Surgin' Rick Santorum has the True Conservative hearts of Iowa all aflutter as he takes his turn as Not Mitt. Given that the economy (and avoiding the impending DOOM! Monty chronicles here on a regular basis) is a matter of national survival and a clear differentiator with the SCOAMF, I was happy to see Santorum's views on what we can do to turn things around as chronicled in the Weekly Standard:

The next piece is his economics section, but while [Santorum] sounds the same general theme as the other campaigns—too much spending and statism, and the need to cut the size of government—he spends a lot of time talking about his proposal to eliminate the corporate tax on manufacturing. The reason we need to give special status to manufacturing, he says, is that the sector is fungible. Goods can be produced anywhere, so Santorum believes we need to give those businesses special protection to keep them in America. Captive businesses—my words, not his—can be taxed at the normal rate because, he says, it’s harder to relocate those jobs. Why should florists and restaurants pay corporate taxes but not manufacturers? “Because,” Santorum says, “this restaurant isn’t moving to China, right? The florist isn’t moving to China.”

Wait. What? Sprinkle the word "green" in there a little and this quote could have come from Obama.

I thought we were against picking winners and losers via the tax code, but it seems that none of our potential candidates can resist it. Forecast: DOOM!:

Tens of millions of Americans have yet to understand that the can can no longer be kicked down the road, because weÂ’re all out of road. The pavement ends, and thereÂ’s just a long drop into the abyss. And, even in a state-compliant car seat, youÂ’ll land with a bump. At this stage in a critical election cycle, we ought to be arguing about how many government departments to close, how many government programs to end, how many millions of government regulations to do away with. Instead, one party remains committed to encrusting even more barnacles to AmericaÂ’s rusting hulk, while the other is far too wary of harshing the electorateÂ’s mellow.

That's it in a nutshell, isn't it? Our choice is coming down to whether we want to run the car over the cliff at 120MPH with Obama or whether we want to clip along at a leisurely 60MPH with the eventual GOP nominee in the driver's seat for that final launch over the edge.

I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to point out that National Review clearly has an underdeveloped sense of irony, given their soft endorsement of Santorum and offhand dismissals of more fiscally conservative candidates.

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Posted by: andy at 07:35 AM | Comments (202)
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After the outcry of Perry and Gingrich supporters that Virginia's balloting rules are too strict, Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli dove right in by decrying Virginia's election rules and proposing legislation that would add most of the other GOP candidates to the primary ballot.

This is despite the fact that the AG is, technically, not a member of the legislature and therefore not really in a position to change Virginia's laws. Whatever. His announcement was greeted cheerfully by conservatives anxious to have options other than Romney or Paul on the Virginia ballot.

Yesterday, he suddenly reversed course. Buried in the reports on this is the real reason why:

As the state's top lawyer, it fell to Cuccinelli to defend the state's ballot-access laws against a lawsuit filed by Perry. Cuccinelli, who was among the first Virginia officials to denounce the ballot rules as unfair after Perry and Gingrich failed to qualify, insisted he would vigorously defend the very law he was criticizing.

Then on Saturday Cuccinelli announced that he would submit emergency legislation to overturn the law he said he would defend and called on lawmakers to rewrite the rules to make it easier for candidates to make the ballot.

Cuccinelli's opposition sparked concerns from the judge overseeing Perry's lawsuit, who questioned whether taking a position on the rule compromised his office's ability to defend the law in the face of a legal challenge.

Cuccinelli let his political ambitions, and boy howdy is he ambitious, get ahead of his duty as Virginia's attorney general. This is a recurring pattern from Cuccinelli (recall his subpar, but politically flashy first-in-the-nation ObamaCare lawsuit) but somehow it makes him a Tea Party hero.

I took a look at the Perry lawsuit and the talking points the campaign is circulating with it. Guys, I wouldn't get your hopes up. The party rules were clear and they were set in May. They complied with state law and the constitutional challenge is quite a stretch. Maybe Perry will get a sympathetic judge and maybe AG Cuccinelli will decline to appeal a pro-Perry ruling to the appellate courts. But it's definitely an uphill battle.

This was campaign incompetence, pure and simple. The state even provided a checklist that campaigns could use to make sure they didn't overlook any deadlines or requirements. The Perry and Gingrich campaigns couldn't get their game together. As much as I dislike only having Romney and Paul on the ballot here, they did everything right and shouldn't be punished just because the other campaigns didn't.

It's good that Cuccinelli quickly came around. It would be better if he set his ambitions aside and just did his job right in the first place.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:17 AM | Comments (185)
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Because we need a new one. And I am a giver.

Here, have another cheerleader whilst we compile the results. Also, stupid Cowboys. My long nightmare is over.

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Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:07 AM | Comments (147)
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A content-free, later than hell post for your commenting pleasure.

Posted by: andy at 05:05 AM | Comments (33)
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Welcome to 2012 all.

We're still cleaning up in here. So far the ONT Lost & Found box has 3 brassieres, 5 pairs of underwear, a saddle and one artificial limb - identify them and they're yours. Oh and the good lamp got broken so expect an assessment on top of the ONT dues.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 04:57 PM | Comments (571)
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Essentially a playoff game a week early, as the winner takes the division, and the loser goes home.

Oh, and here's a a couple of cheerleaders (for Obama).

UPDATE [Dave]: Why We Suck

Posted by: Ace at 04:02 PM | Comments (341)
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One actual content thread is more than enough, don't you think?

Tomorrow we'll have our annual NHL Winter Classic thread. Face off has been moved from 1pm to 3pm. This year's game pits the New York Rangers vs. The Personification of Evil from a lousy city (the Philadelphia Flyers).

The big news today is that the Flyers won't be starting Illya Bryzgalov, the guy they signed to a 9 year, $51 million contract before the start of the season. Instead they are starting Sergi Bobrovski, the guy they didn't think was good enough.

Heck of a job Flyers, heck of a job.

Sure the Bryzgalov signing seems like a huge mistake from a hockey standpoint but at least Bryz is...entertaining in other ways. There might be an F-Bomb or two, I don't remember.

Below the fold, Illya explains why you never want to...hunt a tiger in China. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 01:59 PM | Comments (158)
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Well not exactly. Gregory interviewed Rick Santorum today on Meet the Press and took the role of Obama's defender.

Gregory argued against Santorum's assertion that Obama has appeased Iran saying, “There is no material difference in terms of how the Bush Administration sought to disarm Iran and what the Obama Administration has done.”

This of course is contradicted by facts and the words of one Barack Husein Obama.

President-elect Barack Obama addressed some of the most delicate foreign policy issues over the weekend, confirming that he intended to pursue a clear policy of engagement with Iran and to press immediately for peace in the Middle East.

Speaking on the ABC News program “This Week,” Mr. Obama reiterated that he wanted to work directly with Iran — a country whose president has called for Israel’s destruction — to improve relations and halt a nuclear program that Tehran describes as peaceful, but that the West believes is not.

“We are going to have to take a new approach,” he told the program’s host, George Stephanopoulos. “My belief is that engagement is the place to start.”

As President, Obama sent friendly messages to Iran that differed sharply from Bush's approach.

Obama, in a three-minute speech made available on the Internet and sent to international broadcasters, twice referred to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country's official name, signaling an apparent break from President George W. Bush's unstated promotion of a change of leadership. Bush routinely called the Iranian government a "regime" that should not be trusted by its people and said the country was part of an "axis of evil."

Obama has also cut aid to Iranian dissident groups and in general have taken a softer stand on the Iranian government.

Unlike the Bush administration, neither Obama nor his chief advisers have accused the Iranian government of arming the anti-American insurgencies in those countries, nor have they highlighted Tehran's links with foreign terrorist movements. As president, Obama also dropped the rhetoric of regime change. In his March 2009 Norwuz message, he explicitly referred to "the Islamic Republic of Iran" and stated that his administration would seek "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect." Obama has sent two personal letters to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the hopes of initiating a dialogue at the highest level. In addition to its declaratory statements, the administration also arranged for senior American diplomats to meet with their Iranian counterparts in various multilateral settings and made a generous offer of nuclear collaboration regarding Iran's medical reactor.

The Obama administration also released members of Iran's Qods Force captured in Iraq.

When faced with the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters this was the response of the Obama Administration.

The State Department strongly rejected claims that the U.S. was interfering in the disputed June 12 election, pointing out that diplomats from other countries had also been summoned.

"I suspect we are in good company. As the president has said, we are not interfering in the debate that Iranians are having about their election and its aftermath," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "This is not about the United States."

Mowing down peaceful protesters in the streets of Tehran and around Iran is a "debate" according to Obama's team.

The funniest thing about Gregory's full throated defense of his candidate isn't that "journalists" are still willing to go to the mattresses for Obama, it's that their defense of Obama is..."he's just like George Bush!".

Second look at Cowboy Diplomacy?

Posted by: DrewM at 10:19 AM | Comments (226)
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I get to wait all day to watch two really crappy teams play each other in New York for the Division title, and the right to get beaten in the first round of the playoffs. Yay.

Anyway, it's a new year, and I hope your livers aren't snarling at you from some corner of the room. Here's to 2012.

By the way, CDR M tells me he reactivated the league here for the playoffs. I don't remember how it works, but you should have gotten an email invite if you were in it last year. The league password if you want to sign up is "valurite". I'll ask him what the league id is. I'm really crappy at picks so I want to keep going.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:55 AM | Comments (276)
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Happy 2012, Morons! (2012? We're now 11 years past 2001 and we still don't have a moonbase or missions to Jupiter or a weird alien monolith turning astronauts into cosmic babies? What the hell, man? Where's the future I was promised? I want my alien artifacts and domed cities and jetcars and moonbases, and I want them now, dammit!)

I have a confession to make: I've been on vacation for the past two weeks, and I haven't read so much as the back of a box of corn flakes. Zip. Nada. This isn't due to lack of time so much as a complete lack of motivation. There is an old Far Side cartoon where a kid asks to be excused from class because his brain is full; that's how I feel. Too much going on at work and at home, too many things weighing on poor Monty's noodle. So for my vacation I gave the life of the mind the heave-ho and just vegged out -- slept in until noon, sat around in my underwear all day eating cereal and watching cartoons; it was like being nine again!

So, assuming that you Morons were better stewards of the literary art than me in the past week...what have you been reading?

PSA: I have several more books written by Morons (or by friends/significant others of Morons) to post, and I'll make sure to get them into next week's thread. Keep those tips coming! If you're an author, or you know an author who'd like a mention in the Sunday book thread, just send me an email at aoshqbookthread AT gmail DOT com.
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Posted by: Monty at 06:26 AM | Comments (98)
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