All the news and views fit to consume during your morning grumpy.
1. There is another choice for republican voters in this election if they don’t care for Newt The Insider, Mitt “1%” Romney, Rick “Santorum” Santorum, or Ron “Gold Standard” Paul. His name is Buddy Roemer and he’s a pretty interesting guy. You see, Buddy lost his job as Governor of Louisiana when a wealthy industrialist poured $500,000 into a last minute advertising blitz during the final days of the election. Since then, Mr. Roemer has been an advocate of getting money out of politics.
Every election features someone trying to run as an outsider candidate. In 2012, it’s Buddy. Politico describes him as the Occupy Wall Street candidate, even though he is a Republican.
“I think conservatives believe in first principles. They believe that hard work should be rewarded. They believe that this country is great because it’s been generally free. And conservatives see that that’s disappearing. They see now that a big check can take the place of a big idea. They see now that the structure is not for the base, but is for the peak. It’s for the top one or two percent. They see Wall Street riddled with fraudulent documents. They see it riddled with the attitude of ‘let’s fire Americans and go overseas.’ They see it riddled with things that have had and will have bad effects on this economy.”
I love the smell of populism in the morning. His campaign has struggled to gain traction, primarily because it is woefully underfunded due to his own self-inflicted campaign finance rules.
Roemer has limited donations to $100 per US citizen, and is denying all PAC, Super PAC, and corporate donations.His campaign garnered some visibility, nonetheless, when Roemer starred in an advertisement for Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC, in November 2011. The ad lampooned the flimsiness of legal restrictions against Super PACs coordinating with the candidates they support.
I’m not pretending that the guy is a legitimate candidate, but the issue he advocates for – reducing the influence of money on politics, elections, and policy is incredibly important. He’s a salient voice of reason in a party that desperately needs it and I hope he can get a little more attention for himself while influencing the public discourse during this absurdly expensive election.
2. Jay Rosen asks a pretty interesting question…
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/jayrosen_nyu/status/163679947444060161″%5D
3. The Republican “establishment” has lost control of their Tea Party “tiger”.
“I don’t think they can (stop Gingrich) because the people behind him are the Fox News viewers and the talk radio listeners, and that is the Republican establishment.”
Newt isn’t dead yet. He maintains a slight national lead over Romney and will pick up some steam in smaller caucus states after he takes his lumps in Florida, setting up Super Tuesday as his final stand.
4. As Mitt Romney is about to win the Florida republican primary, I thought it would be fun to take a guided tour of the mormon religion as written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Not surprisingly, one of the simplest breakdowns of the religion you’ll find anywhere.
Joseph Smith, Part 1:
Joseph Smith, Part 2:
Joseph Smith, Part 3:
Joseph Smith, Part 4:
5. An instant classic from Bill Maher as he takes on the myth of Saul Alinsky and the very real conservative media bubble.
6. Presented without comment:
Fact Of The Day: Charles Manson was a Scientologist. So, they have that going for them, which is nice.
Quote Of The Day: “Everybody aspires to be rich, and everybody understands that you’ve got to work hard if you’re going to be financially successful. That’s the American way. The question is: Are we creating opportunity for everybody?” – President Barack Obama
Song Of The Day: “Love Vigilantes” – New Order
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