Politicians being politicians, the only non-politician in the Republican Presidential Primary, who happens to be surging right now, was the focus of an attack by the professional politicians last night, in a debate held at Dartmouth College:

Fox News tells the story:

Businessman Herman Cain, rising fast in the polls, absorbed several blows from his fellow Republican presidential contenders on Tuesday, as they went on the attack over his 9-9-9 plan, which has sucked up much of the conversation about ways to restore the economy.

Most aggressive in their criticisms of the plan for a 9 percent sales tax, 9 percent income tax and 9 percent corporate tax were Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who said it will never come to pass.

When you turn 999 over, “the devil is in the details,” quipped Bachmann, who said the proposal is a tax plan, not a jobs plan, and dangerous because it gives Congress a “pipeline to a new revenue stream.”

Raising his arm and directing his question toward the audience, Santorum asked how many believed Congress would keep the income tax at 9 percent or who wants to pay a 9 percent sales tax.

The Bloomberg-Washington Post presidential debate at Dartmouth University in Hanover, N.H., was focused solely on economics. The eight candidates appearing in the roundtable forum also slammed President Obama’s health care law, with Santorum again offering an aggressive approach for preventing it from being enforceable law.

Separately, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended the 2008 bailout of Wall Street banks, saying it was essential to preserving the nation’s currency and financial system from collapse.

Romney said the U.S. could have had a “complete meltdown of our entire financial system.” He said “action had to be taken. Was it perfect? No.”

Asked if he would support another bailout, Romney said that if he thought the entire financial system would collapse, “you take action to keep that from happening.”

I wonder why the other candidates did not attack the Former Massachusetts Governor about his favorite invention, Romneycare?  Especially, since Fox News revealed this little tidbit of information, just hours before the debate:

Three of Mitt Romney’s advisers went to the White House at least a dozen times in 2009 to consult on the former Massachusetts governor’s health care plan that President Obama used as a model for his initiative — now a federal law that all the Republican presidential candidates want to repeal.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday he was “not in a position to comment on specific meetings.” But in a remark that won’t help Romney in his pursuit for the 2012 Republican nomination, Earnest repeated that Obama took cues from the Massachusetts legislation.

“You’ve certainly heard the president himself say that there were a number of very good ideas included in the health care plan that then-Gov. Romney put in place in Massachusetts that were incorporated into the Affordable Care Act and so it’s clear that these are some ideas that we were interested in incorporating and we did incorporate.

“But in terms of individual meetings and who participated and what the goal of them was, I don’t have that information,” he said.

NBC News first reported that Romney health care advisers and experts Jon Kingsdale, Jon Gruber and John McDonough all met with Obama officials in 2009, including one meeting with President Obama on July 20.

I’m shocked, I tell you.  Shocked!

But hey, no worries.  A buddy of Mittens came to his defense over Roneycare yesterday and threw his weight behind his campaign as well.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed frontrunner Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, sending yet another signal that the former Massachusetts governor is solidifying his support across the GOP establishment.

With characteristic frankness, Christie stood alongside Romney in a hotel conference room here and said the governor is not only the most qualified Republican in the race but also the one best positioned to defeat President Obama next year.

“People run for president of the United States and say, ‘I think I can win, I hope I am ready – which is what the president did four years ago,’” Christie said. “Mitt Romney said, ‘I hope I can win, I know I am ready.’”

…Christie’s insistence that Romney was the most qualified Republican running for president was a tacit dig at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whom Christie was alluding to when he described the decision of other candidates to enter the race whether they’re ready to be president or not.

In addition, both Christie and Romney took direct shots at Perry when they criticized his choice of Pastor Robert Jeffress at the Values Voter conference in Washington a few days ago, when Jeffress criticized Mormonism, Romney’s religion, as a “cult.”

“Any campaign that associates itself with that type of conduct is beneath the office of the present of the United States,” Christie said.

Added Romney: “Gov Perry selected an individual to introduce him … and Perry then said that introduction just hit it out of the park,” Romney said. “I just don’t believe that kind of divisiveness has a place in this country.”

…In recent days, many additional Republican donors who had been encouraging Christie to run, announced that they were supporting Romney, creating a bridge between the two governors.

“The fact that they came together was serendipity,” a Romney adviser said.

In addition to his penchant for feisty language, Christie will bring to the campaign a willingness to defend Romney in his areas of greatest weakness with the GOP conservative base.

On Tuesday, Christie did just that, offering an unqualified defense of Romney’s advocacy while Massachusetts governor for health-reform legislation that became a model for President Obama’s plan.

“Any attempt to try to compare what happened in Massachusetts and what the president has done with his plan is completely, intellectually dishonest,” Christie said.

How cute.  I knew that they herded together in the wild, but to watch RINOs herding together domestically is truly special, isn’t it?

It’s Dole/McCain Deja Vu…all over again.

In yesterday’s blog, I wrote about the spoiled brat aspect of the protests popping up around the country, known as the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Two of the hottest Republican Presidential Primary Candidates added their views concerning these useful idiots yesterday morning as well:

Republican presidential contender Herman Cain amplified his criticism Sunday of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, calling the protesters “jealous’ Americans who “play the victim card” and want to “take somebody else’s” Cadillac.

Cain’s remarks, on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” came amidst an escalating war of words between Republicans and Democrats over the merits of the movement, which has spread from New York to other cities across the nation, including Washington and Los Angeles.

GOP politicians in recent days have stepped up their criticism of the protesters, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) calling them “mobs” who have pitted “Americans against Americans.”

But Cain, surging in popularity among many conservatives, seems to have had among the most virulent responses to the protests.

On CBS, Cain suggested that the rallies had been organized by labor unions to serve as a “distraction so that many people won’t focus on the failed policies of the Obama administration.”

The banking and financial services industries aren’t responsible for those policies, Cain said. “To protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you’re anti-capitalism,” he said.

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who appeared on the program with Cain, offered a more measured response, but blamed the White House for the discord.

“There a lot of people in America who are angry,” Gingrich said. “This is the natural product of President Obama’s class warfare.”

Friday night, Citizen Cain asked a very good question:

Republican presidential nominee candidate Herman Cain called for the Occupy Wall Street protestors to relocate to the White House, in remarks he made Friday at the Family Research Council’s annual Values Voter Summit, in Washington, D.C.

“When a reporter asked me the other day, well, what do you think about those demonstrations up on Wall Street, I said, first of all, Wall Street didn’t write these failed economic policies — the White House did,” said Cain.

He then added, “Why don’t you move the demonstrations to the White House?”

Because, Citizen Cain, as I chronicled yesterday, the Alinsky-ite in Chief is behind these spoiled brats one hundred percent.

Obama and the Democrats seriously believe that the majority of Americans blame their economic suffering on capitalism, which Wall Street represents in the feeble minds of the protestors.

It’s another “Oh, look! A puppy!” moment from the Democratic powers-that-be.

Our enemies, foreign and domestic, are enjoying these protests.

Per the Associated Press:

An Iranian military commander said Sunday that the protests spreading from New York’s Wall Street to other U.S. cities are the beginning of an “American Spring,” likening them to the uprisings that toppled Arab autocrats in the Middle East.

Gen. Masoud Jazayeri of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the protests against corporate greed and the gap between rich and poor are a revolution in the making that will topple what he called the Western capitalist system.

The Occupy Wall Street movement started in New York City last month and is spreading to other parts of the country. The loosely affiliated movement is peacefully protesting the power of the financial and political sectors.

Jazayeri said President Barack Obama’s election promises of change have reached a dead end.

“The failure of the U.S. president to resolve the Wall Street crisis will turn this economic movement into a political and social movement protesting the very structure of the U.S. government,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Jazayeri as saying Sunday.

“A revolution and a comprehensive movement against corruption in the U.S. is in the making. The last phase will be the collapse of the Western capitalist system,” he said, according to IRNA.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A., James P Hoffa, leader of the Teamsters Union, which represents 1.4m workers, is, of course, standing with the useful idiots:

No one should be surprised that Occupy Wall Street is gaining support and spreading quickly around the country. The American Dream has disappeared for students, whose reality is debt and unemployment. The dream disappeared for workers forced to take wage cuts by employers sitting on billions of dollars in profits. The dream disappeared for working families who paid too steep a price for Wall Street’s greed, stupidity and fraud.

It’s clear what this movement is all about. It’s about taking America back from the CEOs and billionaires on Wall Street who have destroyed our nation’s economy. It’s about creating good jobs. It’s about corporate America treating its workers and customers with honesty and fairness and paying its fair share to stimulate the economy.

Teamsters all over the country are participating in Occupy Wall Street events, and I support and encourage them. We stand in solidarity with Americans who want better lives for themselves and for future generations.

Karl Marx said:

The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.

It appears that the current oppressing class are using these spoiled brat protesters to make up Americans’ minds for them...and America’s enemies, foreign and domestic, are cheering them on.

A few months ago, I got into a discussion on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website with some cheeto-munching, Mom’s basement-dwelling Lib with no home training, who proceeded to tell me that he would be proud to defecate on the American Flag.

If I could have reached through my computer monitor and throttled that useless, ungrateful spoiled brat, I would have.

That’s an example of the useful idiots that are comprising these astroturfed paid protests across the country.

For example, in the city so nice they named it twice, New York, New York,what the idiot on Big Government threatened to do, one of the Occupy Wall Street Communists-in-Training actually followed through with on the car of one of Manhattan’s Finest.

According to eye witnesses, when people ran to tell nearby police about the man defecating on the squad car they were ignored.

Standing downwind of the piles of rubbish, bankers walking past the man did a double take before hurrying away.

Brookfield Office Properties, which owns Zuccotti Park, the site of the New York demonstration, have already railed against protesters, who they claim are creating sanitation problems.

‘Sanitation is a growing concern,’ Brookfield said in a statement.

No kiddin’.

‘Normally the park is cleaned and inspected every week night. . . because the protesters refuse to cooperate. . .the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels,’ CBS News reported.

Although many of the protesters are understood to be making strenuous efforts to clean up after themselves, after three weeks of occupation, the strain of hundreds of people living on the street has begun to take its toll.

The authorities today warned of a dramatic crackdown on Wall Street demonstrators, as the protests spread across America.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has promised that if protesters targeted the police, authorities will respond with ‘force.’

I certainly hope so.  And while you’re at it, Commish, could you send some officers up to DC?

From yahoo.com

Protesters clashed with security staff when they tried to enter a museum in Washington on Saturday, prompting one guard to use pepper spray and leading to at least one arrest, a spokeswoman said.

The incident occurred at The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum around 3:15 pm (1915 GMT), after hundreds of activists had marched from Freedom Plaza, near the White House, along the National Mall towards the US Capitol.

Some of those in the demonstration were affiliated with the Occupy DC protest group that sprung up earlier this week as a spin-off of the larger Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, angered at “corporate greed.”

Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said a group of the protesters were confronted when they tried to push through the doors and enter the Air and Space Museum.

“When they were told they couldn’t bring the banners they were carrying inside one security officer used pepper spray,” she said.

“There were a couple of hundred protesters in the area at the time and Washington police were called. There was one arrest that I know of,” she added, noting that the museum closed its doors two hours early because of the clash.

Occupy DC, a young group of several dozen protesters, is camping out at McPherson Square on Washington’s K Street, where many political lobbyists have their offices.

Meanwhile, one of those lobbyists’ favorite politicians, San Fran Nan Pelosi, who gives senility a bad name, just loooves her some protesters:

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi praised those participating in the “Occupy Wall Street” protests. “God bless them,” Pelosi said, “for their spontaneity. It’s independent … it’s young, it’s spontaneous, and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.”

“The message of the protesters is a message for the establishment everyplace,” said the House Democrats’ leader. “No longer will the recklessness of some on Wall Street cause massive joblessness on Main Street.”

Pelosi did not comment on–and was not asked about–the law-breaking that occurred during the protest over the weekend. About 700 protesters were arrested by New York City police after the protesters “swarmed the Brooklyn Bridge and shut down a lane of traffic for several hours,” according to CBS News.

When the Tea Party movement emerged in 2009, then-Speaker of the House Pelosi called them “astroturf” and “un-American” people who were “carrying swastikas.”

As San Fran Nan did, the rest of the Democratic Politicians are all trying to compare these protesting Communists-in-Training to the Grassroots Tea Party Movement.

So far, Americans aren’t buying it.

As I said earlier this week, that’s like comparing Janeane Garafalo (aka Lydia the Tattooed Lady) to Taylor Swift.

According to Democratic Leader President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), these yayhoos are protesting while you and I are actually working, because people are angry because Wall Street had not been “following the rules”.

The Vice-President, the Gaffe-Meister himself, Sheriff Joe Biden, is proclaiming the party line, also:

The core [of the protest] is: the bargain has been breached. The American people do not think the system is fair, or on the level.

The truth of the matter is this:

Average Americans are suffering under the economy of the worst, most ineffectual President of the United States in modern History.

In no way do these Communists-in-Training represent average Americans.

They are the progeny of a Progressive education system, working under the auspices of a massive government bureaucracy, whose sole purpose for existence is to control these protesters’ lives from cradle to grave.

Average Americans simply want to be able to work for a living, to be fairly, not egregiously taxed, and to live a fulfilling life with their loved ones.

Americans do not want to live under a Politboro, nor do they wish to be called the Proletariat.

The “not-so-spontaneous” protests against “corporate greed” that are popping up across the country are quickly being embraced by the Democratic Party and the Main Stream Media, who are growing increasingly desperate in their attempts to camouflage the rapidly failing Obama Presidency.  In fact, yesterday, the news media even tried to start comparing them to the Tea Party.

That’s like comparing Janeane Garafalo to Taylor Swift.

Per foxnews.com:

Protesters who’ve gathered under the banner of “Occupy Wall Street” are looking to light a movement, but as hundreds of demonstrators rally against corporate “greed and corruption,” they have a long way to go before becoming a defined cause like the Tea Party, say political analysts.

That’s not to say they aren’t trying.

In three-weeks time, the Occupy Wall Street crowd has attracted high-profile attention. It has the purported backing of unions like the Teamsters and DC-37, New York City’s largest public employees union. It has attracted Hollywood types who love a good cause to drop in on; and has even generated a discussion group at a convention of liberal leaders taking place in Washington, D.C., this week.

Speaking of  Washington, D.C.:

The mantra of the Occupy DC protests rang out loudly and clearly through downtown Washington Thursday afternoon.

“Where are the jobs?” protesters yelled outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.“We need jobs” they shouted in front of the White House.

“Banks got bailed out, we got sold out,” they chanted while marching down K Street.

The group plans to “occupy,” or camp out in, Washington’s Freedom plaza until the government creates a serious jobs program, adds an amendment to the Constitution to take “big money” out of elections by repealing the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and investigates Wall Street bankers that were involved in the financial crisis, said protestor Peter Burr, 64.

“There are very, very few people in the United States who are not being impacted by this, and I don’t know if it will take weeks or months but gradually they are all going to speak up,” said Burr, who drove from Nashville, Tenn., to participate in Thursday’s event.

Occupy D.C. is an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has taken up residence in downtown New York City for the past three weeks. Both the president and vice president spoke out in solidarity with the “occupy” protestors today.

“What is the core of that protest?” asked Vice President Joe Biden at the Washington Ideas Forum. “The core is: The bargain has been breached. The core is the American people do not think the system is fair or on the level. That is the core is what you’re seeing with Wall Street.”

At a White House press conference, President Obama said the Wall Street protest “expresses the frustrations that the American people feel.”

“We had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street,” Obama said. “And yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place.”

As about 600 citizens marched through the streets of downtown Washington they chanted, “We are 99 percent,” as in the 99 percent of Americans who share the same amount of wealth as the top 1 percent.

The question remains:  Who else, besides the Unions, is financing these idiots?

The Alliance for Global Justice, a nonprofit with 501c3 status, helped Occupy Wall Street to collect tax-exempt donations and open a credit union account to centralize funds.

The Washington-based organization’s most recent 2009 tax return has revenues of $843,547, including contributions and grants of $789,509, records show.

Pete Dutro, 36, a business technology management student at NYU-Poly has also joined the finance committee and said several heavy-hitter benefactors have contacted Occupy Wall Street to find out ways to give financial support.

The committee requested they hold off donating money until mechanisms are in place to handle the cash, Dutro said.

Any of the many organizational committees seeking to spend more than $100 – for, say, blankets or food – has to get approval from the hyper-democratic general assembly, the de facto leadership body for the protest.

Yet the finance brains behind the movement have ambitions of giving each entity its own budget. Some money will be used to pay bail for arrested demonstrators.

“We want to make sure we have ways of using the money effectively,” Dutro said.

“We are trying to be transparent about it.”

Per David Horowitz’s discoverthe networks.org:

The Alliance for Global Justice (AGJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based charity that promotes opposition to free-market capitalism, particularly in Latin America, under the cover of engaging in “education on human, environmental and worker rights.” AGJ underwrites and publicizes the activities of revolutionary Marxist movements from Nicaragua to Mexico and trains young activists to work toward its distinctly radical conception of “economic justice.”

…In addition to its efforts to stoke revolution in other countries, AGJ also funds revolutionary groups within the United States. For instance, it is the main financial sponsor of World Can’t Wait, a direct-action movement affiliated with the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Norman Matoon Thomas (1884-1968) was a six-time Presidential Candidate  representing the Socialist Party of America.  In a campaign interview in 1948, he said the following:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Not only are these protesters around the country, idiots, apparently, as far as those advocating the spread of Marxism in the United States are concerned, they’re useful idiots.

By now,  you all know (unless you’ve been living under a rock) that former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin announced on the Mark Levin Show last evening that she would not enter the Republican Presidential Primary.  Here is the written announcement:

October 5, 2011

Wasilla, Alaska

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.

Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

God bless America.

– Sarah Palin

Needless to say, I’m disappointed.  I wanted Governor Palin in the race, because she is a Conservative, she’s not a Washington Insider,  and because she’s not afraid to speak her mind.

I guess I was being idealistic.  I understand why she chose to do what she did.

This frees her up to continue to be a Conservative voice, speaking truth to power.  She’ll be beholden to no Beltway Power Broker and the path she travels will be her own.

But, where does that leave actual Conservatives? 

We’re really only left with 2 choices:  Herman Cain and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

If you like Mitt Romney and think he is a Conservative, I’ll bet you like to be taken snipe hunting, also.

Of the two aforementioned individuals, one has a lot of economic expertise, but no experience in government, which may or may not be a liability, at this point.

Herman Cain is a straight-shooter, and seems to be very effective at making Liberal heads explode, which is quite enjoyable.  However, the question remains, is Herman Cain just the flavor of the month, or can he be an effective Republican Candidate for President?

Then there’s Governor Rick Perry, a good man, who seems to be an effective Governor.

On the down side, he seems to have a blind spot when it comes to the Texas Dream Act, which gives college educations to the children of illegals for the price of a oath of allegiance to this country.

Perry, who started out strong, has faltered during the recent primary debates.  In fact, his popularity has been declining, while Cain’s has been rising.

My fervent hope is that these two men do not cancel each other out, and we wind up with the squishy GOP Elite “Legacy” Mitt Romney.  His triumph in the Republican Primary would ensure that President Barack Hussein Obama would win re-election.

For example, how could Romney challenge Obama in a debate on the passage of the National Health Care law, when he’s the Father of Romneycare? What’s he going to say,

I like mandates, but your mandates are wrong?

Give me a break.

In closing, I’ll repeat what I wrote yesterday about the potential Republican Nominee:

The American Spirit Reagan spoke about 31 years ago is still alive today, regardless of all the efforts in the last few years to extinguish its flame. 

If the Republican Presidential Candidate can connect with that Spirit, he/she will win the election.

Leadership like Ronald Reagan’s is what Americans are craving….and only a Conservative president will provide it.

Liberal Democrat and GOP Elite heads are exploding in a cacophonous symphony of panic and dread.

CBS.com reports that:

(Tea Party favorite) Herman Cain has moved into a tie with (GOP Elite Choice) Mitt Romney atop the field of Republican presidential candidates, according to a new CBS News poll, while Rick Perry has fallen 11 percentage points in just two weeks.

The poll shows Cain, who stood at just five percent support two weeks ago, now holding 17 percent support among Republican primary voters. That puts the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO into a tie with Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, whose support has essentially held steady over the past two weeks.

Perry, meanwhile, has dropped from 23 percent support to just 12 percent support over the past two weeks, a sign that the Texas governor’s shaky debate performances – in which he has alienated portions of both the Republican base and the party establishment – have taken their toll.

Eight in ten Republican primary voters said the candidates’ debate performances are at least somewhat important to them, and 58 percent said they have watched the debates that have already taken place. Just ten percent of Republican primary voters said they agreed with Perry that the children of illegal immigrants should be allowed to get in-state tuition, a contentious topic in recent debates.

The silver lining for Perry is the race remains fluid: Three in four Republican primary voters who chose a candidate also said it was too early to make up their minds completely. Just 19 percent said they had definitively decided who they would support.

D0n’t worry, Conservative-haters on both sides of the aisle.  New Jersey Governor and erstwhile RINO Chris Christie will enter the race and maintain your precious status quo.

Errr…then again…maybe not:

Per msn.com:

Chris Christie said Tuesday that he wouldn’t seek the Republican presidential nomination, resisting the overtures of Republicans who had urged the New Jersey governor to reconsider his opposition to running.

Speaking at a press conference at New Jersey’s state capitol, Christie explained that he felt an obligation to stick with his promise to continue to serve as governor.

“For months, I’ve been adamant about the fact that I would not run for president,” he said. “For me, the answer was never anything but ‘no.'”

Christie admitted rethinking his pledge not to run over the weekend, but characteristically joked that New Jersey voters are “stuck” with him for now.

“In the end what I always felt was the right decision remains the right decision today: Now is not my time,” he said, explaining several times that it “never felt right” to abandon the state at this juncture in his career.

And while a sinking Squish has dogpaddled safely to shore, a Conservative is testing the waters.

Per Maggie Haberman and Ken Vogel of politico.com, their sources are telling them that

…calls were made on behalf of a mystery candidate to various early states to determine presidential filing deadlines.

The calls were made by representatives of the law firm Baker Hostetler – a firm that employs lawyer Mark Braden, who represents Sarah PAC, her political action committee.

As Ken notes, while he nor representatives of Palin’s campaign would comment on the calls, Palin is the only GOP politician eying the presidential race who is represented by the firm.

The current thinking in GOP election law circles is that the first hard cut-off for entering the race is Oct. 28, when presidential candidates who hope to appear on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary would be required to submit a filing fee from a federally registered presidential campaign committee.

On July 17, 1980, Republican President Nominee Ronald Reagan said the following during his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention:

…Our problems are both acute and chronic, yet all we hear from those in positions of leadership are the same tired proposals for more government tinkering, more meddling and more control — all of which led us to this state in the first place.

Can anyone look at the record of this administration and say, “Well done?” Can anyone compare the state of our economy when the Carter Administration took office with where we are today and say, “Keep up the good work?” Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, “Let’s have four more years of this?”

I believe the American people are going to answer these questions the first week of November and their answer will be, “No–we’ve had enough.” And, then it will be up to us — beginning next January 20th — to offer an administration and congressional leadership of competence and more than a little courage.

We must have the clarity of vision to see the difference between what is essential and what is merely desirable, and then the courage to bring our government back under control and make it acceptable to the people.

…Tonight, let us dedicate ourselves to renewing the American compact. I ask you not simply to “Trust me,” but to trust your values–our values–and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.

The American Spirit Reagan spoke about 31 years ago is still alive today, regardless of all the efforts in the last few years to extinguish its flame. 

If the Republican Presidential Candidate can connect with that Spirit, he/she will win the election.

Leadership like Ronald Reagan’s is what Americans are craving….and only a Conservative president will provide it.

I can’t believe that former Clinton Administration figure and current ABC News Host George Stephanopolous had the intestinal fortitude to ask the 44th President of the United States the following obvious question:

George Stephanopoulos, ABC News: “And a lot of anger out there. There’s so many people who simply don’t think they’re better off than they were four years ago. How do you convince them that they are?”

President Obama: “Well, I don’t think they’re better off than they were four years ago. They’re not better off than they were before Lehman’s collapse, before the financial crisis, before this extraordinary recession that we’re going through. I think that what we’ve seen is that we’ve been able to make steady progress to stabilize the economy, but the unemployment rate is still way too high. And that’s why it’s so critical for us to make sure that we are taking every action we can take to put people back to work.”

During the interview, Obama tried to elicit a sympathy vote, by whining:

Calling himself an “underdog,” President Obama today said the faltering economy is a drag on his presidency and seriously impairing his chances of winning again in 2012.

“Absolutely,” he said in response to a question from ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about whether the odds were against him come November 2012, given the economy. “I’m used to being the underdog. But at the end of the day people are going to ask — who’s got a vision?”

Unfortunately for you, Scooter, as of right now, Americans are saying that it is not you.

wlsam.com reports that:

Just 37 percent of people in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say they expect Obama to win re-election in November 2012; 55 percent instead expect the eventual Republican nominee to win.

It’s a challenging finding for the president because expectations can fuel voter enthusiasm — precisely the ingredient that led the GOP to its broad success in the 2010 midterms, when charged-up conservatives turned out while dispirited Democrats stayed home.

Democrats do expect Obama to win, but they say so only by 58-33 percent — a comparatively tepid vote of confidence within his own party. Republicans, by contrast, smell victory by a vast 83-13 percent. Independents by 54-36 percent expect the Republican candidate to beat Obama.

This poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, finds that the divisions among ideological groups tell a similar story. Conservatives are far more confident about the Republican nominee than are liberals about Obama, and moderates, albeit narrowly, are more likely to expect the challenger to win.

The poll also notes Americans who lack a college degree think, by 57-35 points, that the Republican nominee will beat Obama; those with a college degree think so too, but by a narrower 49-41 percent.

So, if you were Obama and/or his supporters, would you do anything that might upset potential voters?

NO?  Well, evidently ABC/Disney/ESPN is not as bright as you are, gentle reader.

Two years ago tomorrow, on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings’ 30-23 scored a home victory over the Green Bay Packers in Brett Favre’s first game against his former team.  The contest drew the biggest audience in the history of cable television and the highest rating in ESPN’s 30-year history. The game earned a 15.3 rating, which means they garnered 15,136,000 homes (21,839,000 P2+), surpassing the previous cable viewership record, ESPN’s Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football telecast of September 15, 2008 (12,953,000 homes, based on a 13.3 rating, 18,608,000 P2+).

Are you ready for some censorship?

Per usatoday.com:

ESPN has dropped Hank Williams Jr. from opening Monday Night Football tonight after Williams’ controversial comments Monday about President Obama.

Says ESPN, in a statement: “While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight’s telecast.”

Williams, perhaps best known for his “are you ready for some football?” lead-in to ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Monday compared this summer’s so-called golf summit between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner as “one of the biggest political mistakes ever.”

As Williams put it on Fox News’ Fox & Friends: “It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu.”

When asked on Fox to explain his analogy, Williams said Obama and Vice President Biden are “the enemy.”

Although ESPN has a policy about its on-air personalities getting involved in politics, Williams has said he’s interested in running as a Republican in 2012 for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee.

In one fell swoop, ABC/Disney/ESPN just cost Obama any professional football and country music voters that may be contemplating voting for his re-election.

Heckuva job there, fellers.

But that’s okay, Mr. President.  I’m sure you’ve still got your base.  I’m sure that Black Leaders like Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television will still rock the vote for you.

Oh, wait…maybe not.

Per realclearpolitics.com:

BET founder Robert Johnson on the “FOX News Sunday” program: “Well, I think the president has to recalibrate his message. You don’t get people to like you by attacking them or demeaning their success. You know, I grew up in a family of 10 kids, first one to go to college, and I’ve earned my success. I’ve earned my right to fly private if I choose to do so.

“And by attacking me it is not going to convince me that I should take a bigger hit because I happen to be wealthy. You know, it is the old — I think Ted and Fred and I we both sort of take the old Ethel Merman approach to life. I’ve tried poor and I tried rich and I like rich better. It doesn’t mean that I am a bad guy.

“I didn’t go in to business to create a public policy success for either party, Republican or Democrat. I went in business to create jobs and opportunity, create opportunity, create value for myself and my investors. And that’s what the president should be praising, not demagoguing us simply because Warren Buffet says he pays more than his secretary. He should pay the secretary more and she will pay more.”

Well gosh, Mr. President.  Things aren’t going so well for you, are they?  Your situation reminds of a classic scene.  The great comedian “Lonesome” George Gobel, appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson one evening.  He was the last one on the set.  George looked down the couch and saw Bob Hope, John Wayne, and Dean Martin sitting next to him.

George smiled a wry smile, looked straight into the camera, and without missing a beat, he asked:

Did you ever feel like the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?

Sho’ ’nuff hate it for you, Scooter.

People protesting in the streets.  Is America reliving the 60s?  As Yogi Berra would say, is it Deja vu…all over again?

Per foxnews.com:

Protesters who have been camping out in Manhattan’s Financial District say their movement has grown and become more organized, and they have no intention of stopping as they move into their third week, following the second weekend in a row of mass arrests.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out small last month, with less than a dozen college students spending days and nights in Zuccotti Park, a private plaza off Broadway. It has grown sizably, however, both in New York City and elsewhere as people in other communities across the country display their solidarity in similar protests.

The event has drawn protesters of diverse ages and occupations who are speaking out against corporate greed, social inequality, global climate change and other concerns.

Other protests around the country are beginning to pop up:

In Los Angeles, protesters gathered in front of City Hall and danced on buses with “peace” emblazoned on the side.

A smaller protest was held in Chicago’s financial district where protesters held placards demanding “Jobs Not Cuts”.

Protesters also turned out in Denver, gathering downtown before marching into the city chanting, “Occupy the streets.”

All the protests were inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement which has seen hundreds of people camping out near the financial district in New York City and conducting marches calling for an end to home foreclosures and high unemployment.

Things got a little heated in Beantown, also:

Police have arrested two dozen protesters for trespassing during a demonstration against Bank of America’s foreclosure practices at the banking giant’s offices in downtown Boston.

The Boston Herald reports that the event was an act of civil disobedience that the organizers intended to send the message that the lender’s practices were unfair.

‘They wanted to be arrested, and we obliged,’ Boston police Commissioner Edward F. Davis told the newspaper.

Organizers say about 3,000 people joined the protest.

Bank of America spokesman T.J. Crawford dismissed the demonstration as a publicity stunt.

There was no mention of Bank of America’s planned debit card fees, which recently have generated headlines and frustrated customers nationwide.

The Bank of America website crashed yesterday after being overwhelmed by angry customers following the decision to charge them to use $5 a month if they use their debit cards.

The site went down for hours in the morning and hours later service was still intermittent.

The breakdown came less than 24 hours after the bank revealed it will roll out the fee early next year.

All of this civil unrest breaking out at the same time is giving retired hippies LSD Flashbacks. 

Some coincidence, huh?

As NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs says:

I don’t believe in coincidences.

Paul Joseph Watson, writing for infowars.com, also thinks something smells…and it’s not Teen Spirit:

Something is very wrong with this picture.

The usual suspects, mega-rich foundations and elitists, behind the young radicals have also started to emerge – George Soros, The Ruckus Society, the Tides Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

“The belated crusade against Wall Street is even more pathetic as it is coordinated by groups who wouldn’t exist without men like Soros, who made their money from deals that make the Street look sparkling clean. It’s class warfare as a cynical jab at the populist center, the people who mutter to themselves that the Street is full of crooks and so is Congress,” writes Daniel Greenfield.

The thousands of Americans currently expressing their disgust at Wall Street and the bankers who have ruined the economy to the detriment of the poor and middle class should be commended for getting off their hind ends and doing something, unlike the millions who will continue to watch American Idol, drink beer and laugh in ignorance as the country is flushed down the toilet. It should also be added that there is a sprinkling of “End the Fed” demonstrators who truly understand the root cause of the problem.

However, the fact that the majority of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are advocating “solutions” which the very elite they claim to be protesting against also want should set alarm bells ringing.

The official Occupy Wall Street website vehemently supports Obama’s tax agenda, again in the deluded belief that Obama, the ultimate Wall Street puppet, genuinely wants to go after big corporations who use loopholes to avoid paying income tax.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but back in the 60s, didn’t the protesters despise “The Man”, not idolize him?

Saul Alinsky wrote a book titled “Rules for Radicals”, a favorite of the 60s counter culture, which was also on the reading list of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, and his Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Let’s look at rule #8 – rule #13:

8. Keep the pressure on with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.

9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside.

12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

It’s very apparent that somebody’s read Alinsky’s book.  And the “protesters” are following it step by step.

My question is:  Who is pulling the strings?