2012 US General Election Discussions: Start to Finish

[AtLast]

http://www.usnews.com/debate-club

Kind of a fun site for politics junkies- actually has many thoughtful responses. Right now debating the Citizens United decision.

[Kobi]

The news has been reporting, Huntsman is dropping out of the race and endorsing Romney as the best candidate to beat Obama.

So, that leaves Mittens, Perry - who I expect to be the next one dropping out (he is more of a PR nightmare than GW), Paul, and Santorum.

[AtLast]

So, over the weekend, 150 tea-vangelists met in Texas to unite GOP social conservatives on a candidate. They are now behind Santorum.

[Kobi]

Five months riding into the GOP nomination race on a wave of enthusiasm, Gov. Rick Perry will be moseying back to Texas, CNN reports, breaking the story. He is expected to hold a presser at 11 a.m. during which he drop out of the race on the eve of the South Carolinian primary and throw his weight behind fellow anti-Romney Newt Gingrich, acccording to Politico. Like Jon Huntsman who dropped out himself two days ago, Perry's flailing candidacy had fallen behind that of comedian Stephen Colbert in Public Policy Polling's numbers in South Carolina released yesterday. Perry decided to stay in the race after coming in fifth in the Iowa caucus (announced via one of his two Twitter, both of which are current silent on the dropping out as of now.) Perry's dropping out comes after a week of calls from his once-strong supporters -- including South Caroline State Sen. Larry Grooms and Red State editor Erick Erickson -- to call it quits and "start his image rehab now by becoming a 'kingmaker' in the GOP race," reports The Daily Beast's Patricia Murphy. And in choosing to endorse Gingrich, he's appeasing conservative leaders wishing to stall Mitt Romney, as The Wall Street Journal reports. "Some conservative leaders, aiming to stop the momentum of Mitt Romney, had urged Mr. Perry to bow out and to help rally conservative voters around another candidate—Newt Gingrich or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum."

Update 10:19 a.m.: Politico reports that it wasn't just his backers, but the Gingrich team itself, that has been lobbying Perry quit the race before the South Carolina primary to give a boost to Newt. 'Gingrich had been assiduously lobbying Perry officials in recent days," Politico writes. "The former House speaker has repeatedly texted Perry manager Joe Allbaugh." CNN reports that both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have "reached out to Perry asking for his backing in the race for the GOP presidential nomination" without confirming (as Politico has) that Perry had decided to back Gingrich.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/polit...esident/47601/

[Kobi]

ABC News reportedly plans to air a "potentially explosive" interview with Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife Marianne, just two days before the South Carolina primary and hours after tonight's CNN Republican debate. Matt Drudge first reported that the interview with ABC's Brian Ross was "set to rock the trail," but that the decision about when and if to air it had set off an "ethical" debate inside the network, with some execs questioning whether it should be shown so close to the primary.

The AP and The New York Times both report that there was indeed some disagreement, but that ABC has decided to air the interview on Nightline on Thursday night, with excerpts being released earlier in the evening, before the scheduled GOP debate on CNN at 8:00 p.m. ET. However, as of this morning there's no mention of the interview anywhere on ABCNews.com or the Nightline website. (Ironically, there is an AP report republished on the site, but it's not linked from the front pages.)

Howard Kurtz at The Daily Beast concurred with the Drudge and AP stories, but adds that Marianne Gingrich does not say anything in the new interview that she hasn't said in the past. However, her most prominent previous comments were given in this 2010 interview with Esquire magazine, one that we're sure a lot of voters haven't read. Even if they had (and already forgot about it), there's a big difference between a year-old print interview and fresh TV sound bites two days before a big voting day.

While that interview also didn't reveal much in the way of scandal or new revelations, it was certainly unflattering to the candidate, as one of the people closest to the "real Newt" talked in great detail about his affairs and divorces, and his sometimes bizarre and unexplainable behavior. One particularly stinging quote from the interview was, “He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don’t have to be connected." Gingrich divorced Marianne to marry his current wife, Callista, who he was having an affair with at the same time he was leading the impeachment fight against Bill Clinton.

The Gingrich campaign quickly jumped on the defensive, with one advisor calling Marianne "bitter" and adding that “It is pretty nasty to use personal tragedy for political exploitation.” They also pre-emptively released a statement from Gingrich's daughters saying the divorce was "a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events," but that if ABC wants to talk about the past, "Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/polit...ex-wife/47591/

[Soon]

Newt Gingrich: Doing Monogamish All Wrong

Newt Gingrich, defender of traditional marriage, was still married to his second wife—and still fucking the living shit consecrated host out of Callista, then his "devout Catholic" mistress, now his "devout Catholic" third wife —when he asked his second wife for an open marriage:

Marianne Gingrich, a self-described conservative Republican, said she is coming forward now so voters can know what she knows about Gingrich. In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an "open marriage" arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife. She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.... "He wanted an open marriage and I refused." Marianne described her "shock" at Gingrich's behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington."

Technically you're not asking your wife for an open marriage if you've already been fucking another woman for six years. You're presenting your wife with an ultimatum. That doesn't make you a proponent of open marriage, Newt, it makes you a CPOS.

But Newt's got a new campaign slogan: "Screw as I say, not as I screw."

And then there's this:

She said Newt moved for the divorce just months after she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, with her then-husband present. "He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew," she said. Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer. His relationship with Marianne began while he was still married to Jackie but in divorce proceedings, Marianne said.
So, Callista, how's your health?

[Gentle Tiger]

Anyone surprised that Republicans have been quiet about the counting error in Iowa? No one upset or concerned? No one? What a shock! Be bewhee, bewhee quiet. Apparently concern and efforts should be around making sure that government issued id is required in order to vote in the presidential election coming up.

Either you care about voting fraud and making sure the process is accurate or you don't.

I think the 2012 Presidential Election will be interesting this year on many levels. And can you imagine a Romney-Santorum or Gingrich-Palin ticket? What? Did that hurt your brain?

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Newt Gingrich: Doing Monogamish All Wrong

Newt Gingrich, defender of traditional marriage, was still married to his second wife—and still fucking the living shit consecrated host out of Callista, then his "devout Catholic" mistress, now his "devout Catholic" third wife —when he asked his second wife for an open marriage:

Marianne Gingrich, a self-described conservative Republican, said she is coming forward now so voters can know what she knows about Gingrich. In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an "open marriage" arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife. She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich.... "He wanted an open marriage and I refused." Marianne described her "shock" at Gingrich's behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington."

Technically you're not asking your wife for an open marriage if you've already been fucking another woman for six years. You're presenting your wife with an ultimatum. That doesn't make you a proponent of open marriage, Newt, it makes you a CPOS.

But Newt's got a new campaign slogan: "Screw as I say, not as I screw."

And then there's this:

She said Newt moved for the divorce just months after she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, with her then-husband present. "He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew," she said. Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer. His relationship with Marianne began while he was still married to Jackie but in divorce proceedings, Marianne said.
So, Callista, how's your health?

Newt has a way about booking on wives that develop serious illnesses. First one had cancer and the second, the MS. Good question to ask Callista! Although, she is over 20 years younger than he is (trophy wife) - he probably thought the age difference might predict her staying healthy longer, I guess.

it is interesting to me however, that Callista is always with him- and they were doing all the book tours together as well as the election. perhaps she decided to keep a good eye on him! Ugh, I fail to see what is attractive about him. Maybe it is the power and $ thing. Callista does like those Tiffany's diamonds!