Romney, Palin at Front of GOP Presidential Field

At Gallup. Romney's at 19 percent. Palin at 16 percent. Huckabee at 12 and Gingrich at 9:

Generally speaking, the better-known candidates tend to fare best in early tests of support for presidential nominations. That helps explain why 2008 presidential candidates Romney and Huckabee, 2008 vice presidential nominee Palin, and former House Speaker Gingrich currently generate more support for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination than those who have not previously run for national office or held a high position in national government, such as Tim Pawlenty or Haley Barbour.

Historically, Republicans have generally nominated the early front-runner as the party's presidential candidate. The notable exception came in the last presidential election, when Rudy Giuliani led in most of the early nomination polls but had several poor early primary or caucus showings before withdrawing from the race.

For the record: My first pick is Sarah Palin, then Romney. I won't vote for Gingrich.

Trying to Find Out Just Why Carl's All the Rage

At NY Post (via Memeorandum):

Why so angry?

Carl Paladino romped through the Columbus Day Parade in Howard Beach, Queens, like a hyperactive puppy, kissing women and men with equal abandon and handing out lollipops -- he calls them "suckers" -- from a trick-or-treat bag.

Suddenly and without warning, storm clouds overtook every inch of his being.

"F- -k that!"

Stepping into a pizza parlor, friends, supporters and waiters watched, in fascination and horror, as Mr. Nice Guy turned on a dime into a sputtering, cursing, Incredible Hulk.

"F- -k it!" railed Paladino, who came out of nowhere to become the Republican candidate for governor of New York. "I'm not going to put up with this s- -t!"

His wrath was sparked by a subject on the lips of all New Yorkers the last few days -- the love child Paladino admits fathering 10 years ago. And his wife's forgiveness of the man who betrayed her.

But Paladino didn't count on losing control of the "one big happy family" narrative he's selling, as reporters descended on his wife, Cathy, and ex-mistress, Suzanne Brady. Clearly, Paladino has not faced the million-dollar question: What did you expect?

Campaign manager Michael Caputo tried to talk him down, but Paladino interrupted with another torrent of F-bombs. Calmly, Caputo intoned, "You're on your own," and walked out of the restaurant, leaving the candidate alone with embarrassed strangers. And me.

And so goes one of the most emotional and unusual campaigns ever to hit New York.

More at the link.

RELATED: At JammieWearingFool, "'You Send Another Goon to My Daughter's House and I'll Take You Out, Buddy!'."

Obama Faces Voter Doubts in Backyard Meeting

At WPFO FOX23 Portland, ME.

And Glenn Reynolds picks this quote: "It was a marked contrast to the enthusiastic university crowd that greeted Obama on Tuesday in Wisconsin when he sought to fire up his youthful base of support, and showed the obstacles his Democratic Party faces in the November 2 elections."

And Ann Althouse has the goods on the president's visit to Madison, shown above: "The University of Wisconsin had "to weigh the many benefits of a visit by a sitting president against the naked political purpose of that visit."

PJTV: Claire Berlinksi Talks With Glenn Reynolds About the Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

Via Glenn Reynolds.

Click the image to watch.

And check out Claire's website and her book, There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.

Meg Whitman Denies SSA No-Match Letter

Listen at the clip.

And at TMZ, "Gloria Allred: Meg Whitman Is a Liar." (Via Memeorandum. Video is here.)

And at Michelle's, "Whitman’s Illegal Alien Maid-Gate Update."

The Whitman household, contrary to the candidate’s flat denials, did in fact receive the red-flag letter six years ago. Contrary to Whitman campaign supporters’ insinuations that the maid stole the letter, she was apparently in legal, legitimate possession of it. Whitman’s husband gave it to her and passed the buck.

Will the campaign deny that Whitman’s husband’s handwriting is the real deal? Will they absolve Whitman by putting sole responsibility for the matter in her husband’s hands? Will they continue to harp on the maid’s fraudulent representation of her status in 2000, instead of dealing with the red flags [not just the no-match letter(s), but also the fact that Diaz-Santillan was banned from traveling back to Mexico] from 2003 onward?

California politics. Never a dull moment.

Time for Loretta Sanchez to Face the Music

From Van Tran's new ad spot hammering Loretta Sanchez's refusal to debate.

Also, from Tim Daniel (Left Coast Rebel) at Pajamas Media, "‘The Vietnamese Are Coming!’: An Interview with California Congressional District 47’s Van Tran."

Architect's Rendering — Park51 Community Center, i.e., Ground Zero Victory Mosque

And don't forget: This is all about bridge-building!!

More at Pamela's, "Damn the Infidels! Full Steam Ahead! Ground Zero Mega Mosque."

McDonald's Threatens to Drop Health Coverage in Response to ObamaCare Mandate — UPDATE: McDonald's Denies WSJ Report ... Or, Not

At WSJ (via Memeorandum):

McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.

The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.

Trade groups representing restaurants and retailers say low-wage employers might halt their coverage if the government doesn't loosen a requirement for "mini-med" plans, which offer limited benefits to some 1.4 million Americans.

The requirement concerns the percentage of premiums that must be spent on benefits.


While many restaurants don't offer health coverage, McDonald's provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.

Last week, a senior McDonald's official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain's insurer won't meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80% to 85% of its premium revenue on medical care.

McDonald's and trade groups say the percentage, called a medical loss ratio, is unrealistic for mini-med plans because of high administrative costs owing to frequent worker turnover, combined with relatively low spending on claims.

Democrats who drafted the health law wanted the requirement to prevent insurers from spending too much on executive salaries, marketing and other costs that they said don't directly help patients.

McDonald's move is the latest indication of possible unintended consequences from the health overhaul. Dozens of companies have taken charges against earnings—totaling more than $1 billion—over a tax change in prescription-drug benefits for retirees.

More recently, insurers have proposed a round of double-digit premium increases and said new coverage mandates in the law are partly to blame. HHS has criticized the proposed increases as unwarranted.

Democrats, looking toward midterm elections in which the health overhaul is an issue, say it already has stopped insurance practices they call abusive, has given rebates to seniors with high out-of-pocket prescription costs and has allowed parents to keep children on their insurance plans until they turn 26.

The entire legislation is abuse. Democrats are abusive.

UPDATE: Political Carnival and Taylor Marsh are quick on the denial update.

UPDATE II: Not so fast, says John McCormick at Weekly Standard, "... neither Sebelius nor McDonald's officials have ruled out the possibility that the fast food giant will drop 30,000 employees' health plans."

And see LAT, "Patients' choices may narrow as insurers adjust standards for healthcare providers":

The new federal healthcare law is bringing additional demands by insurance companies that doctors and hospitals be held to higher quality standards.

Although this push by insurers on quality implies that consumers will get better care because doctors and hospitals will be measured against the best performers, there may be an unintended consequence: It could leave patients with fewer choices of medical care providers, depending on which health plans they purchase.

And at Michelle, "Will there be a McDonald’s Inquistion now? Torquemada Sebelius tightens the screws."

Rutgers Student Commits Suicide After Dorm Video of 'Private Hurtful Material' Posted Online

Sad.

At NYT:

It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

That night, the authorities say, the Rutgers University student who sent the message used a camera in his dormitory room to stream the roommate’s intimate encounter live on the Internet.

And three days later, the roommate who had been surreptitiously broadcast — Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman and an accomplished violinist — jumped from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River in an apparent suicide.

The Sept. 22 death, details of which the authorities disclosed on Wednesday, was the latest by a young American that followed the online posting of hurtful material. The news came on the same day that Rutgers kicked off a two-year, campuswide project to teach the importance of civility, with special attention to the use and abuse of new technology.

Those who knew Mr. Clementi — on the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J., at his North Jersey high school and in a community orchestra — were anguished by the circumstances surrounding his death, describing him as an intensely devoted musician who was sweet and shy.

“It’s really awful, especially in New York and in the 21st century,” said Arkady Leytush, artistic director of the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra, where Mr. Clementi played since his freshman year in high school. “It’s so painful. He was very friendly and had very good potential.”

The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton Junction, N.J., had each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi. The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of five years.

Mr. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for trying a similar live feed on the Internet on Sept. 21, the day before the suicide. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, James O’Neill, said the investigation was continuing, but he declined to “speculate on additional charges.”

Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said Wednesday that he considered the death a hate crime. “We are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport,” he said in a statement.

RTWT.

RELATED: "Rutgers president addresses student suicide."

I'm slacking...

... on my Britney blogging!

See, "Britney Spears Glee Episode Draws 13 Million Viewers." (And I'm counting this post as part of my Rule 5 material for the week.)

Democrats Find Many Big Donors Cutting Support

Even George Soros is cutting back!

At New York Times:

Many wealthy Democratic patrons, who in the past have played major roles financing outside groups to help elect the party’s candidates, are largely sitting out these crucial midterm elections.

Democratic donors like George Soros, the bête noire of the right, and his fellow billionaire Peter B. Lewis, who each gave more than $20 million to Democratic-oriented groups in the 2004 election, appear to be holding back so far.

“Mr. Soros believes that he can be most effective by funding groups that promote progressive policy outcomes in areas such as health care, the environment and foreign policy,” said an adviser, Michael Vachon. “So he has opted to fund those activities.”

The absence of these Democratic megadonors is contributing to a huge disparity in spending between pro-Republican and pro-Democratic groups. The groups wield huge influence in many House and Senate races because they can take in contributions of unlimited size.

In the last week, Republican-leaning groups outspent their Democratic counterparts on television by more than seven to one on Senate races and nearly four to one on House races across the country, according to data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising. The gap shows few signs of abating, even with the midterm election season in full swing.

The donors’ reluctance stems from a variety of factors, including pessimism about the party’s prospects in November, but also President Obama’s strong condemnations of this kind of independent activity, both during the 2008 campaign and after he was elected.

For Mr. Soros, who was also a big donor in 2006 and 2008, it is a matter of being more focused on pushing to get the policy outcomes he wants than on the electoral process, Mr. Vachon said.

Mr. Soros gave $5 million each last year to organizations supporting the health care overhaul and the climate change bill, Mr. Vachon said. He also contributed $1.25 million this year to America Votes, an umbrella organization for a variety of liberal-leaning groups, which focuses on the voter mobilization that Mr. Soros has supported over the years.

RTWT.

Daniel Webster Gets Boost After Alan Grayson Smears

At NYT, "Grayson Opponent Lines Campaign Coffers Off Taliban Ad."

And Webster, at the clip, says the latest Grayson attack ad was "another trick, a rather nasty trick, to try to impugn my character:

Obama's Socialist Machine

Newt Gingrich was never my favorite. Meeting him in person only confirmed the feeling. I don't question his often brilliance, but some of his recent gaffes weigh too heavily on him. That said, he's making sense here. Kinda piggybacking on the tea parties actually, but I like it:

Rule 5 Encore

King Shamus enjoyed last night's "Beautiful Woman" entry (for Rule 5). So here's another (c/o Theo Spark):

Obama's Gangsta Playlist

Not everyone's diggin' on it: "NIGGA RUN THE COUNTRY, STOP TRYNA PLACATE HIP HOP NIGGAS" — says some brotha down wit Rap Radar.

Here's the cached copy of yesterday's Fox Nation piece. Lefties have been freakin' ever since. Here's a pathetic Jason Linkins putting some spin on it:

Obviously, I don't know how you take a guy who's way into Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan and John Coltrane, whose "rap palate" is "improv[ing]", and who'd just been introduced to Lil Wayne by Reggie Love into a "lover" of "gangsta rap," but then I'm basically of the mind that "gangsta rap" is a quaint term that was invented by media to describe a meta-genre of hip-hop that's largely not being made these days.

Well, no, actually. 50 Cent. Juvenile. And Ice Cube's talkin' it up, yo!

Ice Cube claims gangster rap which doesn't come from the US West Coast is not "authentic".

The veteran rapper and actor said his forthcoming album 'I Am The West' will see him return to the distinctive, largely Californian rap sound of the late 80s and early 90s, which he pioneered with all star group N.W.A and in his early days as a solo rapper.

Ice told RWD magazine: "If you want the West Coast Hip Hop you should be getting from: me, Snoop Dogg, some of the other homies on the West Coast that's doing it, you know what I mean.

"If you look for hardcore gangsta rap and you're getting it anywhere else, you're not getting it authentic; it's not coming from the source."

And Nas? The "black president" listens to that s***. Dude's got some nasty stuff.

... It was just cool like, smooth night wit' my jewels bright
Goons left goons right, coupe wit' blue lights
Bad girls in black pearls, gave us cat calls
Took 'em back to the crib to break they ass off
In the loft mixin' hash and 'dro
Honey spreaded that asshole like a wide mouth bass
Sippin' wine out the glass, Teddy Pendergrass blast
When the phone ring, the house lights flash
Turned down the sound, let's get down to bidness
Shit about to go down wit' some foul niggaz
What the voice said, "what up pop? Who want it?"
I put the guap up, get the boy popped
He say "son stop, it's dudes you feedin'
Who feedin' other dudes, but they really not eatin'"
Dog, why you callin' me? This our food
You, handle the mouths that it trickles down to
Niggaz want beef, I want some of that cow too
But I'm in my princely robe, simply rich
Don't bother me wit' silly shit, call Rico
He said "it IS Rico, of all people
Gave his moms furs, called up the mayor
To get his crime pardoned, his son's godfather"
Said the nigga shot up my cars
Last night he laid for me to come out my doors?

*****

Niggaz always on that bullshit
To make a nigga wanna open up a full clip
Niggaz always on that bullshit
Now ya funeral, the preacher's at the pulpit
Niggaz always on that bullshit
To make a nigga wanna open up a full clip
Niggaz always on that bullshit
Now ya funeral, the preacher's at the pulpit
You can't kill me

*****

High, fly, send a fella loaf or glass?
Fold up cash, you ain't heard the soldier's half
You speakin' hogwash, silly shit, ??? to dash
I got the live sparked, Phillies lit, smoker's jacket on
The son of a Cap-ricorn, my dad's a don
What you think that he spawned? A slacker? Nah
Packed the nines, yo this nigga's asinine
Smack ya mom, relaxed and calm, then mack ya mom
In a casket, you'll get ya fashion on
You'll be in a suit and tie, you'll die
You'll make maggots turn to flies, fuckin' wit' Nas
Remember anyone can get it at anytime
Lames'll swear by ya name, when they lie
Get hit wit' the lone star, ripped where ya bones are
So tell me how yo' ass gon' run, from a C-Z-P-O-1?
In the midst of real steel movers, you a loser
Merk you wit'cha own shooters
All you want is a name, pissed and insane
My security system, my playspot a fireplace, listen
Then it goin' off, start spittin'
Niggaz try to bring it where I live in
Trustin' you, knew where all of the cribs at
So we waited wit' the cigs blat, blat, blat!

Nicky Diaz Santillan, Meg Whitman's Former Housekeeper, Alleges 'Emotional and Financial Abuse'

TMZ is all over this, but SF Gate has the background:

Nicky Diaz Santillan, former housekeeper to California gubernatorial candidate and ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, is accusing the candidate of firing her for being an illegal immigrant after looking the other way for nine years, TMZ reports.

According to Sanillan's [sic] attorney, Gloria Allred, Whitman clearly knew about Santillan's status as an illegal from the beginning, but only took action when she became a political candidate.

Allred says that during her time with Whitman, Santillan was "exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused," and that working for her was a "nightmare."

Whitman has dismissed the allegations, and says the timing, so close to the election, is proof that this is nothing but a cheap political smear.

Check the TMZ links above. Whitman's denying it. But Michelle's on top of it: "Meg Whitman’s illegal alien maid problem."

I've never liked Whitman. And nothing I've seen so far has made me rethink my opinion. This episode is just totally unsurprising. Whitman's phony through and through. We saw it in the primary campaign (she was for amnesty before she was against it) and this is just more same old same old.

Check Memeorandum as well.

Alan Grayson Trails Dan Webster in Florida's 8th District

Whoa!

"Poll: Obama, Dems Poised to Lose Grayson House Seat" (via Memeorandum). And at RCP:

In the only independent polling we've seen of this race, Alan Grayson trails former state Senator Dan Webster. The poll, conducted by Sunshine State News, shows Webster leading 43 percent to 36 percent. An incumbent congressman at 36 percent almost never wins; Grayson is in real trouble.

And at Fire Andrea Mitchell, "Marxist Meltdown – Contessa Brewer VS. Alan Grayson over Taliban Dan ad":

Big Labor: Workers' Enemy, America's Enemy

At Michelle's, "Big Labor, not Tea Party, is workers’ worst enemy":

The Service Employees International Union plans to send 25,000 rank-and-file workers on 500 buses to Washington this weekend to protest the tea party movement, Republicans and Fox News. If SEIU members had any sense, they’d be demonstrating at their own bosses’ D.C. headquarters. It’s the Big Labor Left, not the Tea Party Right, that is flushing rank-and-file union workers’ hard-earned dues down the collective toilet in these hard times.

The co-organizer of the so-called “One Nation” protest by a coalition of progressive groups is George Gresham, president of the behemoth SEIU Local 1199 based in New York. (This is the same SEIU affiliate that employed current Obama domestic policy adviser Patrick Gaspard as chief lobbyist for nine years.) Peeved by all the attention that grassroots conservatives and limited government activists have received over the past year, Gresham spearheaded the rally plans earlier this summer to “counter the Tea Party narrative” and reclaim the voice for “working people.” Perhaps Gresham should pay more attention to his workers’ pensions than to tea party leaders’ media appearances.

SEIU Local 1199′s Upstate Pension Fund has plunged from 115 percent funded in 1999 to 75 percent funded, and its Greater New York Pension Fund was funded at only 58 percent of its future obligations as of 2007, according to Hudson Institute analyst Diana Furchtgott-Roth. The union fat cats blame Wall Street. But while the pensions of SEIU workers nationwide are in “endangered status,” the pensions of SEIU top brass have been protected and remain fully funded.

The D.C.-based Alliance for Worker Freedom, which monitors labor union abuses, reported last year that 13 major local SEIU pension funds are in serious financial jeopardy. Indeed, fewer than one in every 160 union-represented workers is covered by a union pension with required assets. Local 1199 workers — already subject to wage freezes to salvage their pensions — might want to know how their leaders were able to pony up $1 million for Haiti earthquake relief in January while their retirement funds wither on the vine.

SEIU leaders have shown a special talent for squandering their workers’ dues. They poured $10 million down the drain in Arkansas on a failed bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln. They spent $10 million on a nasty lawsuit against a competing union in California. They’ve burned through union dues to transport SEIU radicals to bully bank execs and their families at their private homes and to bus workers to Arizona to protest crackdowns on illegal aliens, who depress the wages of law-abiding working-class Americans.

More at the link.

RELATED: "Former union leader Andy Stern investigated."

NewsBusted — '60 Minutes' Whitewashes Jimmy Carter

Via Theo Spark:

Sexual Abstinence Might Be a Good Thing

Actually, I know it's a good thing for the young to be abstinent, especially teenagers. But see Steven Crowder, "Why NOT Having Sex Might be Good for You":

Sex. Some of us do it, most of us like it and we all think about it…. A lot. I know I do (though I was told that it’s normal). Gettin’ busy really isn’t the taboo subject that it once was.

Whereas once upon a time the conversation was relegated to whispers behind closed doors, nowadays it’s discussed openly and without shame. As a stand-up comedian, I’ve seen hacks openly depict the most depraved, explicit sexual acts they can think of just to get a laugh out of the audience. Clearly, telling wiener jokes is no longer the treading of new territory that it once was.

Funnily enough, today there is one area of sex that when discussed, still makes people’s posteriors pucker with discomfort… abstinence.

The idea of abstinence has become somewhat of a punchline in this country. From the myth of unrealistic “abstinence only” education, to the media’s constant portrayal (and mockery) of young, nerdy, out of touch Christians riddled with chastity pendants, the message on abstinence being pumped through pop-culture is clear; If you’re abstinent it’s either because A) you’re ugly or B) you’re a loser. In my case, it was often both.

Maybe it’s just the lack of fun-factor, or maybe it started with harlotry being misused as a fulcrum for women’s liberation, but if you so much as suggest to someone that abstinence might be beneficial, you’ll often find yourself vilified as a judgmental jackass faster than Bill Maher can throw up his dainty hands.

Listen, one doesn’t need to be religious (nor a rocket scientist) to see the value of abstinence. Let’s disregard the immediately eliminated risk of increasingly popular STD’ and STI’s. Heck, let’s even discount the statistical data showing that sexual exclusivity seems overwhelmingly conducive to a successful marriage .Abstinence also provides an incomparable bond of trust in a relationship.

More at the link, especially this part:

While we’re on the subject, has the whole floozie shtick really empowered any women out there? I would imagine that immediate sexual gratification being assumed in modern relationships would do more damage to your gatekeeper status than good. I’d also have to imagine that sex with someone whom you share trust, loyalty and open communication would be far more liberating than the thrill of any one-night stand you could enjoy.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just a young, sexless, STD-free-moron in love. You should try it sometime...though I’m not here to judge.

And Melissa Clouthier has commentary on the clip above. See, "When Did Being A Slut Become The Morally Superior Option?"