Mittens wins his 4th CPAC Straw Poll… ho hum

It’s another CPAC year, and it appears that not much is new. Mitt Romney will still say anything to convince the GOP and conservative voters that his past doesn’t exist, and the CPAC attendees still bounce back and forth between on the same two names they’ve done since 2007… Mitt or Ron Paul. After CPAC 2010-2011 Straw Polls, handing the victory to Ron Paul, Romney regained his crown and chalked up yet another CPAC win with 38% of the 3,408 attendees. Santorum came in second with 31%, Gingrich third at 15%, and Ron Paul trailing last with 12%.

CPAC Speeches – Santorum, Mitt, Newt

Your one-stop-candidate-shopping site for today’s speeches at CPAC. Ron Paul will not be appearing… too busy to address the conservatives? He will, instead, be sending Rand Paul to be his mouthpiece. No kudos for me on that one. If he can’t bother to appear, I can’t bother to provide his proxy public address. Rand isn’t running.

The most negative primary campaign in history… or “How to Buy a Nomination”, by Mitt Romney

I heard this data read on Mark Levin this afternoon, and picked it up from the CNN PoliticalTicker blog by way of Lucianne.

I’ll provide the nothing shy of jaw-dropping stats below… how you choose to absorb this ugly reality about election campaigns and negative advertising is, of course, completely up to you.

Me? To use the “he who dies with the most toys…” old saying, paraphrased, obviously he who has the most money for a campaign, combined with the least scruples, wins.

Statistics provided by the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).

Obama’s policies leave US out in the cold for imminent Pakistan regime change

While we’re waiting for Iowa to make up their minds as to a possible Obama opponent, it may behoove us to examine just what repercussions of Obama’s Pakistan foreign policy lie in store for the US and our national security. Yes yes… I’m well aware that foreign policy is triaged way down in the electorate’s mind in import. At least when it comes to specific day-to-day events. But there is no doubt that our national security does still remain an important campaign issue… even if not at the top of the voters’ radar. So this is a worthy debate, even if not as “sexy” a topic these days.

Obama Campaign Strategy: Crystal Ball, Unicorns and Houdini Economics

McClatchy’s Christi Parsons and David Lauter may have thought they were penning a breaking news story when they announced that Obama is shifting the debate about his economic performance to focusing on rhetoric about that endangered species, known as the middle class. This is news? If it weren’t his only obvious choice, considering his unacceptable record of fiscal leadership, Ronald Brownstein already announced his intent to KISS (i.e. keep it simple, stupid) with the predictable tired phrases at the beginning of November…

… and it wasn’t a surprise then either.

This election is all about “it’s the economy, stupid”. The Gallup Poll released Dec 22, containing historic trends for US Satisfaction since 1985, doesn’t contain much good news for the temporary denizen of the Oval Office. The “dissatisfied” meter was pegging at 84%, with a pathetic 15% thinking life is just dandy. This is just 4 points better than the 88% dissatisfaction rate three years ago, Dec 2008, at the height of the crash.

Here’s another problem for the community organizer… the class warfare rhetoric isn’t resonating too well either.

UPDATED: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a blessed year!

’tis Christmas Day, and a time where we can all reflect on what is truly most important in our lives. Is it quality and quantity of gifts? Or the quality of family, loved ones and friends. Tho we all wish we had unlimited funds so we can lavish those we care about with presents, our economic times are requiring so many of us to make do with less. Perhaps this is a good thing, as it will focus more on the act of giving of oneself instead of the offering.

One young soldier in West Michigan, faced with hard times here at home, found himself making a different kind of sacrifice.

Former Occidental College mate: Obama an “ardent Marxist-Leninist”

In between the establishment GOP elected elite and their fellow pundits, all in an uproar about Newt’s rise in the polls, and the Ron Paul supporters pouring on the steam pushing their guy… let’s have another type of fun, shall we? After all, these are the days when people like Palin and Cain are tried in the court of public opinion based on past confessions and accusations. It would be a pity to leave Obama out of our new age justice system.

Seems that an old story is rebounding via Selwyn Duke over at the New American today. An old Occidental College contemporary of Obama’s three decades ago – John Drew, himself a self-described Marxist at the time – says that Obama was an “ardent Marxist-Leninist” during his years there, and as of today, Drew doesn’t think he’s changed one iota.

Pearl Harbor Survivors – 70 years later

It was seven decades ago when the paradise island of O’ahu turned into hell, assailed by a surprise attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy. Today, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates we are losing the WWII generation of military at a rate of approximate 1000 per day. Out of the 16 million that served, only about 2.5 million still grace us with their presence. Those who can say they survived Pearl Harbor’s attack number only around 8000.

It’s taken some time for survivors of that war, and this battle, to open up and speak of their experiences. Most say they had a war to fight, and they just tried to put the experience of this attack behind them. Others may have found the trauma to much to relive. But now they speak more freely, fearing future generations may not remember and that part of history will be lost.