happen, as it will eliminate any chance for a moderate nominee for the Republican Party.

Of course, one might say that Mitt Romney has been a moderate in the past, but it is clear that Romney will be a chameleon, a person ready to move to the right to appeal to the Tea Party Movement if it will help promote his candidacy and prevent a third party challenge.

If one is looking to Mitt Romney to move to the center, don’t hold your breath as he has abandoned every viewpoint he had that once gave him promise as someone to believe in .

In sum, Mitt plus ambition means the ultimate “flip flopper” in in play, and moderation goes out the window, once Jon Huntsman withdraws from the race, likely very soon!

The Washington Post-Bloomberg GOP Presidential Debate: Romney Still Ahead!

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The Washington Post-Bloomberg GOP Presidential debate tonight in New Hampshire was more of the same: Mitt Romney winning the debate!

Romney continued to look competent, confident, relaxed, smiling, and unruffled. He certainly had a good day, with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie endorsing him, and then sitting in the audience at the Dartmouth College debate in New Hampshire.

Herman Cain was given the seat next to Romney, due to his being second in recent polls, but he was constantly under attack for his 9-9-9 plan, which economists have said will not work, and would particularly harm poor people. It seems as if he probably did not win support based on his responses to the attacks, which seemed lame.

Rick Perry did not improve his standing, which has been in decline, and actually looked confused and uncomfortable when the camera happened to focus on him when he was listening to others speak.

Jon Huntsman, sadly, did not seem to improve his image, despite his great credentials, and it now seems unlikely that he will improve in the polls, unless miraculously he can build up in New Hampshire, the state he is counting on to boost his campaign.

MIchele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich did nothing spectacular to improve their chances, although Gingrich did gain applause for some of his rhetorical lines!

All of the candidates avoided specifics on the economy, and made many claims that were exaggerated, already being pointed out just a half hour after the debate, which simply focused on that subject. It was easier for them to condemn others and call for firings and blame, and to attack the Federal Reserve Board and Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The candidates made it clear they did not want to raise taxes one cent, and yet did not want to cut defense, something which is impossible in reality if taxes are not raised.

Did any of the candidates give hope that the economy would indeed be better under them than under President Obama? If anyone seriously thinks so, they are delusional!

It will be interesting to see the polls in the next few days, as to who ends up second behind Romney. Will Cain keep his second position, or who will replace him as the “anti Romney”? That is the question that most comes out of this debate, with another one scheduled next week, sponsored by CNN in Nevada, one of the states with the highest rate of unemployment!

Something To Celebrate: 160 Years Of The New York Times!

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Today marks the 160th anniversary of the best newspaper in the United States, the NEW YORK TIMES, born in 1851.

There is no better source of news in print form than the NEW YORK TIMES, absolutely essential for any historical research on any topic, as it is the only paper to have a complete index for all of its 160 years.

Despite rough times in the newspaper industry, with the advent of the internet, the NEW YORK TIMES in print and online remains the prime source in foreign policy and domestic policy, and covers news of all kinds in much greater depth than any other media source.

Among newspapers, only the WASHINGTON POST comes close to the coverage of the NEW YORK TIMES, and the two together with CNN make for a triumvirate of the best coverage of news in the United States.

Many conservatives might attack all three media sources, but they have never been able to match them in thoroughness, quality, accuracy, and important insights on all types of topics.

America is a better nation because of the NEW YORK TIMES and the other two media sources mentioned, but there is, of course, always room for improvement.

What is clear is that without the NY TIMES, the author would not have accomplished what he has done professionally, and would not be as well informed as he would like to feel he is!

First Impressions Of CNN-Tea Party Express Debate In Tampa, Florida

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It will take some time to analyze and interpret the CNN-Tea Party Express debate just completed in Tampa, Florida, this evening.

But first impressions include the following thoughts:

1. The debate was much more vigorous and challenging than any earlier debate, with excellent questions asked by all who had the opportunity, including the moderator, Wolf Blitzer of The Situation Room on CNN.
2. The reactions of the Tea Party audience were quite horrifying and scary, and to imagine a majority of the nation having these views and voting them into the White House is enough to encourage nightmares! These people as a group are very reactionary, mean spirited, self centered people, well dressed and making it clear that they do not want to feel any responsibility to society, but only to their own selfish interests. This is a guarantee of anarchy ahead as America faces a future quite different than the overwhelmingly white, older age, comfortable upper middle and wealthy class of citizens.that showed up at this debate!
3. Rick Perry came under sustained attack, held his own quite well, making very few concessions, but still can no longer be seen as a guaranteed front runner in the Presidential race.
4. Mitt Romney was also under attack, and held his own better than Perry, and remains a serious challenger for the duration, but not well liked by the Tea Party crowd.
5. Jon Huntsman again performed very well, but faced, as Romney did, a unsympathetic audience, but his answers were solid and mostly good in content, even if one did not agree with all of them.
6. Ron Paul gave some great responses if one was a libertarian, and received some applause, but also some strong boos when he condemned US foreign policy.
7. Michele Bachmann recovered from a lackadaisical performance in the last debate, strongly criticizing Rick Perry,and must be seen in a more serious light with her recovery in this debate.
8.Rick Santorum also improved, going on the offensive against Rick Perry, and must be seen in a more serious light than before.
9. Newt Gingrich gave some strong condemnations of Barack Obama, and showed his usual intelligence, but it is doubtful that he gained much overall in this debate.
10. Herman Cain was the least impressive of the eight candidates, and cannot be seen in any way as someone to watch, and his lack of government experience is a major negative.

So overall, Huntsman, Bachmann, and Santorum probably gained the most, while Perry and Romney held their lead. Paul got some sympathy support, but it is bound to go nowhere, and the same for Gingrich and no real gain for Cain.

It will be interesting to see how polls look at these eight candidates later this week, but to say it is strictly a Perry-Romney race is almost certainly incorrect.

Finally, if this debate does not convince Democrats, progressives, liberals, and Obama supporters, of the need to contribute to the campaign and work for Barack Obama with great devotion over the next 14 months, then nothing will!

This is a crisis for the nation, with a nightmarish alternative that must be seen as unacceptable! More will be said about this debate in future posts on this blog!

What The Tim Pawlenty Endorsement Of Mitt Romney Means For The GOP Presidential Race

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Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the first dropout of the Presidential face in the Republican Party, has endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for President, has agreed to be the national co-chair of his campaign, and will be at his side tonight as Romney participates in the fifth Republican Presidential debate in Tampa, Florida, which is sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express.

What does this mean?

1. It is the beginning of a concerted campaign to stop Texas Governor Rick Perry.
2. It is an attempt to draw the GOP toward the center of the political spectrum, away from right wing extremism.
3. It is an attempt to convince evangelical Christians and Tea Party activists, some of whom liked Pawlenty as a possible Presidential candidate, to come over to Romney.
4. It is an attempt to take away any possibility of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann regaining support in Iowa,and elsewhere, as a fellow Minnesotan has firmly rejected her candidacy by endorsing Romney.
5. It is an attempt to weaken any hope of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman somehow overtaking Romney and becoming the alternative to Perry.
6. It is also a veiled attempt of Pawlenty to remain in contention for the Vice Presidential nomination on a Romney ticket, a position he came close to gaining with John McCain in 2008, before the Arizona Senator made the fateful decision to select Sarah Palin.

So this endorsement and involvement in the Romney campaign by Pawlenty means a lot more than is obvious on the surface!

We shall see how the Pawlenty strategy works out, but clearly the GOP establishment is terrified at the thought of Rick Perry being the Republican nominee against President Barack Obama, seeing disaster ahead!

A Celebratory Day In The Cable Media World: MSNBC 15th Anniversary And Fox News Channel-Rupert Murdoch Crisis!

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Today, 15 years ago, MSNBC went online as the competitor of CNN, which had begun June 1, 1980. Within a few months, on October 7, Fox News Channel came along as a third competitor in the 24 hour news channel industry!

MSNBC has gone through rough times over its 15 years, but now it is thriving by having emerged as the strong progressive news channel, compared to the moderate approach of CNN and the right wing conservative views of Fox News Channel.

MSNBC has become a station with outstanding talk show hosts, including Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz, as well as outstanding coverage during the day by other anchor people.

It is a source of much what the author writes about, and it gives us a progressive view of events, which is sorely needed, so Happy 15th to MSNBC!

At the same time, Fox News Channel has misled, lied, deceived, propagandized, and become a Republican propaganda channel, including hiring many of the Republican Presidential field at some point of time.

Fox News Channel has NEVER been willing to cover the news fairly, and has made life miserable for Barack Obama, and has convinced an ignorant portion of the population to believe their myths, half truths, and distortions!

Its talk show hosts are disgraceful, having included Glenn Beck in the recent past, and still including Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, along with a whole group of unsavory characters who have questionable ethics, but end up on Fox News Channel!

Their employer, Rupert Murdoch, known world wide as one of the most despicable people in the news business, has now become involved in a hacking scandal that threatens to bring him and his news corporation to their knees, symbolically!

Nothing would be more contributing to the future of journalism than to have the downfall of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News Channel, but in reality, that is not likely! That channel is refusing to report the scandal in detail, part of their “managed” and distorted news coverage, figuring that their audience might remain unaware because they lean so much on the manipulated manner of news reporting on their channel!

Even if Fox News Channel survives, seeing Rupert Murdoch and the channel squirm is victory in itself!

Changes Coming In Cable And Television News!

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As we enter the second half of 2011, and the Presidential race becomes ever more center stage, Fox News Channel is making every effort to legitimize itself as “mainstream”, just as Jon Stewart went after Fox News Channel on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace last week, as not being accurate or responsible in its coverage of politics and news!

Having “rescued” liberal commentator Juan Williams, after he was summarily fired by National Public Radio, with a reported $2 million a year five year contract, Fox News then went to hire CNN morning anchor John Roberts to be a national correspondent, and former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh to be a political commentator.

Now they have hired CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry to be their White House correspondent, and of course, for the past few years, they have had former CNN morning anchor Bill Hemmer on their station.

Will it work, to make Fox News Channel seem “mainstream”? With the leaving of Glenn Beck from his every weekday show through joint agreement, it might have some effect, although Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, John Stossel, Greta Van Susteren, Brit Hume, Bill Kristol, Liz Cheney, et al, make one wonder if that is possible!

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann, who had a “divorce” from MSNBC, has now revived his “Countdown” show, following a similar format, on former Vice President Al Gore’s independent station, Current TV. For those who enjoyed his incisive coverage of politics, it is a welcome return, but the question is whether he can “steal’ the audience of MSNBC and Lawrence O’Donnell at the same hour, along with Eliot Spitzer on CNN. As it turns out, Current TV replays Olbermann’s show EIGHT times over the 24 hour cycle, so in theory, one can watch Spitzer, see O’Donnell in rerun at 11 pm, and then watch Olbermann at any three hour cycle up through dinner time the next day!

Additionally, Norah O’Donnell of MSNBC and NBC, who had been a chief Washington correspondent, is now moving to CBS as their White House correspondent. Always pleasant and appealing in her manner of reporting and commenting, CBS has staged a major coup by gaining her employment!

So cable news and TV news in general has become ever more personality driven, and adds interest to the coverage of major political events!

The CNN New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate: Michele Bachmann And Mitt Romney The Winners!

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This evening, CNN sponsored a New Hampshire Republican Presidential debate.

The seven candidates present all went out of their way to attack President Obama, and avoided attacking each other.

But some really gained from this debate, and others lost by their performance.

The major winners were Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney, with Bachmann coming across impressively, more than she has ever been seen before, and Romney doing a good job at keeping his stature as the frontrunner in the race.

The losers seemed to be Tim Pawlenty, who seemed weak and defensive in his answers; Newt Gingrich, who still seemed a bit gun shy after his earlier problems with his campaign; and Rick Santorum, who just came across as not a serious, legitimate candidate.

Ron Paul was simply Ron Paul, and Herman Cain was defensive over his statements about Muslims, and neither can be seen as a serious candidate.

So, in conclusion, Michele Bachmann, seemingly, came across as more legitimate than ever before, and as a real leader among social conservatives, which might help her win in the Iowa caucuses, which come before the New Hampshire primary.

What stood out is that she did better than Sarah Palin has ever done in a public forum, and one starts to realize that, even if one does not agree with Bachmann, she comes across as intelligent, well spoken, an accomplished person even before she came to Congress, as a tax attorney and small businesswoman, far more outstanding as compared to Palin.

So Romney kept his stature as the front runner in the race, but Bachmann gained the most from tonight’s debate. The others all were weakened by their performance, or at least, did not gain by their performance in relation to the other candidates.

Of course, Jon Huntsman was not in the debate, nor Rick Perry!

Peter Bergen, Expert On Bin Laden And War On Terror, Says War Is Over With Death Of Bin Laden!

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Peter Bergen, an expert on Osama Bin Laden and the War On Terror, who also met Bin Laden years before September 11, has just declared on CNN that the War On Terror is over!

Bergen claims that no one else can lead with the charisma or following of Bin Laden, that others under Bin Laden are “pygmies”, so that the war against terrorism is over!

One wonders what to make of this, but if it is true, that would be a major boon to the American future, and allow us to spend more time on domestic issues that have so sorely been ignored as we went berserk in spending on the War on Terror!

It could also mean less domestic strife and fear of Muslims in America, and could also lead to the rapid decline of the hate mongers who keep on promoting negativism constantly, including the conservative radio talk show hosts who live on hate and prejudice and propaganda to divide America!

Before we accept what Peter Bergen says as factual, however, we must still have a period of waiting and confirm what Bergen believes to be true, which we can certainly hope is the case!

Two Events To Commemorate On May 1: Holocaust Remembrance (Yom HaShoah) And The Death Of Mass Murderer Osama Bin Laden!

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As we come to the end of the first day of May, we have two developments to commemorate–both Holocausts of different sizes!

Today is the day we commemorate the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, which killed 6 million Jews and 7 million other victims! It is called Yom HaShoah, and it is a day to remember the sacrifices of these millions of victims!

Ironic that on Yom HaShoah that we learn that Osama Bin Laden, the most sought man in the world, responsible for 3,000 deaths at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, has been killed by the United States through the CIA, with a statement due soon by President Obama as we near midnight!

Bin Laden also hated the Jews, so this is a double day of remembrance for those people who support Israel and Jewish survival through the thick and thin of world history!

This is a great moment, and it unites Americans like nothing since September 11!

It is thrilling to witness tourists outside the White House singing the National Anthem, and it is a time for all of us to rejoice that justice has been done!

It also makes President Obama look great, that this happened on his watch, and it strengthens him in his re-election contest in the fall of 2012! What can the Republican Party say in opposition to Obama, considering that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were unable to resolve this matter in seven years after September 11?

This will make Obama look strong on defense matters, and overcome the old myth that Democrats are weak on defense!

It will give some solace to the families of the 3,000 victims of September 11, and will make May 1 a special day in the history of the United States, to be commemorated every year as one of the major events of American history for all time!

It, however, also makes us need to be more cautious and on alert, as the odds are that Al Qaeda will want to strike back at the United States in retaliation for Bin Laden’s death!

As John King of CNN just stated, this is an HISTORIC day in capital letters, and we will applaud this as one of the major successes of Barack Obama’s great leadership in the War On Terror!