BREAKING: Gingrich Wins South Carolina

January 21, 2012 at 8:15 pm (2012 Election, GOP, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Presidential Campaign, Republican, Rick Santorum, South Carolina)

Romney has some very real problems now.  If Santorum drops from the race and Newt presumably picks up a majority of his conservative voters, then this is going to be a tough battle.

Mental Recession readers may have predicted it here first, when they said that Romney would not win the nomination.

Don’t forget, the turnaround may have started with a response he had in the Fox News debate for Juan Williams, where he didn’t take the race-bait, he answered honestly, and he didn’t back down from his convictions.  Every time conservatism is explained in a well thought-out, passionate manner, it wins.

From MSNBC:

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, capping off a remarkable comeback for his presidential bid that reshapes the trajectory of the battle for the GOP nomination.

Based on early exit polls, NBC News projects Gingrich as the winner of the primary, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will finish second.

UPDATE:  Fox is now calling it for Gingrich as well…

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, Fox News projects, further scrambling an already volatile primary race that has produced three different winners in three states. 

Fox News projects that Mitt Romney will place second in the Palmetto State. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are battling for third place, and that contest remains too close to call, though Fox News exit polls show Santorum with a slight lead over the Texas congressman.

Santorum’s conservative credentials remain more solid than Newt’s, but if they continue to split votes in further primaries such as Florida, they will continue to give Romney an edge in each state.  My personal belief is that it’s time for Santorum to drop and back Newt.

UPDATE:  Maybe this is what put Newt over the top in South Carolina – working the drive-thru at a Chick-fil-A in Anderson. Nice…

UPDATE:  Looks like the real loser in South Carolina tonight was Marianne Gingrich.  Weasel Zippers reports that “Women went for Gingrich 36% to Romney’s 30%.”  The liberal media, the ones trying to go through the baggage of the Republican candidates while ignoring Obama’s baggage for five years now, forget that their hero, Bill Clinton, already had an ‘open marriage’ in the White House.

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Poll Results – Mitt Romney Will Not Win the GOP Nomination

January 21, 2012 at 3:54 pm (2012 Elections, GOP, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Presidential Campaign, South Carolina)

Well, the results are in and we had a pretty good response from readers of the Mental Recession.

We asked – Will Mitt Romney win the GOP nomination?

And mimicking the late surge in South Carolina of Newt Gingrich, there was a late surge of ‘No’ votes for Romney.  The results?

Yes – 40%

No – 52%

Not sure – 8%

Thanks to everyone who voted!

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Keystone Less of a Risk Than Pipelines Already in Place, Experts Say

January 21, 2012 at 10:36 am (Canada, Dave Heineman, Energy, Independence, Keystone, Keystone XL Pipeline, Pipeline, President Obama, Thomas J. Donahue, TransCanada, U.S.)

Pipeline to nowhere?

President Obama recently unleashed his first campaign ad for the 2012 election year.  The 30-second spot is described as such:

President Obama has taken steps to make us energy independent and create an economy that’s built to last. He’s been a strong supporter of domestic energy production, has made historic investments in clean energy technology, and has nearly doubled fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. Because of the progress we’ve made, our dependence on foreign oil is the lowest it’s been in 16 years.

The Washington Post gave the ad a rating of ‘three Pinocchios’ for misleading viewers with a suggestion that Obama was responsible for creating 2.7 million clean-energy jobs, and for cherry-picking certain citations to back up its claims.  The resulting descriptions of the ad included such words as ‘slippery’, ‘slick’, and ‘misleading’.  


The Obama administration in a nutshell.


But the irony that the first ad campaign of the season touts Obama’s strengths in making the United States more energy independent, while he is simultaneously thwarting further energy independence via the Keystone pipeline, can not be overlooked. 


U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue called the decision to deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit ‘dumbfounding’.  He added, “the President’s decision will make us more dependent on oil from foreign nations that don’t share our interests.”


So why would the energy independence-touting President deny construction of a pipeline that has the potential to improve said independence, along with an added bonus of creating a minimum of 20,000 jobs?


Aside from kowtowing to environmental groups, Obama cites “the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment”.


That smokescreen doesn’t hold up either.  A new report from Fox News indicates that the Keystone pipeline would actually pose less of an environmental danger than pipelines currently running in the U.S.

Several energy experts who represent the oil and gas industry say the controversial Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas, poses less of a risk to the environment than the estimated 50,000 miles of crude oil pipelines already crisscrossing the U.S., a network they say is safe and efficient.

The report also cites the new pipeline’s state-of-the-art technology as being improved safety-wise, as well as the alternative to a pipeline – hauling oil by tanker, truck, or train – a far more perilous environmental risk.
Additionally, though environmentalists expressed concerns that the Keystone pipeline would cross the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest aquifers extending into eight states and providing drinking water for two million people, the concerns are unfounded.  Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican who had voiced concerns over the aquifer, said “an alternative route being worked out with TransCanada will not pose a risk to environmentally sensitive areas.”
Heineman added that he would send a letter to the President saying he approves it, “and if he were decisive, he could turn around and approve it shortly thereafter.”
Problem being, the only decisive move the President has made involves placing politics above jobs, above energy independence, and above the well-being of the American people.






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