New Developments III

[Damien]

Perry declines Trump's invitation. It's probably going to end up being an interview with Gingrich, at this rate.

You may want to rethink your statements about the Trump debates, criddic?

Isn't Santorum going to be part of the frothy mix?

[Sonic Youth]

Perry declines Trump's invitation. It's probably going to end up being an interview with Gingrich, at this rate.

You may want to rethink your statements about the Trump debates, criddic?

[Dien]

Back in 2004 I programmed a poll that asked who people were voting that year and purposely dropped Bush from the options. Then I proceeded to call people who I knew were voting for Bush. I got my grandma to press "repeat options" five times.

[Sonic Youth]

Here's a friendly tip for all you eligible voters!

I got a call from Campaign 2012 (not sure which candidate it was from) and Newt 2012 earlier today, and I've learned something If any shitass robocall starts bombarding your line, just hit '0' just as the stupid recording begins to spew its propaganda bullshit in your ear. That will take you to a lovely operator who will be more than happy to put you on the Do Not Call list.

It's almost enough to tempt me to stop voting altogether and not be placed on their rolls.

Sigh... this is going to be a long year.

[Greg]

It is too bad that Herman Cain is already out. If he was still in, part of the "debate" could have been Trump having a contest where Gingrich and Cain would have stood on different corners of Times Square to see which one could hawk the most copies of his book to passers-by.

[Sonic Youth]

Romney skipping the Trump debate

That makes three Republican candidates not attending this laughable farce - Huntsman, Paul and now Romney. In other words, three candidates with a three-digit IQ number.

[Greg]

The Muppets Are Communist, Fox Business Network Says

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/0 ... 29173.html

[Big Magilla]

I will stipulate that at this point Gingrich is no longer in it just to sell books now that he thinks that he can actually win.

[criddic3]

He's making a major announcement at the opening of a campaign headquarters in Northern Georgia. Does that sound like he's throwing in the towell? We can hope, but I'll hold off celebrating until he actually announces. The cynic in me says he'll hang on until January so he can claim matching funds and then get back his losses from the federal government.

He only started his campain, at the urging of Newt Gingrich, because like Gingrich, he wanted to bolster his name recogniton in order to sell more books. Most of his campaign stops were in cities where he was scheduled for book signings, not predominently places where primaries and caucuses were going to take place any time soon. He's the black male version of Sarah Palin.

This whole group is a sorry lot. The only one who doesn't scare me to death is Jon Huntsman. I like that is refusing to participate in the "debate" being hosted by Donald Trump on 12/27 because he doesn't want to suck up to the Donald.

I disagree that Mr. Gingrich is only in it to "sell books." I can't say what Mr. Cain's motives were at this point. He had a tough path to the nomination from the start, but maybe he felt he could make a difference. I don't like to think negatively, if I can avoid it. That's one of the reasons that I don't assign evil motives to President Obama, while some say he wants to fundamentally change the country by deliberately destroying the economy. I don't believe that, but I do think he has not earned a second term. By the same token, though, Sarah Palin was chosen as the VP pick by John McCain. All told, I think it was a net positive for the party, because she energized a party that knew 2008 would be an uphill battle. Many Republicans like her, even though they do not view her as presidential material. What's so scary about any of these candidates? Even Michele Bachmann has some decent ideas. Do I support her for the nomination? No, because just like Cain she has no national experience. The counter to that is that, well, neither did Obama in 2008. While most Republicans dislike Hillary Clinton, most would acknowledge that she had more experience to lead than the person who managed to organize a better campaign that she did. still, Bachmann has said some unneccesarily awkward things and may even have squandered her chance to be a VP nominee.

Huntsman seems like a nice guy, and he has an interesting resume, but he leans too far left for some in the party. Some also might say he'd be too "soft" on China. Certainly Donald Trump thinks (and says) so. But even if Donald Trump is not taken too seriously by Huntsman or the media, he is a powerful person and an outspoken critic of the current administration. Not participating in Trump's moderated forum doesn't really do Hunstman any favors. The one smart thing the former Utah governor did to oft-set that decision was to accept a debate with Newt Gingrich, one-on-one, when Mitt Romney (foolishly I think) declined.

Actually, none of the front-runners in this race can claim the Next Ronald Reagan title. Trying is silly. And to say that they all have baggage, well yeah. The answer is "duh." Everyone does. There is not a candidate out there who doesn't have what some will perceive to be a flaw. It's what the candidate does to overcome that perception that matters. Which is why Mitt Romney can't close the sale with primary voters. He doesn't know how to address his perceived problems, whereas Newt Gingrich has been able to push his to the sidelines. Time will tell if that ultimately changes the race come January 3rd.

[criddic3]

Back in my days as a grocery store sales associate (fancy for cashier/bagger) I had to deal with a lot of EBT users. It's more restrictive than some people think. Alcohol and cigarettes are obvious exclusions. So are certain junk foods and luxury toiletries. Then the cashier is berated for not letting them buy their liquor and eclairs with an EBT card.*

You learn a lot about society working in the service industry.

*unrelated

You can buy eclairs, but not alcohol, or cat food for that matter. And paper goods are also not allowed. Only food. Hence the name: Food Stamps.

[Dien]

Back in my days as a grocery store sales associate (fancy for cashier/bagger) I had to deal with a lot of EBT users. It's more restrictive than some people think. Alcohol and cigarettes are obvious exclusions. So are certain junk foods and luxury toiletries. Then the cashier is berated for not letting them buy their liquor and eclairs with an EBT card.*

You learn a lot about society working in the service industry.

*unrelated

[Sonic Youth]

Cain suspends his campaign.

[Sonic Youth]

Is Newt right? Food stamps can take you to Hawaii?
By Louis Jacobson
Politifact.com
Published on Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 7:43 p.m.

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich loves to talk about food stamps. And the former House speaker had plenty to say at a campaign appearance in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

"Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history," Gingrich said. "So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate? You know, the Obama model: isn't there somebody you'd like to give money to this week. That's why we're now going to help bailout Italy because we haven't bailed out enough people this week, the president thought let's write another check. After all, we have so much extra money."

We decided to check three separate claims.

Can food stamps be used for anything?
No. The food stamp program, now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has very precise rules about what can and cannot be paid for. Food stamp benefits are now loaded on to an electronic benefits transfer card, or EBT, similar to a debit card. It allows certain types of purchases -- groceries, for instance -- but not unqualified items such as beer and wine.

"We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii."
No. Airline tickets are not a qualified purchase. We did find that St. Louis television station KMOV did an investigative piece looking at the Missouri food stamp system that found that a small amount of Missouri food stamp funds had been spent in Hawaii. Two possible explanations are that they were spent by members of the armed services just transferred there who are permitted to use their Missouri benefits until their Hawaii benefits are set up or that they were spent by migrant workers who spend part of the year in Missouri but do seasonal work in Hawaii.

"They give food stamps now to millionaires."
Only those with incomes of no more than 130 percent of the poverty line qualify. That leaves out millionaires. After we published this item we heard back from USDA spokesman Aaron Lavallee about one case in which an unemployed Michigan man who won $2 million in the lottery was deemed eligible for food stamps by the state, but he was later removed from the program.

For being wrong in so many ways, we rated Gingrich's statement Pants On Fire.

[Big Magilla]

He's making a major announcement at the opening of a campaign headquarters in Northern Georgia. Does that sound like he's throwing in the towell? We can hope, but I'll hold off celebrating until he actually announces. The cynic in me says he'll hang on until January so he can claim matching funds and then get back his losses from the federal government.

He only started his campain, at the urging of Newt Gingrich, because like Gingrich, he wanted to bolster his name recogniton in order to sell more books. Most of his campaign stops were in cities where he was scheduled for book signings, not predominently places where primaries and caucuses were going to take place any time soon. He's the black male version of Sarah Palin.

This whole group is a sorry lot. The only one who doesn't scare me to death is Jon Huntsman. I like that is refusing to participate in the "debate" being hosted by Donald Trump on 12/27 because he doesn't want to suck up to the Donald.

[Sonic Youth]

Unfortunately, he never overcame his lack of foreign policy knowledge,

He was an ignoramus.

He doesn't know what 'Right of Return' means? He doesn't know the Chinese have nukes? Then he doesn't get to be President. He's not qualified. I don't think he seriously meant to serve as President of the United States until he got a little taste of frontrunner glory, and then he got a little carried away with himself. Looking at his past accomplishments, he seems like an intelligent, accomplished guy regarding other matters. But campaigning for President? He was way out of his depth. Still, he was amusing while he lasted.

and the (so far not backed-up) allegations of sexual harrassment brought him down.

They may not have been backed up... yet... in a way that would satisify a court of law, maybe. But don't start playing the naive child, as if you never had contact with the real world before. As the story went on, a lot of smoke was building up, and when there's a lot of smoke there's got to be at least a little fire. How come no other women have come forward and accused any of the other candidates of untoward behavior?