COULTER V. LEVIN, DAY TWO

Hannity had Ann on his radio show, so it seems that he's relatively OK with her support for Romny Care.  Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner is definitely against her position:

Coulter's shameful defense of Romneycare
by Philip Klein
Senior Editorial Writer
February 1, 2012 8:04pm

YOU KNOW YOU MADE A MISTAKE...

when even someone as extreme as Sen. DeMint calls you out:

DeMint Calls on Romney to Reframe Comments on Poor
By David M. Drucker
Roll Call Staff
Feb. 1, 2012, 2:28 p.m.

IS THIS A FIRST?

Mark Levin has attacked this Ann Coulter column that defends Romney Care and he used her name, repeatedly.  This column has upset a lot of people, including the Freepers.

THE PROBLEM WITH MITTENS

I'm not picking on the guy just because he is at least nominally a conservative but he's politically tone deaf:

"I'm in this race because I care about Americans," Romney said. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it.

I suspect that Mittens doesn't know what it's like to be very poor, just like he didn't seem to know that the vast majority of people just can't "fire" their health insurance company because they are dissatisfied with the service.

On the positive side, this latest unforced error allows Newt a chance to slam Mittens.

MORE ON TURNOUT

Other people have remarked on the relatively disappointing GOP primary turnout and Nate Silver did the basic research:

South Carolina may be home to more reactionary extremists because DeMint is perhaps the biggest rightwing wacko in the Senate and that could account for the higher turnout. Michael P. McDonald dug into the Florida results and found that Newt won the districts that had a higher turnout compared to 2008.

From this we can draw a provisional conclusion: right now, there aren't that many Baggers in the GOP.

TURNOUT IN FLORIDA DISAPPOINTING

According to the Florida Dept. of State, the 2012 turnout for the GOP primary was only 1,669,462.  In 2008, it was 1,926,830.   Based on these 2 numbers, I'd say the GOP base isn't thrilled with the candidates.

CLASS WARFARE WITHIN THE GOP?

In the last 2 days, I've heard Fats Limbaugh and John Gibson talk about a divide in the GOP primary voters between (roughly) white-collar Romney supporters and blue-collar Gingrich supporters.

Some Baggers, like Judson Phillips, have lined up behind Newt, but it's not clear to me that the Baggers are still a force in the GOP, mostly because of the failure of Michele Bachmann's campaign and the inadequate fund raising by Sarah Palin's own PAC.

If the GOP loses some blue-collar support, then perhaps Kansas will return to "normal".

THE PAST REALLY IS PRESENT THIS TIME

Back during the mean times of HilaryCare, Newt and the Heritage Foundation did support an individual mandate.  I find attacks based on positions held over a decade ago suspect so I didn't mention this before now because it turns out Newt still supported an individual mandate in 2009!!!

So, the leading Not-Romney has about the same position on health care as Pres. Obama.  For a liberal, does it get any better than this?

THIS ISN'T AN OUTRAGE BUT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED

(h/t The Dish)

There's some fuss about a term I sometimes use, "Israel-Firster," and Glenn Greenwald has dived into this "issue."  

In doing so, he found a pretty interesting piece of information about Newt's Sugar Daddy, Sheldon Adelson:

In a talk to an Israeli group in July, 2010, Adelson said he wished he had served in the Israeli Army rather than the U.S. military—and that he hoped his young son would come back to Israel and “be a sniper for the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces. (YouTube video of speech)
“I am not Israeli. The uniform that I wore in the military, unfortunately, was not an Israeli uniform.  It was an American uniform, although my wife was in the IDF and one of my daughters was in the IDF ... our two little boys, one of whom will be bar mitzvahed tomorrow, hopefully he’ll come back-- his hobby is shooting -- and he’ll come back and be a sniper for the IDF,” Adelson said at the event.
“All we care about is being good Zionists, being good citizens of Israel, because even though I am not Israeli born, Israel is in my heart,” he said toward the end of his talk. 

"WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS" HAS A NEW INTERPRETATION

When applied to conservatives, it means "Stupid within Stupid" and Palin's remarks about Newt (below) are a good example.  First of all, doing something just to piss someone else off is a bit childish. Second, there are plenty of real conservatives who think Newt is a piece of shit.  Third, liberals would be delighted to have Newt win the nomination.

PINK FLOYD & SARAH PALIN???

For those of us who are Floydies, that coupling alone is jarring but that's what popped into my mind when I heard about Caribou Barbie endorsing Newt Gingrich:

Here's former political person Sarah Palin continuing her weird quest to endorse Newt Gingrich without really endorsing him, telling weekend Fox News muppet Jeanine Pirro that Republicans should vote for Newt Gingrich now to "rage against the machine" and "annoy a liberal."

Goodness, really: "Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal. Vote Newt."

(For those unfamliar with Pink Floyd, the song "Welcome to the Machine" is from their 1975 album, Wish You Were Here. The song is a condemnation of the crass commercialism of the music industry.)

This endorsement upset Glenda Beck who is convinced that Newt is another Republican Progressive.

NEWT IS A REALLY LOUSY HISTORIAN

David Weigel reports that he said this at one of Glenda Beck's favorite places in Florida, The Villages:

"How many of you remember that moment in 1968 when America put a man on the moon?"

We first landed a man on the Moon in 1969, not 1968.

DOES NEWT THINK HE CAN GRAB SOME OF FETUS BOY'S SUPPORTERS?

In addition to promising to ban ALL embryonic stem cell research, Newt indicates that he will take a very hard look at in vitro fertilization:

Gingrich vows to ban embryonic stem-cell research, questions in vitro practices
By Karen Tumulty, Sunday, January 29, 4:19 PM
WaPo

Speaking at a Baptist church in Winter Park on Saturday, the former speaker received a standing ovation when he declared that embryonic stem-cell research amounts to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies.”

And in a news conference Sunday, he said he would ban all embryonic stem-cell research, including that done on discarded embryos created by in vitro fertilization.

Gingrich added that he would also create a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization, which has involved the creation of hundreds of thousands of excess embryos stored or discarded by fertility clinics.

“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at a news conference outside another Baptist church here. “If you have in vitro fertilization, you are creating life; therefore, we should look seriously at what the rules should be for clinics that are doing that, because they are creating life.”

I WONDER WHY DRUDGE SUPPORTS MITTENS?

Drudge hasn't endorsed Mittens but he's more than willing to headline dirt about Newt. From the NYT:

A team of some of the most fearsome researchers in the business, led by Mr. Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, spent days dispensing negative information about Mr. Gingrich, much of it finding its way to the influential Drudge Report, which often serves as a guide for conservative talk radio and television assignment editors and to which Mr. Rhoades has close ties.

The effort hit a peak by Thursday, when the site was virtually taken over by headlines assailing Mr. Gingrich, whose advisers said they eventually gave up on trying to persuade the Drudge staff to spare them, acknowledging, in the words of one aide, that “very little can be done.”

WHY IS IT EVEN CLOSE?

The movement conservatives are so extreme that I wonder how long before they turn into a fringe novelty movement.  Here are just two examples: Neal Boortz has been running a promo for his show in which he states that Pres. Obama is "vermin" and Bagger favorite Allen West wants liberals to "get the hell out of the United States of America."

Both these guys sound more like crazies on a public bus than responsible adults.

THE DECLINE OF AMERICA

It's not because Caribou Barbie is given time on FAUX News because FAUX is a bad joke; it is because gasbag Donald Trump was given time on Face the Nation and it's not April 1st;

WILL NEWT HELP REDUCE THE INFLUENCE OF GASBAG RADIO?

Despite endorsement or semi-endorsements from Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and Fred Thompson, I don't think Newt will last much beyond Florida.   That would show the real-world limits of the influence of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin and may affect their ratings.

I AM SO LOVING THIS!

I would vote for Newt in the AZ primary if I could because he's helping to smash movement conservatism:

“Gingrich's clashes against the establishment are classic Alinsky,” writes Philip Klein, senior editorial writer for the conservative Washington Examiner.

“GOP nomination fights are often described as battles between Rockefeller Republicans and Goldwater Republicans,” writes Klein. “In 2012, Gingrich has brought us the Alinsky Republican.”

On the other side, we have this preposterous claim:

Mark Levin: Gingrich Is Strong Conservative

Friday, 27 Jan 2012 11:25 AM

By Dan Weil
NEWSMAX

THE END OF CONSERVATISM IN AMERICA?

Since 2001, I've been used to a generally monolithic conservative ideology and I think that may be collapsing, in part due to Newt Gingrich & Ron Paul.  Paul provides a sensible alternative to neo-con foreign policy which is appealing to enough conservatives to reveal a serious fissure in the movement.  Gingrich (and Perry) has done America a real favor by going after Mittens for his vulture capitalist career.  This issue is not whether Gingrich's attacks are well-founded but how he has enlarged the acceptable conservative discourse about capitalism.

This has put many conservative propagandists like Rush Limbaugh in a bind because they have had to both defend Newt and attack him simultaneously.

Just as telling is the reaction to Newt's claim to be a "Reagan conservative."  It doesn't matter that he's wrong but it does matter that major conservative outlets like the NRO debunk his claim. Jeffery Lord has tried to defend Newt on this issue and unwittingly reminds us that the Raygun Mythology is bunk:

In other words, Newt was picking up on a concern, prominent in the day and voiced by no less than Reagan's then ex-UN Ambassador Kirkpatrick, not to mention prominent Reagan supporters Will and Kristol and the late-Mondale aide turned conservative Krauthammer, that Reagan's anti-Communist policies could be stronger if better institutionalized and not tied as much to the Reagan persona.

This is an another admission, like the earlier one by NRO's Ponnuru, that conservatives were far from being united in their support of St. Ronnie. Because Raygun is the conservatives' version of FDR, this can only harm the movement.

HARD TIMES FOR THE NEWT

First, he seems to have gotten most of the Establishment Wingnuts against him and that's no small feat for a former GOP Speaker of the House.  Second, he tried to smack around Wolf Blitzer but Wolf came out the winner.

I'd say that Gingrich is doing something right if he's got wackos like Ann Coulter fighting him.

BERNIE MCGUIRK IS A RIGHTWING ASSHOLE

He's the racist pig on The Imus Show and today I heard him lie about the Brewer/Obama airport interaction.  McGuirk falsely claimed that Pres. Obama pointed his finger at Gov. Brewer when in fact it was the other way around:

Brewer defends finger pointing at Obama
By Adele Hampton - 01/26/12 11:04 AM ET
THE HILL

Photographers also captured a picture of Brewer pointing her finger at Obama's chest — a photo that has become a rallying cry for opponents of the president who are looking for a conservative politician to take him on.

Here's a pic:

I DON'T THINK "UNSTABLE" IS THE CORRECT WORD

I won't go into enough details to make the person I'm talking about identifiable out of a concern for his privacy.  I will say that my adviser when I was in graduate school was noted for his creativity and that really meant he had a LOT of ideas.  Obviously, most of them didn't work out, mostly because he had been spoiled when he was a graduate student by having too many assistants, so he never developed an "output editor."  I think Neut is the same kind of thinker, so Mittens is wrong to call him "unstable."

On the other hand, this characteristic makes Neut unsuitable to hold an executive position. 

LINUX (UBUNTU) PART II

Neither of the two Windows drivers I downloaded were for the version of the wireless card I have.  The good news is that I did manage to get the Ethernet connection to work.