Ain't The Devil Happy

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Rick Santorum Drops Presidential Bid, Endorses Marco Rubio

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, throwing his support behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Satorum made the announcement Wednesday night on Fox News' "On the Record," saying he spoke with Rubio "for more than hour" Tuesday before making up his mind.

Santorum won the 2012 Iowa caucuses and ended that race with the second-most number of delegates to eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney. But he was unable to capture any momentum this year despite extensive barnstorming efforts in Iowa.

He is the third Republican presidential candidate to drop out after Monday's caucuses. Mike Huckabee ended his campaign that night, and Rand Paul suspended his campaign Wednesday morning.

Santorum said that he and his family decided the best way to achieve his campaign's goals was to get out of the race.

"We decided that I think we could be better advocates for that in supporting someone who shared those values and is in a better position to do well in this race," Santorum told Greta Van Susteren, saying he was looking for a candidate that believed in helping struggling Americans, placed importance on traditional family units and who had the experience and understanding to take on ISIS.

I've always liked Santorum, but he's never going to be President. Better to try another run in Congress or even a governor bid if he wants to make a difference for social conservatives.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Why Marco Rubio Was Real Winner in Iowa

CNN.com:

To be sure, Sen. Ted Cruz accomplished something no other GOP candidate this year has been able to do. He made Donald Trump a loser. No amount of humility or grace will change the fact The Donald was handed his first "L" at the hands of that "Canadian" nobody likes. And it wasn't even close.

Yet, even as Cruz might like to revel in this history-making night in Iowa, the storyline has shifted away from him to the emergence of Marco Rubio as a viable alternative in the GOP race. Not only did Trump lose to Cruz, he almost lost to Rubio in a dramatic, last-minute surge that propelled Rubio to within 1 percentage point of second place.

This was a spectacular feat considering Rubio was projected to be a distant third by the venerable Des Moines Register poll that had forecast he'd garner only 15%.

Rubio's final tally came in at 23%, blowing the doors off expectations, which at this stage of the campaign can be more valuable than actually winning. Entrance polls showed the notoriously fickle last-minute undecided voters broke heavily for Rubio. It's fair to say that most political observers grossly underestimated Rubio, mistakenly hyping up the two-man race scenario between Trump and Cruz. Not anymore.

It appears that voters do appreciate a candidate having a command of the issues, the ability to articulate a plan to protect the United States and defeat with specificity, rather than bluster and braggadocio. Actually showing up for a debate four days before voting in that state apparently matters, too.

Once the caucus results became clear, Rubio saw an opening and seized the moment. By giving his speech first during prime time viewing to maximize exposure and effect, Rubio cleverly outmaneuvered Cruz. He gave aspirational and well-delivered remarks reminding Democrats why Rubio poses such a threat to their candidate in a general election.

Donald Trump Says Boycotting Fox News Debate Might Have Cost Him Iowa Win

TheHill.com:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that his snub of Fox News’ GOP debate last week may have caused him to lose the Iowa caucuses.

"That could've been with the debate," Trump said in Milford, N.H. "I think some people were disappointed that I didn't go into the debate."

But Trump said he has no regrets, noting he brought in $6 million for veterans’ groups at the fundraising event he did instead of the debate.

The billionaire businessman said he still did “very well” in Iowa despite finishing in second behind rival Ted Cruz, saying expectations were too high.

“I guess what did happen is one poll came out that said we were four or five points ahead and maybe built up a false expectation for some people,” he said.

"People didn't talk about my second place. They didn't talk about it as positively as they should have."

Asked whether the loss in Iowa hurt Trump’s brand as a winner, he responded: “I think my brand's doing great.”

Two Signs From Iowa That Should Worry Hillary Clinton

WashingtonExaminer.com:

It's bad enough for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to end up in a virtual tie with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders given that she edged him out by a whopping 61 points in a poll taken at this time a year ago.

But these two results from the entrance polls should trouble Clinton, as well as all Democrats should she win the nomination:

1) Sanders beat Clinton with voters aged 17 to 29 by an insane 84 percent to 14 percent, and 30 to 44 year olds by a narrower but still substantial 58 percent to 37 percent. It's true that the results of primaries and caucuses don't necessarily carry over to the general election. But this wide of a gap has to be concerning given that come November, she'll have to turn out these voters in large numbers.

2) Among those who said that "honest and trustworthy" was the candidate quality that mattered to them most, Sanders won 83 percent to 10 percent. As Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state continues to produce new revelations, the fact that she's viewed this way among a Democratic electorate is not a good sign.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

UK Government Survey Asks Kids To Choose One Of 23 Genders

DailyCaller.com:

A survey distributed by a British city to local students is raising eyebrows across the pond because it lets students choose from a whopping 23 different genders.

The survey, distributed to all schoolchildren aged 13-18 in the English city of Brighton and Hove, includes not only conventional gender options like “male” and “female” but more unusual ones like “tri-gender,” “demi-boy,” and “all genders.” The survey is the work of Children’s Commissioner for England, a government post created to advocate for the interests of children.

“We want to know how gender matters to young people: what does gender mean to them; how does it affect their lives; what do they want to change?” Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield told The Telegraph.

At least one educational figure agrees with Longfield. Ashley Harrold, the head teacher of one school, praised the survey as a way to improve children’s lives.

"For us, anything that prevents students feeling happy, from feeling confident in themselves and from feeling accepted by their peers is something we feel the curriculum should address,” Harrold told the Brighton Argus. “Raising students awareness of the wider spectrum of gender identity is important in building an inclusive and tolerant society.”

Zika Virus That Shrinks Babies Brains Sparks 'Public Health Emergency'

CNN.com:

The World Health Organization declared a "public health emergency of international concern" Monday over the Zika virus and the health problems that doctors fear it is causing.

The agency said the emergency is warranted because of how fast the mosquito-borne virus is spreading and its suspected link to an alarming spike in babies born with abnormally small heads -- a condition called microcephaly -- in Brazil and French Polynesia.

Reports of a serious neurological condition, called Guillame-Barre Syndrome, that can lead to paralysis, have also risen in areas where the virus has been reported. Health officials have specifically seen clusters of this in El Salvador, Brazil and French Polynesia, according to WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward.

The conditions have not yet been conclusively linked to the virus.

"The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven," Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general said.

But the large area potentially affected by the virus, the lack of vaccines and reliable diagnostic tests, and lack of population immunity in the affected countries contributed to the need for the declaration, according to the WHO.

Idiot MSNBC Pundit Melissa Harris-Perry Likens Illegal Immigrant Deportation To Fugitive Slave Laws

DailyCaller.com:

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry on Saturday likened the Obama administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants to “a fugitive slave law” during a discussion about Flint, Michigan’s illegal immigrant community being reluctant to accept clean water aid out of fear of being deported.

“This does feel to me like potentially a black/brown coalition moment,” Harris-Perry said, “because I don’t want the Obama administration’s final year to be marred by a fugitive slave law around the question of this deportation that leads in the context of Flint to actual children being actually poisoned by lead because their parents are too afraid to open the door for clean water.”

Earlier in the program Harris-Perry blamed Sec. of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and the Obama administration for “deportation sweeps” that have caused Flint’s illegal immigrant community to not accept aid, causing their children to be poisoned.

“I don’t want to let Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and his deportation sweeps at the behest of the Obama administration, that have struck fear in so many communities off the hook here,” she explained. “Because it is part of my understanding about why at least some groups of children are continuing to be poisoned in that community, because they are too afraid to, in fact, accept the help.”

Harris-Perry plays the race card so well. Her white liberal bosses at MSNBC must be so proud of her.

RELATED: MSNBC’s Harris-Perry: Confiscate Legal Guns So Men Don’t Shoot Their Wives [VIDEO]

Monday, February 1, 2016

In the United States, Latino Voters Lie Low

YahooNews.com:

Rios said she likes Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

"Never Donald Trump," she said of the top Republican candidate, pointing to his "way of thinking."

But she admitted she does not know much about politics. And with enough trouble making ends meet, she said she has no time to devote to it.

Year after year, political analysts herald the rise of the Hispanic vote. But the giant is lying low -- despite intense efforts by Democrats, and to a lesser extent Republicans, to mobilize it.

Hispanics represent an electoral group seeing the fastest growth, in comparison to whites and African Americans. But abstention is much higher among them. Half did not cast ballots in 2012, compared to about a third of blacks and whites, according to the Pew Research Center.

Concentrated in certain states such as Florida and Nevada, they are more or less ignored in a state like Iowa, which holds closely watched caucuses on Monday.

For the most part Latinos could care less about elections...unless it's one of their own. The biggest question the GOP should be concerned about is if a majority of Latinos will be motivated to come out to oppose a Trump candidacy, because you just know Hillary and the Democrat machine is gonna go extra hard after them if Trump turns out to be the Republican nominee.

Barack Obama E-mailed Hillary Clinton 22 Times, But State Department Won't Release Them

NYTimes.com:

The State Department on Friday said for the first time that “top secret” material had been sent through Hillary Clinton’s private computer server, and that it would not make public 22 of her emails because they contained highly classified information.

The department announced that 18 emails exchanged between Mrs. Clinton and President Obama would also be withheld, citing the longstanding practice of preserving presidential communications for future release. The department’s spokesman, John Kirby, said that exchanges did not involve classified information.

The disclosure of the top secret emails, three days before Iowans vote in the first-in-the-nation caucuses, is certain to fuel the political debate over the unclassified computer server that Mrs. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, kept in her home. The State Department released another set of her emails on Friday night in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The top secret emails lent credence to criticism by Mrs. Clinton’s rivals in the presidential race of her handling of classified information while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. It is against the law for officials to discuss classified information on unclassified networks used for routine business or on private servers, and the F.B.I. is looking into whether such information was mishandled.

Everyone knows damn well that if this had been a Republican Secretary of State involved in this type of email corruption, the media would be fanning the flames for some type of harsh penalty to the GOP as a whole. After all, we all remember the big deal Democrats and the liberal press made out of former President George W. Bush supposedly outing Valerie Plame some time back.

Dr. Ben Carson Quote of the Day!

“We need to be doing military exercises in not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They’re terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one-horse country: oil. And energy..."

- Republican candidate for President Ben Carson's highly questionable reply to a question about future Russian expansion into bordering countries at last week's FOX News GOP debate