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GOP hopefuls serve red meat, audience eats it up

John Brandt — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:36:00 +0000

The three Republican presidential aspirants at tihs week's Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, didn’t take long Friday to give the audience what they wanted: attacks.

"It was a red-meat speech for the crowd at CPAC,” Patrick Stewart-Hester said of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s remarks to the conservative gathering. “The crowd loved it. I liked it.”

Gingrich unleashed a scathing line of attack on the Obama presidency and promised to work to undo most of the current president’s programs on his first day in office.

Rick Santorum, full of haymakers for President Obama and veiled swipes at Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, appeared to hit all the right notes for the Washington political gathering Friday morning.

“He was saying what needed to be said,” noted University of Georgia student Matthew Aldridge. “He talked about values of the American people. Of course, we need to get back to that.”

Aldridge, a Gingrich supporter, said that he would support any Republican candidate who won the nomination, a common comment here at the Wardman Park Marriott.

“We have to defeat Obama,” said Nancy Baumann, a new member of Team Santorum.

"(Santorum) said something that I have been saying to other conservatives for a while: he would be a great contrast to Barack Obama,” Baumann said. “I don’t see a lot of difference between Romney and Obama.”

Santorum’s speech stressed that contrast, noting that two of his opponents for the Republican nomination supported the so-called Wall Stree bank bailout. He added that one of his competitors enacted what he called the blueprint for the president’s health care plan.

“He’s smart. He knows the issues. He’s conservative. He’s always been conservative, so you don’t have to worry if he gets in the White House where he’s going to be on the issues,” said Terry Scanlon, who said he feels that Santorum has a real shot at the nomination after his surprising sweep of nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday.

Even so, despite the four standing ovations and plenty of applause breaks, at least one attendee wasn’t completely convinced.

“There’s just something about him that that I’m a little wary of,” Aldridge said.

Romney followed in the early afternoon with an address that was heavy on applause lines, mostly ignoring his competitors to aim his fire at the president. Two of Romney’s five standing ovations – the most of any candidate -- were attacks on the Obama presidency. But it was Romney’s trumpeting of his business-world success that brought the crowd to its feet for the most vigorous cheers during the former Massachusetts governor’s speech.

Despite a seemingly warm reception, communications professional and speech coach Bert Decker noted that Romney was relying on something the other two White House hopefuls did without. “Romney used a TelePrompTer and neither of the others did,” Decker said, “the teleprompter always takes energy away, so he was the weakest of the three. But he did well for himself given his limitation.”

Another attendee said the prompting didn’t bother her one bit. “This was the first time I’ve ever seen (Romney) live, and I thought his presentation live was much more appealing than watching him on television,” said Rebecca Finley, a retired teacher. Finley lamented the focus placed on what some call Romney’s stiffness on camera. “I feel bad for that because the presidential nominee is supposed to be American Idol now,” adding that she felt that a candidate’s decision-making process should be more important to voters than a TV appearance.

The only presidential candidate not in attendance, Ron Paul, had his son Sen. Rand Paul serve as a surrogate for the gathering on Thursday.

We’ll find out which candidate the crowd liked the best on Saturday, when CPAC straw poll balloting concludes.

Nancy Pelosi: Pass DISCLOSE Act, stop Colbert

Whitney Ksiazek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:53:55 +0000

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has turned the tables on Comedy Central host and satirical Super PAC founder, Stephen Colbert.

"Stephen Colbert used to be my friend, I even signed the poor baby's cast when he hurt his hand," Pelosi says in a YouTube video launched Thursday. "Since the day he started his Super PAC, taking secret money from special interests, he's been out of control."

The video's launch coincided with House Democrats reintroducing the DISCLOSE Act pressing for more transparency with campaign contributions.

Colbert's Super PAC, "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow," raised over $1 million and even ran ads in South Carolina during the Republican primary.

In the video, Pelosi comes to the defense of her former colleague, saying Colbert was "even using his Super PAC to attack my friend Newt Gingrich. If that weren't enough, I hear he doesn't even like kittens."

Pelosi called for diminishing the power of money in politics in her weekly press conference.

"Disclose means just that -- we want to know where secret substantial money is coming from that's going into campaigns," she said.

"The American people have the right to know who's bankrolling these television ads they're watching," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who reintroduced the bill Thursday.

The Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Special Elections Act was first introduced in 2010 as a response to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. The bill passed the House but failed to gain traction and died in the Senate.Democrats are trying again, but this time they are hoping public pressure can push the bill along. This year's version of the DISCLOSE Act would require TV ads to identify donors and would require individual donors or CEOs of corporations to appear onscreen at the end of the ad.

In her campaign, Pelosi has targeted Colbert and his satirical Super PAC "Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow." Her plea to the public at the end of the YouTube video: "Americans deserve a better tomorrow today. Join me in stopping Colbert and creating a new politics free of special interests money. The first step is passing the DISCLOSE act."

Santorum Accuses Environmentalists of "Reign of Terror"

Nick Kalman — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:23:21 +0000

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - In a state vital to America's domestic energy production, GOP hopeful Rick Santorum electrified supporters with claims that environmentalists are leading a "reign of terror" in the country.

The former senator singled out hydrofracking as the latest issue he claims is now being used to strike fear in the minds of Americans.

"It's the new boogie man. It's the new way to try to scare you," Santorum decried during a campaign rally in Oklahoma City.

"And they're saying look at what's going to happen. Ooh, all this bad stuff that's going to happen," he added.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen; nothing's going to happen, except they will use this to raise money for the radical environmental groups so they can go out and continue to try to purvey their reign of environmental terror on the United States of America."

Many environmentalists would beg to disagree and insist that fracking, which extracts natural gas from shale rock beneath the earth's surface, can leak chemicals into aquifers and pollute drinking water supplies.

Despite those claims, Santorum's assault on environmentalists clearly struck a nerve here. The crowd of well over a thousand supporters burst into cheers and cries of "go get 'em Rick!" as Santorum unloaded.

Energy production fuels the economy in Oklahoma. It's one of the top natural gas-producing states in the nation, and recently ranked eighth in total energy production.

The Sooner State is also rich in delegates. A fact Santorum did not let go unnoticed.

"Forty-three delegates. That's a lot of delegates," Santorum reminded his audience.

"You've got em!" one supporter shouted back.

Time will tell. Oklahomans cast their votes in their state's GOP primary on "Super Tuesday," March 6th.

Perry Plays Off Eastwood Ad, Calls for White House Game Change

Lexi Stemple — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:23:05 +0000

Texas Gov. Rick Perry came back onto the conservative stage with a tongue in cheek take on actor Clint Eastwood's controversial "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad.

In his second speech since dropping out of the GOP presidential race, Perry told the CPAC crowd, "If it's halftime in America, I am fearful of what the final score is going to be if we let this president start the second half as the quarterback."

Perry went on to insist the federal government has overstepped its primary role of providing security and ventured far down a path of unnecessary oversight.

Eastwood's Chrysler ad has gotten a lot of attention. In it, he says, "the country can't be knocked out with one punch ... our second half is about to begin." Since the big game, Eastwood has insisted he was sending an inspirational message, not a political one. But, Democrats claim the ad is an endorsement of President Obama's auto bailout.

For his part, Perry told CPAC, "Washington is too busy regulating our freedom to fulfill its basic responsibilities and obligations."

This wasn't Perry's only tongue-in-cheek football reference. The Texas A&M grad also joked "Aggies never lose, we just ran out of time."

Perry says he is proud the remaining candidates are talking about his ideas, like what he calls "the war on religion." Even so, he made no mention of Newt Gingrich, the candidate he has endorsed, in this CPAC speech or a speech he gave at a Reagan Day dinner earlier this week in Texas.

Perry will return to Washington in March to Keynote the Gridiron dinner.

Andrew Breitbart: CPAC an X-Factor in Election

Lacey Halpern — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:57:14 +0000

Influential conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart says this CPAC has the potential to play a big role in the 2012 presidential race. Breitbart called it an "X-factor in this election cycle."

He says the crowds as CPAC are a smart group. In fact, he commends them for being "more informed than me on the politics." But, Breitbart doesn't feel as fondly about the candidates remaining in the GOP presidential race. He says "none of the candidates left excite him."

Breitbart calls former House Speaker Newt Gingrich "damaged goods." And he says that people are misreading Gingrich's win in South Carolina as a nod from the Tea Party. Breitbart calls Gingrich a "proxy" who won the anti Mitt Romney vote.

As for Rommney, Breitbart says he needs to use CPAC to "get in the trenches" and get in touch with the Tea Party voters who are responsible for change in the Republican party. Breitbart claims Romney is "managing his campaign from afar."

Breitbart, also sees CPAC as a potential "game changer" for former Senator Rick Santorum. Breitbart says Santorum doesn't "recognize the media is everything" in this election. He says Santorum needs to use the media to emotionally connect with voters and continue the momentum he picked up in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota.

Gingrich, Romney and Santorum are all scheduled to speak Friday. Congressman Ron Paul is not attending CPAC.

*Lexi Stemple contributed to this blog.

House lawmakers spar on contraceptives rule

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:08:26 +0000

By Bree Tracey

Catholics, contraceptives and Capitol Hill. The three factors coming together have made for a bitter battle in Washington, as the Obama administration pushes a requirement that forces religious organizations, including Catholic hospitals, to pay for health insurance covering contraceptives for employees.

At a GOP press conference Thursday, Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., a Catholic herself, took a personal approach in explaining her opposition.

"This is about religious freedom," said Ellmers. "When my father, my father is deceased, but when I was a child he sat me down and he looked me in the eye and he said, 'Renee, some day you will have to fight for your religion.' I didn't understand then what he meant, but it always stuck with me. I understand today because I believe that day has come and we must do everything we possibly can to fight against it."

All eight Republican congresswomen who spoke at the GOP presser criticized President Obama and health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for having a "lack of respect" for their religious constitutional rights. Ellmers added a statement that summed up their message saying, "This is not about health care, this is not about women's healthcare, this is about the overreach of government. This is about President Obama having control over every aspect of your life, especially for women, from conception to death."

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., presented an opposing viewpoint at a House Democratic press conference on Capitol Hill the same day stressing that the mandate allowing access to birth control was not forcing anyone to use it.

"We're not coercing the Catholic Church to do anything," said Nadler. "It is totally wrong and totally phony."

Nadler continued to argue that when the church steps out of its role as a church and becomes an employer or a hospital administrator they are subject to the same laws as everybody else.

"What they are trying to ask for is an exemption from the normal laws in their own. Not as a church, not as a religious institution, but as a hospital or as a college that they cannot have because to get, to allow them to have that is to allow them to impose their religious doctrine on people who may not share their faith and whose choice it is," said Nadler. "We don't coerce them, but they can't coerce other people."

Political Playlist: Obama's 2012 Campaign Rally Music

Kimberly Schwandt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:35:04 +0000

The Obama campaign released the official soundtrack that will play at President Obama's 2012 election rallies, revealing an eclectic lineup that includes tracks from rock, indie and country acts.

The campaign posted the playlist the president campaign Facebook page and also Spotify, a streaming music service. You can listen to the 24 songs here.

The list includes a song performed by Jennifer Hudson for the movie Dreamgirls, "Love you I do." Hudson, like the president, is a Chicago native and has performed at Obama campaign events.

Also notable on the list is Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," which the president sang at the Apollo Theater last month at a campaign fundraiser. First lady Michelle Obama says her husband likes to serenade her and recently told Jay Leno, "He does have a beautiful voice, and he sings to me all the time."

She said he also likes Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, who didn't make the cut, but some other iconic names did like James Taylor ("Your Smiling Face"), Aretha Franklin ("The Weight"), REO Speedwagon ("Roll with the Changes" and U2 ("Even Better Than The Real Thing").

There's also a decent round of country performers on the soundtrack, including Dierks Bentley ("Home"), Darius Rucker ("Learn to Live" and "This") and Sugarland ("Everyday America" and "Stand Up").

Some indie tunes will also be played at his rallies including Arcade Fire's "We Used to Wait" and Florence and the Machine's "You've Got Love."

The music will be heard before large campaign events, and obviously intended to get the crowed jazzed up before the president makes his re-election campaign pitch.

Obama's 2008 lineup featured upbeat tempos from the 60s and 70s, fitting to his "Hope and Change" campaign slogan.

The 2012 one is perhaps slightly more in tune with the realities of the tough economic times.

Take No Doubt's track that sings:

"Things can be broken down In this world of ours You don't have to be a famous person Just to make your mark"

And Dierks Bentley, who belts:

"From the mountains highTo the wave crashed coastThere's a way to findBetter days I know

It's been a long hard rideGot a ways to goBut this is still the placeThat we all call home"

Fox News' resident expert on 60s music and the Beatles, James Rosen (who also goes by the more official title of Chief Washington Correspondent) notes that the Earth, Wind and Fire's song on the list "Got to Get You in My Life," is misidentified. The correct title of the song, originally released in 1996 on the Album Revolver is by the Beatles, and is titled "Got to Get You Into My Life."

OBAMA'S 2012 RALLY PLAYLIST:Different People>>No Doubt

Got To Get You Into My Life - (Live)>>Earth Wind & Fire

Green Onions - Single/LP Version>>Booker T. & The MG's

I Got You>>Wilco

Keep On Pushing - Single Version>>The Impressions

Love You I Do>>Performed by Jennifer Hudson; Dreamgirls Soundtrack

No Nostalgia>>AgesandAges

Raise Up>>Ledisi

Stand Up>>Sugarland

This>>Darius Rucker

We Used to Wait>>Arcade Fire

You've Got The Love>>Florence + The Machine

Your Smiling Face>>James Taylor

Roll With The Changes>>REO Speedwagon

Keep Marchin'>>Raphael Saadiq

Tonight's The Kind Of Night>>Noah And The Whale

Keep Me In Mind>>Zac Brown Band

The Weight>>Aretha Franklin

Even Better Than The Real Thing>>U2

Home>>Dierks Bentley

Everyday America>>Sugarland

Learn To Live>>Darius Rucker

Let's Stay Together>>Al Green

Mr. Blue Sky>>Electric Light Orchestra

Gingrich, vowing 'national' campaign, jabs at Santorum

James Rosen — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:21:19 +0000

Pledging to run a "national campaign" and denying he faces a do-or-die "Alamo" moment in Texas -- whose April 3 primary will award 155 delegates -- Newt Gingrich accused Rick Santorum of being a "Big Labor Republican" who has attacked the Tea Party and amassed a voting record conservatives will find "dubious."

In an impromptu interview at the Fox News Washington bureau, the former House speaker claimed Santorum's clean sweep of this week's nominating contests in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri shows that the Republican presidential primary is a "wide open race" he can still win. Asked if Santorum's ascendancy deprives Gingrich's own candidacy of oxygen, Gingrich maintained that he appeals to a wider and deeper constituency in the GOP electorate.

"Among Tea Party members, I have a much stronger following than Rick does. And they understand that it's principled and that I am supportive of the Tea Parties; I am not attacking them, as he did," Gingrich said.

His campaign cited a 2011 video, now circulating online, in which Santorum can be heard telling an audience in Harrisburg he has "real concerns" about efforts by the Tea Party to refashion conservatism, and added that he planned to "vocally and publicly oppose it."

But Gingrich didn't stop there. While calling Santorum a friend, he assailed the latter's voting record in the House and Senate.

"He was a Big Labor Republican who consistently voted with the unions," Gingrich told Fox News. "Ironically, while he says that I'm not a real conservative, I had a 90 percent American Conservative Union rating. His is dramatically lower. So he actually was more liberal, according to the American Conservative Union, than I am. But that's part of being a Big Labor Republican. I don't think you can run trying to get the support of the AFL-CIO in a place like Pennsylvania and not have votes that most conservatives would look at very dubiously."

Santorum's lifetime rating from the ACU is actually 88.1 percent, not much lower than Gingrich's -- it was 96 for Santorum's final year in Congress.

The former House speaker also lumped Santorum together with the delegate front-runner in the primary, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, claiming both would tinker around the margins of the Beltway culture while Gingrich would seek to wreak bold change upon it.

"I'm offering much bigger solutions on Social Security, on job creation, on getting back to a balanced budget, on how we compete in science and technology with China and Russia," he said. "People can say, 'I want a Newt Gingrich kind of big-solution approach, where I know we're going to actually solve the problems, rather than the timidity that both Santorum and Romney represent.' I mean, both of them have much tinier and more cautious approaches to this than I do."

Santorum campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley rejected Gingrich's criticisms, most acutely the notion that Santorum was a foe of the Tea Party. "Rick Santorum has been praised for being a Tea Party candidate when there was no Tea Party, and has been a staunch supporter," Gidley told Fox News in an email statement. "The reason the Tea Party exists is because of government health care mandates, job-crushing cap-and-tax legislation, the big bank bail outs, and forms of amnesty. Those issues were all supported by Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama."

DNC ties Romney to 'Washington insiders'

Alex Rivera — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:08:08 +0000

Mitt Romney. the only remaining Republican presidential candidate never to have served in Congress, is attempting to distinguish himself as the candidate who is most removed from Washington.

"We need to send to Washington someone who has not lived in Washington, but someone who has lived in the real streets of America," Romney said at a recent debate.

Romney claimed Wednesday, "I'm the only guy who hasn't spent time in Washington and Senator Santorum and Speaker Gingrich -- they are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats -- and when Republicans act like Democrats, they lose."

There are no official campaign stops, though, planned Thursday for the former Massachusetts governor. Instead, Romney is scheduled to be in the Washington, D.C. area before speaking at CPAC on Friday.

Taking notice of Romney's schedule, the Democratic National Committee, through their "Rapid Response" YouTube channel, released a video early Thursday titled "Mitt Romney: The Web of Influence," seeking to challenge his latest message.

The DNC video highlights various industry lobbyists whom Romney will meet with while in Washington. Naming representatives from the health care, banking, and energy sectors, the video references the millions of dollars in donations received by the Romney campaign and the Romney-supporting super PAC, Restore Our Future, from those industries.

"We know what their investment has yielded," the video asserts, in reference to candidate Romney's promises of policies seen as favorable to industries from which he's received millions in donations.

The DNC also directs to a "web of Romney influencers" chart posted on BarackObama.com, the official campaign website of President Obama. The chart, based on FEC filings by the Romney campaign and Restore Our Future PAC, creates a web out of the campaign donations from several industries including finance, pharma, and energy. Most notably, the finance sector has reportedly given over $24 million to Romney or his Super PAC.

Santorum Rides Wave of Momentum into Texas

Nick Kalman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:54:25 +0000

PLANO, TX - Texas has yet to set a date for its primary, but that's not stopping GOP hopeful Rick Santorum from wrangling up support in the state.

Straight off a trifecta of wins in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado, which triggered a fund raising bonanza of nearly a million dollars for his campaign coffers, Santorum held one of the largest rallies of his presidential campaign Wednesday night in Plano, TX.

The crowd of close to two thousand supporters here went into a frenzy as Santorum unleashed a blistering attack on President Obama.

"Barack Obama has systematically, in every single way, tried to destroy the very foundational elements of our county," Santorum charged.

"President Obama does not believe in free people and free markets going out and providing for themselves, he doesn't believe that people who go out and succeed greatly in America are an asset to America. They are someone to be targeted and ridiculed and taxed, because obviously they have built their wealth on the backs of others. That's Barack Obama's America. It is fundamentally un-American the way he looks at our economy."

This was Sanotrum's first campaign swing through the Lone Star State, which could be one of the biggest prizes in the GOP primary. Up to 155 delegates at stake here, but because of redistricting it's unclear when voters in the state will head to the polls.

Still Santorum is already trying to show he's got some Texas swagger. Just before leaving the event, supporters wildly cheered on as the former senator donned a 10-gallon cow boy hat given to him by organizers of the rally.