Whither the Murdoch Primary

post from Talking Points Memo on 15 December 2011 02:00:36 PM. © Talking Points Memo

TPM Reader AF asks a good question. And not certain I know the answer ...I'm really appreciating your reporting on the GOP establishment's fight against Newt. The stage is set: there's an armada of Romney endorsements coming in. The National Review[...]

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The Neocons Find Their Man

post from Talking Points Memo on 15 December 2011 02:00:36 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Rudy, Cheney and more get behind the NeoCon-est guy in the race: Newt. [...]

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d_their_man.php

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Newt's Dip Nationwide

post from Talking Points Memo on 15 December 2011 02:00:36 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Newt's rocketing trend hits a wall at about 35% and starts dipping down. [...]

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nwide.php

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Newt Responds to the Onslaught

post from Talking Points Memo on 15 December 2011 02:00:36 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Lowering expectations fast, Newt says he just needs to hang on till South Carolina. Presented By:Win New Customers Ads by Pheedo[...]

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o_the_onslaught.php

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Obama White House Concerned About Wyden-Ryan
Medicare Plan

post from Taylor Marsh on 15 December 2011 02:00:24 PM. © Taylor Marsh

Ryan and Wyden acknowledged that their plan might not bring in more savings than under the current law. But they said that by forcing private insurers to bid to provide Medicare coverage and encouraging beneficiaries to choose the plan with the lowest[...]

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Is Giuliani angling to be Gingrichs VP

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 15 December 2011 02:00:11 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

Sure looks that way. Giuliani is now publicly criticizing Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper, and embracing Gingrich instead.

The problem is that Giuliani has a Romney problem. I.e., he's pretending to be a conservative when people know he's really a liberal. Once he wanted to be president, Giuliani flip-flopped on gay rights - a lot. He also flip-flopped on abortion. In a very real way, Romney's reinvention is late to the game. Rudy was the original chameleon. And his embrace of Gingrich is just another effort to dispel a lifetime of liberalism. Raw ambition can be an ugly thing.

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VIDEO: Climate Hawks Whitehouse And Franken Hold
Climate Crisis Colloquy

post from ThinkProgress on 15 December 2011 02:00:02 PM. © ThinkProgress

Yesterday, Senators Al Franken (D-MN) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-MN) held an hour-long colloquy on the hard reality of climate change and the polluter-driven inaction in the U.S. Senate. They discussed not only future threats, but also the changes in severe weather and climate that are already causing havoc to our nation. Whitehouse and Franken agreed that the nation is following a dangerous path by ignoring scientists because of the pollution industry.

Watch it:

Here are a few quotes from the full transcript:

“Despite the efforts to mislead and create doubt, the jury is not out on whether climate change is happening and being caused by manmade carbon pollution; the verdict is, in fact, in.”
“The 25th doctor says: It is a good thing you came to me, because all this diet and exercise would have been a complete waste. You are doing fine. Those other doctors are in the pockets of the fresh fruit and vegetable people. He says: Enjoy life, eat whatever you want, keep smoking, and watch a lot of TV. That is my advice. Then you learn the doctor was paid a salary by the makers of Twinkies, which, don?t get me wrong, are a delicious snack food and should be eaten in moderation.”
“Climategate should properly be known as climategate-gate because it was the scandal that was phony.”
“We are playing with very dangerous effects when we ignore climate change at the behest of a tiny minority of scientists and their polluter industry funders behind them.”
“If we can pull away from the lies and the phony science and the polluter-paid nonsense that has so far distracted us from doing our duty as a nation, we can get into the race that is going on in this world for the energy future.”
“Fifty years ago we were in a global space race. Today we are in a global clean energy race.”
“Climate change is real, and failure to address it is bad for our standing in the global economy, bad for the Federal budget, and bad for our national security. We can do better than that for our children and our grandchildren and posterity.”

(HT WWF’s Nick Sundt)

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nd-franken-hold-climate-crisis-colloquy/

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Three-Quarters Of Americans Think The 1 Percent
Has Too Much Power

post from ThinkProgress on 15 December 2011 02:00:02 PM. © ThinkProgress

Since the 99 Percent Movement protests began across the country, multiple Republican lawmakers and strategists have announced their fear of what they claim are the movement’s attacks on capitalism and America’s free market economy. The protests and Democratic policies, some Republicans have claimed, represent a form of class warfare against the rich. And many have predicted that supporting the movement will come back to haunt Democrats.

But a new poll from the Pew Research Center found that when asked directly about the belief that sparked the 99 Percent Movement — that the rich have too much power and influence in this country — Americans of all political stripes largely agree. Wide majorities of Democrats, independents, and even Republicans, in fact, think the rich are too powerful, and a majority also thinks our economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, as the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent highlighted:

Roughly three-quarters of the public (77%) say that they think there is too much power in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations in the United States. In a 1941 Gallup poll, six-in-ten (60%) Americans expressed this view. About nine-in-ten (91%) Democrats and eight-in-ten (80%) of independents assert that power is too concentrated among the rich and large corporations, but this view is shared by a much narrower majority (53%) of Republicans.
Reflecting a parallel sentiment, 61% of Americans now say the economic system in this country unfairly favors the wealthy and just 36% say the system is generally fair to most Americans. About three-quarters (76%) of Democrats and 61% of independents say the economic system is tilted in favor of the wealthy; a majority (58%) of Republicans say that the system is generally fair to most Americans.

In addition, Americans also have a skeptical view of Wall Street. A slim majority — 51 percent — thinks Wall Street hurts the economy more than it helps, including 60 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents. Just 36 percent think Wall Street helps more than it hurts.

Republican lawmakers who have decried the movement may be shocked by these numbers. But given that their policies have increased prosperity for the 1 percent while driving half of Americans into either poverty or low-income status, they probably shouldn’t be.

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Newt Gingrich, fierce advocate of 'traditional
marriage', signs NOM pledge

"Shhhh!!! Be vewy, vewy quiet, we're hunting Congressional aides." (Fishbowl DC)It's official! Serial adulterer, thrice-married Newt Gingrich has become the latest GOP presidential candidate to pledge his own fierce advocacy to the cause of "defending traditional marriage."

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today announced that presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich has signed the organization's presidential marriage pledge, leaving Ron Paul as the only major candidate not to have signed the pledge. The pledge, which commits candidates to take several concrete actions as President of the United States, has been signed by Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann. NOM also announced it would launch advertisements in Iowa to publicize those who are pledge to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
"We commend Newt Gingrich for signing NOM's presidential marriage pledge, committing himself to play a leadership role as president to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "Mr. Gingrich joins all the other major candidates who have made a similar commitment, save for one?Ron Paul. Now we will embark on an intensive communications program to inform Iowa voters who will stand with them to preserve marriage, and who has abandoned them on marriage."

It is unclear if this represents a change in Gingrich's previous position that "marriage is a union of one man and at least?but not limited to?three consecutive women."

The "concrete actions" as described by NOM, include:

Support an amendment to the United State Constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman;
Appointing Supreme Court Justices and an Attorney General who will apply the original meaning of the Constitution;
Vigorously defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act in court;
Establish a presidential commission on religious liberty; and
Advance legislation to return to the people of the District of Columbia their right to vote on marriage.

For the reader's convenience, the translation from Christian Dominionist-speak is below:

Go to the considerable expense and trouble to rewrite the Constitution, to guard against the possibility the Supreme Court may erroneously read it as a secular document.
LGBT-animus litmus test for Supreme Court nominees.
Waste tax dollars defending du jure laws that serve no useful purpose other than to arbitrarily discriminate against a class of people.
Use the office of the presidency to hunt down the "gay bullies" and make them pay for calling homophobes homophobes and initiating economic sanctions.
Deprive the District of Columbia home rule via the footprint of Big Government.

Meanwhile, a far more appropriate endorsement has also come in for Team Gingrich.

Fishbowl DC is reporting Ashley Madison.com, the internet hook-up site, dedicated to bringing together philandering spouses with the shameless cads and harlots who love them, (boasting of 11,945,000 anonymous members!) heralds Gingrich as an inspiring champion of their own mission: marital infidelity.

Pennsylvania motorists heading south on Route 1 may have a hard time keeping their eyes on the road today thanks to the billboard erected near the sleepy town of Morrisville. The ad features a photograph of Gingrich alongside the quip,
"Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband. Welcome to the Ashleymadison.com Era."
'Now that Newt is the leading contender in the race for the GOP nomination, we felt compelled to make a point to illustrate how times have changed when a serial divorcee/adulterer is capturing the hearts of the American people," says Noel Biderman, founder and CEO, premier online affair service Ashleymadison.com.

The GOP presidential candidate field continues to flummox and frustrate the efforts of the nation's best satirists to trump their reality.

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-advocate-of-traditional-marriage,-signs-NOMÂ pledge

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Newt Gingrich: Gay People Choose To Be Gay Like
Priests Choose Celibacy

Newt Gingrich told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board this morning that gay people have a “significant range of choice within a genetic pattern” and can choose to be straight just like someone can “choose to be celibate.” The former House speaker, who opposes same-sex marriage, explained that there is a “big difference between saying that you’re to have an acceptance of people’s lifestyles and saying that you’re now going to normalize that as a standard for the whole country”:

Q: Do you believe that people choose to be gay?
GINGRICH: I believe it’s a combination of genetics and environment. I think both are involved. I think people have many ranges of choices. Part of the question is, do you want a society that has a bias in one direction or another.
Q: So people can then choose one way or another?
GINGRICH: I think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern. I don’t believe in genetic determinism and I don’t think there is any great evidence of genetic determinism. There are propensities. Are yo more likely to do this or more likely to do that? But that doesn’t mean it’s definitional.
Q: So a person can then choose to be straight?
GINGRICH: Look, people choose to be celibate. People choose many things in life. You know, there is a bias against non celibacy. It’s part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy as a religious vocation or for other reasons.

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Gingrich also reiterated that he would reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell if elected President and suggested that military commanders have been pressured to accept the policy change. “I think that it would be a career ending conversation,” he said. “I don’t think that in the military you would particularly want sexual behavior to be an overt issue.”

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/12/15/390393/newt-gingrich-gay-people-choose-t
o-be-gay-like-priests-choose-celibacy/

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