Bannon’s folly, Bannon’s Bane.

by Jack Brummet - 13 hrs via Instagram · 

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Ben Carson and Jesus

By Jack Brummet, Republican-Tea Party Ed.

Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson's house is an homage to Ben Carson. The amount of memorabilia is like a museum. Most famously now, there is a painting of the Doctor with a large-handed Jesus. Thanks to reader Dean for the "news" tip.

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The latest GOP-Tea Party Presidential Poll (Monmouth University)

By Jack Brummet

The latest Republican Presidential poll from Monmouth University are in, or as Andy Borowitz wrote in the New Yorker, "The former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would bring much-needed dignity to the 2016 Republican field, a new poll shows."

Undecided	18%
Jeb Bush	15%
Donald Trump	13%
Ted Cruz	9%
Mike Huckabee	7%
Scott Walker	7%
Ben Carson	6%
Rand Paul	6%
Marco Rubio	6%
Chris Christie	2%
Bobby Jindal	2%
Rick Perry	2%
Rick Santorum	2%
Carly Fiorina	1%
Lindsey Graham	1%
John Kasich	1%
No One	1%
George Pataki	1%
Jim Gilmore	0%

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The TP/GOP 2016 Presidential lineup, so far

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

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Jeb Bush may have just cashed his check

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

Ex-Governor Jeb Bush has become so unpopular with conservatives that he is no longer considered a viable 2016 Presidential candidate. Marco Rubio is pulling far ahead of his former mentor and seems to be the front runner for 2016.

At the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C. this morning, Mr. Bush urged social conservatives in the audience to support comprehensive immigration reform because, “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population.” Without immigrants, he said, the country’s population will decline and the economy will suffer.“Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” Bush told the gathering.  "Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”

The comments immediately rocketed throughout the web, drawing massive blowback fire from  Republican leaders. 

As Alex Seitz-Wald wrote in Salon this afternoon,  "If you're already inclined to distrust Bush, and you’re already worried about immigrants taking over the country and displacing the native native-born Americans, then Bush is basically confirming all your worst fears by telling you that he thinks immigrants are better than you: They’re better at business, they’re better a having families, they’re more valuable to the economy — they’re even younger."

The most baffling part of all this is why a fairly astute politician like Jeb Bush thought this would fly.  He was already being relentlessly hammered on several fronts for his stand on immigration reform.  It will be interesting to see how, and if, he can dig himself out of this new hole.

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What did Ann Coulter do this time?

By Jack Brummet, ATIT Editor-in-chief

I missed a lot of news in the last eight days while I was in Moscow, I think. I'm seeing all this vituperation & castigation of Ann Coulter (not that she doesn't deserve it in her normal course of business). I saw some news of her using the "R" word re: BHO. Is that the uproar, or did she say something else/worse?

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Move On's latest anti-Romney salvo hot off the presses

click to enlarge

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Rick Santorum: "I've got such a raging clue right now"

This captioned photo, source unknown (or maybe the quickmeme.com guys actually did create it), was sent to us by Jeff Clinton.  /Pablo

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In the face of mounting calls for his withdrawal, Speaker Gingrich vows to stay the course

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
illustration by Jack Brummet

"We are staying in this race because I believe it's going to be impossible for a moderate to win." 

Following his shellacking in Alabama and Mississippi yesterday, Speaker Gingrich held a rally today in a Chicago suburb. 75 people showed up.

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Hold your noses and vote, GOP/Tea Party—there is no man on horseback on the horizon

Steve Schmidt, on MSNBC: 


"Four years ago with Democrats, the tension in that race was which of two historic candidates the Democratic party voters all liked. who were they going to put forward in the general election contest? They liked both of them. They would have been happy with both of them. The longer this goes on, Republican voters are saying, 'We don't like any of them, we want somebody new in the race.' And that new person isn't going to appear in the race."

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Pants on fire: Mitt Romney tells another whopper today

by Jack Brummet, primary and caucus stringer

“I am the only candidate in this race, Republican or Democrat, who has never worked a day in Washington,” Mitt Romney said in a speech today.  “I don’t have old scores to settle or decades of cloakroom deals to defend.”

Mitt has plenty of deals to defend.  Just this week, he said he'd a been a fool not to look for Federal money.  Today, in The Morning Call, Colby Itkowitz writes:  "In a 2003 article in Boston-based Commonwealth Magazine, Romney’s chief of legislative and intergovernmental affairs, Cindy Gillespie, discussed the state’s Washington lobbying office and is quoted saying it “exists for one reason: to increase the amount of federal funding coming back to the state.”

In the same Commonwealth article, Gillespie says Romney’s team in Washington would seek aid from the federal highway bill and new homeland security funds.  Of course, Romney also fought hard for (and won) federal funding for his Big Dig project in Boston.

The bottom line is, Mitt Romney, when he was Governor, often worked in Washington, usually trying to cajole money for Massachusetts from the President and Congress.  The record shows many dozens of trips to Washington by Mittens during his governorship.  He wasn't going there for the parties and nightlife in Georgetown.

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The Twilight of Newt Gingrich

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

Newt is spending today in Ohio, whistling past the graveyard

After three contests today where he achieved total irrelevancy, Newt has been spending his time in Ohio, in hopes of salvaging his candidacy. 

But. . .not only Newt is on the ropes.  Suddenly, and unexpectedly, Rick Santorum swept all three contests today...just after Ex-Governor Romney scored back-to-back wins in Florida and Nevada.  Those two victories led most pundits to predict that Romney was on a straight march to the nomination.  Wednesday will be an interesting day.  Maybe not everything has changed, but much has changed.

As for Newt himself,  he'll hang in for a while, and go through the motions in Washington State, Arizona, Maine, Michigan before Super Tuesday on March 6th.  In fact he claims--but, then, don't they all?--that he is staying in throughout the primary-caucus season, all the way to the convention.  But sometime between tomorrow and that convention, he will drop out, get to give a dramatic speech at the convention, and then become become a revived, if not beloved, senior statesman, and go to work for a think tank or as a sort-of-but-not-really-lobbyist.

The end of the road?  Or on the trail to Comeback Number Three?

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Mitt Romney between a rock and a hard place

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

I was going to write about Mitt Romney's having pigeon-holed himself to the extent that he can only pull a quarter of the votes in any given contest.  Sure, he looks like he will be strong in New Hampshire, but after that?  The right, and even the middle (if one actually exists in the G.O.P today), seem thoroughly unenchanted, as do we all.  I don't see the Republicans circling their wagons around, holding their noses and crowning Mitt. . .at least until they become truly spooked.  And that is coming on fast.  So far, he's shown he can beat Michele Bachmann and  Rick Perry.  I was going to write about this, but when I saw this image on the FYVM web site I knew I didn't have to write anything.  That's Mitt in the corner.

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Donald Trump, the man without a party (Run, Donald, Run!) re-reconsiders, and a suggestion for running mate

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
illustrations by Jack Brummet

First, The Donald tantalized us earlier this year, and his polling numbers went--briefly--through the roof.  Then he dropped out, but left the door open just a crack.  Over the last few months, many of the Republican Presidential wannabes have made the trek to his office (for what--money?  his blessing?).  The Washington Post had a great piece on their blog in early December titled "2012 Republican are kissing Donald Trump's ring.  But why?"

It seems that Donald Trump, like most of the rest of the American electorate, has found Republican Clown War sorely lacking in substance, in a viable candidate, a rational platform--lacking in just about everything.  Now, Trump has switched his political affiliation to "Independent," and is possibly considering running again.  At least that is what some staffers and a spokesperson say.  No word on how this would affect his reality show, which could be subject to equal time provisions from other candidates if he did decide to run. 

From today's Christian Science Monitor:

Given his not-too-shabby polling numbers, deep pockets, and new-found status as a registered independent, business mogul Donald Trump is in a decent position to launch a third-party run for president of the United States.

The snark on the street is that Mr. Trump, a temperamental fellow who has toggled his party affiliation before, dumped the Republican Party on Thursday in anger after only two in the large field of GOP presidential candidates agreed to attend a debate he was slated to moderate. Some Republican hopefuls had questioned whether it was ethical for Trump to host a debate while considering a potential presidential run himself.

A Trump spokesman, however, said his boss dropped out of the debate and changed his party affiliation "to preserve his right to run for president as an independent."

If you do run, Mr. Trump, may we suggest that you sign up your old friend, the Ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as your running mate?  With a double whammy like that, what could possibly go wrong?

Photo: source unknown

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Three-time Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell

Digital Art by Jack Brummet

I was inspired to revisit Candidate O'Donnell after her hilarious "endorsement" of Mitt Romney (see Christine O'Donnell endorses Mittens, pouring salt on his festering flip-flop wound).

click to enlarge

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Quote of the day: David Axelrod likens Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich to a monkey's butt

"I told my colleagues yesterday a bit of homespun wisdom I got from an alderman in Chicago some years ago when one of his colleagues wanted to run for higher office and he was really dubious. He said, ‘just remember the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt.’ So, you know, the Speaker is very high on the pole right now and we’ll see how people like the view." - David Axelrod, Obama Campaign Senior Strategist

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Rick Perry's Presidential quest ends in 53 mortifying seconds

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
illustration by Jack Brummet

Rick Perry will drop out of the race in the next ten days.  Even if nothing else goes wrong, his campaign funds will surely dry up beginning a couple hours ago. 

This has to be the most pathetic and humiliating debate appearance I have ever seen, except, possibly, Admiral James Stockdale's performance in his 1992 debate with Al Gore and Dan Quayle.  Stockdale opened the debate by saying, "Who am I? Why am I here?"  His opening drew great mirth and laughter, because the audience seemed to think he was joshing about his obscurity and lack of traditional qualifications for the office.  But as he bumbled through the debate, it became clear he was in way over his head.

Tonight, Governor Rick Perry confirmed what most of us knew and the rest suspected--that, he too, is in way over his head,  For one horrible minute, Perry could not recall the name of a government department he is planning to kill off.  I cringed, and actually felt terribly sorry for him as he tried to grin and chuckle his way through it.  But he couldn't.

"It's three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: commerce, education, and the uh ... what's the third one, there? Let's see." He then said, "The third one. I can't." And he performed an auto-coup-de-grace by then saying "Oops."  Fifteen long, long minutes later he said "By the way that was the department of energy I was reaching for a while ago." 

Herman Cain, who everyone suspected would be "on the barbie" tonight, got off the hook after Perry's pitiful showing. 

Perry knew the damage was incalculable.  He even showed up in the spin-room post-debate (which is normally handled by staffers) and said   "I'm sure glad I had my boots on because I sure stepped in it out there."

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Pants on Fire! William Saletan's article in Slate this morning "Herman Cain’s press conference about his sexual harassment accusers is a road map to his destruction."

By Mona Goldwater, Women in the Workplace Editor

This is an excerpt from William Saletan's article in Slate this morning "Herman Cain’s press conference about his sexual harassment accusers is a road map to his destruction."

"You can lie about what you believe. You can lie about what you’d do if elected. You can deny that your tax reform plan would raise taxes. You can get away with all of these things because they’re matters of speculation, interpretation, or argument. But if you make specific factual claims about the past, as Cain did in his Tuesday press conference about sexual harassment allegations, you can be flatly disproved. Worse, you can goad your accusers into backing up their charges with evidence. That’s what Cain has done. His press conference is a road map to his destruction."

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Herman Cain tries to explain it's not such a big thing

By Mona Goldwater

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The Republican-Tea Party: a new Presidential candidate with a serious resume

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

The G.O.P. has finally rolled out the one Republican candidate that I could possibly support, and vote for.

A Surprisingly Plausible Republican Candidate -- powered by Cracked.com

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