Michelle Malkin » GOP

More CPAC speeches in 20 words

Michelle Malkin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:53:37 +0000

Ann Coulter: Ignore my speech last year.

Scott Walker: Big Labor won’t break me.

Bobby Jindal: Louisiana won’t forget Obama’s jackboot-ism.

Sarah Palin: I know you want me.

***

Yesterday: CPAC speeches in 20 words.

Romney gets Rick-rolled: Santorum sweeps Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado in 2/7 trifecta

Michelle Malkin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:24:49 +0000

Photo source: RickSantorum.com

Scroll for updates…early results in Minnesota and Missouri looking good for Rick Santorum…SWEEEEEEEEEP!

You can get live, updated Colorado GOP caucus results here.

Minnesota caucus results will be here.

And Missouri primary results here.

***

Update: Networks projecting Santorum the winner in Missouri.

And he’s leading early in Minnesota.

What did I tell ya? Santorum’s got game. (ICYMI: My endorsement post last week.)

Now, he needs your help to unite the Right.

***

Note: If Santorum sweeps these critical battleground states tonight, he will have won more states than “frontrunner” Mitt Romney (he has snagged three states).

Nothing is inevitable in politics.

Also noteworthy: Santorum is doing this with just a fraction of Mitt Romney’s money.

Money can take you far, but just like Mitt Romney learned in 2008 and is learning again, it can’t seal the deal.

***

Commenter TigerLady:

I’ve had so many people tell me today my vote in Missouri “doesn’t count”. I voted Santorum. If it “doesn’t count” at least I exercised my right to do it.

Fun fact from Erik Telford:

Romney won the 2008 MN Caucus w/ 41%. Tonight, he garnered 16%, placing 3rd behind RON PAUL. That Pawlenty endorsement really helped…

T-Guffaw.

***

Update 10:54pm Eastern: Santorum at Missouri victory speech: “Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota…1600 Pennsylvania better be listening.”

Staying focused: Santorum blasting radical Obama policies — cap and trade, Obamacare, bailouts — in Missouri victory speech.

Romney shares many of the same positions as Obama.

“I’m not the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I’m the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”

“Supply-side economics for the working man is resonating.”

“I care about 100 percent of Americans.”

“Freedom is at stake in this election.”

Update 11:35pm Eastern…Santorum maintaining lead as precinct returns get tallied up here in Colorado.

Significant: Romney lost Adams County to Santorum. He won 67% there in 2008. Barely scraped together 31 percent this year. This is the Denver suburbs.

Update 12:30am It’s a squeaker. With 51 percent reporting and liberal Denver and suburban Denver votes coming in, Romney has eked ahead for the first time tonight 37-35 over Santorum. El Paso County, where I live, is still counting votes. Santorum has a big lead here and these votes will offset some of the Denver edge Romney has.

Update 1:04am Eastern – GOP Party Chairman of Colorado Ryan Call announces on CNN that with 98 percent of precincts reporting, Rick Santorum has won Colorado, completing his 2/7 trifecta.

He “exceeded expectations,” says Call. His margin of victory in my home county of El Paso was 1300 votes.

Video:

Update 1:38am – With 100 percent precincts reporting, final margin of victory:

Denver Post coverage of Colorado caucus results:

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum upended the race for the Republican nomination Tuesday, winning three states including Colorado.

Colorado’s race see-sawed throughout the night until 11 p.m., when Colorado GOP Chair Ryan Call declared Santorum the winner. But the race was a near tie.

“This is a major upset,” said Denver-based political analyst Floyd Ciruli. “Definitely, there is a new story now.”

Even Romney, who easily won the Republican contest in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote, acknowledged in his speech from the Auraria campus his new challenger.

“This was a good night for Rick Santorum, but I still expect to become the nominee,” he said. “I look forward to the contest to come.”

***

I repeat: The “frontrunner” with a $30 million war chest now has won fewer states than Rick Santorum.

I repeat: Money can take you far, but just like Mitt Romney learned in 2008 and is learning again, it can’t seal the deal.

***

Mitt Romney: Tonight, you were Rick-rolled.

***

Santorum won Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado the same way he won Iowa: Hard work.

Congratulations, Sen. Santorum, on your 2/7 trifecta!

Now, get ready for the attacks, the press smears, more glitter, and likely CPAC ambushes. Forewarned is forearmed.

Middle Class Payroll Tax Cut Extension Comes Courtesy of Mortgage Fees on Home Buyers

Doug Powers — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:36:44 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

During the clamor to pass an extension of the payroll tax cut, President Obama asked “What does $40 mean to you?”

His opponents of the way the extension was handled might now be able to counter with, “What does $9,500 mean to you?”

(CBS News) Just before Christmas, American workers got a rare gift from Washington politicians – the current payroll tax cut would be extended for two more months. At the time, both President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner lauded the move to avoid a tax increase for millions of working Americans. But there’s something the politicians weren’t bragging about – the fact that they’re paying for the two-month tax cut with what has turned into a brand new fee on home buyers.

The new fee is a minimum of one-tenth of 1 percent on Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-backed loans, and is likely to go much higher. It will be imposed for the next 10 years on most mortgages and refinancings and it lasts for the life of the loan. For every $200,000, it amounts to an extra $15 dollars a month.

It’s bad news for Patty Anderson, who’s buying a home in Virginia. Anderson will save a couple hundred dollars from having her payroll tax cut extended but her mortgage broker told her the new fee would cost her almost $9,500.
[...]
The $35.7 billion collected in fees won’t go into the Social Security fund to replace the lost payroll tax. It goes to the general treasury where Congress can spend it however they please.

Is this outlined in the Homeowners Bill of Rights?

For now, file this under “robbing Peter for decades to pay Peter for a couple of months”:

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Santorum’s got game

Michelle Malkin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:05:55 +0000

Photo source: RickSantorum.com

Some GOP 2012 news you might have missed over Super Bowl weekend, via the Rick Santorum campaign:

Polls have provided empirical data to this trend in the key battleground states of Minnesota and Colorado, where Rick Santorum has emerged as the clear conservative alternative to moderate Mitt Romney.

Public Policy Polling

Minnesota:
Santorum: 29%
Romney: 27%
Gingrich: 22%

Colorado:
Romney: 40%
Santorum: 26%
Gingrich: 18%

Nationally, Rick Santorum is the only Republican contender to beat President Barack Obama head-to-head.

Rasmussen Reports Poll

General Election Match-Ups:
Santorum: 45%
Obama: 44%

Romney: 43%
Obama: 47%

Gingrich: 41%
Obama: 49%

And just as important as the General Election horserace is, Rick Santorum is proving to be the most popular and likeable Republican candidate for President – a key ingredient to winning not just elections, but the hearts and minds of voters. (Public Policy Polling)

The conventional wisdom tells us Mitt and Newt are the only choices in this race. But these most recent polls clearly suggest that Santorum, not Newt, is the strongest conservative alternative. I’ve carefully and candidly laid out the strengths, weaknesses, and best arguments for Santorum. I’m working in my home state of Colorado to spread the message. Ed Morrissey makes his case for Santorum to his fellow Minnesotans and the Right at Hot Air. David Limbaugh did last week. More support from the Right spotlighted here by Stacy McCain.

Is it a long shot? Yes. Is it doable? Yes. There are no inevitabilities in politics.

Santorum’s got game. Strong showings in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado could bring the fundraising boost he needs. You can help right now right here.

***

A reminder of the Romn-Obama twins:

***

The Fishwrap of Record is catching on:

Mr. Santorum is, in many ways, a more dangerous opponent for Mr. Romney than Mr. Gingrich at this point. He has run a more disciplined campaign than the former House speaker, has less personal baggage and is less disliked by party leaders.

Mr. Santorum can also make a credible claim to challenging Mr. Romney on electability. Mr. Santorum’s current unfavorable rating among all voters is 11 points lower than Mr. Romney’s, 36 percent versus 47 percent. Their favorable ratings are roughly equal: 30 percent for Mr. Santorum to 29 percent for Mr. Romney.

Mr. Santorum’s conservative positions on social issues might not make him an ideal fit with certain types of independent voters. States that are moderate to -liberal on social policy, like Virginia, New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado, could be tougher for Republicans to win if Mr. Santorum is their nominee.

But those concerns might be outweighed if Mr. Santorum shows strength in the Midwest — and Mr. Romney shows weakness.

…With Mr. Santorum, however, you can at least draw up a coherent path to victory, one that runs through the Midwest. There is a Midwestern state left to vote at virtually every turn of the nomination calendar. After Michigan on Feb. 28 and Ohio on Super Tuesday comes Missouri (again) on March 17, when it holds its caucuses, then Illinois on March 20, Wisconsin on April 3 and Pennsylvania on April 24. (A big disadvantage for Mr. Santorum: He did not qualify for the ballot in Indiana, which votes on May 8.)

Mr. Santorum would eventually need to expand his coalition beyond the region — such as to the socially conservative states of the South. But victories for him in Minnesota or Missouri — especially if he wins both — would at once raise new concerns about Mr. Romney’s appeal to working-class voters and make Mr. Gingrich’s victory in South Carolina appear to be a one-off event that is quickly receding in the rear-view mirror.

Nevada Caucuses Open Thread; Update: Romney Wins

Doug Powers — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:30:50 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

So far there seem to be no real surprises in Nevada — especially since three of the four GOP candidates aren’t even currently in the state — but the caucus voting is still going on:

With a huge lead in polls, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney appeared poised for an easy win in Nevada on Saturday that would put him in firm command of the party’s see-sawing presidential nominating race.

A Nevada victory would be Romney’s second win in a row and his third in the first five contests in the state-by-state battle to find a Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November’s general election.

Two polls taken this week in Nevada showed the former Massachusetts governor with a lead of 20 points or more over top rival Newt Gingrich after recapturing his front-runner status with a convincing win in Florida on Tuesday.

The caucuses began at many of the 125 sites around Nevada on Saturday morning, although final results were not expected until after 7 p.m. PST (0300 Sunday GMT). A final gathering of voters to accommodate Jews observing the Sabbath on Saturday will begin in Las Vegas at that time.

As for the actual voting, early on it appears to be falling in line with most of the polls.

The day hasn’t been without its problems:

Caucus-goers eager to take on their civic duty today were met with chaos and confusion at Green Valley High School in Henderson.

Frustrated voters tell Action News that some in attendance were given “unofficial” ballots. Several people cast their votes on unauthorized pieces of paper and left before the official blue ballots were handed out.

Witnesses were alarmed that their peers’ votes would go uncounted and blamed the caucus leaders for the disorganization.

For a minute there I thought they were going to say the ballots somehow had Harry Reid’s name pre-checked.

After today’s over, upcoming caucuses are Maine, Colorado and Minnesota. Super Tuesday is just over a month away. Who will be left standing?

I’ll post an update later when there are some solid numbers in.

Update: Fox5 has the latest. No surprises here:

The Nevada Republican Party announced the first results of the state’s presidential caucus Saturday, showing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with the early lead.

Romney scored victories in rural Eureka County, as well as Humboldt, Storey, Churchill and Pershing counties.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won Mineral County, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul easily won Nye County with 46 percent of the vote and scored a second victory by winning neighboring Esmeralda County.

Also, Business Insider reports that tonight Newt Gingrich will “lay out a delegate-based strategy that will allow him to make good on his promise to stay in the race until the Republican National Convention this summer.”

Update II: This was about as surprising as finding out Harry Reid doesn’t plan to propose a budget this year: ABC calls it for Romney.

The chase for runner-up between Gingrich and Paul is still too close to call. Santorum will finish fourth.

Update III: The latest numbers:

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

BlunderMitt: Let Them Eat Food Stamps; Plus: PPP results point to Santorum

Michelle Malkin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:44:26 +0000

Romney looks tired here in this CNN interview this morning. Too much post-primary partying, I guess. But it’s exactly the time he needs to be on guard and on his A-game. Instead, he fumbles the post-Florida football and gives ammunition to all of his opponents on both sides of the aisle by reinforcing the perception and reality that he is gobsmackingly out-of-touch. This could easily have been a Saturday Night Live parody. Facepalm:

After winning the Florida primary, GOP presidential nominee hopeful Mitt Romney explains to CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien that he is focused on a particular portion of the American population in his campaign.

Romney says, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair , I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich…. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

O’Brien asked him to clarify his remarks saying, “There are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, ‘That sounds odd.’”

The message shouldn’t be “Let Them Eat Food Stamps.”

The message shouldn’t be that he’ll “fix” any holes in the safety net.

It’s supposed to be: Get them off food stamps, provide them with real educational choice, reform the culture of dependency, and get government out of the way so that businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive — and increase economic opportunities for everyone.

Yes, there is a better choice.

Latest PPP results:

“Trouble ahead for Romney?”

What might be most interesting in both states is what happens in a head to head between Romney and either Gingrich or Santorum:

-In Missouri Santorum leads Romney 50-37 and in Ohio Santorum leads 45-38.

-In Missouri Gingrich leads Romney 43-42 and in Ohio Gingrich leads 42-39.

Two takeaways from those numbers: if this ever came down to Romney, Paul, and just one out of Gingrich and Santorum, Romney would be in a lot of trouble. And he’d be in more trouble if the single conservative alternative ended up being Santorum.

Santorum is a stronger long term threat to Romney than Gingrich because he has less baggage and is simply much better liked.

Santorum is easily the most popular of the Republican candidates in both Missouri (+42 favorability at 63/21, compared to +20 forGingrich and +10 for Romney) and Ohio (+35 at 59/24 compared to +10 for both Gingrich and Romney). It’s just proving hard for Santorum to get much traction while Gingrich is still in the race.

***

Update: Romney updated his comments here. I don’t think it helps much. Do you?

Florida Primary Open Thread; Update: Romney Wins

Doug Powers — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:24:44 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

Fifty delegates are at stake in today’s winner-take-all Florida primary. The polls close at 8 p.m. EST. Let’s kick off an open thread for comments on the results as they come in. As of 9:15 p.m. with 78% of the precincts reporting, Romney is up on Gingrich 47% to 32% Santorum has 13%, Paul is at 7%, and in Palm Beach County I’m told there were ~~three~~ five accidental votes for Pat Buchanan.

CNN has an up-to-the-minute vote tally and county results here. No word yet on who’s ahead in the cracker counties.

We’ll have updates as soon as anything worth mentioning happens. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves!

Update: Networks saying they’ll be able to call it at 8 p.m. Romney it is.

Update II: CNN calls it for Romney. Ditto for Fox News.

Delegate count after tonight with 1144 needed: Romney-84, Gingrich-27, Santorum-10, Paul-8 (h/t Curtis Kalin). The WSJ has it slightly different but you get the gist.

A little near future speculation on the delegate front:

With Mitt Romney’s win in Florida tonight, he has won all of the state’s 50 delegates – although there is some chance the outcome could be disputed because Florida’s winner-take-all allocation is technically in violation of Republican party rules.

But assume that the outcome holds, and that Mr. Romney also wins Virginia on Mar. 6, where only he and Ron Paul are on the ballot. Virginia awards all of its delegates to the winner if he or she gets at least 50 percent of the vote. By definition, the winner in a two-way race will have at least 50 percent of the vote, and the winner is likely to be Mr. Romney in a head-to-head contest against Mr. Paul.

That would give Mr. Romney a total of 96 delegates between Florida and Virginia alone (Virginia has 49 delegates, but three of them are automatic delegates, often called super delegates). Although this represents only 8 percent of the delegates that Mr. Romney would eventually need to cinch the Republican race, it would nevertheless constitute a tangible advantage in the event of a close back-and-forth race against Mr. Gingrich.

A reporter caught up with Gingrich to ask if he still sees a path to the nomination. “Of course…” (h/t HAP):

Update III: Good news: Rick Santorum said his daughter is doing much better after being hospitalized with a serious condition.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Prayers for Bella Santorum

Michelle Malkin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:38:21 +0000

Word came down tonight that Rick Santorum has canceled his Sunday campaign events to be with his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who was admitted to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia earlier today.

The Santorums have spoken movingly throughout their campaign about Bella, who was born with Trisomy 18, and recently had surgery.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

The three-year-old daughter of Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has been admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the candidate has cancelled his Sunday morning campaign events to be at her side.

Santorum campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said Saturday night that the former Pennsylvania senator and his wife, Karen, were with Bella at CHOP. Gidley said Santorum planned to return to campaigning as soon as possible in Florida, where the Republican primary is Tuesday.

Bella Santorum has Trisomy 18, a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. Bella was not expected to survive until her first birthday and concerns over her health have canceled previous Santorum campaign events.

During his campaign, Santorum and his wife have spoken openly about the challenges and rewards of raising a child with such a condition.

The Santorums have six other children; they lost a baby boy, Gabriel, shortly after his birth in 1996. Bella was born in 2008; two years later, Santorum wrote about her in an Inquirer column.

“All children are a gift that comes with no guarantees,” he wrote. “While Bella’s life may not be long, and though she requires our constant care, she is worth every tear.”

Bella, whose full name is Isabella Maria Santorum, has become a symbol of his pro-life stance, as he claimed that most infants diagnosed in the womb with Trisomy 18 are aborted.

Please keep this beautiful little girl and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

***

Meet Bella:

Fly Them To the Moon. Please.

Michelle Malkin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:32:54 +0000

Photoshop source: SaveJersey.com

You can peruse my Twitter page for highlights and lowlights of the CNN GOP debate in Florida, but this basically sums it up:

Wolf Blitzer went all Oprah/TMZ with his fishing into the candidates’ wives’ lives.

Newt doubled down on open-borders stupid and gave an indignant defense of illegal alien grandmothers that the SEIU and La Raza would love. To which Romney aptly replied: “The problem isn’t 11 million illegal alien grandmothers.”

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul sparred over Latin American dictators and freedom-fighters. Paul supporters the former. Santorum supports the latter.

Paul shined where he’s strongest — providing a clarion stand against government bailouts. Santorum landed solid blows on health care and the individual mandate supported by both Romney and Gingrich. Romney failed to defend his painfully exposed Achilles’ heel, Romneycare — and bizarrely argued that we needn’t “get angry about it.” Smile while your budgets are hemorrhaging…

Santorum also said encouraging things about the need to get entitlements under control instead of spending on pie-in-the-sky moon missions. Then again, this is a guy who supported the massive prescription drug entitlement under Bush.

Sigh.

Blitzer devoted an embarrassing amount of time to Gingrich’s moon colonization plan, prompting Paul (here I am saying something positive about Paul again!) to jibe that the only people we need to send to the moon are some politicians.

Score.

I was glad to take my nose plugs off for a fleeting moment and appreciate some lively, substantive debate — even if it happened unintentionally between bouts of Wolf Blitzer-led bloviations and special interest-pandering. There was no Macarena, but Wolf and the candidates came pretty close.

Big loser: Gingrich.

Big gainer: Santorum.

Big surprise: Paul’s likeability factor, even if he is completely on the moon when it comes to Israel, jihadists, and national security.

Big, unchanged reality: Big Government Romney, Big Government Gingrich, and Not As Big A Government As He Voted For When He Was in the Senate But Still Too Big Government Santorum.

The journey/march/slog (towards a brokered convention??????) continues…

Confirmed: Romneycare = Obamacare

Michelle Malkin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:32:37 +0000

Jim Pethokoukis spotlights a new Health Affairs study on how Romneycare laid the foundation for Obamacare, and what it portends for the federal health insurance scene. In short: Expanded government coverage, higher taxpayer costs. Read here for details and analysis. His conclusion:

The authors conclude that based on the Romneycare experience, Obamacare will improve coverage and not kill employer-based insurance, but containing costs will be a “considerable challenge.” That is probably the avenue Romney should use to a) attack Obamacare and b) present his own national health reform. But this study will perpetuate the meme that Romneycare was the prototype for Obamacare. Santorum hammered Romney on this point at the last debate more effectively than any other candidate throughout this campaign season, probably because he understands the issue better than his rivals. We’ll see if he or Gingrich follows up tonight.

No surprises, of course. We already heard from Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber in October:

The Obama administration may have relied much more heavily on Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare legislation as a blueprint for Obamacare than was previously believed.

White House visitor logs obtained by NBC News revealed that three of Romney’s healthcare advisers had up to a dozen meetings with senior administration officials, including one in the Oval Office presided over by President Barack Obama.

“They really wanted to know how we can take that same approach we used in Massachusetts and turn that into a national model,” MIT economist and Romney healthcare adviser Jon Gruber told NBC.

And back in September, I noted the analysis by Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute showing the depths of the economic damage that Romneycare did in the Bay State.

Flashback:

Romney’s baggage. It is so heavy:

The Bay State’s controversial 2006 universal health-care plan — also known as “Romneycare” — has cost Massachusetts more than 18,000 jobs, according to an exclusive blockbuster study that could provide ammo to GOP rivals of former Gov. Mitt Romney as he touts his job-creating chops on the campaign trail.

“Mandating health insurance coverage and expanding the demand for health services without increasing supply drove up costs. Economics 101 tells us that,” said Paul Bachman, research director at Suffolk University’s Beacon Hill Institute, the conservative think tank that conducted the study. The Herald obtained an exclusive copy of the findings.

“The ‘shared sacrifice’ needed to provide universal health care includes a net loss of jobs, which is attributable to the higher costs that the measure imposed,” said David Tuerck, the institute’s executive director.

…Despite Romney’s vaunted business acumen as a successful venture capitalist, Bachman said the former governor “was a little naive about what would become of the law.”

The Beacon Hill Institute study found that, on average, Romneycare:

• cost the Bay State 18,313 jobs;

• drove up total health insurance costs in Massachusetts by $4.311 billion;

• slowed the growth of disposable income per person by $376; and

• reduced investment in Massachusetts by $25.06 million.

And remember that RomneyCare relied on FedGovCare as a sturdy crutch: “He also noted the state’s health-care costs have been heavily subsidized by billions of dollars in federal aid through a Medicaid waiver program.”

The SEIU may be attacking Romney in Floridanow, but Big Labor radicals made out well under Romneycare.

I repeat: RomneyCare and ObamaCare share not only the same ideological architects, but similar waiver programs in part set up to benefit Big Labor – via Boston Globe in February:

Massachusetts regulators granted more exemptions last year to residents who said they could not afford the health insurance required by the state, waiving the tax penalty for more than half of those who appealed, according to state data.

State officials said they excused the majority of waiver applicants in large part because of the protracted sour economy, which made insurance unaffordable for more people. Under the 2006 state law that requires most residents to have coverage, regulators have significant latitude to authorize waivers by taking into account factors such as a home foreclosure.

The number of people seeking exemptions in 2010 was about the same as in 2009, and state figures show that roughly 98 percent of residents were insured last year.

Even as Republicans and many states wage a bitter battle in Congress and the courts to block the mandatory insurance requirement in the national health care law, the provision appears to retain broad acceptance in Massachusetts.

Regulators’ flexibility may be part of the reason.

“We aren’t going to make someone pay just to make them pay,’’ said Celia Wcislo, a director of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and a member of the Connector Authority, which oversees Massachusetts’ health care law and grants the exemptions.

Refresher on the politicized “Connector Authority” via Cato:

When Romney signed his plan he claimed “a key objective is to lower the cost of health insurance for all our citizens and allow our citizens to buy the insurance plan that fits their needs.” In actuality, insurance premiums in the state are expected to rise 10–12 percent next year, double the national average.

…Although there are undoubtedly many factors behind the cost increase, one reason is that the new bureaucracy that the legislation created-the “Connector”-has not been allowing Massachusetts citizens to buy insurance that “fits their needs.”

Although it has received less media attention than other aspects of the bill, one of the most significant features of the legislation is the creation of the Massachusetts Health Care Connector to combine the current small-group and individual markets under a single unified set of regulations. Supporters such as Robert E. Moffit and Nina Owcharenko of the Heritage Foundation consider the Connector to be the single most important change made by the legislation, calling it “the cornerstone of the new plan” and “a major innovation and a model for other states.”

The Connector is not actually an insurer. Rather, it is designed to allow individuals and workers in small companies to take advantage of the economies of scale, both in terms of administration and risk pooling, which are currently enjoyed by large employers. Multiple employers are able to pay into the Connector on behalf of a single employee. And, most importantly, the Connector would allow workers to use pretax dollars to purchase individual insurance. That would make insurance personal and portable, rather than tied to an employer-all very desirable things.

However, many people were concerned that the Connector was being granted too much regulatory authority. It was given the power to decide what products it would offer and to designate which types of insurance offered “high quality and good value.” This phrase in particular worried many observers because it is the same language frequently included in legislation mandating insurance benefits.

At the time the legislation passed, Ed Haislmaier of the Heritage Foundation reassured critics that “the Connector will neither design the insurance products being offered nor regulate the insurers offering the plans.” In reality, however, the Connector’s board has seen itself as a combination of the state legislature and the insurance commissioner, adding a host of new regulations and mandates.

For example, the Connector’s governing board has decreed that by January 2009, no one in the state will be allowed to have insurance with more than a $2,000 deductible or total out-of-pocket costs of more than $5,000. In addition, every policy in the state will be required to phase in coverage of prescription drugs, a move that could add 5–15 percent to the cost of insurance plans. A move to require dental coverage barely failed to pass the board, and the dentists-along with several other provider groups-have not given up the effort to force their inclusion. This comes on top of the 40 mandated benefits that the state had previously required, ranging from in vitro fertilization to chiropractic services.

Thus, it appears that the Connector offers quite a bit of pain for relatively little gain. Although the ability to use pretax dollars to purchase personal and portable insurance should be appealing in theory, only about 7,500 nonsubsidized workers have purchased insurance through the Connector so far. On the other hand, rather than insurance that “fits their needs,” Massachusetts residents find themselves forced to buy expensive “Cadillac” policies that offer many benefits that they may not want.

Governor Romney now says that he cannot be held responsible for the actions of the Connector board, because it’s “an independent body separate from the governor’s office.” However, many critics of the Massachusetts plan warned him precisely against the dangers of giving regulatory authority to a bureaucracy that would last long beyond his administration.

Industrial-strength nose plugs can’t cover the stench.

Gingrich channels open-borders SEIU; Rubio rebukes; Update:Newt retreats

Michelle Malkin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:56:41 +0000

Photoshop: Reader Jimmy D.

Yesterday, the SEIU and left-wing USA Action launched Spanish-language radio attacks on Mitt Romney for his support of immigration enforcement measures. One of Romney’s advisers is Kris Kobach — a constitutional law professor, Kansas Secretary of State, and staunch leader in the fight against illegal alien amnesty and ACORN-style voter fraud.

Eliseo Medina, the secretary-treasurer of Service Employees International Union, blasted Romney on Monday during a conference call announcing a Spanish-language radio ad the union is launching in partnership with Priorities USA Action, a super-PAC supporting President Obama.

Medina, the No. 2 official at the influential union, was reacting to an answer Romney gave at a debate Monday night where he said “self-deportation” was the answer to ridding the country of illegal immigrants.

“It’s basically to say, ‘Make their life miserable’” by refusing to rent to them or to provide access to heat and water,” Medina said. “Make it difficult for their kids and their schools.”

Asked by The Hill how Romney’s comments could be construed to imply that illegal immigrants should be denied basic necessities, Medina pointed to Romney’s close relationship with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has endorsed Romney. Kobach has been credit with writing most of Alabama’s harsh anti-illegal immigration law, which has been challenged in the courts.

“Mr. Romney has said he wants to support and he joins in supporting Kris Kobach,” Medina said. “When he says he supports those kinds of policies, he has to own all of it.”

“This is a dishonest smear from President Obama’s liberal allies and a desperate attempt to distract from his abysmal record,” said Romney adviser Albert Martinez. “It will do nothing to help the millions of Hispanics who have been hit especially hard as a result of the Obama economy.”

Martinez said Hispanics, like all Floridians, believe Romney is the best person to rebuild the economy and to replace Obama.

Well, look now, who’s mimicking the open-borders SEIU and blurring the lines between illegal and legal immigration.

Yep. Newt Gingrich:

Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being “anti-immigrant”

“This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It’s inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn’t belong in this campaign,” Rubio told The Miami Herald when asked about the ad.

“The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant,” Rubio said. “Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.”

Rubio’s sharp rebuke comes a day after he subtly corrected Gingrich for comparing Romney to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, branded by conservatives as a turncoat who left the party before Rubio beat him in 2010.

The criticisms from someone of Rubio’s stature in the Republican Party comes as polls show a near-even race, albeit with Gingrich surging.

Rubio plans to stay neutral in the race. He’s a potential running mate whom both candidates would love to have on the ballot.

The truth is that neither Gingrich nor Romney has a strong, consistent overall record on border security and enforcement. But at least Romney’s been traveling in the right direction…while Gingrich once again echoes left-wing language and plays the race card to get ahead.

Nose plugs. Get out yer nose plugs.

***

Newt and his supporters have been deriding the notion of self-deportation as some sort of alien, offensive concept. Long-time readers of this blog and of my investigative work on immigration have been familiar with it for years. It’s attrition through enforcement, it’s humane, and it works.

***

Can you be more two-faced? Newt has been winning massive adoration and applause for claiming he’ll stand up for states like South Carolina and Alabama, which have been sued by the Obama DOJ over tough immigration laws. Then he joins the likes of the SEIU and slams the very “anti-immigrant” policies authored by Kris Kobach that the Obama DOJ wants to overturn.

Emetic of the day.

***

Update: Newt retreats. From GOP Hispanic leaders calling him out, via the Miami Herald:

While we may have differences of opinion with regard to some of Governor Romney’s policies on immigration, we nonetheless stand firmly behind him because we know he is the most qualified conservative candidate to defeat President Obama and to lift up all Americans, including Hispanics.

Like your attacks on the free market, attacking Mitt Romney as “anti-immigrant” only serves President Obama and his liberal allies.

Mr. Speaker, our party deserves better.

Sincerely,

Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
Senator Mel Martinez
Raquel A. Rodriguez
Zoraida Fonalledas
Jorge Arrizurieta
R. Alexander Acosta
Remedios Diaz Oliver
Rudy Fernandez
Jeanette Prenger
Jerry Natividad
Sal Gomez
Allen Gutierrez
Hector Barreto
Jose Fuentes
Bertica Cabrera Morris
Rafael Elias-Linero

Florida Debate Open Thread

Doug Powers — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:43:15 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

Tonight will mark the 17th Republican debate (but it doesn’t feel like it’s been a day over 16 debates). It comes just as Mitt Romney’s 22 point lead in Florida has disappeared, and Rasmussen now has Newt Gingrich with an 11 point lead on Romney with a week to go before the Sunshine State primary. As for Florida’s 50 convention delegates, it’s winner take all, and they know it:

Before the Tampa debate started, Romney went after Gingrich in person and on the Florida airwaves.

At a campaign stop, Romney likened Gingrich to a pinball machine and suggested the former House speaker engaged in “potentially wrongful activity” in his consulting work over the past decade.

Romney then released his first negative ad of the campaign.

“While Florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, Newt Gingrich cashed in,” the TV ad says, noting that the former speaker made more than $1.6 million working for Freddie Mac. “Gingrich resigned from Congress in disgrace and then cashed in as a D.C. insider.”
[...]
Gingrich, meanwhile, is showing no signs of backing down.

During an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” he referred to Romney as “somebody who has released none of his business records, who has decided to make a stand on transparency without being transparent.” After initially balking, Romney is set to release personal tax records on Tuesday.

The debate starts at 9 p.m. EST on NBC. Moderator Brian Williams last seen putting an athletic cup in place in preparation for any potential fallout from his first question to Newt. You can watch live online here. I might throw in a comment or two on my Twitter feed while it’s going on.

Romney recently started airing his first anti-Newt ad in Florida. Here’s a preview of what you can expect from the recently put-on-his-heels “only electable candidate” tonight:

*****

Related update: Sheldon Adelson drops another $5 million on pro-Gingrich super-PAC.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

South Carolina Primary Open Thread; Update: Gingrich Wins

Doug Powers — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:45:27 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

(Note: Scroll down for updates)

It’s finally the Palmetto State’s turn to weigh in:

Primary day at hand, fast-climbing Newt Gingrich told South Carolinians on Saturday that he was “the only practical conservative vote” able to stop front-runner Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race. Romney acknowledged the first-in-the-South contest “could be real close” and prepared for an extended fight by agreeing to two more debates in Florida, next on the election calendar.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum braced for a setback and looked ahead to the Jan. 31 contest after getting the most votes in Iowa and besting Gingrich in New Hampshire. Texas Rep. Ron Paul made plans to focus on states where his libertarian, Internet-driven message might find more of a reception with voters; his campaign said it had purchased a substantial ad buy in Nevada and Minnesota, which hold caucuses next month.

The first contest without Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out this past week and endorsed Gingrich, was seen as Romney’s to lose just days ago. Instead, the gap closed quickly between the Massachusetts governor who portrays himself as the Republicans best positioned to defeat President Barack Obama and Gingrich, the confrontational former House speaker from Georgia.

Gingrich not only closed the gap quickly in S.C., but in a couple of polls I’ve seen he’s surpassed Romney:

According to an American Research Group survey released Saturday morning, 40% of people likely to vote in South Carolina’s GOP contest say they are backing the former House speaker, with 26% supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 18% backing Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and 13% supporting former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Will those numbers play out tonight? We’ll see. Any predictions? I think Newt will win, but not by that broad of a margin. Put me down for Gingrich 34 and Romney 30… maybe closer. Results should start coming in at 7:30 or 8 p.m. EST. I won’t be back home until about 10, so feel free to help keep everybody updated in comments if you’re watching.

Meanwhile, Drudge is reporting that Gingrich has canceled an appearance tomorrow morning on ABC’s This Week. Gee, I wonder why.

Update: That ARG poll cited above was pretty much spot–on. Fox News is reporting that with all precincts in, Gingrich had 40%, Romney 28%, Santorum 17% and Paul 13%.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a statement after Gingrich’s win, and it’s clear the Democrats are still convinced Romney is going to be the nominee, because DWS didn’t even mention Newt:

“If tonight proved one thing, it’s that the central rationale of Mitt Romney’s campaign is cratering. He came into South Carolina with a 20-point lead — a state where jobs and the economy is the No. 1 issue — and the candidate who hung his entire candidacy on these issues, Mitt Romney, saw his support collapse.

Why? Because Mitt Romney’s been exposed as being out of touch with the middle class, and voters are seeing that he lives by another set of rules. He’s refused to level with voters, and now he’s in trouble. Anyone who goes into a state with a significant double-digit lead yet ends up losing that support in a week, is someone who is failing to connect.”

National Journal: Gingrich bound for Disney World. I guess Newt wasn’t kidding about trailing Obama around the country wherever he goes.

What was the reason for Newt’s late S.C. surge? Among other things, maybe we shouldn’t discount the Sarah Palin nod a few days ago.

Here’s Gingrich addressing supporters after his win:

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

GOP 2012: Perry dropping out; Newt’s scorched-earth karma; and a Final Four debate; Update: Perry endorses “visionary” Newt

Michelle Malkin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:43:41 +0000

Photoshop: Reader Jimmy D.

Phew. So, it turns out:

Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucus.

Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife, Marianne, is getting her revenge. Live by scorched-earth. Die by scorched-earth, eh, Newt?

And Rick Perry is reportedly set to drop out today — removing another body from another GOP debate tonight in South Carolina and freeing up more time for more liberal media bashing, potential Romney gaffes, Ron Paul foreign policy screeds.

Looks like he is set to follow RedState founder Erick Erickson’s advice and endorse Newt:

While closer to Perry than Romney on some points, Perry campaigned on reducing the size and scope of Washington, privatizing social security, and fixing entitlements. Endorsing Santorum may leave Perry in good stead with his fellow evangelicals, but it would fly in the face of the limited government principles he outlines both on the campaign trail and in his national bestseller Fed Up!

Then there is the man who wrote the introduction to Fed Up!, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

I’m willing to bet that among activists in Texas, Newt Gingrich is more popular than Romney. His message has been rather consistent to Perry’s, including a man on a mission to gut Washington, D.C. While Gingrich lacks Perry’s limited government bona fides, he is the only other candidate in the race emphasizing that business as usual in Washington is not acceptable if the nation we love is going to survive – as Gingrich wrote in his introduction: “Devolving power out of Washington is critical to our long-term survival.” And that’s the truth.

But Erickson wrote the truth back in 2009, when he expressed deep-seated grass-roots conservative discontent and distrust of Newt:

Newt endorsing Scozzafava aligns him with Markos Moulitsas who declared Dede the most liberal candidate in the race.

That aligns Newt with ACORN, which has twice endorsed Dede.

That aligns Newt with Planned Parenthood and NARAL, active supporters of Dede.

That aligns Newt with the SEIU, the AFL-CIO, and a host of other left wing interest groups including the gay marriage lobby.

Today Newt Gingrich stands athwart history and pees on the legacy of 1994, where it is no longer about principles, ideas, ideals, and integrity, but the raw acquisition of power for the sake of power. He aligns with a candidate to the left of the Democrat.

The GOP will not take back power until it repents of its sins that caused it to lose power. And chief among those sins was the abandonment of principle for the sake of power. But when a political party stands for nothing, it fails to stand.

At least we can thank Newt today for declaring himself out of the 2012 race. Or, should he stay in, conservatives at least no longer have to feel under any obligation to stick with him, since he makes clear in NY-23 as he did in MD-01 that he feels under no obligation to stick with conservatives.

Here is the awful GOP conundrum. We have a liberal Northeastern Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, who can’t articulate conservative principles. And we have a Beltway insider with massive moral baggage, Newt Gingrich, who believes he’s above living conservative principles. Via Hot Air:

[Ex-wife Marianne Gingrich] kind of guessed it, of course. Women usually do. But did she know the woman was in her apartment, eating off her plates, sleeping in her bed?

She called a minister they both trusted. He came over to the house the next day and worked with them the whole weekend, but Gingrich just kept saying she was a Jaguar and all he wanted was a Chevrolet. “‘I can’t handle a Jaguar right now.’ He said that many times. ‘All I want is a Chevrolet.’”

He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

He’d just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he’d given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values.

The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, “How do you give that speech and do what you’re doing?”

“It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”

Noseplugs, anyone?

***

Perry post-mortem: I see that Team Perry is already blaming “fringe” pundits for exercising inordinate influence on voters.

Newsflash: Perry did himself in. All by himself.

***

Should be quite a Final Four debate tonight. Will the Non-Romneys focus more on each other? Or the lib CNN moderators? More SuperPAC-a-palooza whining? Submit your debate questions here.

***

Update 11am Eastern Rick Perry announces suspension of his campaign. Throws endorsement, as expected, to Newt Gingrich. Absolves him for not being “perfect” and preaches redemption ahead of Marianne Gingrich “open marriage” interview with ABC News.

Perry: Newt is a “visionary” who can “transform our country.”

How about less transformation and more restoration?

Perry’s last words: “I have just begun to fight” for conservatism.

Good to know.

And now…Rick Perry can now make Washington more inconsequential in Americans’ lives — by making it more inconsequential in his.

***

Flashback video via Drudge Report: Perry slams marital cheaters. “If you cheat on your wife, you’ll cheat on your business partner:”

Palin: If I Lived in South Carolina, I’d Vote for Newt

Doug Powers — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:28:59 +0000

**Written by Doug Powers

I was sitting around the house trying to shake off a one-point Michigan State loss to Michigan when my Twitter feed went crazy with questions like “did Palin just endorse Gingrich?”

It turned out that Sarah Palin was on with Sean Hannity tonight, where she had apparently given a rationed, carefully measured nod to Newt. Sarah’s husband Todd had previously endorsed Gingrich. Having missed Hannity tonight, I managed to find video of the segment at the always on-the-ball Right Scoop. Here’s my best effort at a transcript of the relevant portion:

Hannity: We talked last time about Todd your husband going rogue — you haven’t gone rogue yet. You haven’t given an endorsement. Are you getting any closer to giving an endorsement?

Palin: Well, I could tell you what I would do if I was a South Carolinian [...] If I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going, I’d vote for Newt, and I would want this to continue. More debates. More vetting of candidates. Because we know that the mistake in our country, four years ago, was having a candidate who was not vetted to the degree that he should have been so that we knew what his associations and his pals represented and what went into his thinking — the shaping of who our president today is. That vetting did not take place. I want to see that taking place this time because America is on that precipice — it’s that important. We need this process to continue.

So, did Sarah just endorse Newt? Well, maybe, if we allow more qualifiers than the Boston Marathon. She’s saying that Romney shouldn’t be the default nominee at this point and that the process should go on a little longer so the GOP doesn’t have an un-vetted candidate like the Democrats did in 2008 — as if that’s possible. It’s not as if the media wouldn’t have stayed in the tank for Obama if only Hillary could have held out a little longer in the primary process.

Click the pic to go to Right Scoop and roll tape of the segment. Decide for yourself if this is an endorsement of Gingrich, or the placement of a “proceed with extreme caution” sign on Romney. Also, will it move the needle at all for Newt in SC?

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe