Rick Perry

Two’s Almost As Bad As One: The Virginia Primary Will Be A Romney-Paul Showdown

Erik Kain



Rick Perry won't be on the Virginia ballot thanks to activist appeals court judges.

Politico is reporting that a federal appeals court has requested Rick Perry’s request to be added to the Virginia primary ballot. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum also failed to file in Virginia, which required them to collect 10,000 signatures by December of 2011.

This leaves only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul on the Mach 6th ballot which is, to be perfectly blunt, both hilarious and wonderful at the same time.

It’s hilarious because three of the remaining five candidates are so disorganized and apparently under-staffed that they couldn’t get their act’s together enough to get on the Virginia ballot in time. What were they thinking? They were apparently spending too much time on Fox or prepping for various debates to do one of the simplest, most straight-forward possible things you can do in a campaign. If these guys can’t organize themselves enough to make it onto the Virginia ballot, can we really trust them to take that 3 AM phonecall from Vladmir Putin?

It’s wonderful because this will (probably) be our first glimpse at a one-on-one showdown between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. I have no doubt that Ron Paul is sticking this thing out, even if it does just boil down to him vs. Romney. Virginia may be a test of his success throughout the remainder of the campaign. It will be interesting to see how the vote shakes out. I think Romney takes Virginia, but I do hope that Paul gives him a good walloping while he’s at it.

Oh, and get ready for the activist judge rhetoric. Those dang activist judges are just trying to keep Rick Perry down! And, uh, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum down, too.

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Perry Says American Troops Who Urinated On Dead Taliban Fighters Should Be Reprimanded, Gay Soldiers Should Be Discharged

Erik Kain



Josh Barro is one of my favorite conservative pundits. I owe the title of the post to his tweet a moment ago linking to this article on the response of Rick Perry and John McCain to the recent very bad business in Afghanistan:

Texas Gov. Perry said the Marines involved should be reprimanded but not prosecuted on criminal charges.

“Obviously, 18-, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often. And that’s what’s occurred here,” Perry told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He later added: “What’s really disturbing to me is the kind of over-the-top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military.”

Later appearing on the same show, McCain said he disagreed.

“We’re trying to win the hearts and minds” of the Afghanistan population, he said. “And when something like that comes up, it obviously harms that ability.”

I only ever agree with McCain while gritting my teeth. The “bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran” singer lost my respect during the 2008 election when he revealed that instead of the maverick he’d painted himself as for so many years he was, in fact, just a bitter old egomaniac.

But *grits teeth* he’s absolutely right about this. Heads must roll when American troops defile enemy bodies. Just like the torture debate, the point remains that we must hold ourselves to higher standards than our enemy. It’s not merely that we need to win hearts and minds, it’s simply the right thing to do.

Sadly, McCain has reversed his old position on gays serving in the military – another issue that boils down, quite simply, to doing what is right rather than what is easy. Perry and McCain are both ardent opponents of the overturning of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. One of Obama’s finer moments was ending that pernicious policy. I actually suspect that it’s simply the fact that Obama did it that makes McCain so uptight over the whole thing. McCain wanted to be president and so every achievement of Obama’s is viewed through that prism of resentment and bitterness and regret.

One would expect no better from the hapless Perry.

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Are Romney and Huntsman the Only Serious 2012 GOP Candidates?

Erik Kain

The GOP field is crowded still, but it won’t be for long. Primaries kick off in just over a month, and so far it’s still anybody’s game. Presumptive front-runner Mitt Romney continues to hold steady in the polls – at second place. Following the birther-bump one-time candidate enjoyed, we’ve seen everyone from Michele Bachmann to […]

Read more at Forbes.

Why Newt Gingrich’s Sensible Positions Will Come Back to Haunt Him

Erik Kain

Newt Gingrich won Tuesday’s CNN foreign policy debate. But will his stance on immigration sink his campaign? It’s probably bad news for Newt Gingrich that I thought he did well in last night’s debate. Taking a more moderate stance on a number of issues, the former House speaker risks losing his front-runner status in recent […]

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Newt Gingrich: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Candidate

Erik Kain

Newt Gingrich won’t be president. He represents the worst in every other GOP candidate. Mitt Romney must be getting dizzy. The number of Republican primary candidates whose suns have risen above him only to crash and burn later just keeps growing and growing. Each time one sun rises, a slew of new information and new […]

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Romney Struggles While Cain Dips in Recent Polls

Erik Kain

Despite being seen by voters as the most electable in a recent Washington Post/ABC poll, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is still struggling to break away from the pack: In the other five areas tested in the new survey, Romney shows no greater strength than other GOP contenders. On empathy, 21 percent say Cain is the one […]

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Massive Tax Cuts for the Rich Will Not Balance the Budget

Erik Kain

If you’re concerned about the deficit and you think that Rick Perry’s new tax proposal might be a good idea, you probably ought to take a look at this chart: It turns out that not only is this just a huge tax giveaway to the rich, Perry’s plan would actually raise $4.7 trillion fewer dollars […]

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Perry’s Tax Fantasy Makes for Great Boilerplate, Terrible Policy

Erik Kain

Presidential hopeful Rick Perry has come out with what will surely be described as a bold tax plan in some quarters. For anyone interested in serious tax proposals and a long-term strategy to at once shrink the national debt and pay for important government services and avoid social unrest and unnecessary economic pain, the Texas […]

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Taxing the Rich More Won’t Solve the Problems with Income Inequality

Erik Kain

I find most discussions of taxation mind-numbingly stupid. We have a terrible tax code. It’s full of bad incentives. It’s written by people in the thrall of public opinion or pledged to Grover Norquist’s silly no-new-taxes pledge. It’s an ad hoc disaster that makes many tax lawyers and tax software people very rich. Many people […]

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In Vegas Debate Perry Take the Gloves Off but Romney is Still King

Erik Kain

Mitt Romney and Rick Perry clash over immigration policy in last night’s Republican primary debate. Last night’s CNN GOP debate in Las Vegas has been widely described as the most heated of the debates so far, and the gloves really came off when Texas governor Rick Perry accused Mitt Romney of hiring undocumented workers – […]

Read more at Forbes.