CPAC 2012: defective internet, defective hippies, but the straw poll finally made sense

Sigh. So...I'm here at the last day of CPAC, and the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel has been a great location again, except for one very glaring issue: slow and unreliable internet connection.

How this right-wing nut came to vote for Romney

I voted for Mitt Romney last week during early voting. To be completely honest, if you had told me that I would vote for Romney last year, I would have laughed at you. It took me a long time to make that decision, and I did not make the decision lightly.

I also spent some time debating about how publicly I was willing to discuss my vote. Considering that one of the major services I provide for my political clients is paying attention to what teh internets are saying, I'm well aware that Romney is not popular in certain circles. However, there are a number of points I'd like to share.

No, there isn't a Romney Conspiracy against Allen West

There's a quote oft attributed to Mark Twain, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."

In the past few days, we could say that a lie can travel across twitter the same way.

Mathematical breakdown behind Gingrich's troubles in Florida

Want to know why Newt Gingrich's campaign is falling apart in Florida? Here are the numbers that tell the story:

The Sayfie Review conducted a survey of likely Republican voters on January 27, 2012 (the day after the CNN debate in Jacksonville), and got some interesting numbers.

#CNNdebate: River City Rumble!

Press filing room at the UNF student union.

Welcome to the #RiverCityRumble! (Credit for that hashtag goes to @AbelHarding, I believe.)

I'm here in the press filing room at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, getting ready to watch the latest Republican mud wrestling match debate, which will air on CNN starting at 8 pm.

You can follow my commentary at my twitter feed (@rumpfshaker) and I was also invited to live blog the debate for Sulia.com. Follow along at this address:

http://www.sulia.com/channel/gop-primaries-2012/

If you want just my feed, click here.

Almost lobbying but not quite?

Newt Gingrich has tossed out a lot of carefully chosen words lately regarding his work with Freddie Mac. First he was a historian, then a consultant, and now he's engaged in a kerfuffle with Mitt Romney about whether or not he was a lobbyist for them.

Novel idea: Florida primary analyzed by actual Floridians!

You may have heard that we are having a little election here in Florida next week.

Interesting, after many of the talking heads insisted that we had doomed ourselves to irrelevance by losing half of our delegates for moving our primary date to January 31, we find ourselves basking in the warm glow of a national media spotlight, as everyone now seems to be in agreement that the Florida election is a pretty big deal.

Florida: "All your primary are belong to us"

Now the REAL battle begins.

Here's the score so far...

Mitt Romney (Oops, just kidding!) Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucuses,

Romney won the New Hampshire primary, and...

Newt Gingrich won in South Carolina last night. (Final tally: Gingrich 41%, Romney 27%, Santorum 17%, Paul 13%.)

Some tweets from last night's results that I found interesting:

Some thoughts on last night's television

Lots of excitement on TV last night: Leonard and Penny might be getting back together, a great series of completely-immature-yet-still-hilarious double entendres from Sheldon, and a funny gag involving a life-size cardboard cutout of Zachary Quinto.

Oh, what's that? You came to Sunshine State Sarah for something other than a recap of Big Bang Theory's 100th episode? Heh. OK, fine. There was also some political stuff on last night too. Here's my thoughts...

BREAKING: Rick Perry dropping out of race; endorsing Newt Gingrich

Fox News just announced that Governor Rick Perry will announce today that he is dropping out of the presidential race, and that he will endorse Newt Gingrich.

Sarah Palin sorta-kinda-almost endorses Newt [VIDEO]

Tonight on Hannity, Sarah Palin gave the Newt Gingrich campaign one heckuva sound bite. After praising his performance at last night's debate ("I do think that Newt is the one that won the debate"), Palin danced on the edge of an endorsement:

A lesson from the Florida Bar Exam for the Presidential candidates

I was sharing a few law school stories with a friend recently, and was reminded about something entertaining that happened when I took the Florida Bar Exam (and yes, this really does relate to the presidential race).

The difference between me & Glenn Beck is when I rant and rave, I make sense!

On Tuesday, I was on The Ed Dean Radio Show to discuss Glenn Beck's comments about Newt Gingrich, his feud with Andrew Breitbart, and the latest on the Republican primary presidential race. Oh, and I go on a rant or two about the damage caused by unrealistic conservative commentators, the quest for a "perfect" candidate, and flirting with third parties.

Dear GOP Candidates, Come Get Me

As I noted last week, I've been officially "undecided" about who I'm supporting in the Republican presidential primary for a few weeks. 

Does Emperor Romney Have No Clothes?

For months, we've been hearing that Mitt Romney is the "presumptive Republican nominee." He's the permanent frontrunner, the "inevitable" candidate, the polished professional running a machine-like campaign. Each stumble by any other candidate has been viewed as bequeathing benefits to Romney, further forging his armor as the almighty invincible candidate.

"But he isn't wearing anything at all!"

But is Romney really invincible? Is his selection as the Republican nominee for President really inevitable? Or does Emperor Romney have no clothes?

May your Thanksgiving be full of Sunshine

In preparation for this post, I spent some time this week looking up past Thanksgiving presidential proclamations and quotes, collected statements from some politicians (at least those who were smart enough to not ask for campaign donations in their Thanksgiving messages. You know who you are. Tsk tsk!), and some other fun stuff. Enjoy:

What were you doing in 1994?

What were you doing in 1994? If you're old enough to vote, you were alive then. I was at Edgewater High School, in the marching band and German Club. (My nerd credentials run deep). One big highlight from that year was finally convincing my parents to let me get contacts instead of glasses.

Yes, 1994 was an interesting year. Between Nancy Kerrigan getting clubbed on the leg by a figure skating rival, Kurt Cobain's suicide, and O.J. Simpson no longer being viewed as just that football player in the Naked Gun movies, it's amazing anyone managed to remember there was an election.

And regarding that 1994 election, here's what some people you may recognize were doing:

Reactions to the Super Committee Super Fail

File this under "News that Surprised Very Few People:" Turns out that Joint Deficit Reduction Committee, aka the "Super Committee," wasn't so super after all, and officially announcing today that they had failed to reach a deal.

RT @KatiePavlich: pretty sure the new word is for #fail is going to be #superMon Nov 21 12:57:47 via Twitter for iPhoneMichelle Malkin
michellemalkin

And, file this under "News that Surprised Absolutely No One:" Obama gave a prime time press conference in which he blamed the Republicans, demanded that people "pay their fair share" several times, blamed the Republicans, claimed that the failure to reach a deal jeopardized health care for the poor and medical research, blamed the Republicans, called for tax increases, blamed the Republicans, and oh, yeah, blamed the Republicans. 

Dramatic Chipmunk is shocked
that Obama blames the GOP.

Our president seems to lack the ability to give a press conference when things don't go his way without sounding like a petulant child.


I'm waiting for someone to make a mashup YouTube video with Obama press conferences and a toddler having a temper tantrum. Or maybe a remix of "Blame Canada!" from the South Park movie as "Blame Republicans!" Seriously, feel free to take these ideas, they're beyond my tech abilities, but just give me credit! (And a linkback, of course.)


Anyway, here's some reactions to the Super Committee Super Fail today from Marco Rubio, Adam Hasner, Newt Gingrich, and around the conservative blogosphere:

Follow up from Saturday's GOP debate

Ah. Finally. Someone put the entire debate on YouTube. I was having the worst time getting the original video to embed properly and it was slowing down this site's load time. The perils of amateur web design...sigh...

Anyway, read my post from yesterday, and then I really recommend that you watch the debate when you get a chance. FYI there's some introductory remarks from the debate organizers and Frank Luntz, and the actual debate starts at about the 35 minute mark:

YouTube | PikaFilms | Thanksgiving Family Forum -- Complete Video

The GOP debate you probably didn't watch, but should have

Last night, CitizenLink, a Focus on the Family affiliate, sponsored a debate in Iowa last night between the Republican presidential candidates, focusing on social issues. But you probably didn't see it, because it was online only, in a livestream that was scheduled up against a lot of college football games. That's really a shame, because it was definitely worth watching.

(At the end of this post, I've included a link to the video of the entire debate, so you can watch it, and I strongly encourage you to do so.)