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Do Liberals Finally Understand Obama Was A Huge Mistake?

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:12:28 +0000

Obama Rejected Numerous Proposals to Retrieve Lost U.S. Drone …

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com12/9/11

Apart from the obvious — Islamic Iran, China and Russia now have state-of-the-art stealth technology and we lose a killer app in the war against the enemies of freedom, the most troubling aspect of this story is that Obama had a window of opportunity to retrieve the critical intelligence gathering drone and rejected it. He left it there for the murdering mullahs. With early knowledge that the aircraft had likely remained intact, the senior U.S. official also told Fox News that …

Gay donors fuel Obama's 2012 bid – Catholic Citizens

www.catholiccitizens.org12/10/11

The left-leaning super-rich, including George Soros, see Obama as hopelessly compromised and have lost their enthusiasm for him. Some Wall Street and hedge fund executives, tired of being criticized and regulated, have …

It’s somewhat hard to believe that this conversation took place on an MSNBC panel.

And I’m somewhat stunned by it!

On Morning Joe, a consensus emerged that Barack Obama doesn’t believe he has failed America, but rather that America has failed him.

Joe Scarborough encapsulated, saying,

"Obama sees our version of democracy as a stumbling block to his greatness".

More quotes:

"He believes that the country is not commensurate with his gifts".

"He thinks this country has an 18th constitutional republic that needs significant updating".

"He sees elected leaders from across the country as a stumbling block".

"And he sees democracy as …".

"He sees this government as a stumbling block that’s getting in the way of his greatness!".

I never thought I’d say it but,

"If this was on Morning Jow, then it must be true".

Does this video signify the end of the leftist MSM’s support for Obama?

That Obama was coming from the extreme left was never in doubt because he was a member of the New Party (communist) just twelve years before he was elected.

And he didn’t quit his prominent role; the courts shut the New Party down!

Did the MSM believe that he would be less left than his past portrayed?

Who knows, but let’s hope that they now understand and continue to downgrade him.

He has to go and maybe now there is a uniformity or opinion on it!?

Will Youths Blacks And Hispanics Desert Obama?

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:32:38 +0000

Early Jobs Projections Could Haunt Obama in 2012 – NYTimes.com

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com11/4/11

Friday's tepid jobs report brings a fresh reminder of the stubborn difficulty President Obama and his team face in overcoming the argument that his administration has failed to address unemployment.

Droves Of Democrats Balking On Obama 2012 | Politicons

politicons.net11/14/11

Radioactive Obama… Politico has a piece highlighting the droves of Democrats that are refusing to back Obama in 2012. …

Just one year from the 2012 election and President Obama is in an extremely perilous political situation.

The poor economy he inherited hasn’t recovered and has most likely worsened.

Published unemployment is stuck above 9% with real unemployment being around 18.5%

Long-term unemployment is at record post-war levels.

The housing sector, where most people’s personal wealth was and is concentrated, remains mired in deep recession.

The scandals surrounding Republican-led investigations into Solyndra and Operation Fast and Furious are deepening.

Obama Had Overwhelming Majorities In Both Houses Of Congress

Although the President had overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress in his first two years, he has only two major legislative achievements to his credit:

The stimulus bill.

And Obamacare.

The stimulus bill is generally perceived as having been worse than a total failure, because it’s perceived as having been motivated more by politics than economics, and because much of the $800 billion was directed towards public service union members and liberal causes; i.e. "green energy", rather than real economic recovery.

Obamacare also remains deeply unpopular with the general public and is headed for the Supreme Court, which could well find its key provision unconstitutional next summer, just as the election gets into high gear.

The Economy And America’s Status

Budget deficits soared during the Obama years, with three trillion-dollar-plus deficits in a row.

And this has caused the national debt to swell to a level that, relative to GDP, has not been seen since the end of World War II and for the first time ever, the United States lost its AAA credit rating, which was a deep embarrassment for the country and also the administration.

Obama’s Ratings

So it shouldn’t be surprising that under these circumstances, that the President’s approval ratings have been in sharp decline, with some of his key supporting groups, including the youth and Hispanic voters to a greater or less degree abandoning him.

Obama’s Re-electability

No recent President was re-elected with unemployment above 7.8%, and that was in 1984, when unemployment was falling rapidly as a major economic boom accelerated.

So What Happened?

How did a man who three years ago won a higher percentage of both the popular and electoral vote than any Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide almost fifty years ago find himself fighting such uphill odds to keep the White House?

The answer to that seems to lie in the somewhat exceptional circumstances that existed during the 2008 election, and Barack Obama’s personality which fitted the times.

In 2008, the American electorate was thoroughly tired of both the Bush administration and the Republican Party, which had lost its majority in Congress in 2006 for the first time in twelve years.

The Republican field of presidential candidates in 2008 was a weak one, with the eventual winner, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, widely perceived as being too old for the job.

So Obama, who was only forty seven years old, seemed in contrast, like a breath of fresh air.

He seemed personable, articulate (nobody had yet focused on his TelePrompTer) and he was the first ever bi-racial candidate for a major-party nomination with any serious chance of winning.

His biggest opposition was Sen. Hillary Clinton, the first woman candidate who also had a serious chance of winning, but she was already well known to the American people, having been First Lady for eight years; and she carried a lot of baggage from her husband’s administration.

Obama, in contrast, was a blank slate and to some extent still is because of the main stream media which is still protecting him.

Obama Hid His Tracks

Obama only served a little over three years in the US Senate, where his record was thin, and he mostly voted "present” rather than take a stand on issues.

Which we can now see was because he didn’t want evidence that could later be used against him.

How Obama Won

The Obama campaign used his lack of Washington experience to the fullest, much like Herman Cain is using his now.

They cultivated an image of a new kind of president, one who would cut through the old Washington merry-go-round of partisan bickering and special-interest pandering.

He would be post-partisan, a President who would throw the special-interest moneychangers out of the temple of the nation’s capital.

Obama’s biggest advantage in the 2008 election however, was that the mainstream media, failed to reveal any of his major negatives, such as having been and active member of the New Party (communist) and promoted all of his seeming positives; simply because it so desperately wanted to see an extreme left-wing, bi-racial candidate elected.

So What Happened To Candidate Obama’s Promises?

Running for President and being President, are two entirely separate matters however, and once in the White House a new Obama emerged, one who was quite different from the post-partisan, special-interest-bashing one.

What metamorphosed, was a hyper-liberal ideologue who attended to his special interests, such as labor unions, as assiduously as any other Washington politician had ever done before.

And what’s more, an arrogance and a rigidity that had not been seen in the candidate before, became increasingly evident, and expressed itself in such things as his State of the Union speech in January 2010, wherein he publicly criticized the Supreme Court, many of whose members were sitting in front of him for one of its decisions, which was totally unprecedented behavior.

Soon Gone Was The Bi-Partisanship

"I won the election”, he bluntly told Rep. Paul Ryan when the latter tried to negotiate regarding Obamacare, and it resulted in his two major pieces of legislation passing with almost no Republican votes in either house.

The Tea Party

What happened next was a groundswell of opposition to the Obama administration’s big spending ways which quickly became known as the Tea Party, and it’s something that Obama naively or arrogantly ignored for too long.

Obama Vainly Ignored The Clear Writing On The Wall

Republican candidates did extremely well in the off-year elections of 2009, winning the governorships in both New Jersey and Virginia with control-the-spending campaigns, and even greater evidence of voters’ dissatisfaction was when Scott Brown, who was a little known Republican, won the special election to fill the Senate seat of Democratic icon Ted Kennedy in deep-blue Massachusetts in January, 2010.

Obama Has Been Slow To Learn

Obama simply made a few token political adjustments, and in November, 2010, a tidal wave election gave decisive control of the House back to the Republicans and added seven Senate seats to their column, with Republicans also winning races for governor and state legislative seats across the width and breadth of the country.

Obama did admit that he had taken a shellacking, but he seems no more willing to change his ways than before because his latest plan to stimulate the economy is little different than his first one, and it has no chance of being enacted.

Can Obama Win Reelection?

Unlikely unless:

The economy turns around.

The Republicans nominate another weak candidate, which is possible.

The Supreme Court upholds Obamacare, or avoids making a decision before the election.

Obama’s biggest problem however seems to be that he’s totally egocentric and believes that his way is the only right way.

It’s highly unlikely that he’ll change, and increasingly likely that he’ll be a one term president, which is something that he said that he’d prefer.

"I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president".

And if that comes to be, then he’ll be able to say that he was right about that too!

S&P Downgraded US Credit Rating Because Of Huge Deficits

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 11:55:56 +0000

Did S&P Downgrade Your Bank? | The Daily Capitalist

dailycapitalist.com11/30/11

Did S&P Downgrade Your Bank? By Jeff Harding, on November 29th, 2011. S&P issued new ratings for the world's 37 largest banks. Was your bank upgraded or downgraded? As a public service, I have included the entire list. Standard …

S&P: No U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade Despite Supercommittee Fail

www.huffingtonpost.com11/22/11

WASHINGTON — Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's says it will not downgrade the U.S. government's credit rating because a Congressional committee failed to come up with a plan to trim deficits by at least $1.2 trillion …

As you most likely already know, the U.S. had its AAA credit rating downgraded for the first time by S&P, which slammed the nation’s political process and said lawmakers failed to cut spending enough to reduce record deficits.

If you already know the bad news, but don’t know exactly the reasons for the downgrading then maybe watch the vid!

Aug 5, 2011 David Beers, the London-based managing director of sovereign credit ratings at Standard & Poor’s, talks with Bloomberg’s Tom Keene about S&P’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

It’s a pity that David Beers stammers and says so many “ahs”, but it’s perhaps understandable because he’d never been in such a hot-seat before.

Just imagine the heat that he’s getting!

Sen. Marco Rubio’s Debt Ceiling Address

Michael Redbourn — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:36:09 +0000

Marco Rubio | Debt | Weak economy, high debt require immediate …

dailycaller.com6/21/11

If we don't act now, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us.

Marco Rubio's Debt-Ridden Plan.

prospect.org7/15/10

Like most Republicans, Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio has taken to attacking President Obama on debt and deficits. Rubio hit Obama on the deficit in a June interview with Newsmax, and on the "Cutting Government …

Senator Rubio is certainly impressive, and I can quite easily imagine him being asked to be a running mate by either Perry or Romney if one of them wins the primaries.

The video below has been edited down and hopefully contains the highlights of Sen Rubio’s address to the Senate.

The full text of Sen. Rubio’s speech is available for download.

New Poll Says Obama’s Base Is Crumbling

Michael Redbourn — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:44:38 +0000

.: White House Document Dump on Friday Points the Finger at …

shutking.blogspot.com12/3/11

In 2010, Creamer led efforts to rally the Democratic base by demonizing Republicans and making wildly optimistic predictions of victory: Big Government also reported in May that Creamer, who worked for the Obama …

DownWithTyranny!: Does Obama Have A Base Problem– And Why His …

downwithtyranny.blogspot.com11/11/11

Yesterday Benjy Sarlin at TPM reported that the White House is insisting they don't have a base problem. In America, we know very well they do– and it's the same base problem they kept as many as half the Democrats and …

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll reveals a whole crop of revelations, and among them, there are strong indications that Obama’s liberal base is starting to crumble.

You can read the ABC News/Washington Post Poll, but before you do, here are some of the most important nuggets of information.

In spite the hundreds of billions of blown stimulus dollars, and almost as many upturn promises from Joe Biden,

82% of Americans still say their job market is struggling.

90% rate the economy negatively, including half who gave it the worst rating of "poor."

Are You Better Off Today Than Jan. 20, 2009?

A slim 15% claimed to be "getting ahead financially", half what it was in 2006.

Fully 27% said they’re falling behind financially and that’s up 6% since February.

A significant majority (54%) said that they’ve been forced to change their lifestyle significantly as a result of the economic times and 60% of them are angry, which is up from 44%.

More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base.

Liberal Support

Strong support among liberal Democrats for Obama’s jobs record has plummeted from 22% from 53% which is down below a third.

African Americans

And African Americans who still believe the president’s measures helped the economy has plunged from 77% to barely half that.

Job Approval

Obama’s overall job approval on the economy slid below 40% for the first time, with 57% disapproving.

And strong dis-approvers outnumbered approvers by better than two-to-one.

The By And By

A new Mitt Romney video is aimed directly at the core of Obama’s politcal base, young Americans who volunteered for him by the tens of thousands in 2008 and powered him to victory in state after state.

The Upshot

If joblessness disillusions enough of them, then the president will be in even deeper trouble than he is now.

What’s The Tax Debate All About?

Michael Redbourn — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:55:03 +0000

Payroll Tax Debate: The Truth Comes Out in the U.S. Senate

conservativedailynews.com12/2/11

On Thursday, Dec.1st the battle to extend the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance benefits reached new heights in the Senate, as not only did…

Tax debate over, Obama lands in Hawaii – TheHill.com

thehill.com12/24/11

White House pool reports suggest the president is in full vacation mode. Following a week of speculation about whether President Obama would be able to join his family in Hawaii for Christmas, or would be stuck in …

What’s going on right now is a battle between those in the Senate and the House that believe that more tax money is needed so that more can be spent, and those on the other side of the aisle, that don’t believe it!

Obama’s Anger

President Obama, who right now is the swagman for the more tax-wanters, can’t understand why the Republicans won’t join his crusade to add trillions of dollars, to the burden of the taxpayers.

And that’s trillions with a “t" and not billions with a “b”,

Will Rogers may never have met a man he didn’t like, but Obama has never met a tax he didn’t want to fondle, and he can’t give up his itch to cuddle these new trillions.

Will Roger obviously never met an agent

An AP (Associated Press) analysis suggests that adding trillions of dollars in new taxes will most affect small-business owners, and low, and middle-income families trying to reach for more prosperity.

* And AP leans left!

The Leftist Solution?

In his frantic push for more taxes Obama declares:

“We need to close tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, oil companies, hedge-fund managers and corporate jet owners".

“What we need to do is to have a balanced approach where everything is on the table".

"We need to take on spending in the tax code".

“You can’t reduce the deficit to the levels that it needs to be reduced without having some revenue in the mix".

In the same way that Marie Antoinette couldn’t understand why the poor wouldn’t eat cake when there was no bread, Obama can’t understand why a baron of Wall Street wouldn’t settle for a little Grumman or Falcon, even with a tax credit.

* Closing loopholes on those that use corporate jets would raise about one tenth of one percent of needed money!

What Happed To Euphemisms?

Obama, with his trillion-dollar “grand bargain", is now flailing about in frustration because the Republicans are refusing to use euphemisms, which is the preferred tongue of Capitol Hill.

To Obama’s chagrin, the Republicans obstinately continue to talk in Harry Truman English, and the Tea Partiers keep calling taxes, "taxes".

The Master Is Choking

Obama got to Washington, in part because he is a master of pulpit rhetoric, but now he’s choking on mixed metaphors:

“Pull off the Band-Aid. Eat our peas. Now’s the time to do it".

But euphemisms, however vague, cute or inexact, won’t work this time if the Republicans can resist an urge, which is deep within their DNA, to "fold in the clutch".

Taxes Are An Affliction

Some polls suggest that the majority of Americans want higher taxes, whereas others say that they don’t.

The left-wing polls suggest one opinion, and the right-wing ones another.

The majority of Americans might approve of higher taxes for other people of course, but the question that almost certainly went unasked in left-wing polls was, "Would YOU be happy to pay more tax?".

Thatcher And Palin

Many years ago, Margaret Thatcher astutely diagnosed the terminal ailment of all socialists:

“They always run out of other people’s money".

And Sarah Palin, who sets liberal teeth on edge with her gift of cutting colorfully to the chase, observed that:

"The Sugar Daddy has run out of money".

The Lines In The Sand

The Democrats are now crying that the Republicans must agree to tax increases or risk default, but that’s because the Democrats are unwilling to make the needed cuts in spending to prevent the default.

New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote that:

"Republicans no longer have a sense of moral decency and can’t accept the legitimacy of intellectual authorities".

But what he really meant was that taxpayers have finally got the tax-eaters’ number, and that the “intellectual authorities”, might as well get used to it.

Santorum Enters GOP Presidential Contest

Michael Redbourn — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:06:11 +0000

Santorum: Americans don't 'die because of lack of health insurance …

www.rawstory.com12/6/11

The 2009 Harvard study rejected by Santorum said that 45000 annual deaths were caused by a lack of health coverage. The figure was about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute from Medicine in …

Rick Santorum Explains Gay Sex Isn't 'Equal' To Hetero Sex

jezebel.com12/7/11

If that 8-year-old boy had confronted Rick Santorum about his homophobic views rather than Michele Bachmann, he wouldn't have been dismissed with a panicked look. Santorum would have explained that he opposes …

This is Part 14 of a look at possible GOP candidates that might run well against Obama in 2012.

Part 1 looked at Mitch Daniels Part 2 looked at Tim Pawlenty

Part 3 looked at Chris Christie Part 4 looked at Mitt Ronney

Part 5 looked at Sarah Palin Part 6 looked at Mike Huckabee

Part 7 looked at Rudy Giuliani Part 8 looked at Michele Bachman

Part 9 looked at Donald Trump Part 10 looked at Paul Ryan

Part 11 looked at Ron Paul Part 12 looked at Newt Gingrich

Part 13 looked at Herman Cain Part 14 looked at Rick Santorum

Part 15 looked at Rick Perry Part 16 looked at Jon Huntsman

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum announced Monday (June 6, 2011) that he is entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination, saying he’s “in it to win it”.

“We’re ready to announce that we’re going to be in this race”, Santorum said on a television news show ahead of a rally in Somerset, Pa. after which he will then fly to Iowa for events on June 7, and to New Hampshire on June 8-9.

Santorum, who was the former No. 3 Republican in the U.S. Senate, was to rally at the Somerset County Courthouse, a location that his team said is significant because it is near where Santorum’s grandfather settled in the U.S.

“After leaving fascist Italy to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines until he was 72 years old. He chose to come to America for the freedom our nation offered him”.

Santorum said that he’d already visited the three early voting states of New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina because he’s taking the approach that he doesn’t want to appeal to niche groups in the GOP base, but to all comers.

Santorum, however, is very popular among social conservatives who like his strong anti-abortion stance and his opposition to g** marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

The blunt-talking conservative lacks the name recognition and fund-raising organization of his better-known rivals, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and potential contenders Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, some of whom have declared and some of whom haven’t.

Santorum, a lawyer by training, had been laying the groundwork for a presidential bid when he lost a rough and tough re-election bid to the Senate in 2006 and his often abrasive style alienated voters in Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania, and they replaced him with Bob Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat.

Santorum’s policy positions align well with national conservatives who now are looking at many of the expected candidates with often unveiled skepticism.

1) Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s changes of heart on g** rights and abortion do little to help his second presidential effort.

2) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been divorced twice and confessed to infidelities.

3) Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who worked for three Republican administrations, nonetheless accepted President Obama’s offer to be the U.S. ambassador to China.

Obama doesn’t want Boeing in a right to work state!

Michael Redbourn — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:59:07 +0000

Boeing union approves 737 pact – Business – The Olympian …

www.theolympian.com12/8/11

Machinists union members gave a strong endorsement Wednesday to a labor contract extension that promises to keep final assembly of Boeing's most popular airliner in Renton and gives the company nearly five years of …

Boeing Deal Clears Path For Production Boost | Business News …

www.minyanville.com12/8/11

Boeing's biggest union ratifies a historic contract that will be in place for nearly five years.

Update September 15, 2011

*House Passes Bill to Limit Labor Relations Board Authority.

The measure, approved on a 238 to 186 vote, would ban the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to shut down plants or relocate work, even if a company violates labor laws.

Obama has begun his reelection campaign by siding with the unions against big business!

After failing to negotiate a contract with unions, the Boeing corporation moved a portion of its Dreamliner 787 production line from Washington state to a $750 million South Carolina facility.

And now with the East Coast facility just three months from initial production, the Obama administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed what may be the largest labor lawsuit in fifty years against Boeing to prevent the South Carolina plant from coming online.

You might remember those two recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board?

The guys who are now making decisions affecting the commanding heights of the American economy were never confirmed by the Senate.

What is the supposed case against Boeing?

The federal lawsuit alleges that Boeing built the plant in South Carolina to retaliate against the machinists union for past strikes.

And that’s it.

Reactions from Boeing and lawmakers

Boeing commented on the lawsuit calling it "frivolous" and promised to open the South Carolina plant as scheduled.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, "This is nothing more than a political favor for the unions who are supporting President Obama’s re-election campaign".

And Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) added, "If successful, the NLRB complaint would allow unions to hold a virtual ‘veto’ over business decisions".

Is there a stink?

Strangely, but perhaps not, the first hearing will on June 14th before a judge that works for the NLRB: after which the NLRB will review that judge’s decision.

The argument

The machinist union has gone on strike against Being five times costing billions of dollars to the airplane builder and while opinions vary, Boeing could simply be making a precautionary move to prevent future strikes, which would be a responsible action.

The Threat!

If Boeing were to lose the lawsuit it would allow the federal government to mandate that the 787 production be done only in Washington, and open the doors to many similar lawsuits.

The Politics

President Obama’s 2012 re-election prospects are heavily dependent on support from organized labor, so last-minute legal maneuvering by the National Labor Relations Board to block Boeing’s imminent expansion into South Carolina should come as no surprise.

Democrats will desperately need union votes and organizing skills next year and they don’t need Boeing, or for that matter, South Carolina.

Would Ron Paul be a good Republican presidential candidate?

Michael Redbourn — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:47:05 +0000

Ron Paul | Foreign Aid to Israel | Zionism | The Daily Caller

dailycaller.com12/7/11

Photo: AP. Some conservatives see hostility toward Israel in Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's advocacy of a non-interventionist foreign policy. But in an interview published online Wednesday afternoon, the Texas …

FORBES: Ron Paul Should Be The Next President Of The United …

www.dailypaul.com12/7/11

Yes there are a few subtle differences in candidates for president and their supporters and contributors. Ron Paul's supporters worry endlessly about printing enormous amounts of new money while the other candidates' …

Part 1 looked at Mitch Daniels Part 2 looked at Tim Pawlenty

Part 3 looked at Chris Christie Part 4 looked at Mitt Ronney

Part 5 looked at Sarah Palin Part 6 looked at Mike Huckabee

Part 7 looked at Rudy Giuliani Part 8 looked at Michele Bachman

Part 9 looked at Donald Trump Part 10 looked at Paul Ryan

Part 11 looked at Ron Paul Part 12 looked at Newt Gingrich

Part 13 looked at Herman Cain Part 14 looked at Rick Santorum

Part 15 looked at Rick Perry Part 16 looked at Jon Huntsman

Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R) is planning to announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee on Tuesday in Iowa, and should make the announcement during a press conference in the state capital of Des Moines at 4:45 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), 4/26/2011.

And according to a source close to the congressman, Paul also intends to name the members of his campaign’s Iowa leadership team, during the scheduled press conference,

Paul will be the fifth Republican to take the needed official step toward running for president, and an exploratory committee will allow him to begin assembling his campaign infrastructure in anticipation of a formal candidacy announcement.

Paul appeared poised to enter the race for weeks, and is already scheduled to appear at the first GOP presidential primary debate in South Carolina next week.

Moreover, he also formed a "testing the waters" account earlier this month that allows him to raise funds for a potential campaign.

Paul has already made the rounds in Iowa and New Hampshire courting key activists, and he won a county straw poll in South Carolina just this month.

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (R), is expected to compete with Paul for the libertarian vote, but Paul is by far the more well-known candidate in the field and should easily overshadow Johnson.

Paul last ran for president in 2008, and was placed second in the key primary state of Nevada, and it was notable that he appealed to younger voters and for his ability to raise money online with his highly successful "money bomb", which he successfully replicated for his political action committee in February 2011.

* A money bomb is a short burst of fundraising that typically spans a day or just a few hours, and is relies on viral advertising.

When Obama Steered Left He Lost The Independents

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:38:36 +0000

Obama Needs Luck To Win In 2012

www.huffingtonpost.com12/26/11

MattMackowiak MUST READ: Smart @GlennThrush piece on the nine numbers Obama will watch in 2012 — http://t.co/gjerVGAz #tcot #RS #2012tweets #GOP · 18 hours ago from web ….. will have a hard time because this will be a referendum on him not the GOP candidate. People will be voting AGAINST Obama not FOR the GOP oh and Independents decide elections and within that group that voted for him (like myself) Obama's approval is 35% Then there is this …

9 numbers Obama will watch in 2012 – Glenn Thrush – POLITICO.com

www.politico.com12/25/11

Obama has only one metric to watch, which is a distillation of all the things mentioned in the article: his approval among Independents. In a polarized election like 2012 Dems will vote Dem and Rep will vote Rep. …

And When He Lost The Independents, He Lost The War!

The Crux Of The Problem

Obama’s democrats took control of the House and the Senate with substantial margins, but America is center right.
For twenty months Democrats had the power to do almost anything they wanted.
They controlled every lever of elective power in Washington but sadly for them they didn’t and don’t control the public’s allegiance.

So How Did The Democrats Lose The War?

The Democrats’ demise is actually simple to explain, they lost the support of the independents.

In 1994 the Republicans got the backing of 14% of independents.
In 2006 the Democrats got the backing of 18%.
But in the latest Gallup survey, Republicans lead among independents by 11%.

You Can’t Win If Only One In Five People Want You!

Since 1984 both the Republicans and the Democrats have had hovered around the mid-30s to 40s in terms of their proportion of the public, whilst Independents have been around the mid 20s.

The GOP’s share declined from 40% in 2002 to 33% in 2008, and independents hovered between 22 and 28%.
So whoever gets those independents wins and reflect the basic center-right contour of American opinion.

The Liberals Need The Center Even More

Since 1992, according to Gallup, ideological opinion has been roughly constant:

Self-described moderates have been right around 40%
Conservatives were always in the high 30s
Liberals were in the high teens to low 20s.

So it should be clear to almost everybody that to try to govern on the strength of only one in five people would be rank foolishness, but Obama and his Czars didn’t seem to grasp this obvious fact for whatever reason.

The Liberal Response

Not having grasped the seemingly obvious, Obama’s advisers and the left wing press are now exhorting him to get even more angry, insistent, and ambitiously liberal.
To be fair to Obama though, I sense that he knows that going further left would be suicide even if the Liberal lemmings would happily jump off of the cliff.

It’s The Public That’s Got It Wrong!

What is almost incomprehensible is that Liberals not only don’t seem to recognize that the country as a whole is seeking a different reality, but they see the majority as just plain wrong on immigration enforcement and the Ground Zero mosque, and they they continue to accuse the American public of bigotry even after it elected an African-American president.

Former Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner wrote, “Liberals are expressing deepening alienation from our nation and turning on the American people with a vengeance”.

The Bottom Line

Liberals thought that they thought they had a mandate that was made in heaven in 2008 and they seemingly can’t bear the thought that they deluded themselves and the they’ve gone from triumphalism to a petulant and uncomprehending tantrum in less than two years.