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VIDEO: Santorum on Hannity

Posted on December 10, 2011December 10, 2011Comments

Who’s fired up? Rick Santorum’s fired up!

Some headlines from Friday. ABC News:

Rick Santorum Nabs Big Iowa Endorsement
JOHNSTON, Iowa – Rick Santorum got his biggest endorsement yet at a small hotel here: Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz.
Calling it the “best day of the campaign,” he said he is “committed to Iowa” and the campaign is beginning to “pick up that critical momentum,” despite his low poll numbers. “People have asked me, ‘Why haven’t you started to catch on?’ And I say, ‘Well you haven’t been in Iowa for the last week or so because we are definitely picking up momentum in the state of Iowa and across this country.’ We feel it coming,” Santorum told a crowd of more than 50 people at the Stoney Creek Inn here. . . .

CNN:

Santorum predicts last-minute surge
. . . During his introduction of Schultz, Santorum lamented that Iowans “take their time to make these decisions,” but he was optimistic in his predictions for the coming weeks.
“We think the timing is going to be just perfect for us to be able to catch that wave at the right time as people start to make their decisions,” Santorum said. . . .

Politico:

Rick Santorum’s Iowa endorser:
‘I tend to like the underdog’
Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz became the first Republican statewide officeholder here to endorse a candidate in the presidential primary.
“I tend to like the underdog,” said Shultz, who won his own come-from-behind campaign in 2010, on Friday. “And slow and steady wins the race.”

Des Moines Register:

Iowa Secretary of State endorses
Santorum in GOP presidential race
. . . Schultz said he is asking Iowa GOP members to give Santorum a second look in the Jan. 3 Iowa Caucuses. He said he had been wooed by other Republican candidates, but felt the Pennsylvanian was the best person to put in the White House. He described Santorum as a strong voice for the pro-life movement who had fought for welfare reform and other conservative causes.

More at Memeorandum.

RECENTLY:

Santorum ‘Planning to Win’ in Iowa

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

OK, that partial quote from Friday’s blogger conference call with Rick Santorum may sound like he’s ridiculously raising expectations, when in fact he was doing the opposite. I’ll crib the full quote from Tina Korbe at Hot Air:

“We obviously are planning to win here in Iowa. We don’t have to win. We’re not like some of the other candidates who have put all their eggs in one basket. [But] we have to do well here. We have to finish in or near the money. … I’m convinced that’s happening and it will happen and I feel very confident that we’ll have a bounce coming out of Iowa that will lead to a surprise finish in New Hampshire. Then, off to the races.”

To be “in the money” in horse racing means top three, and therefore “in or near the money” means at least fourth place in Iowa. If Santorum maintains his current momentum, I think he’s actually lowballing the estimate.

While it would be wildly irresponsible to predict a Santorum victory in Iowa, he would have a dramatic impact if he finished second or third. Why? Because Santorum’s the guy that all the “experts” have written off, and he’s got a fraction of the money raised by Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

Should Santorum finish in the top three in Iowa, at least one of those big-money candidates would suffer a disastrous humiliation, having finished behind a longshot candidate with a low-budget campaign. The most likely victim of such an embarrassment is Rick Perry.

As Bob Belvedere says, the Perry campaign absolutely reeks of desperation these days, and desperation is not attractive.

Big news: Santorum is going to Mass and eating his vegetables while on the campaign trail. Thanks to Lisa Graas for asking about that. Meanwhile, The Lonely Conservative has more:

When asked why he hasn’t caught fire as the anti-Romney “flavor of the month,” Santorum replied “I’m pretty boring — married 21 years, 7 kids, no scandals, give answers that make sense in debates.” He said that the “low expectations” the media and the pundits have for his campaign is a good thing. “Exceeding expectations is better than not, we saw that with Tim Pawlenty who finished third [in the Aug. 13 Ames Straw Poll] and he’s out.”

The point here is that, in an underdog campaign like this, you go all-out, every day, playing to win, and try not to worry too much about the odds against victory. Because if you stopped to think about the odds — when all the “experts” say it’s hopeless — you’d quit. But a lot of crazy things have already happened in this campaign, and it’s not completely insane to think that a hardline social conservative who has practically lived in Iowa since May might have a shot.

If you bought InTrade shares for Santorum to win Iowa, $100 today would pay off more than $5,000 should he pull a miracle upset Jan. 3.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Steve Ertelt got online with the first article about the conference call:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Friday that he doesn’t recall former Speaker Newt Gingrich leading the battle on pro-life issues during the time to two lawmakers served together in the House. . . .
Although Gingrich compiled a 98% pro-life voting record, Santorum said “he was not a pro-life warrior, that was not his gig.”

Keep in mind that Santorum didn’t bring up this topic. Ertelt asked the question, and Santorum gave his honest opinion. This wasn’t gratuitous Newt-bashing. NTTAWWT.

My own interest was trying to capture a sense of how the campaign “feels” out there in Iowa, so my American Spectator story began:

Rick Santorum says his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is on pace to exceed expectations in the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3.
“We’re hitting our stride at just the right time,” the former Pennsylvania senator said Friday as he traveled across the Hawkeye State, where he has campaigned relentlessly all year. The news media have repeatedly tried to portray the GOP campaign as a two-man battle between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and a series of “flavor of the month” rivals — the latest being former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — but Santorum said, “again, they are wrong.”

Gut hunch? They think they’re finally catching fire, but they’ve had this feeling before and were disappointed, so they don’t want to get too optimistic just yet. With 25 days to go, they’ll know for sure soon enough.

Da Tech Guy has a list of bloggers who asked questions during the call, but I was shocked to learn after the conference call ended that somehow Zilla of the Resistance didn’t get her invitation to the call. Somebody goofed.

Finally: TeresAmerica has endorsed Rick Santorum, and you know that every time a blogger endorses Rick Santorum, an angel gets his wings.

So Elena Kagan Has About The Same Notion Of Integrity As Eric Holder

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

by Smitty

CNSNews reports:

Internal Justice Department email communications made just days before the House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act show that then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan was brought into the loop as DOJ began preparing to respond to an anticipated legal complaint that Mark Levin and the Landmark Legal Foundation were planning to file against the act if the House used a procedural rule to “deem” the bill passed even if members never directly voted on it.
In another internal DOJ email communication that same week, Kagan alerted the chief of DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel to the constitutional argument that a former U.S. Appeals Court judge was making against the use of this rule.

Read the whole thing, which goes on to describe redacted emails and enough detail to really make you wonder whether that woman can tell the difference between the Constitution and a horoscope.

Via Michelle Malkin, we have Eric Holder attempting to describe the Obama Administration of lying:I guess that, in the Postmodern emotional realm in which Obama and his chums operate, it’s only lying if you felt naughty while you did it, notwithstanding sex, where naughtiness is considered erotic.

I hope that Kagan understands that ObamaCare is going to dog the rest of her professional life, and that her honorable course is to retire quietly.

BREAKING: Team Romney Snubs Conservative Media in Anti-Newt Call UPDATE: Team Romney Denies

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

UPDATE (8:50 p.m. ET): Both Da Tech Guy and Hot Air have received e-mails from the Romney campaign denying that there was any bias in the operation of the conference call. However, I have received an e-mail from Matt Lewis saying he sticks by his story.

So: Accusation or denial — which do you believe?

** PREVIOUSLY (3:21 p.m. ET) **

Mitt Romney’s campaign organized a media conference call Thursday on which two Romney surrogates — Missouri Sen. Jim Talent and New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu — took turns bashing Newt Gingrich.

Matt Lewis at Daily Caller points out that although they took questions from left-wing outfits like Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones, the Romneyites couldn’t find time for any conservative media.

UPDATE: Just to give you a small sample of the many mainstream media headlines that conference call generated:

Romney seeks high ground
as allies attack Gingrich
— Associated Press

Newt’s nastiness comes back to haunt him
— Washington Post

First Thoughts: Newt’s moment of truth
— MSNBC

And I emphasize that this is a small sample — a teaspoon from the ocean — of anti-Gingrich coverage generated by that phone call, in which it seems a “No Conservatives Need Ask Questions” policy was enforced.

While I have zero love for Gingrich, there are ways to fight that are fair and honorable, and ways that are unfair and dishonorable. Team Romney did themselves no favors by their choice of weapons and tactics.

UPDATE II: Da Tech Guy says this isn’t going to win Mittens no love, and Ed Morrissey — also not invited to the conference call — has this video in which Romney lays the knife into Newt’s spleen:

You know who’s smart to stay out of this ugly infighting among Republicans? The next President of the United States, that’s who!

UPDATE III: Alana Goodman at Commentary:

Something that may resonate with Iowa Tea Partiers even more than the Romney ad is this devastating Rand Paul column in the Des Moines Register attacking Gingrich as a phony conservative “establishment” figure.

Ron Paul fans will want to frame Goodman’s post –probably the only time you’ll see favorable notice for someone named “Paul” at Commentary.

Holder Delenda Est, Rep. Adams Edition

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

by Smitty

Eric Holder gives worms a bad name. Watch as the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ become too simple, transparent, and understandable for him. Worst. Attorney. General. Ever.

via The Shark Tank

A late Friday resignation? That would be the most useful thing Holder has done, at least during this administration.

The National Popular Vote Is A Fine Way To Ferret Out Progressive Idiots

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

by Smitty

Senator Mitch McConnell swings by Heritage for a quick interview on current topics.

Screw these National Popular Vote fools. McConnell points out that the Electoral College, while perhaps not perfect, is the Constitutional mechanism in place. It provides a final sanity check. In the Information Age, where there is an increasing gut feeling that the Democrat Party is as capable of participating honestly elections as it is capable of getting a budget passed in the Senate, that Electoral College looks increasingly prescient.

The same people that tell you that establishing the validity of a vote via a photo ID is raaaaacism are trying to argue that a historically working system, the Electoral College, must be replaced by something with fewer checks for fraud. And the ‘arguably’ best example they’ve got of why this recreational change should be rammed through, Saint Albert of Gore in 2000, is a bloated pile of Nobel/Academy/Scientific fraud.

And the means employed to enact the NPV, a state-level end-around of Article V of the Constitution, further underscores the doublethink involved in the discussion. Do this correctly, or do it not at all.

Furthermore, look at who wants it. If the value of an idea isn’t clearly good or bad, then check its supporters. When you look at the States that have bought this NPV line of hooey, you note that they are all Blue. This is just another brick in the wall of the mausoleum of our Republic. The moocher States are setting out to suck more from the producer States.

Rather than pass this, we need to let the SCOTUS know on no uncertain terms that ObamaCare must go, and start rolling back every false, crypto-Marxist, anti-liberty, Progressive piece of poo passed into law in the last century. Anyone in favor of NPV is either on the wrong side or hasn’t thought it through fully. And that’s how I feel about NPV.

I don’t agree entirely that this election is about Barack Obama himself. #OccupyResoluteDesk is the culminating point of the Progressive project. We could maintain this general course toward a bureaucratic state, where liberty is a fond memory, you pick your patron early and find your way to claw out some existence within the body of Leviathan.

Or, as I think is going to occur, we will review history outside of what the Media Overlords want us to hear, realize we’ve been rooked, and painfully set about improving matters. It won’t happen quickly. Progressives have counter-attacked liberty successfully in Ohio, and are trying in Wisconsin. But liberty and God are on the side of Americans, and not these Union thugs.

Update: linked at Legal Insurrection.

Santorum Surge Gets Boost From Endorsements by Anti-Jihad Blogger, Conservative Billionaire and Iowa Secretary of State, But Mainly …

Posted on December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Comments

. . . it was Zilla of the Resistance whose support proved to be decisive:

Rick Santorum is widely seen as the underdog in the race for the Republican nomination to top the GOP ticket against Obama, and the MSM wants you to think he doesn’t have a chance, but if you are reading this then chances are you are not interested in letting the MSM do your thinking for you and decide our country’s future anyway, right? . . .
You might say it would take a miracle for Rick Santorum to win the GOP nomination, but primary voting hasn’t even started yet, and . . . Miracles Keep Happening Every Day.

Go read the whole thing because, while the big names and big dollars make a difference in political warfare, sometimes the crucial turning point in a battle involves the actions of “minor” people whose names never make it into the history books, but whose individual decisions and tireless efforts are essential elements of a decisive trend.

Although he has not yet hit my tip jar, I’ve decided to forgive Foster Friess for giving money to Tucker Carlson, now that the conservative billionaire has endorsed the next President of the United States:

Rick Santorum is willing to put country ahead of himself and bear the political consequences. . . .
Recent kind comments by Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck affirm his ability to ignite the all important voters who believe our country is facing a decision between being governed by rules and regulations or inspired by values and virtues.
The energy and enthusiasm and dedication he exhibits can best be demonstrated by his visiting all 99 Iowa counties and moving his entire family to Iowa for seven weeks to let people assess who he really is and to see him up close and personal rather than through the gloss of television messaging. . . .
I like the guy. I like his wife. I like his kids. I like everything about him.

Read the whole thing because, you know, I can forgive a hell of a lot to a guy who assists my campaign to become the first U.S. Ambassador to Vanuatu. And speaking of gratitude, a diplomatic thank-you is owed to some guy you probably never heard of , but who is definitely somebody kind of important:

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz will endorse Rick Santorum for president on Friday, he told The Des Moines Register . . .
Santorum promoted this coup [Thursday] by saying he’d have “a major announcement” during a campaign stop in the Des Moines area at 6 p.m. Friday. . . .
Schultz, who backed Mitt Romney four years ago, is one of the only statewide elected officials in Iowa to publicly back a GOP candidate this election cycle. . . .
Schultz, a 32-year-old Council Bluffs Republican, stayed neutral through the early stages of this presidential selection process because he supervised the ballots for this year’s Republican straw poll on Aug. 13 in Ames.

And — miracles do happen! — there’s already a Memeorandum thread with linkage by influential bloggers Da Tech Guy and Lisa Graas.

Every time a blogger endorses Rick Santorum, an angel gets his wings. Also, it makes Charles Johnson cry.

Isn’t it just amazing how these coincidences keep happening, as if orchestrated according to the unseen design of an intelligent being?

Ever since that earthquake in Vanuatu . . .

UPDATE: Guess I’d better include this:

Just in case Mr. Friess reads this, eh? But while we’re waiting, y’all should feel free to hit the tip jar for $10 or $20 to tide me over.

UPDATE II: Meanwhile, another Memeorandum thread as The Hill and ABC News report on the Schultz endorsement and the Santorum campaign has issued a “media advisory” informing us that, among other things, the next President of the United States will appear tonight on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, which should be enough to send Charles Johnson into fits of apoplectic rage.

Ladd Ehlinger just called and said, “Where are you, man?”

To which I answered, “In my mind, I’m relaxing beside a pool beneath the swaying palm trees in Vanuatu.”

UPDATE III: Press release from the Santorum campaign:

Schultz Stands With Santorum!
Urbandale, IA – Today Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum received the endorsement of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz. Schultz is the first Iowa statewide elected official to endorse a Republican presidential hopeful. In 2008, Schultz endorsed Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for President.
Senator Santorum said: “I am honored to receive Secretary of State Schultz’s endorsement today. Matt is a rising conservative star, not just in Iowa but for the entire nation. Matt built his own campaign for Secretary of State through grassroots campaigning and exciting activists – not through TV ads and occasional rallies in Des Moines. Matt went door-to-door, coffee shop to coffee shop and won over the people of Iowa. I learned from Matt Schultz how Iowa campaigns are run, and I am thrilled to have his vote of confidence today. I am excited to work with Matt over the next month as we execute our plan to win the Iowa caucuses.”
Matt Schultz was elected in 2008 to Iowa’s Secretary of State. Prior to his election in 2008, Schultz served on the Council Bluffs City Council from 2005 – 2008. Schultz has been committed to public service his entire life, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout and a twoyear Mormon mission to Argentina. Schultz holds an Associates Degree from BYU-Idaho, Bachelors Degree from the University of Iowa, and a Law Degree from Creighton University. Schultz and his wife Zola are the proud parents of three children: Levi, Hyrum, and Kendra.

Helpful reminder: It is a neutral objective fact that you can click here to contribute to Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign.