The Iowa Straw Poll? It’s Like Buttah!

From abc NEWS:

DES MOINES — Walking amid the good folk and food booths and rides at the Iowa State Fair, it’s hard to get a sense people are fixated on politics in the aftermath of the Republican debate and before the important straw vote in Ames.

Iowans seem more intent on viewing the giant carved butter cow in the Ag building or sampling the newest featured food at this fair – deep fried butter on a stick.

…snip…
In the debate, some candidates reappeared, some candidates disappeared and one new big player is about to appear. For the last few weeks, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty have basically gone off most folks’ radar screen – but that changed.  Each showed up in a much more forceful way. Pawlenty had a number of skirmishes and exchanges with the other candidates, especially Michelle Bachmann. And she definitely held her own.

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She gets headaches? I thought she was just a carrier!

From Andrew Levy:

(CNN) — First of all: Michele Bachmann will not be getting my vote for president.

But that is a political decision, not a medical one. Reading media reports that she suffers from a severe migraine condition, I feel for her.

As one of over 30 million Americans who gets migraines regularly, I suspect I’m not alone in feeling empathy here. Bachmann has the same problem, politically speaking, that millions of other “migraineurs” experience with their co-workers, bosses, and friends. If you’ve never had a migraine, you tend to assume that the blinding headaches and neurological disruptions mean that the migraineur is either very brave, or very fragile.

The truth is neither of these.

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If Rick Santorum isn’t sexy enough for you, here’s Thaddeus!

From The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:

Thaddeus McCotter, a US Representative from Michigan whose agenda appeals to tea party activists, announced his bid Saturday to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Rep. McCotter champions lower federal taxes, energy independence from foreign sources of oil, he is against illegal immigrants receiving government benefits and he endorses the concept of American “exceptionalism” regarding foreign policy.

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Poisoned apples? That’s what happens when you abolish the FDA.

Hey, kids, did you see the debate last night?  If you didn’t, I’ll tell you in a nutshell what happened.  Forgive me if I missed some of the visual stuff, because they panned the New Hampshire audience, and I was temporarily blinded by the glaring whiteness.

It started with a kid-off.  For some reason, Rethugs think that having more kids and grandkids means that you’re more qualified to be president.   Everyone bashed the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a ObamaCare) and talked about jobs, jobs, jobs, even though none of them had any plans to create any other than the usual tax cuts.  The Ken doll Mittsie just stood around in his lucky magic underwear within his invisible shield, where nobody could wound him.  Timmeh was so chicken, Sue Lowden could have bartered him for a colonoscopy.  When asked about his remark about ObamneyCare, he froze like a deer in headlights and danced away backward from that remark as quick as you could say Ginger Rogers.

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Creeps of Faith

From MinnPost.com:

WASHINGTON — Near the end of his speech before the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference Friday night, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty began to recite 2 Chronicles 7:14, the verse he said Ronald Reagan laid his hand on while taking the presidential oath of office.

Oy, it’s always What Would Ronald Reagan Do, isn’t it?

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2 Idiots, No Waiting

From Bloomberg:

It was supposed to have been a big moment for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota — headlining a Republican dinner in Des Moines, Iowa’s largest city, ahead of a potential presidential campaign announcement next month.

Then a late vote in Congress kept her in Washington last night and a political shadow appeared, as Sarah Palin announced a multiday East Coast campaign-style bus tour that will kick off with a May 29 appearance at a motorcycle rally for veterans in Washington.

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Gold (for those with no) Standards

From THINK PROGRESS:

Conservative lawmakers across the country seem determined to crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. In the past week, a string of articles have exposed how once-fringe conservative economic theories have migrated into the political mainstream — with alarming consequences.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the conservative gold craze, which is based on apocalyptic beliefs that the U.S. dollar is on the verge of collapse, runaway inflation is imminent, and gold is a more stable and reliable currency than paper money. The tough economic times have spurred many Tea Partiers in particular to rush to invest in gold, pushing its price to a record high. Glenn Beck and other talk show hosts frequently advertise gold on their shows — along with fallout shelters — “as a way to weather the end of the world as we know it.”  And presidential contender Ron Paul (R-TX), who was made chairman of the House committee overseeing federal monetary policy, has long advocated returning to the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve.

This month Utah became the first state in the country to officially recognize gold and silver coins as legal currency:

Utah legislators want to see the dollar regain its former glory, back to the days when one could literally bank on it being “as good as gold.”

…snip…

The idea was spawned by Republican state Rep. Brad Galvez, who sponsored the bill largely to serve as a protest against Federal Reserve monetary policy. Galvez says Americans are losing faith in the dollar. If you’re mad about government debt, ditch the cash.

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The Chuckleberry Charade

All the factors say go, but my heart says no, and that is the decision I have made, and in it, I have finally found resolution.-Mike Huckabee

From Jennifer Rubin at POSTOPINIONS at The Washington Post:

I am not surprised in the least that Mike Huckabee is passing on the 2012 primary. He’s got a great lifestyle, wealth beyond his and his wife’s imagination, and no reason to lessen his speaking value by losing a presidential primary.It was cheesy to hype an announcement and then say, “Never mind.” But no one ever accused Huckabee of going light on the show biz presentation. (Former senator Chuck Hagel, who called reporters together to say he had no news about a 2008 presidential run, has now been bypassed in the “You hauled us out here for this?” category.)

I’m not surprised either. Chuckleberry was always in this just to make money. You get a lot more attention and get paid more for speeches when you make believe that you’re running for president. Chuckleberry was a grifter, and he’s still a grifter.
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