“Conservatism is a way of life-Mitt Romney understands that. Its not just in his head; its in his heart”….Rick Santorum 2008

Rick Santorum won Iowa by a razor-thin margin – over Mitt Romney and me – and then his campaign immediately nosedived.
Why? His Big Government record turned off voters in New Hampshire, Florida, and elsewhere.

Rick Santorum not only marched in lockstep with union bosses when he was in the Senate, but he helped keep workers under Big Labor’s thumb and the money flowing to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama by voting to kill the National Right to Work Act.

This is why his campaign tanked after Iowa – and why it will bottom out again once voters reexamine his Big Government record.

He voted with senators like Barbara Boxer and Frank Lautenberg to pass massive new federal guncontrol schemes and regulations.

And he rescued pro-abortion Arlen Specter from the jaws ofdefeat in the 2004 Senate Primary – later ensuring President Obama’s 60th vote for his ObamaCare scheme.

This is why his campaign tanked after Iowa and why it will bottom out again once voters reexamine his Big Government record.

When you compare it to my record on opposing Big Government, deficit spending, and reckless growth in federal programs, I think you will conclude that I am “the real thing.”

Just like the other “flavor of the week” establishment candidate (especially “Serial Hypocrite” Newt Gingrich), Rick Santorum’s campaign will come crashing down again once voters find out the truth about what he’s done throughout his political career.

In fact, my campaign put together a TV ad called “Betrayal” to highlight Rick Santorum’s long record of being part of the Big Government, big spending status quo inWashington. Won’t you take a minute to watch it?

And, if you possibly can, I hope you’ll agree to make a generous contribution to help me run this ad in Arizona, Michigan, and key Super Tuesday states.

As you’ll see from my ad, Rick Santorum is anything but a conservative. Just consider his record, which includes:

*** Padding his own wallet asa corporate lobbyist at the expense of taxpayers;

*** Voting to RAISE the debt ceiling five times;

*** Voting to DOUBLE thefederal Department of Education;

*** Voting with liberals like Ted Kennedy on multiple occasions in support of Big Labor’s radical agenda;

*** Urging more federal involvement in housing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;

*** Voting to create a brand new, unfunded entitlement,Medicare Part D, the largest expansion of entitlement spending since President Lyndon Johnson – creating $16 TRILLION in unfundedliabilities;

*** Endorsing liberal Big Government RINOs like Arlen Specter over conservatives. Ofcourse, Specter later became a Democrat and worked hand-in-glove with President Obama to pass his radical agenda;

*** Voting forSarbanes-Oxley, which imposed dramatic new job-killing accounting regulations on businesses;

*** Supporting raising taxes on oil companies, whichdirectly costs Americans more money out of their pockets at the gas pump;

*** Voting for gun control;

*** Voting to give SocialSecurity benefits to illegal aliens, while voting against an additional 1,000 border patrol agents;

*** Voting to give $25 million in foreign aid toNorth Korea;

*** Voting to send hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood – thenation’s largest provider of abortion – and to hand out hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to enemies of Israel

He’s proud of it!

Rick Santorum said constitutional conservatives have a “crazy” idea that government should”keep our taxes down, and keep our regulations low.”

Not only that, but he endorsed Mitt Romney just four years ago!

How can the “alternative to Romney” also be a Romney supporter?

The truth is, Rick Santorum has no national campaign and no funding to compete againstMitt Romney, let alone Barack Obama.

And as I’ve laid out, there’s no way his Big Government record can stand up to an ounce of scrutiny.

On the other hand, my campaign offers the only conservative contrast to Mitt Romney.

That’s because I’ve been warning about the dangers of Big Government, out-of-control spending, and runaway inflation for years.

In fact, I’m the only candidate to predict the current economic mess we’re in right now.

In 2003, I predicted thehousing crisis and pushed to get the government out of the mortgage business.

In 2008, I fought TARP and the Fed when they laid waste to our economy, while others in this race applauded their disastrous Big Government intervention.

And unlike my opponents, I am absolutely ready to enact real spending cuts, right now.

In fact, my Plan to Restore America cuts $1 trillion in federal spending during the first year of my presidency by eliminating five federal departments that I can actually name – Education, Energy, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and Interior.

As President, I’ll balance the budget by year three without cutting one penny from our veterans, our senior citizens, or our national defense.

That’s what sets me apart – my plan, my record of being rightwhile others were wrong, and my unmatched and unwavering record of fighting for fiscal responsibility and constitutional principles.

In a nutshell, it’s my conservatism that’s winning the day.

And today, I’m asking for your support.

These are troubling times for our country – times that call for conservative leadership.

A counterfeit like Rick Santorum won’t cut it.

As I run for President, I want to make sure our Republican Party keeps its strong commitment to limited constitutional government and free market solutions.

The only way to do that is to nominate someone in 2012 who predicted the economic crisis long before it happened. Someone who has conviction and has fought against Big Government inWashington his entire career.

And if you are so moved, I’d appreciate it if you would consider contributing to my presidential campaign, as well. I don’t have big corporations or special interests behind my campaign.

But I do have hundreds of thousands of individuals who care about getting our economy moving in the right direction again.

Whatever you can do, $500,$250, $100, or even $50, will help.

Together, you and I can Restore America Now.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

P.S. Considering the trouble our nation is facing, we simply can’t afford to nominate a counterfeit conservative.

As my TV ad shows, Rick Santorum is just another counterfeit conservative with a long record of being part of the Big Government, big spending status quo in Washington.

The truth is, I’m the only candidate left in the race with the fundraising, organization and track record to defeat both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

So please, support my campaign and help mequickly get my message out to as many voters as possible.

(Updated with this SCATHING Ron Paul ad:

It’s been a long held belief Mitt Romney doesn’t have a ghost of a chance to earn votes in the South. However, four polls recently released show Romney running surprising strong. New polls reveal Romney is leading, tied or making significant inroads against his two competitors in Dixie.

In a new Alabama poll released today Romney LEADS Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich by 4 and 5 points respectively. Romney leads in Alabama (yes… you read that right) with 27% in the state conquered by Vincent LaGuardia Gambini in 1992

A Georgia poll on Feb 3, Romney has gutted Gingrich’s lead from 53 points in December to just 13 points currently.

And the Super Tuesday state which Gingrich is staking his campaign’s viability on, may not be as easy as he assumes. Romney staged a rally tin Atlanta last night and may make an effort in the state in order to force Gingrich to play defense on his alleged turf.

Add these factors to the polls released yesterday showing Romney running away with Virgina and tied in North Carolina, and it appears the breathless anticipation of a Romney implosion may be a little premature.

Rick Santorum, despite his Iowa win didn’t resonate in South Carolina or Florida. While he did stage a sweeping victory on Tuesday in the Midwest, he has yet to prove himself down South. So while Gingrich continues to flail and look increasing passe, Romney can run a very competitive Southern race. Since most of these states are proportional in their delegate selection, Romney running close ensures none of the other two will break out, while he continues to maintain is delegate edge.

Stay tuned….

The battle continues to rage between the republican candidates as to which one is the most conservative. Somehow, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum seem to be winning this position. This is fascinating, given that of the four candidates remaining, Romney’s the only one who’s ever managed a large publicly funded budget, and he reduced its size significantly in his four years in Mass. He’s also the only candidate who addresses or discusses one of the federal government’s most cost effective funding methods–Block Granting. It is element number 54 in his 59 point plan. It reads, “Reform and restructure Medicaid as block grant to states”.

What’s my personal interest in this concept? I oversee a medium size county’s children’s services department in Northern California, and while most of my peers won’t appreciate my support for block granting, I’d welcome it.
It’s not a new concept; the fed does it now with some substance abuse and mental health dollars. Block granting is the funding methodology where by the feds give a fixed or “capped” amount to states or counties to deliver a specific service or set of services. In essence, it is what you and I do every single month in our personal budgeting. We identify a fixed amount of money we’re going to spend on food or gasoline or entertainment, and we spend that amount and that amount only.

Inherent in the block grant is flexibility on the part of the state or county to use the dollars as they see fit in meeting resident needs, as long as it meets the general parameters for which it’s intended. When properly structured, there are far fewer analysts, technocrats, and pencil pushers with block granting, than with other funding streams. In some allocations, as much as 40% of the original dollars are siphoned off by federal “oversight”, before those dollars ever leave the nation’s capital. Block grants have more flexibility and less waste.

Will it be easily done? Not likely. Surely Romney will have to fight unions and Pelosi and Reid, to get it done, but it’s a proven and acceptable way to reform entitlements, and if you’re a true “small government voter”, Romney’s proposal should earn your attention. And its presence in Romney’s plan reinforces his executive “cred” as the real, creative and true fiscal conservative.

Michael Medved nails Mitt Romney’s challenges in 2012, as well as the GOP’s.

From today’s The Daily Beast

(click bold face above to go to the full story)

On no significant issue has Romney moved to the left or to the center over the last four years; his platform of 2012 offers a program of conservative reform far bolder and more substantive than any ideas he put forward in 2008.

Mitt’s precise problem came into focus for me with an e-mail from an angry listener to my radio show who upbraided me for my open support of Romney as the most electable candidate against Obama. “We remember what you did to us last time, and we won’t let you get away with it again!” she wrote. “This time you’re trying to ram the RINO, Romney, down our throats and last time it was McCain. It was because of people like you that we got stuck with McCain, when we could have had a real conservative who would have beaten Obama!”

And who would have been that “real conservative” back in the distant days of 2008?

None other than … Mitt Romney, the “conservative’s conservative ” eagerly endorsed by Senator Jim DeMint and nearly all of my talk radio colleagues, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and many more.

That Romney no longer counts as a “real conservative” doesn’t reflect any ideological shifts on his part, but it does suggest a significant movement of the entire GOP toward the enraged and indignant right. The far lower turnouts in Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri all indicate that this tectonic movement hardly counts as a positive development for the Republican Party.

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“The enraged and indignant right.” – Sound familiar.

We have seen many such sentiments expressed here, on other sites and in a daily diatribe on most truth twisting Talk Radio shows. This “I’d rather be RIGHT than win” mantrra will prove to be a major stumbling block on the road to successfully ousting President Obama.

Just as Talk Radio and misguided fringer Conservatives mucked up the 2010 mid-term elections, where the goal was to TAKE CONTROL of the Senate as well as the House (while disposing of Harry Reid in the process) they seem hell bent on using the same tactics in the 2012 cycle. The GOP could have deposed Reid in Nevada with a popluar mainstream Conservative, but were overrun by the “blood in their eyes” Right Wing activists who offered us an ill-prepared and unsuitable candidate.

In Delaware, rather than keep a safe, solid seat in the GOP aisle and make the incumbent tow the line AFTER control was won, we had to suffer through the debacle of a  psuedo-witch leading us to defeat, while Talk Radio extolled her Conservative purity.

Why?

“Because we’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”

In our personal lives, very seldom is it wise or successful to make serious decisions while in a highly emotional and angry state of mind. Unfortunately, this logic doesn’t seem to be followed in certian political circles.

It’s sad to see the same storm clouds gathering again on the political horizon. Hopefully we can wake up, seek shelter from the storm and ride the sensible, pragmatic and MAINSTREAM CONSERVATIVE course to victory.

The time has come for the Republican Party to close the deal. I believe Mitt Romney is the best choice for the presidency. Let me tell you why.

To begin with, like me, Mitt is a businessman, not a career politician. In other words, he’s accomplished far more in his life than collecting campaign cash from special-interest groups and making promises at press conferences with the help of a teleprompter.

Mitt played an instrumental role in starting or managing such job-creating giants as Domino’s Pizza, the Sports Authority, Staples and many other firms. He single-handedly saved the 2002 Winter Olympic Games from financial ruin and turned it into one of the best competitions in living memory. Amazingly, he governed blue-state Massachusetts as a conservative, balancing its out-of-whack budget while cutting taxes, feats carried out despite a Democratic-controlled legislature.

Mitt has what it takes to turn the country around. And he has laid out a plan to do just that.

Right now, China is cleaning America’s clock. The Chinese are building the world’s largest airports, biggest ports, a powerful military and the best of everything. And we’re paying for it all by purchasing their products. We’re buying everything they make because they keep their currency artificially low, giving them an annual windfall of some $250 billion. They are holding the yuan at a level at which it is impossible for us to compete.

Mitt Romney not only understands all this, he has thought through the policies we need to begin to set things right. Unless China changes direction, he has pledged to have the Treasury Department designate China as a currency manipulator on Day One of his administration. We can then impose duties on China’s unfairly priced products. The Chinese will get the message faster than an ICBM. As Mitt has said, “We don’t want a trade war, but neither can we accept our current trade surrender.”

Fixing our trade relations with China is just one part of Mitt’s comprehensive plan to get America back in gear. The Obama administration seems to have accepted record high unemployment as the new normal. But it is not acceptable to me, and it is not acceptable to Mitt that nearly 24 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or no longer even looking for work. Mitt’s jobs plan will create millions of jobs over four years, and I will be out there myself doing some of the hiring.

Some people call Mitt’s jobs plan conservative. I happen to know something about creating jobs, and I call it common sense. Middle-income Americans deserve far better than the slow-growth and no-growth policies President Obama has put in place. They need a president who will make it possible for all Americans to get a bigger slice of a growing pie rather than crumbs handed out by Washington. Mitt understands that government needs to get out of the way if American business is to do what it does best: innovate, make the products that people around the world want to buy, and hire American workers.

Right now, government regulations cost us annually $1.75 trillion. They constitute a stealth tax that is larger than the amount the Internal Revenue Service collects every year from corporations and individuals combined. In just three years, Mr. Obama has added hugely to the annual regulatory bill. Mitt is going to pare that back and make sure every single regulation has benefits that outweigh costs and that they don’t kill U.S. jobs.

Mitt also is going to rein in Mr. Obama’s out-of-control spending and bring the federal budget back into balance. He’s laid out the government programs that he’s going to eliminate and cut. He’s determined to trim the bloated federal workforce. That’s going to take a lot of hard work and the negotiating skills of a successful businessman. It’s precisely why we need someone with Mitt’s financial background and business experience to run the country.

True, Mitt Romney does have his shortcomings: He’s never built a Mitt Romney Tower in New York City or 12 Mitt Romney championship golf courses. Not everyone can be a Donald Trump. However, over the course of Mitt’s distinguished career, he has built other kinds of enduring monuments of accomplishment that have earned my highest regard. Mitt Romney is no one’s apprentice; he’s fully ready to step into the nation’s top job as the next president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump is president and CEO of the Trump Organization.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/no-ones-apprentice/

Misconception 1; George Soros and a few others claim that Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are essentially interchangeable.

The difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is profound; Mitt Romney is a capitalist and a success as a businessman and Barack Obama is a socialist and a failure as President of the United States. George Soros and a few political pundits couldn’t be more wrong. Mitt Romney appreciates the private sector and understands how capitalism works. Barack Obama doesn’t seem to have any concept of what capitalism is or a basic grasp of how the private sector functions which might explain why unemployment remains high.

Misconception 2; Mitt Romney committed Medicare fraud.

Bain Capital bought over 100 companies and one of the companies they bought, Damon Corporation, had some corrupt employees that were convicted in a scheme to defraud Medicare. Mitt Romney took control of the company after the corruption was already well underway and he couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with what was going on before he got there. Law enforcement officials who were the most closely involved with the case, and investigated all of those concerned, never charged Mitt Romney with a crime and had no reason to consider him a suspect.

Misconception 3; Mitt Romney is an out of touch billionaire who doesn’t care about the poor.

Mitt Romney gave 15% of his income to charity last year as opposed to Barack Obama who only gave 1%. Mr. Romney’s contributions totaled approximately $7 million with most of the money going to his church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing for widows, caring for orphans, and comforting the afflicted, whether they are Mormon, or in no church at all. Mitt Romney has said “I’m not worried about the poor” because he has faith and didn’t say “I don’t care” because he cares deeply about the poor.

Misconception 4; Mitt Romney wants a national mandate for health insurance.

Mitt Romney doesn’t want a national mandate to purchase anything. He is a strong supporter of States Rights and wants each State to make its own laws concerning health-care. Mitt Romney will repeal Obama-care and get to work undoing the damage that President Obama’s policies have done.

Continued Below…


Misconception 5; Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper.

Mitt Romney listens intently, learns from others, and changes his mind only after considering the facts and weighing the pros and cons of complex issues. People that never change their mind probably don’t have one. Mitt Romney listens and learns; the best leaders usually do.

Misconception 6; Mitt Romney is a Republican in name only (RINO).

Mitt Romney is a lifelong Republican, strongly supports the U.S. Constitution and States Rights, is a strong fiscal conservative and the only tried and true capitalist currently running for President of the United States. When Ron Paul supporters change their political party from Democratic to Republican in order to vote for a Libertarian like Ron Paul; they are truly RINOs.

Misconception 7; Mitt Romney forced Holocaust survivors to eat non-kosher food.

When Mitt Romney was a Governor he saved taxpayers $600,000 by having kosher meals delivered to nursing homes instead of continuing to fund the expensive process of preparing kosher meals in nursing homes all across his State. It’s a perfect example of common sense business know-how making a difference in government.

Misconception 8; Mitt Romney is a corporate raider who bought companies, seized their assets and liquidated their liabilities; leaving thousands without jobs.

Mitt Romney is the furthest thing from a corporate raider. Although not all of the companies bought by or started by Bain Capital succeeded; the point was always to build strong companies, create good paying jobs, and make a profit. Failed companies mean losses, and no one sets out to lose money. Mitt Romney’s many successes created over 120,000 jobs.

Misconception 9; Mitt Romney thinks corporations are people.

Until a robot goes to city hall and gets a business license all corporations have been started by people for people. Corporations don’t have the right to vote, except they do have the right to represent their interests, support causes they believe in, and give generously to charities, social causes, and political causes, in order to participate in their communities and be good neighbors.

Misconception 10; Mitt Romney likes to fire people.

Mitt Romney likes performance, results, and meaningful improvement; which is why he would like to fire Barack Obama. When Mitt Romney’s quote about firing people was taken out of context, what he was talking about was giving the American people more choices. Everyone in America should be able to fire service providers who under perform and hire service providers that can get the job done. When you can’t change Doctors something is very wrong. Mitt Romney wants to fix that.

Misconception 11; Mitt Romney is a tax cheat and doesn’t pay his fair share.

It’s not Mitt Romney’s fault that he is very successful and has made a fortune. He should get all the credit for working harder and smarter than most taxpayers. He has not broken any tax laws. If everyone invested as wisely as Mitt Romney; everyone would pay the same tax rate that he does.

Misconception 12; Mitt Romney is running a very negative campaign.

Mitt Romney is running a very optimistic campaign and he promotes a bright vision for America’s future (see his Website for details). He is right not to ignore the very negative consequences of Barack Obama’s Presidency. He is also right not to ignore the very negative consequences of Newt Gingrich’s record as a Washington insider, career congressman, and influence peddler. As a businessman, Mitt Romney specialized in turning struggling companies around; creating jobs and putting people to work in the process. That is what he intends to do for America and he has the skills and know-how to get the job done.

Source: http://politiac.com/The_Dirty_Dozen_Misconceptions_About_Mitt_Romney/

Today Senator McCain was on the Michael Medved show talking about different political issues as well as his defense of Romney “NOT being the establishment candidate”.

BWAHAHAHAHA! A wee slip of the tongue! Seriously, I believe that this is nothing more than a tongue slip but it does bring back memories of one of the funniest political slip ups ever. In Mitt’s first run for public office, his 1994 run for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, his opponent, John Lakian had a similar faux pax. Lakian had raised the issue of “can a Mormon be elected in MA” and the press got on his case for it, to their credit. In one debate, Mr. Lakian was asked if he thought that Mr. Romney’s religion was fair game and, in a moment that will live forever in MA political history, Mr. Lakian swore that he would never dream of using “Mr. Mormon’s” religion against Romney. Local talk show host Howie Carr holds this moment as one of his favorite political missteps of all time. Too funny!

This is a great reference for all your delegate allocation questions.

After some brief consultation, I noticed that CA, NY, MD, DE, CT, MT, UT, PR, NJ,  and VA are all either strictly winner-take-all or winner-take-all if the winner gets a majority.

That’s 500 delegates in the bag for Mitt, right there.

He has about 100 delegates so far, and is projected to have about 250 by Super Tuesday. So just based on those numbers, Mitt already basically has 250 + 500 = 750 delegates in the bank for all intents and purposes. 1144 are needed. That means Mitt has a mere 400 delegates to find elsewhere to clinch the nomination. This is not going to be a problem.

Now, let’s look how it stacks up for Newt:

Not a single Newt-friendly state is winner-take-all except AL and MS. IN is a bit confusing as to how delegates are allocated, but my money’s on Mitt there regardless.

Newt has been talking about Texas deciding the race. He’s been saying he plans to take the race until Texas and see where things shake out for him at that point. But…

Let’s just say Gingrich, Paul and Santorum stay in until Texas for this example.

TX has 155 delegates, which are totally proportional.

Say the result looks like this:

Gingrich – 50%
Romney – 30%
Paul – 15%
Santorum – 5%

In the best-case scenario for Newt, he gets about 78 delegates, and Mitt gets about 50. That’s a 28-delegate pickup.

That’s nothing. Montana has only 26 delegates, but it’s winner-take-all. Imagine Texas being only as decisive as Montana?

So, in short, Mitt is the nominee. Or at least Newt isn’t. Santorum looks like the final not-Romney candidate, but the math is almost as bad for him anyway.