“That one, I don’t think was well handled,” said former vice president Dick Cheney about John McCain’s VP pick four years ago. He doesn’t think Sarah Palin passed the test of being “capable of being president of the United States.” He doesn’t think Palin fit that standard, and he doesn’t want Romney to make the same mistake. source
Great for the general election. Not so great for the primaries. Jon Huntsman was long the odd man out in the 2012 election, the guy with just enough support in most polls to show up at most of the debates, but never enough to be the focus of them. While his politics found fans (particularly his early pro-science stance, which stood out from the rest of the GOP and he later flip-flopped on), he was attempting to be the un-cola in a year when every other candidate in the race was trying to prove exactly how conservative they were. Huntsman will end his campaign Monday (a day after winning an endorsement from The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper) and will offer his support to Mitt Romney, a guy he didn’t hide his animosity towards. Here’s why:
(photo by Gage Skidmore)
Our guess is: not likely. Ever wanted to know who Todd Palin is giving his political support to? We didn’t think so. Although his wife still hasn’t announced who she’ll endorse in the 2012 election, Todd is banking on Newt Gingrich. Great? Sarah said that she’s “still in that process with probably 70 percent of Americans trying to decide.” Great. source
“China Jon.” Need we say more? A warning to all that the message in this video is fairly offensive towards Asians, but it’s worth noting that, though the person who released it goes by the YouTube handle “NHLiberty4Paul,” Paul himself is against the ad. For those not watching, the ad makes reference to Huntsman’s adoptive daughters (from China) and shows the presidential candidate speaking in Mandarin Chinese. ”I haven’t look at it, but I understand it’s an ugly ad, and I’ve disavowed it,” Paul said. “Obviously, it was way, way out order.” (EDIT: Apologies for the incorrect video at first — our wi-fi crapped out at the exact wrong time.) source
While she remained confident last night, it sounds like the Tea Party stalwart could be ready to let realism set in. On top of canceling a trip to South Carolina, Michele Bachmann has a press conference scheduled for 11 a.m. EST (which we’ll cover), but The National Journal got a bit of a preview this morning: A campaign spokesperson says Bachmann “doesn’t see a way forward in her campaign for the GOP nomination for president and will make an announcement to that effect this morning.” He stopped short of saying she’d be dropping out, but there are certainly lines to read between here. Update: The National Journal is now saying that Bachmann will suspend her campaign. Wow, that was fast. (Photo via Gage Skidmore on Flickr) source
I hope that people will go to the polls and forget all the media people that say this one can’t go on or that one doesn’t have the money, because this is the process, and if we don’t let the process happen — I just think it’s so unfair and I hope that people will vote their conscience.Michele Bachmann • Offering a strong defense of letting people make up their own minds in Iowa. Bachmann is banking on such sentiment — she’s far behind her rivals in the polls and even longtime supporters, like Sarah Palin, are suggesting she quit the race. In related good timing, Bachmann dropped this line in reference to Margaret Thatcher, currently the subject of a Meryl Streep biopic: “My goal is to be America’s iron lady.” Would she make a good Iron Lady for the U.S.? Do Americans need one of those? source (via • follow)
Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I.’ Then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions.Michele Bachmann • Discussing the surprise departure of her Iowa campaign chairman, Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, who defected to the Ron Paul camp. This is not good news for Bachmann, especially since the move comes less than a week before the Iowa caucus. Ever since Bachmann won the straw poll in Iowa back in August, it’s been diminishing returns, to the point where some are calling for her to drop out. They’re also calling for Rick Santorum to drop out, but that’s probably not going to happen because Santorum is suddenly on an upswing. For Bachmann, however, she might be reaching her endgame. source (via • follow)
The manner in which some in the national team conducted themselves towards Team-NH was rude, unprofessional, dishonest, and at times cruel.A memo from five of Michele Bachmann’s former New Hampshire staffers • Explaining why they quit her campaign last week. The memo went on to say that it was “more concerning was how abrasive, discourteous, and dismissive some within the national team were towards many New Hampshire citizens. These are our neighbors and our friends, and some within the national team treated them more as a nuisance than as potential supporters.” These lapses of communication within Bachmann’s camp seem to show some glaring weaknesses in her campaign strategy. source (via • follow)
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I think the bottom line is, there was enough beating up of each other tonight [between Romney and Perry] that we didn’t have to get in. You know, never interrupt your enemy when they’re in the process of destroying themselves is an old adage.Michele Bachmann campaign consultant Ed Rollins, who recently took a demotion • Discussing Bachmann’s debate performance on Wednesday. Bachmann, once the toast of the campaign, disappeared for long stretches last night, no longer standing out as a frontrunner, leading some to claim that her campaign was “finished.” Rollins apparently feels that way himself, recently calling the race “a Romney-Perry race.” Was it the Newsweek cover that did her campaign in? Or does she need another one of those? source (via • follow)
Let’s emphasize something: It’s August of 2011. There is a whole year and three months of this election mess to go. This politician is a frontrunner in a presidential race that’s proven full of gaffes so far. If she’s saying things like this now, is she gonna learn to not do this a year from now? Or is she going to keep making gaffes like these? Even beyond the many issues she has politically, how many people are going to go for a president that regularly makes stupid mistakes like this? Elvis is rolling in his grave … eating fried peanut butter and banana birthday cake. source
Credit to Bachmann: By naming her first campaign clip “Waterloo,” she certainly is going far to retake the word away from that battle Napoleon lost. And the chiming guitars do give her talk of not raising the debt ceiling the warmth that few thought the topic had. Though if we were to do this again, we might focus less on the wasteful spending and more on the economy. source
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