Gingrich Surges to Dead Heat in Florida, CNN Poll Finds

Gingrich still has the momentum, although he's sounding pretty soft on immigration, so we'll see how that plays out in the Sunshine State.

See: "CNN/Time Poll: Dead heat in Florida ahead of debate" (via Memeorandum).

Republican Candidates Trade Barbs Over Immigration

The New York Times has the background, "Gingrich Ad Faulting Romney on Immigration Stirs Furor." (There's an audio clip at the link.)

And Michelle responds, "Gingrich channels open-borders SEIU; Rubio rebukes; Update: Newt retreats."

And now at The Hill, "Gingrich slams Romney immigration reform plan as 'Obama-level fantasy'":

The former House Speaker derided Mitt Romney's idea of "self-deportation" — articulated in Monday's GOP debate — as a "fantasy" while defending his own immigration plan, which would legalize the status of illegal immigrants with significant roots in the community and who had avoided arrest.

"I think you have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatic, you know, $20 million a year income with no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," Gingrich said. "Remember that I talked very specifically about people who have been here a long time, who are grandmothers and grandfathers, who have been paying their bills, they have been working, they are part of the community. Now, for Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this verges — this is an Obama-level fantasy."

He also defended an ad that referred to Romney as "anti-immigrant" even after his campaign pulled the spot, which was denounced by popular Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in an interview with the Miami Herald.

"Well, he certainly shows no concern for the humanity of people who are already here. I mean I just think the idea we're going to deport grandmothers and grandfathers is a sufficient level of inhumanity," Gingrich said.

More at the link.

And also at Los Angeles Times, "Romney and Gingrich battle for Florida's Latino vote."

Smokin' Luisana Lopilato Valentine's Day Lingerie Photo Shoot for UK's Ultimo

Well, regular Rule 5 readers will be impressed.

At London's Daily Mail, "Michael Bublé's model wife Luisana Lopilato stars in Ultimo's Valentine's day lingerie campaign."

Philippe's 9-Cent Coffee Soon to Be History

I've mentioned it before.

My dad took me to Philippe's when I was a kid. I took PJ Media editor David Swindle there last September.

Now here's the news at Los Angeles Times, "End of an era: Philippe's raising price on 9-cent cup of coffee":

Philippe’s is best known for its legendary French dip sandwiches. But for regulars, nothing speaks to the eatery's historic L.A. feel than the 9-cent coffee on the menu. And the one extra cent of tax.

Since 1977, the legion of longtime customers at the Alameda Street restaurant had grown accustomed to putting a dime on the counter and getting a hot cup of coffee in return.

But on Wednesday, management posted a sign on the door that came as a surprise: Starting Feb. 2, the price of an eight-ounce brew is going up 400% — to 45 cents.

They say the price of coffee is such that the restaurant no longer can keep the price so low.

“It’s been a tradition,” said Mark Massengill, whose family has run the restaurant for four generations. “We’ve always tried to provide a tremendous value in the food and coffee.”

And, he said, coffee will become included in the price of a breakfast and, even after the hike, two quarters for a coffee is still a bargain.

Patrons didn’t balk at the new price. Many said they were surprised it has stayed low for so long. It’s just that not much at Philippe’s has changed over the decades. And when things do, the customers notice.

Demi Moore Hospitalized After Drug-Induced Seizure

At People Magazine, "Inside Story: Demi Moore's Health Crisis."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Did Demi Moore collapse after getting high from inhaling laughing gas?"

An at Radar Online, "Demi Moore Had A Seizure Before Being Hospitalized; Being Treated For Anorexia."

Google Faces Backlash Over Privacy Changes

The report's at the Washington Post.

And see, "How to close your Google Account."

I'm not all that worried about it. I use Google products extensively, so there's a price to pay, it turns out.

See Google's explanation, in any case, "Updating our privacy policies and terms of service."

Obama's Making the Economy Worse

Via Conservative Manifesto:

RELATED: From James Pethokoukis, "Obama suppresses his inner Elizabeth Warren during SOTU speech."

IDF Weapons Instructors

Via Theo Spark:

Who Owns Big Oil?

I'm seeing this ad campaign pretty often, so I checked it out. Here's the homepage, Vote 4 Energy.

Federal Reserve Won't Raise Interest Rates Until 2014: Signals That Full Economic Recovery Still Years Away

Well, so much for all the optimism on the economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's not too bullish.

At New York Times, "Fed Signals That a Full Recovery Is Years Away":

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it was likely to raise interest rates at the end of 2014, but not until then, adding another 18 months to the expected duration of its most basic and longest-running response to the financial crisis.

The announcement means that the Fed does not expect the economy to complete its recovery from the 2008 crisis over the next three years. By holding short-term rates near zero beyond mid-2013, its previous estimate, the Fed hopes to hasten that process somewhat by reducing the cost of borrowing.

The Fed said in a statement that the economy had expanded “moderately” in recent weeks, but that unemployment remained at a high level, the housing sector remained in a deep depression, and the possibility of a new financial crisis in Europe continued to threaten the domestic economy.

The statement, released after a two-day meeting of the Fed’s policy-making committee, said that the Fed intended to keep rates near zero until late 2014.

Continue reading.

The economy is expected to grow at a rate of 2.2 to 2.7 percent for this year, and unemployment is expected to remain at 8.2 percent, down from the current 8.5 percent but not at a level that would indicate robust job growth.

Maybe Republicans can make some political hay out of this. Seriously, the GOP will be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if they lose.

U.S. Navy SEALs Rescue Hostages in Daring Overnight Raid in Somalia

This is rad.

At New York Times, "U.S. Forces Rescue Two Hostages From Somali Pirates":

KHARTOUM, Sudan — American Navy Seals swooped into Somalia early on Wednesday and rescued two aid workers, an American woman and a Danish man, after a shootout with Somali gunmen who had been holding them captive in a sweltering desert hideout for months.

Under a cloak of darkness, a couple of dozen Seals parachuted in, stormed the hideout, killed nine gunmen and then whisked the aid workers into waiting helicopters, Pentagon officials said. The Seals were from the same elite Navy commando unit — Seal Team Six — that secretly entered Pakistan to kill Osama Bin Laden in May, senior American officials said, though the rescue mission in Somalia was carried out by a different assault team within the unit.

President Obama was closely tracking the raid on Tuesday night, which was Wednesday morning in Somalia, and as he stepped into the House chamber to deliver his State of the Union address, he looked right at Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta standing in the crowd and said: “Leon, good job tonight, good job.”

The hostages were safe and soon flown to an American military base in neighboring Djibouti. No Seals were hurt during the operation, Pentagon officials said.

Mr. Obama seems to have taken a special interest in this case, presiding over several high-level meetings on it since the two aid workers were kidnapped in October by gunmen whom Somali elders said were part of a well-established pirate gang.

Pirates operate with total impunity in many parts of lawless Somalia, which has languished without a functioning government for more than 20 years. As naval efforts have intensified on the high seas, stymieing hijackings, Somali pirates seem to be increasingly snatching foreigners on land. Just last week, pirates grabbed another American hostage not far from where the Seal raid took place.

American officials said they were moved to strike in this case because they had received “actionable intelligence” that the health of Jessica Buchanan, the American aid worker, was rapidly deteriorating. The gunmen had just refused $1.5 million to let the two hostages go, Somali elders said, and ransom negotiations had ground to a halt.

Somali pirates have held hostages for months, often in punishing conditions with little food, water or shelter, and past ransoms have topped more than $10 million. One British couple sailing around the world on a little sailboat was kidnapped by pirates from this same patch of central Somalia and held in captivity for more than a year.

President Obama said that he had personally authorized the go-ahead for the operation on Monday. “As commander in chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people.”

Also at Telegraph UK, "US special forces team behind Osama bin Laden death rescue aid workers from Somali pirates."

Nancy Pelosi Threatens New Revelations Against Newt Gingrich

Actually, her comments are pretty vague, but considering she was out in December with alleged dirt on Speaker Gingrich from his House ethics investigation, it sure seems like a threat.

At The Blaze, "PELOSI: GINGRICH WILL ‘NEVER’ BE PRESIDENT, ‘THERE IS SOMETHING I KNOW’."

And at London's Daily Mail, "'Newt will never become President, there is something I know': Nancy Pelosi issues cryptic threat about Gingrich."

And see the commentary at Legal Insurrection, "Nancy Pelosi’s evil mind games."

Winning the Future Slams Romney in Huge New Florida Ad Buy

At the Miami Herald, "Pro-Gingrich SuperPac announces $6m FL ad buy tying Mitt Romney to ObamaCare." Also at Washington Post, "Super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich makes $6 million ad buy in Florida."

Romney Tax Returns Stoke Resentment in Florida

At Los Angeles Times, "Romney's tax returns sit uneasily with Florida voters."

Reporting from Tampa and Plant City, Fla.—

Even before Tuesday, Mitt Romney was struggling to connect to average voters, suffering from impromptu remarks — proffering a $10,000 wager in a debate, suggesting $375,000 in speaking fees was small change — that gave off a whiff of privilege.

Then came Romney's release of tax returns showing that in 2010 he claimed $21.6 million in income, with an effective tax rate of less than 14%, far less than many middle-class families pay. He also estimated $20.9 million in income for 2011, with a rate of just over 15%.

Jeanne Johnson, a political independent and owner of the Lake Alfred Barber Shop, said that when she heard the news of Romney's taxes on TV, "I thought I was going to throw up."

"It just ruined my day," said Johnson, 51, a single mother of two who has been cutting hair since she was 20. "Like, get a real job."

Others living in her politically crucial area of Florida, where Republican presidential candidates are rushing raucously toward a Jan. 31 primary, took offense not at the sums but at Romney's resistance to releasing his taxes until he was forced.

"He hid his taxes," said Helen Roise, 70, a tax preparer at H&R Block in Plant City, a central Florida hub that bills itself as the winter strawberry capital of the world. "He didn't want us people to know. That's what bothered me."

Even so, Roise planned to vote for Romney, mainly because she is from Michigan and remembers his father, George, as a good governor.

Also at Christian Science Monitor, "Mitt Romney tax return poses a challenge: how to talk about his wealth," and "Mitt Romney's disastrous week ends with collapse in national polls."

Sarah Palin: Chris Christie's 'Panties in a Wad'

At New York Times, "Palin Has a Few Choice Words for Christie."

Gabrielle Giffords Bittersweet Farewell at State of the Union

She's like an angel of hope.

At Los Angeles Times, "Gabrielle Giffords makes emotional return to House floor." And at Salt Lake Tribune, "Giffords a reality check in chamber of politics":

Washington - In a bittersweet farewell, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords accepted bags of chocolates and a big presidential hug as she claimed her seat one last time in the House of Representatives Tuesday night.

Giffords, who has regained much of her ability to speak and walk after a gunshot wound to the head Jan. 8, 2011, will leave Congress this week to focus on her recovery. But first, she wanted to attend the State of the Union she was forced to miss last year in the uncertain days after the shooting.

Just before President Barack Obama was to speak at 9 p.m. EST, Giffords quietly entered the chamber under her own power and made her way the few steps to a seat that had been reserved for her. Hug No. 1 came from friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Giffords’ colleagues stood and gently applauded her.

"Gabby! Gabby!" some of them chanted.

Limping a little, Giffords beamed around the chamber and raised her left hand to wave. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, approached with two bags of chocolate, which Giffords took, grinning.

She looked to the gallery to wave at her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. When First Lady Michelle Obama took her seat next to him, she waved, too.

The president himself swooped in with a big bear hug around Giffords’ tiny frame, grinning widely before climbing to the rostrum for the speech.

She has inspired gestures of bipartisanship. Last year in the tender days after the shooting, members of both parties sat together across the chamber, rather than Democrats to the president’s right and Republicans to his left. Many lawmakers did the same this year.

Throughout the speech, Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, sitting at Giffords’ side, repeatedly helped her stand as her fellow Democrats applauded Obama.

Giffords’ presence may be the only element about the event above politics.

Obama used the highest-profile pulpit in the land to reclaim the spotlight from Republicans battling for the right to face him in the general election. He was speaking to a Congress cranky after a year of the most bitter partisan fighting in recent memory and the public’s widespread disapproval.

He’s weaving a narrative about economic fairness and zeroed in on the richest Americans who pay a lower tax rate than those who bring home a regular paycheck. Obama didn’t say it, but Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, a multimillionaire who released his tax return for 2010 and an estimate for 2011, is one of the nation’s wealthiest in this category.

Billionaire Warren Buffett has said it’s unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does. Emphasizing the point, Buffett’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, attended the address in Michelle Obama’s box.

Gabrielle Giffords is a light unto the world of American politics. I hope she's able to return to politics and give the Democrats a lesson in civility when she comes back.

See also: "Obama SOTU Address 'Rejects' Class Warfare in Call for Millionaires to Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes."

Lea Michele 2012 Candies Photo Shoot

She's on Twitter here. 

And at Hollywood Reporter, "'The Glee Project': Lea Michele to Serve as a Guest Mentor."

Men Cope With Rape

At New York Times, "As Victims, Men Struggle for Rape Awareness" (via Instapundit):

Keith Smith was 14 when he was raped by a driver who picked him up after a hockey team meeting. He had hitchhiked home, which is why, for decades, he continued to blame himself for the assault.

When the driver barreled past Hartley’s Pork Pies on the outskirts of Providence, R.I., where Mr. Smith had asked to be dropped off, and then past a firehouse, he knew something was wrong.

“I tried to open the car door, but he had rigged the lock,” said Mr. Smith, of East Windsor, N.J., now 52. Still, he said, “I had no idea it was going to be a sexual assault.”

Even today, years after the disclosure of the still-unfolding child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and the arrest of a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing boys, rape is widely thought of as a crime against women.

Until just a few weeks ago, when the federal government expanded its definition of rape to include a wider range of sexual assaults, national crime statistics on rape included only assaults against women and girls committed by men under a narrow set of circumstances. Now they will also include male victims.

While most experts agree women are raped far more often than men, 1.4 percent of men in a recent national survey said they had been raped at some point. The study, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that when rape was defined as oral or anal penetration, one in 71 men said they had been raped or had been the target of attempted rape, usually by a man they knew. (The study did not include men in prison.)

And one in 21 said they had been forced to penetrate an acquaintance or a partner, usually a woman; had been the victim of an attempt to force penetration; or had been made to receive oral sex.

Other estimates have run even higher...

Continue reading.

One in 33 men report having been raped. The statistics are probably higher, because men are likely to under-report cases of unwanted sexual contact, for fear of being branded as effeminate and unable to stand up for themselves.

The Scientific Wonders of La Brea Tar Pits

An cool piece, at New York Times, "Preserved in Tar, Relics From Long Before Freeways":

LOS ANGELES — No one expects to stumble across a cache of Picasso’s works in the middle of a desert. So who would think that just off bustling Wilshire Boulevard, tucked between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the national headquarters of the Screen Actors Guild, lie buried some of the most exquisitely preserved fossils in the world?

The fossils of the La Brea Tar Pits are just that. They were first discovered in Maj. Henry Hancock’s asphalt mine in the 1870s, when Los Angeles was but a village. Since the early 20th century, more than one million bones have been excavated from the pits; when reassembled, they provide an extraordinary time capsule of the creatures that roamed Southern California 10,000 to 40,000 years ago.

Interest in these animals today, however, is more than a matter of prehistoric curiosity. Many of the species found at La Brea disappeared altogether as the planet warmed at the end of the last ice age. The reasons for their demise are not yet fully understood, but may be especially pertinent to understanding the effects of climate change on animal populations today.

The tar pits have so many fossils precisely because of the tar, which one can still see bubbling to the surface in spots throughout Hancock Park. The gooey asphalt that trapped and entombed the animals turns out to be a great preservative. Thousands of perfect skulls and nearly complete skeletons representing more than 200 vertebrate species have been retrieved from the death trap.

Among them are many giant beasts, including mammoths, mastodons and the short-faced bear. (Only its snout was short; the bear stood more than 11 feet tall, much larger than today’s grizzly, polar and brown bears.) There are two species of bison — one of them with seven-foot horns — and some animals not typically associated with North America, including camels that stood taller than modern dromedaries.

Big cats, too, are well represented. Most famous is Smilodon fatalis, better known (but misleadingly so) as the saber-toothed tiger, a powerful predator named for its protruding seven-inch canines. More than 2,000 of them have been extracted from the tar pits.

And there was an even larger predator, the American lion, 25 percent bigger than the modern African lion. Imagine meeting one while jogging in Malibu.

These big animals and their relatively recent demise raise some big questions. How did they get here? What are their relationships to living species? And why did they all go extinct, and so close together in time?

Continue reading. (A bunch of shilling for action on climate change at the link.)

I need to take my little guy here. He loves this stuff, and I'd forgotten about it myself.

Obama SOTU Address 'Rejects' Class Warfare in Call for Millionaires to Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes

I personally love the pomp and circumstance of the State of the Union address. It's fascinating to see nearly the entire U.S. government in attendance at the House of Representatives. Of course it's a lot more fun to watch when you're cheering your own team, so I'm especially looking forward to next year's speech. As for this year's, frankly, by the time Barack Hussein got around to his economic proposals I was thoroughly bored --- I'd say peeved but I'm way past the point of being irked at this man's fake calls for national unity. He's a bloviating partisan hack in over his head who's proposing more of the same, only this time in a desperate appeal to restore "fairness" to the economy. "President Occupy" goes to Washington, no doubt.

Here's the news, at the Los Angeles Times, "Obama delivers a confrontational State of the Union address," and at Wall Street Journal, "Obama Makes Populist Pitch: President Uses State of the Union to Outline Economic Programs, Kick Off Campaign."

Plus, at The Atlantic, "In a Politically Charged Speech, Obama Says He's No Class Warrior."

Right.

Not a "class warrior."

Check Bloomberg for more on that, "Obama Calls for Higher Taxes on Wealthy to Make Code ‘Fair’":

President Barack Obama called for the nation’s wealthy to pay more in taxes as part of a bargain to restore fairness to the U.S. economy and rein in the deficit, in a State of the Union address that hit the populist themes he’ll be repeating in his campaign for a second term.

Invoking a tax idea named for billionaire Warren Buffett, Obama said the law should make sure million-dollar earners pay at least 30 percent in taxes.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,” Obama said in the text of his nationally televised address before a joint session of Congress. “Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

He also called for incentives for companies to return jobs to the U.S., development of domestic natural gas reserves and alternative energy sources, and providing American workers with better training.

Changes to the tax code would require approval by Congress, and Obama is unlikely to get major legislative initiatives enacted before the November election, which will also decide control of the House and the Senate. He’ll be constrained on spending by efforts to contain the national debt. Last year’s deficit of $1.3 trillion was third-highest as a share of the economy since 1945.

Obama's a damned freak.

He gave a combative partisan speech all the while appealing to the "stitches" of our national unity. F-king Democrat "civility" bull. November can't come soon enough.

The Collapse of the Work Ethic Among Young Americans?

I've never studied the data, so this seems a little incredible to me, but with so much youth support for Occupy Wall Street, I'm sure we could find some larger empirical patterns with research.

An interesting clip, via Kenneth Davenport.

The Obama Memos

From Ryan Lizza, at The New Yorker, "Barack Obama, Post-Partisan, Meets Washington Gridlock."

This is a progressive puff piece that paints the GOP as the polarizing bad guys and the Dems as jilted suitors in some woefully lost post-partisan nirvana. Despite assessing political science data, Lizza doesn't appear to have considered that today's Democrats are socialist partisans with a demonizing agenda or that this administration long ago abandoned any hopes of post-partisan happy talk. What the Lizza piece does do is provide a smokescreen for the MFM and progressive left. They can gleefully point to this article --- and many more like it no doubt on the way --- to tar Republicans as "obstructionist" and "racist" when in fact it's exactly the opposite that's true. See, for example, Victor Davis Hanson's piece at National Review: "Obama's Racial Politics":

Obama has mainstreamed the practice of profiling friends and enemies on this reactionary basis of racial identity. In a Democratic National Committee video in April 2010, Obama called on “young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women . . . to stand together once again.” Are those not included in his categories, then, not to stand “together” again? Shortly before the November 2010 congressional elections, Obama suggested told a huge audience in Philadelphia that Republicans “are counting on black folks staying home.” In one of his most surreal speeches before the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama in affected fashion adopted the supposed patois of Black America in defining collective interests by shared race: “Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do.” Separately, he appealed to Latino voters not to stay home from the 2010 election, but instead to “punish our enemies” — and not to fall prey to the Republicans’ “cynical attempt to discourage Latinos from voting.” I don’t think a president of the United States has ever, at least since the pre–Civil War era, openly called on a racial group to join with him to punish political adversaries.

I would love to see Hanson just destroy Lizza in a debate on this. What's funny though is folks like Lizza are actually convinced they're right. They've got data to prove it! Perhaps. But what they don't have is honesty and common sense, and that decency gap is going to come back and bite them in the ass in November.

If Only We'd Listened to Paul Krugman We Wouldn't Be in This Mess!

I was genuinely cracking up here a couple of times.

That's Dan Joseph. He used to have Blogspot blog that I linked frequently. He's at the Media Research Center now and was out with a book a couple of years ago, Generation Right: The Young Conservative in the Age of Obama.

Via SDA, "The Mindless Talking Points of the Clueless Left."

Syria Reportedly Spurns Arab League Peace Plan

At New York Times, "Stalemate Deals Grief and Fury in Syria."

And from the Wall Street Journal, "Spurned Offer Raises Syria Tensions" (via Google).

DAMASCUS—Syria's rejection of a surprise Arab League road map to ease President Bashar al-Assad out of power deepened a split between Syrians on the most viable way out of their country's nearly yearlong bloody conflict, with neither international pressure nor domestic overhauls offering much hope for halting further violence, said many Syrians and analysts.

The Arab League plan called on Mr. Assad to hand over power to his deputy and form a national unity government. It marked the first formal call by the Arab world's highest-profile diplomatic body for Mr. Assad to relinquish power.

The League also said it would ask the United Nations Security Council to endorse the plan, underscoring the basic approach by the Syrian regime's outside opponents: attempt to deal with the crisis through international forums while sidelining the regime. But the move is a sign the window for a regionally brokered domestic solution to Syria's conflict may be closing.

Syria's government on Monday derided the proposal as a "blatant interference in its internal affairs" and evidence of the "conspiratorial scheme" the country faced.

Syria's rejection of the plan "just speaks again to the fact that [Mr. Assad is] thinking about himself and his cronies, not about his people," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, adding, "We would like to see a Security Council resolution that firmly reflects the conclusions of the Arab League report."

Protests continued to roil parts of the country on Monday, with armed conflict between government forces and their opponents moving closer to the capital. On Monday, as many as 100,000 people marched in funeral processions in Douma, 12 miles from the capital, to mourn victims of more than three days of fighting there between army defectors and the military, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Activists said the crowd was the largest the restive suburb—one of several protest hot spots that encircle Damascus— has seen since protests broke out in March.

An Arab League observers' mission to Syria, criticized by Syria's opposition and human-rights groups, appears to be in place for a second month. The League recommended a one-month extension that was valid under the original deal. Syria's government didn't mention the mission in its denunciation of the Arab League plan.

We should have sent in the Marines: "Regime Change Syria."

Michael Coren Interviews Mark Steyn

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich Ends With Plea Deal

Background at LAT, "Marine's trial ends without a conviction in 2005 Iraq killings."

Pamela reports, "Plea Deal Ends Haditha Blood Libel Trial." And at Michelle's, "The trial of the last Haditha Marine: SSgt Wuterich takes plea deal."

And see Bruce Kesler as well, "Wuterich Vindicated (UPDATE: The Plea)."

Occupy's Inequality Push Misses Real Problem: Per Capita Income Has Fallen Over Five Years

At Investor's Business Daily, "Inequality? Real Issue Is Falling Real Income For All":

As long as a rising economic tide kept incomes afloat, concerns about inequality rarely surfaced for long.

Only after four years in which income disparities actually narrowed a bit — typical of recessions — did last year's emergence of Occupy Wall Street make inequality a big political issue.

But, as the movement's "We are the 99%" slogan comprising almost everyone suggests, what really has people upset is the fact that everyone's slice of the pie, on average, has gotten a bit smaller.

The nation has now gone through a five-year stretch in which real per capita disposable income has shrunk, the first time that's happened since the demobilization after World War II.

Disposable per capita income equaled $37,000 at the end of November vs. an inflation-adjusted $37,060 in September 2006, Commerce Department data show.

The long drought largely reflects 2008-09 income declines, but real per capita disposable income also fell 0.9% in the 12 months through November.

Official data show that the U.S. economy finally recouped recessionary losses in the third quarter of 2011, eclipsing the prior GDP peak at the end of 2007. But those statistics, while marking a postwar record for futility, still paint too bright of a picture.

Continue reading.

Actually, there could be something here politically for either party. But given that Barack Hussein's going to run a class-warfare campaign, the GOP nominee will do right by boning up on these statistics.

Romney Unleashes Attack on Gingrich at Tampa GOP Debate

At New York Times, "Romney Unleashes Attack With Gingrich Sole Target":

TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney leveled a searing attack against Newt Gingrich’s character and raised pointed questions about his ability to lead during a debate here Monday evening, taking urgent steps to slow Mr. Gingrich’s rising momentum in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.

For the first time, Mr. Gingrich strode onto the stage as an indisputable equal to Mr. Romney after dislodging him from his confident perch as the front-runner in the race with his commanding victory on Saturday in South Carolina. Mr. Romney dug into his rival’s tenure as House speaker and the ensuing years, when he advised companies like the mortgage giant Freddie Mac, a period for which Mr. Romney branded him as “an influence peddler in Washington.”

“You are looking for a person who can lead this country at a very critical time,” Mr. Romney said. “The speaker was given the opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994, and after four years he resigned in disgrace.”

Mr. Gingrich painted Mr. Romney’s attacks as desperate and riddled with inaccuracies. He embraced his confrontational style and defended himself forcefully, but his responses came without the bombast that has delighted crowds throughout the race.

“They’re not sending somebody to Washington to manage the decay,” Mr. Gingrich said. “They’re sending somebody to Washington to change it, and that requires somebody who’s prepared to be controversial when necessary.”

The new landscape of the Republican campaign came into sharp view, with Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich often seeming as though they had traded personalities for the evening. It was clear from the outset that the tables had turned, as Mr. Romney repeatedly tried to provoke Mr. Gingrich, who has built up a reputation as a formidable debater.

“I’m not going to spend the evening trying to chase Governor Romney’s misinformation,” Mr. Gingrich said, telegraphing his plan to try to take the high road. “I think the American public deserves a discussion about how to beat Barack Obama.”

Yet on the eve of President Obama’s State of the Union address, the debate was notable for the lack of time devoted to Mr. Obama. It was the first sign of the consequences of a drawn-out Republican nominating contest, with Mr. Obama taking a back seat to terse re-examinations of the candidates’ records.

Continue reading.

And see Washington Post, "Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich clash sharply in Republican presidential debate." And USA Today, "Florida debate marks pivotal moment in the Republican race."

William Jacobson has comments, "Republican Debate – Tampa, FL."

American Exceptionalism

Just imagine if Newt Gingrich won the nomination and defeated Barack Obama in the fall. We'd have as the new first lady Callista Gingrich, who is so unabashedly patriotic as to put Michelle 'For the First Time I'm Proud of My Country' Obama in the shade a thousand times over.

Polls Show Gingrich Bounce Heading Into Florida

Two polls fresh on the heels of South Carolina show Newt Gingrich pulling out a nice lead in the Sunshine State.

At Rusmussen, "Florida GOP Primary: Gingrich 41%, Romney 32%." And also an InsiderAdvantage poll at Newsmax, "Newt Surges to Lead in Fla., Romney Trails by 8 Points." (Via Memeorandum.)

The buzz on Florida is that it's much more diverse than South Carolina, and hence way more unpredictable. A couple of weeks ago I expected Mitt Romney to basically clinch the nomination in Florida. But that's obviously not happening now. He could win, but all that would do is establish a firm two-man race heading into the next series of primary contests. Frontloading HQ has more, "Musings on the Republican Nomination Race, Post-South Carolina":

The notion of Mitt Romney sweeping or nearly sweeping the January contests and putting the nomination race to rest are gone -- even with a Florida win. But the idea of a momentum contest -- one that will typically develop behind the frontrunner, no matter how nominal -- is not completely dead.  Romney remains the frontrunner. The former Massachusetts governor is viewed as the establishment choice and is the only candidate to this point to have placed in the top two in each of the first three contests. He is still the favorite to build a consensus around his candidacy -- just not as much as he was in the five days or so after the New Hampshire primary.

But the question remains just how will Romney, or any other candidate for that matter, build a consensus and win the nomination. There are two main avenues from FHQ's perspective; one narrow and one fairly broad. The narrow path to the nomination is that Mitt Romney bounces back from the South Carolina primary, wins Florida, uses his organizational advantage over Gingrich and Santorum in the February caucus states, and then wins in Arizona and Michigan. The broader path is one that devolves into a contest-by-contest struggle; a battle for delegates the end game of which is the point where one candidate has a wide enough delegate margin that cannot be overcome given the number of delegates to be allocated remaining.

And see also Wall Street Journal, "The Gingrich Challenge" (via Memeorandum).

Ann Coulter Defends Mitt Romney After South Carolina Drubbing

We're in for a nasty period of internecine warfare over the next couple of month, by the looks of reactions to the South Carolina results. Here's Ann Coulter pissing off a good many folks in the Palmetto State, particularly the tea party activists and evangelicals who propelled Gingrich to victory.

[VIDEO PULLED]

See also William Jacobson, "Fearmongers for Romney," and Dan Riehl, "Jennifer Rubin Loses It, Pens Open Letter."

And it's on both sides. Gerard Van der Leun puts things into perspective, "RDS: The ALLCAPS NEWTERS Signal the Outbreak of Severe Romney Derangement Syndrome."

Romney Opens Aggressive New Phase of Campaign

At Los Angeles Times, "Mitt Romney tells 'interrupters' at rally to 'take a hike'":

Reporting from Ormond Beach, Fla.—

Mitt Romney opened an aggressive new phase of the Republican presidential campaign as he cruised into Florida on Sunday night — casting Newt Gingrich as an unethical politician whose temperament and unreliability led to his ouster as speaker of the House in the 1990s.

After a week in which he conceded his Iowa win to Rick Santorum after a recount and lost to Gingrich by double digits in South Carolina, Romney acknowledged that the Republican contest had become a three-man race. But he took a much tougher tone toward Gingrich – directly raising the ethics investigation that Gingrich faced in the 1990s and demanding that Gingrich provide an accounting for the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“We’re not choosing a talk show host," Romney said, alluding to his rival’s strong debate performances that helped shift momentum in his favor in South Carolina. "We’re choosing the person who should be leader of the free world.”

He went on to list what he described as the qualities of a leader: integrity, sobriety, judgment, thoughtfulness, reliability and high ethical standards. “You’re going to have to look at that as Floridians and decide which of the people running for president on our side of the aisle includes the qualities of leadership.”

After touting his own experience in the private sector, turning around the 2002 Olympic Games and governing the state of Massachusetts, Romney pivoted to Gingrich.

"At the end of four years as speaker of the House, it was proven that he was a failed leader,” Romney said. “He had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know whether you knew that.… His fellow Republicans – 88% of his Republicans – voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership.”

More at Astute Bloggers, "MITT FIGHTS BACK!"

Democratic Socialists of America to Bolster Occupy Wall Street in Push for Massive 'Spring Offensive'

Well, it's a natural progression of things, no doubt.

At New Zeal, "DSA Marxists Take Over the Occupy Movement: Plan “Spring Offensive,” With Widespread Occupations of State Capitols, Schools and Workplaces."

PREVIOUSLY: "Walter James 'Occupy' Casper Continues Campaign of Lies: Childishly Whines About 'McCarthyism' While Endorsing Anarchists and Anti-Semitic Communists."

BONUS: At Marathon Pundit, "Occupy occtrocities: San Francisco violence edition."

Is Germany the Envy of the United States?

I'm glad for the Germans.

Their economy is certainly the envy of Europe. But I doubt we'll be seeing these kinds of comparisons in a few years, when the U.S. returns to strong economic growth rates and continued unquestioned leadership of the world economy.

At Los Angeles Times, "Germany has the economic strengths America once boasted":

Every summer, Volkmar and Vera Kruger spend three weeks vacationing in the south of France or at a cool getaway in Denmark. For the other three weeks of their annual vacation, they garden or travel a few hours away to root for their favorite team in Germany's biggest soccer stadium.

The couple, in their early 50s, aren't retired or well off. They live in a small Tudor-style house in this middle-class town about 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt. He's a foreman at a glass factory; she works part time for a company that tracks inventories for retailers. Their combined income is a modest $40,000.

Yet the Krugers have a higher standard of living than many Americans who have twice that income.

Their secret: little debt, frugal habits and a government that is intensely focused on high production, low inflation and extensive social services.

That has given them job security and good medical care as well as well-maintained roads, trains and bike paths. Both of their adult children are out on their own, thanks in part to Germany's job-training system and heavy subsidies for university education.

For instance, Volkmar's out-of-pocket costs for stomach surgery and 10 days in a hospital totaled just $13 a day. College tuition for their son runs about $260 a semester.

Germany, with its manufacturing base and export prowess, is the America of yesteryear, an economic power unlike any of its European neighbors. As the world's fourth-largest economy, it has thrived on principles that the United States seems to have gradually lost.

It has tightly managed its budget and adopted reforms — such as raising the retirement age — that some other Eurozone nations are just now being forced to undertake. And few countries can match Germany's capabilities for producing and exporting machinery and other equipment, or its infrastructure for research, apprenticeships and financing that support manufacturing.

"German industry is strong," said Volkmar, speaking in halting English as he occasionally looks up translations on a laptop. "People work good. That's why the German economy is best in Europe."

There's a simple explanation for this. Germany is Germany and the U.S. is the U.S. They have different economies, different economic systems, and different political cultures. And Germany has always been a powerhouse in Europe, or, at least since the end of the 19th century when it made a bid for international mastery and overtook Great Britain in the European balance of power. But it was the U.S. that stopped Germany's attempt at world hegemony and the U.S. was instrumental in rebuilding the German state into the powerhouse that it is today. The continent has been known for slow growth rates and high unemployment for decades, and a relatively austere fiscal policy over the last few years has enabled the German economy to better withstand recent international financial crises than its regional neighbors.

But the U.S. is out of recession and unemployment rates in the American economy are heading downward. As the financial and housing sectors continue to shake out we should see more improvement, particularly after businesses begin to invest and expand their payrolls, putting people back to work. This will take longer should Barack Obama be reelected. Top business leaders have indicated that investment in infrastructure and human resources has been delayed amid uncertainty in the business climate --- particularly the threat of continued onerous taxes and regulation, such as ObamaCare and environmental mandates. Get a Republican in the White House and the good news we're starting to see in the economy will accelerate. And with a couple of quarters of robust economic growth rates of say 4 or 5 percent of GDP, we'll soon have news articles touting America as the envy of the world again.

Ezra Levant Slams Obama Administration's Keystone XL Rejection

Via American Digest:

The Che Guevara Democrat Party

From Peter Ferrara, at American Spectator:

Those who contribute to, vote for, or otherwise support today's Democrat party need to catch up to the curve. These are not your father's Democrats. George McGovern would be a moderate in this party.

This is the party that rejected Hillary Clinton because she was not left enough. Instead it literally took a Marxist street agitator from the Chicago political machine and put him in the White House. Barack Obama was actually teaching the social manipulation methods of openly communist revolutionary Saul Alinsky to other Marxist revolutionaries for the radical communist front group ACORN. His weird name reflects his personal rejection of American culture. This is the person today's Democrat party wanted for President.

But it is not just him. The leader of the House Democrats is former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ultraleft San Francisco Democrat totem. She is virtually as far left as Obama, and her public statements make Sarah Palin seem like a Ph.D. in economics. She keeps telling us that unemployment insurance payments are the best way to restore booming economic growth and prosperity.

When the American people rebuked Pelosi's ultraleft leadership as House Speaker, turning to the Republicans for the greatest House turnover since the New Deal, House Democrats responded with their own rebuke of the people. They voted Pelosi right back in as their leader, effectively saying to the American people that they were too stupid to know what they are doing, and that Pelosi's ultraleft San Francisco values best represent the Democrat party's ideals.

The Democrats also elected as DNC Chairman the unreasoned and far left screamer and name caller Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also makes Sarah Palin look like a rocket scientist. She touts as her achievements in the Florida legislature the Florida Residential Swimming Pools Safety Act, and state regulation of dry cleaning prices. She compiled during her career there the widely noted most liberal-left voting record of any state legislator. The Democrat party considered that the perfect qualification for party chairman.

If you think that increased government spending, deficits, and debt are the key to economic growth and prosperity, then this is the party for you. That is explicitly its economic policy, as crazy as that sounds. Democrats call it Keynesian economics. If you don't agree that increased government spending, deficits, and debt promote economic growth, then you shouldn't be voting for, contributing to, and supporting Democrats, and you shouldn't let your friends do so either.

Continue reading.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to Resign From Congress

Here's wishing her a continued successful recovery and, I hope, a return to public service.

At Arizona Republic, "Giffords stepping down from Congress." Also Memeorandum.

FLASHBACK: "Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot by Gunman at Townhall Event in Tucson — Progressives Blame Sarah Palin 'Hit List'."

Rule 5: Lucy Pinder New Year's Wishes

A little late, but enjoyable.

See also Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 News: 21 January 2012 A.D."

Plus, at The Last Tradition, "Taylor Swift is stunning and sophisticated on Vogue magazine cover."

And cheerleader babes at Proof Positive, "SF 49er's Play NY Giants at the Stick." Also at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See…is a field that should be full of solar panels, you might just be a Warmist."

More lovelies at Guns and Bikinis, "Bouncing Swimsuit Beauties." And at Maggie's Notebook, "Rule 5 Saturday Night Cowgirls, Cowboys and a Couple of Six Packs."

And check POH Diaries, "Kate Upton Beach Bunny Bikini," and Jake Finnegan's, "Burkalesque Babe: Nazanin Afshin-Jam."

Still more at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Jessica Perez," and Teresamerica, "Vicky Kaya Rule 5."

And of course Theo's, "Bedtime Totty..."

BONUS: At Linkiest, "BABEOLOGY: KICK-ASS GIRLS."

EXTRA: At American Perspective, "Most effective anti-American pResident ever!"

'An Utter Repudiation of Romney'

Again, with the massive outpouring of analysis, combined with the conference championships today, I didn't even attempt to wade through all the perspectives. Memeorandum still has the South Carolina news at the top of the page. An especially devastating take is from Sean Trende at RealClearPolitics, "Three Takeaways From South Carolina":

This vote was an utter repudiation of Romney, and it absolutely will be repeated in state after state if something doesn’t change the basic dynamic of the race. It is true that Gingrich doesn’t have funds or organization, but he gets a ton of free media from the debates, and he has an electorate that simply wants someone other than Romney.

That’s not to say that Romney’s money and organization don’t give him advantages -- they do. He remains the GOP front-runner, in my view, because it isn’t clear how well Gingrich can survive the long haul. But there’s a not-insubstantial chance, call it 35 percent, that Romney won’t be the nominee.

RTWT.

And here's George Will on "This Week":

Plus, John Hawkins has an excellent analysis, "Newt Vs. Mitt After South Carolina: What The Inside The Beltway Crowd Misses."

Smokin' Brittany Kerr Melts the Internet!

Websites crashed after fans starting searching for her.

At London's Daily Mail, "Bikini hunt meltdown! American Idol fans eager to see more of Brittany Kerr cause website crash."

Did Steven Tyler Butcher the National Anthem?

It wasn't my favorite rendition, but he started to belt it out pretty good toward the end.

At TMZ, "Steven Tyler's National Anthem: Did It Suck?"

And the full clip's at Bleacher Report, "Ravens vs. Patriots Video: Watch Steven Tyler Butcher the National Anthem."

Billy Cundiff Misses Field Goal in Final Seconds: Patriots Escape Sudden Death Overtime

It was a shocking end.

The video is at the NFL's page, "Wide left: Cundiff's missed FG ends Ravens' season."

Plus, at Los Angeles Times, "Patriots escape with 23-20 win in AFC title game," and New York Times, "Patriots Defeat Ravens to Advance to Super Bowl."

Added: Actually, it wouldn't have been sudden death. See ESPN, "Scenarios for sudden death in playoffs."

Sunday Cartoons

Enjoy the comics until later today, after football.

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Theo Spark, "Cartoon Round Up..."

NFL Conference Championship Weekend

Well, I'm holding off on some political analysis because there's just too much news and commentary to digest. I'll be blogging the reactions to the South Carolina primary earthquake later today. Meanwhile, I'm getting ready for some football. I love the playoffs more than the Super Bowl, and Bill Plaschke does too, at the Los Angeles Times, "This Sunday is twice as good for NFL fans":

One of the hidden truths in professional football will make its annual appearance Sunday, bitten by frost, pelted by rain, awash in beauty.

Advertisers don't want you to know it. Party planners don't want you to feel it. The NFL itself would rather you not recognize it. But with the intensity of a John Elway scramble and the passion of a Dwight Clark leap, it is a truth that cannot be denied.

Sunday is the greatest single day of the NFL season. Sunday is the real Super Bowl, only twice as much and twice as good.

The two conference championship games played Sunday will be more compelling than the one game played two weeks later, and it won't even be close.

Sunday is the Super Bowl minus the capital letters, Roman numerals and incessant glitz. Sunday is real football, played in real weather, in front of real fans, for real stakes.

I've never seen a Super Bowl winner cry. I've seen New Orleans Saints players weeping when they beat the Minnesota Vikings to qualify for their first Super Bowl.

I've never seen a Super Bowl quarterback quiver. I've seen Peyton Manning nearly faint from emotion as he staggered off the field after finally beating Tom Brady and qualifying for his first Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl has become so big, both teams feel as if they've won by simply being there, and often act and play like it. The conference championships are very different, very down, very dirty. Heroes are made, chokers are discovered, every victory is much sweeter, each defeat more devastating.

The conference championship games create so many great moments, those moments have been given enduring names. The Catch. The Drive. The Fumble. Even perhaps the most legendary postseason game of the modern was a Super Bowl semifinal game, the 1967 Ice Bowl in Green Bay.

When as the last time the Super Bowl produced something so memorable that it was given a name? The Wardrobe Malfunction?

This Sunday's conference title clashes will be more of the same, a Super Bowl without some highbrow casual fan staring at the TV shouting "Super!" while other fans spend time grazing in appetizer bowls.

RTWT.

Also, at USA Today, "Three-and-out: Giants, 49ers set to add to playoff history," and "Three-and-out: Ravens, Patriots provide battle of contrasts."

South Carolina Raises Fresh Doubts About Republican Contest

Well, the doubts should be about the ease with which Romney held onto his frontrunner status for so long. The media is especially to blame, but I think Romney's rivals played softball way too long, afraid that they'd be crossed off the list of possible appointments in a Romney administration. Tim Pawlenty must be kicking himself every night for dropping out of the race so damned early.

At New York Times, "Fresh Doubts About Republican Contest":

CHARLESTON, S.C. — For Mitt Romney, the South Carolina primary was not just a defeat, though it was most emphatically that. It was also where his campaign confronted the prospect it had most hoped to avoid: a dominant, surging and energized rival.

The rebirth of Newt Gingrich, a notion that seemed far-fetched only weeks ago, has upended a litany of assumptions about this turbulent race. It wounds Mr. Romney, particularly given his stinging double-digit defeat here on Saturday, and raises the likelihood that the Republican contest could stretch into the springtime.

For now the race goes on, with Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney joined by Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. But Mr. Gingrich’s showing here suggests that Mr. Romney may no longer be able to count on his rivals splitting the opposing vote into harmless parcels, or on the support he is getting from the party establishment to carry him past a volatile conservative grass-roots movement.

At a minimum, it is clear that Republican voters, after delivering three different winners in the first three stops in the nominating contest, are in no rush to settle on their nominee.

Mr. Romney, whose message has been built around the proposition that he can create jobs, lost badly among voters who said they were very worried about the economy, according to exit polls.

He had trouble with evangelicals and voters searching for a candidate who shared their faith. He did not win over people who support the Tea Party movement. And he struggled with questions about his wealth over the past week and could not match Mr. Gingrich in exciting the passions of conservatives.

His arguments of electability — the spine of his candidacy — fell flat to a wide portion of the party’s base here.

For all that, by most traditional measures, Mr. Romney retains a firm upper hand in the Republican race as it moves into a protracted battle to win 1,144 delegates.

Well, I don't know how "firm" that upper hand will be, considering the phenomenal bounce Gingrich will get coming out of South Carolina. But Romney's got the money and infrastructure, which I blogged about earlier. He needs to win Florida to recapture the momentum.

PREVIOUSLY: "Romney's National Campaign Operation Will Be Hard to Overcome."

Heidi Klum to File for Divorce

Citing irreconcilable differences.

And they have four children together, which is sad.

At TMZ, "Heidi Klum to File for Divorce From Seal."

And London's Daily Mail, "'The end': Is it all over for Hollywood's golden couple Heidi and Seal after singer's cryptic Tweet."

Attacks in Nigeria Kill at Least 143

At Wall Street Journal:

An Islamic militant group in Nigeria staged devastating bomb and gun assaults on government targets in the northern city of Kano, the latest in a series of attacks that appeared aimed at splitting Muslim and Christian communities in Africa's most populous country.

The attacks, which took place late Friday and Saturday, paired bomb blasts with shootings. An Associated Press count, based on hospital records, said that at least 143 people had died. A high-ranking Nigerian security official, who asked not to be identified, said the final toll may be higher than 200.

The Islamic militia Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack. A Boko Haram spokesman, with a nom de guerre of Abul Qaqa, said that, during the chaos, Boko Haram had freed several of its members who had been in police custody without a trial.

The group, whose name means "Western Education is Sacrilege," has long targeted government workers and buildings in Africa's most populous nation. But since last month, the group has also stepped up attacks on Christians living in the country's overwhelmingly Muslim north, in an apparent effort to sow divisions between the two groups.

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "At least 143 dead after multiple bombs rock Nigerian city in attacks aimed at government targets."

Gingrich Scored Stunning Victory That Seemed Improbable Just Days Ago

At Los Angeles Times, "Gingrich surges to big win in South Carolina."

Newt Gingrich scores a primary victory that seemed improbable just days earlier, setting the stage for a contentious battle in the far-flung and multifaceted state of Florida.

Also, "Gingrich basks in comeback S.C. win, looks to Florida," and "To Gingrich supporters, a 'win for the conservative movement'."

Will a Long Race Help the Eventual Winner?

From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary:

One of the pieces of conventional wisdom we’ve been hearing a lot of in the last few weeks is that a long, tough fight will be better for the eventual winner of the Republican presidential contest than one that is quickly decided. Since Newt Gingrich’s win in South Carolina tonight ensures that the nomination can’t be sewn up in short order, that theory is going to be tested in the coming weeks and months.

The proof for this thesis is supposedly the outcome of the 2008 Democratic primary battle in which an extended contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was seen as helping Obama in the long run.


Most observers believed Obama was toughened up the process in which he was forced to campaign all across the country. But there is a big difference between what happened to Obama and what Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich will undergo in the days ahead. Without the sympathetic if not adoring coverage that Obama got in the spring of 2008 from the mainstream press, the result of further GOP bloodletting will be two bleeding candidates no matter who turns out to be the winner.

It should be remembered that though Clinton criticized Obama for his shortcomings, most of the press did not choose to make much of the eventual Democratic nominee’s weaknesses. Even those stories that were reported extensively, such as his association with the radical Reverend Jeremiah Wright, were quickly put to rest after an Obama’s speech about race in which he skirted the basic issues.

Though we think of that race as being tough, both Obama and Clinton had to be careful not to be too tough since knocking around an African-American and a woman could be counter-productive.

But neither Republican will have these sorts of advantages. The mainstream media will, as they have in the last few weeks, eat up every negative story about either Romney or Gingrich and blow them out of proportion in a way that never happened to Obama or Clinton.

RTWT.

Well, since both Newt and Mitt have tons of baggage, I think a long campaign actually helps. The public doesn't care about the trash and dirt-digging gossip. Newt won South Carolina largely with his aggressive repudiation of the media's attack politics. I say let's air the issues and let the candidates hone their arguments. That's what'll help the eventual nominee. He'll be battled tested.

Sarah Palin: Newt Gingrich Now GOP Frontrunner

Actually, for the long haul, it's a two man race, but right now the momentum's definitely with Newt, so yeah, he's the frontrunner heading into Florida.

At Politico, "Sarah Palin: Newt Gingrich now GOP ‘front-runner’."

VIDEO: An Undecided Voter Makes His Choice in Charleston, South Carolina

It's quite pleasantly, if mildly, suspenseful.

From Bryan Preston, at PJ Media:

EARLIER: "Newt Gingrich Wins South Carolina GOP Primary."

The New Student Activism: Occupy Wall Street

I guess they've got nothing else.

 At the New York Times:

Seattle Central Community Colleges found itself hosting not just protesting students but also Occupy Seattle campers who had been rousted from a downtown park. The protesters soon settled on a campus plaza in some 70 tents. At first, administrators adopted a wait-and-see attitude. “Economic equity is sort of our mission,” said Jill Wakefield, the chancellor. “I’ve been at community colleges for 35 years. Nowhere did it prepare me to deal with 100 campers at one of our colleges.”

The problems that had riddled urban encampments found their way to the college site. Garbage accumulated. Discarded syringes were spotted and marijuana smoke wafted, causing a day care center that abutted the plaza to stop allowing children to play outside. There were reports of a possible sexual assault. Administrators wrestled with how to proceed. “You pray for snow, you pray for rain, but these are hardy campers,” Dr. Wakefield said. Last month, four weeks after Seattle Central’s board banned camping on campus, protesters moved peacefully off the site. In a blog post, Dr. Wakefield wrote proudly that the encampment “was one of the very few protest camps in the world to resolve peacefully.”

Dirtbags.

Here's the chancellor's blog.

I can guarantee you that Wakefield would not have supported tea party protests of the same scope on campus.

And the rest of the New York Times article is here.

Newt Gingrich South Carolina Victory Speech

It's a good speech, a gracious speech.

And lots of red meat in there for partisans. I like Newt's comments on the economy and balancing the budget. These are the most important issue facing the country. And he ripped into Barack Obama with a vengeance. This is what helped put Newt over the top. The exit polls indicate that Newt won over conservatives on the economy, his debate performances, and on his perceived strengths in the general election. Voters think Newt can beat Obama. See the Wall Street Journal, "Gingrich Won on Electability: Exit Polls":

In all three nominating contests so far, at least a plurality of voters have said the economy and electability were important factors. In Iowa and New Hampshire, such voters backed Mr. Romney. But in South Carolina, they backed Mr. Gingrich.

Indeed, South Carolinians placed an even higher priority on beating President Obama than did their counterparts in Iowa and New Hampshire. About one-third of voters in each of the other two early states told pollsters that the ability to defeat Mr. Obama was the most important candidate quality. In South Carolina, 45% said that was their highest priority, according to exit poll data released by CNN. Half of them voted for Mr. Gingrich, while fewer than four in 10 voted for Mr. Romney.

Similarly, a far larger proportion of South Carolina voters said the economy was the most important issue than did their counterparts in Iowa and New Hampshire. If South Carolinians had followed the pattern of voters in previous states on which candidate they favored on the economy, that would have meant a big win for Mr. Romney. But they didn't. Four in 10 of those voters backed Mr. Gingrich Saturday, while one-third backed Mr. Romney.

And check the raw exit poll data at CNN. Fifty-five percent said they decided on their vote either today or in the last few days, and Gingrich won 44 percent of each of those groups respectively. And Gingrich won with conservatives and tea party supporters. It was a decisive victory.

The question now is how well Gingrich sustains his momentum. South Carolina had a huge evangelical vote and that demographic won't be repeated in quite the same way moving forward. Florida especially will be very different from the Palmetto State. But Mitt Romney's campaign has been hit hard and the primaries could now drag on for months if Gingrich consolidates his progress and picks up additional victories in the weeks ahead. This is the way the primaries should be and I couldn't be happier. I don't love Gingrich but I've been dejected at the possibility of a Romney steamroller. The democratic process wouldn't have been fully exercised with a quick Romney win and that won't happen now. The eventual nominee will be a much better candidate with a prolonged campaign that airs both the tough questions and more dirty laundry.

Newt Gingrich Wins South Carolina GOP Primary

The networks are calling it for Newt.

See: "Gingrich wins South Carolina primary, Fox News projects."

And at ABC News, "South Carolina Primary: Newt Gingrich Defeats Mitt Romney, ABC News Projects."

UPDATE: The New York Times reports, "Gingrich Wins South Carolina Primary."

And at Instapundit, with updates: "Why Romney Lost."

MORE: From Robert Stacy McCain, "SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY RESULTS."

Election-Day Poll Puts Gingrich Well Ahead in South Carolina

All the polling points to a Newt victory tonight.

And here's the latest at CNN, "Gingrich has momentum as South Carolina votes":

Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) -- Newt Gingrich had all the momentum on Saturday as South Carolinians were voting in their state's Republican primary.

A poll released Saturday morning showed the former House speaker's surge over the last week carrying him past Mitt Romney, who had been the front-runner in the state all month. The American Research Group poll shows Gingrich leading Romney by a 40%-26% margin. ARG's last poll, released Thursday, showed a virtual tie with Gingrich at 33% and Romney at 32%.

Two weeks ago, Romney's campaign was looking at two wins under its belt, a big lead in South Carolina, a bigger lead in Florida and the possibility of a clear path to the Republican presidential nomination.

See also Nate Silver, "Gingrich Is Well-Positioned as South Carolina Votes."

And at Althouse, "I think Gingrich is going to win in South Carolina."

Added: Tina Korbe reports as well, at Hot Air, "Final poll heading into the primary confirms a double-digit lead for Gingrich."

Dirty Politics in South Carolina

London's Daily Mail has the story, "Gingrich is latest victim of South Carolina's 'dirty tricks' as fake email claims he forced ex-wife to have an abortion."

I saw the news earlier, on the allegations that Newt forced Marianne to abort a baby conceived during an affair prior to her marriage to Gingrich. I didn't pay much notice, but Robert Stacy McCain, who's on the ground in South Carolina, asked around about the story. It turns out that Will Folks, the same blogger who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Governor Nikki Haley, is behind the smear. McCain blogged the story, and Folks smeared him as a Santorum-creaming flamer. See, "Will Folks: Now His Sacred Honor Compels Him to Gay-Bait … Me?"  Plus the latest update from Robert, "South Carolina Primary Day: Before My Saturday Afternoon Nap in Charleston."

Da Tech Guy has more, "Compare and contrast Lack of curiosity vs shoe leather reporting."

Civic Decline Accelerates as Working Class Abandons Marriage and Religion and Upper Class Becomes More Isolated From the Mainstream

This is fascinating.

From Charles Murray, at Wall Street Journal, "The New American Divide" (via Glenn Reynolds):

As I've argued in much of my previous work, I think that the reforms of the 1960s jump-started the deterioration. Changes in social policy during the 1960s made it economically more feasible to have a child without having a husband if you were a woman or to get along without a job if you were a man; safer to commit crimes without suffering consequences; and easier to let the government deal with problems in your community that you and your neighbors formerly had to take care of.

But, for practical purposes, understanding why the new lower class got started isn't especially important. Once the deterioration was under way, a self-reinforcing loop took hold as traditionally powerful social norms broke down. Because the process has become self-reinforcing, repealing the reforms of the 1960s (something that's not going to happen) would change the trends slowly at best.

Meanwhile, the formation of the new upper class has been driven by forces that are nobody's fault and resist manipulation. The economic value of brains in the marketplace will continue to increase no matter what, and the most successful of each generation will tend to marry each other no matter what. As a result, the most successful Americans will continue to trend toward consolidation and isolation as a class. Changes in marginal tax rates on the wealthy won't make a difference. Increasing scholarships for working-class children won't make a difference.

The only thing that can make a difference is the recognition among Americans of all classes that a problem of cultural inequality exists and that something has to be done about it. That "something" has nothing to do with new government programs or regulations. Public policy has certainly affected the culture, unfortunately, but unintended consequences have been as grimly inevitable for conservative social engineering as for liberal social engineering.

The "something" that I have in mind has to be defined in terms of individual American families acting in their own interests and the interests of their children.

RTWT.

Plus, Murray's new book is out January 31st, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.

Divers Find Body of Woman in Wreckage of Costa Concordia

At Los Angeles Times, "Italian divers find body in cruise ship corridor."

RELATED: From Neo-Neocon, at PJ Media, "Where Does ‘Women and Children First’ Originate?"

The Worst People in Politics Aren't Racists

From John Hawkins, at Right Wing News:

When you hear someone touting a conspiracy theory in politics, you can safely discount it without paying much attention because 999 times out of 1000, there will be nothing to it. Sadly, we’ve gotten to the same point with cries of “racism” in politics. There’s almost never any validity to complaints about bigotry or racism and almost everyone who says otherwise is being deliberately dishonest.

The idea that the Republican Party of today is being compared to the Democrats of yesteryear who organized the KKK, encouraged the abortion of black children, and fought to keep black children from going to school has always been ridiculous on its face. Unlike the Democratic Party, the Republican Party was founded on fighting slavery and has nothing in its entire history, from its beginning to the present, to be ashamed of.

Even setting that aside, the idea that the Republican Party is racist is extraordinarily easy to refute. The only black man on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, was put there by a Republican. The first black Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was given the job by a Republican, as was the first black woman to be a Secretary of State, Condi Rice. Herman Cain, for a time, was at the top of the polls in the GOP race for President, Michael Steele just served a term as RNC chairman, Allen West keynoted CPAC, Walter Williams fills in for Rush Limbaugh, and Thomas Sowell was voted the most liked person on the Right by conservative bloggers. The number of black Americans doing extremely well in the Republican Party, despite the tiny percentage of black Americans who vote Republican, blows the idea that Republicans are racist straight to hell.

So, if conservatives aren’t racist, why do we hear ever-present claims that they are despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

Simple. It’s pure politics.

Continue reading.

Progressive race-baiters are the WORST people. Count Chris Matthews among them, and of course Professor Melissa Harris-Perry, who I discussed previously at PJ Media, "How Progressive Race-Baiters Destroyed Civil Rights Progress in America."