The Foundation

“It is on great occasions only, and after time has been given for cool and deliberate reflection, that the real voice of the people can be known.” –George Washington

Editorial Exegesis

“Mitt Romney’s victory in New Hampshire Tuesday takes him one step closer to the GOP Presidential nomination, especially given the fragmented showing by the rest of the field. The former Massachusetts Governor met expectations in the state where he owns a home, and he will now head to South Carolina with no clear single rival who might unite conservatives. Ron Paul’s strong second-place finish was also notable, showing the continuing appeal of his message of ‘sound money and personal liberty.’ He did especially well, according to the exit polls, among voters anxious about the economy. … Jon Huntsman’s third-place finish might have been encouraging, except it’s hard to see where he goes from here. He placed most of his campaign effort on the Granite State, doing 165 events or so and betting that Mr. Romney’s appeal would fade. Yet most of Mr. Huntsman’s voters said in exit polls that they were either moderate or liberal. That doesn’t bode well for him with the more conservative GOP electorate in the South. As we went to press, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were competing for a weak fourth place, with about 10% of the vote, while Rick Perry was struggling to reach 1%. All of them will bid to become the conservative champion in the Palmetto State, but they will also still divide the non-Romney vote. … Mr. Romney’s main strength continues to be the GOP perception of his electability and leadership, more than his ideas. The lack of ideas has been one of his weaknesses in trying to unite the GOP, as most voters still break for the bolder colors of Mr. Paul and the rest. If he wants to unite the party and motivate it for the battle against Mr. Obama, Mr. Romney will need some bolder colors himself.” –The Wall Street Journal

Upright

“For the past year, the question has been whether Mitt Romney would be acceptable to the Republican party. … Some pundits continue to dream of a great conservative hope who will enter the race and save us from Romney – perhaps even at a brokered convention. But the voters have now had two opportunities to speak. Two thirds of voters in New Hampshire said they were satisfied with the field. Romney has won a solid victory there. He succeeded with Tea Party supporters and self-described conservatives. And now Newt Gingrich has offered Romney a gift. By attacking him from the left as a heartless tycoon, he has given Romney the chance to campaign as the defender of capitalism and free markets. … While it’s too early to say the race is sewn up, it is looking very good for Mitt Romney.” –columnist Mona Charen

“Whatever chance at a comeback Speaker Gingrich and Governor Perry had went up on the pyre they lit with their attacks [against Romney], on Bain specifically and free-market venture capital generally. The recognition that one cannot defend capitalism while attacking capital is spreading. Blaming Bain for layoffs is like blaming the lifeboats for being late to the Titanic. No matter how you judge their performances, we are a whole lot better for having venture capitalists at hand, even when they don’t bat anywhere near 1.000.” –radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt

“The old saw is that Democrats fall in love with their candidates while Republicans fall in line behind theirs. It’s a dubious rule of thumb – were Democrats in love with John Kerry in 2004? With Michael Dukakis in 1988? – but this much is true: Conservative insurgents rarely win the GOP presidential nomination. The nod almost always goes to the party establishment’s candidate. This year that candidate is Mitt Romney.” –columnist Jeff Jacoby

“We’ve been dealing with liberal media bias for years, but George Stephanopoulos’ performance in the Republican presidential debate Saturday night in New Hampshire was particularly egregious. … The narrative in these debates ought to be how each of the candidates is better-equipped than the others to reverse Obama’s agenda. In addition to misdirecting the debates substantively, the liberal moderators have also, too often, injected themselves into the debates as if they were either driven by their irrepressible egos to make themselves players rather than facilitators or so ideologically revolted by the GOP’s policies that they were compelled to argue Obama’s side in his absence. The moderators shouldn’t be allowed to have it both ways. If they are going to direct the debate solely toward differences among the GOP candidates, they shouldn’t present Obama’s side for him, giving him and the liberal position a free ride.” –columnist David Limbaugh

Insight

“They who most loudly clamour for liberty do not most liberally grant it.” –English author Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

“We are students of words; we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.” –American author Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The Demo-gogues

Core of the nation on the line, indeed: “The very core of what this country stands for is on the line – the basic promise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, this is a place where you could make it if you try. The notion that we’re all in this together, that we look out for one another – that’s at stake in this election. Don’t take my word for it. Watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire.” –Barack Obama

Bragging about “fairness”: “After losing more than 8 million jobs in the recession, we’ve added more than 3 million private sector jobs over the past 22 months. … We’re heading in the right direction. And we’re not going to let up. … [W]e’ve got to keep rebuilding our economy so that everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share – and everyone plays by the same rules.” –Barack Obama

Give us a break: “It takes you, ordinary citizens committed to fighting and pushing, inching this country forward bit by bit so we get closer to our highest ideals. That’s how this country was built. That’s how we freed ourselves from an empire.” –Barack Obama comparing his donors to modern-day minutemen

Straw man bonanza: “Republicans in Congress and these candidates, they think that the best way for America to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom. They figure, well, China pays low wages, we should pay low wages. Let’s roll back the minimum wage. Let’s prevent folks from organizing for collective bargaining in this country. Since other countries allow corporations to pollute as much as they want, why not get rid of the protections that ensure our air is clean and our water is clean.” –Barack Obama

He sang a different tune a few years ago: “Now raising the debt limit is a very routine thing that every sensible person understands we have to do. It’s only in this context of this extreme right-wing takeover of the Republican party that that becomes controversial.” –Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)


Blaming George W. Bush: “I simply will not have us engage in a this and that, last August, 10 years ago. This is about the here and now and the highly unusual circumstances we are in because the Republican failed policies, economic policies of President George Bush took us to a financial meltdown, took us into near depression, took us into deep deficits that we still have to deal with.” –House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi following a House of Representatives pro forma session

Dezinformatsia

Speaking truth to power: “I mean, [Obama’s] numbers are going up as the Republican party’s numbers come down. And I think it’s due to the fact that the president has more aggressively and more definitively, I would hope, positioned himself as with the people, as with the 99 percent, or the 99.99 percent in this case. It’s a smart political move on the president’s part and I think a sincere move because I do think if you think of his background, for example, he did not lead a privileged upbringing. His family was on food stamps for a while. He earned what he has in life, and I think he appreciates it.” –Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson

Alternate universe: “The Obama administration has put tremendous pressure on Iran on a variety of fronts – far more pressure than the Bush administration was ever able to muster.” –CNN’s Fareed Zakaria

Race bait: “[T]he Republican party has been in a mad rush to its extreme white wing.” –MSNBC’s Al Sharpton

Because licenses solve all problems: “You should need to have a license to have a child. You should be vetted.” –Geraldo Rivera

Um, what? “If you believe in the centrality of family, you have to have a government that both encourages marriage and also supplies wage subsidies to men to make them marriageable.” –New York Times columnist David Brooks

Newspulper Headlines:

Out on a Limb: “About Santorum, Pundits Pathetically Failed” –The American Spectator website

We Blame Global Warming: “Santorum Takes Heat on Values” –The Washington Times

If Only He’d Thought of That in 1996: “Dole Challenges Americans to ‘Go Bananas’ Every Day In 2012” –Dole Food Co. press release

Questions Nobody Is Asking: “Is Ron Paul in It to Win It?” –CBSNews.com

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking: “Why Americans Sing About Food” –Salon.com

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Todd Palin Endorses Newt Gingrich” –ABCNews.com

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

Village Idiots

All of a sudden, the Constitution: “Our assessment is that Congress has been in recess, and had made every indication that it will be in recess for a sustained period of time. And that gaveling in and gaveling out for seven seconds does not constitute a recess with regard to the president’s constitutional authority. … We’re saying this a gimmick versus a constitutionally enshrined authority and we feel very comfortable as a legal matter that the Constitution trumps gimmicks.” –White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defending Obama’s decision to appoint Richard Cordray as head of the consumer protection board during Congress’ pro forma session

When regulation equals job growth: “The president and all of our team are optimistic that our best days are ahead, and indeed, when you look at job creation over the last several years, we have been making steady progress. As we make that steady progress to establish the economic stability of the United States, it is important for us all to remember that tourism, leisure are very much a part of the job creation agenda for the United States.” –Interior Secretary Ken Salazar defending the administration’s decision to implement a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims in the Grand Canyon

Playing the race card: “[T]hat’s been an image that people have try to paint of me since the day that Barack announced, that I’m some angry black woman.” –Michelle Obama

Short Cuts

“Yes, it’s true that unlike some Republicans, Democrats don’t ‘enjoy firing people.’ They enjoy ‘investing’ your money in exploding electric vehicles, bullet trains and other highly unprofitable but morally satisfying economic misadventures. Venture socialism is certainly empathetic. Venture capitalism, on the other hand, happens to be useful.” –columnist Daniel Harsanyi

“GM plans to ‘call back’ 8,000 Chevy Volts to fix a problem with the battery that might cause a fire. The hard part will be getting 8,000 people to publicly admit that they bought a Volt.” –Fred Thompson

“Joseph P. Kennedy III made plans to run for retiring Barney Frank’s House seat. The Democrats see the polls saying America’s on the wrong track. They think voters will be ready to replace the first gay congressman with a man from the First Family of Womanizing.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“Cosmetic surgeons say that three years of recession have devastated the cosmetic surgery industry. A lot of people in Beverly Hills are now starting to get the feeling back in their faces.” –comedian Jay Leno

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team