Although most observers have already said that Mitt Romney is likely to defeat Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary, exit polling just out on CNN is more bad news for the former House Speaker. For one thing the exit polls showed about an equal split between “very conservative”, “somewhat conservative” and “moderate” (all self described). This is very different from South Carolina...

They say that money can’t buy happiness, but the Florida G.O.P. primary shows once again that it can buy elections. Unlike the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, winning Florida with its large and diverse population can not be accomplished by “retail campaigning.” It’s impossible to reach enough voters to make a difference by shaking hands and scheduled appearances. The...

Think tanks have become extraordinarily important in generating the ideas and the rhetoric that permeate our politics — often for the worse. This poem is a first person account of a typical think tanker’s rise to prominence… The Think Tank Song For many long years I felt ineffectual A misunderstood and ignored intellectual My theories (though brilliant) were hooted and hissed By colleagues and...

WASHINGTON – The answer is simple. Because no Republican or Democratic politician has the courage to challenge them. This could apply to any religious institution meddling in politics, which the Catholic Church continues to do religiously without repercussions. E.J. Dionne reveals why: That is why it is so remarkable that he utterly botched the admittedly difficult question of how contraceptive services...

Richard Cohen writes this morning that Herman Cain’s endorsement of Newt Gingrich is proof positive that the Grand Old Party is brain dead: It’s hard to know who is the more ridiculous figure — the grandiloquent, bombastic and compulsively dishonest Gingrich, or the beguilingly ignorant Cain, a man who has never held elective office and who was reduced to speechlessness when asked a question about...

WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin rose to power in Alaska by taking on Republicans in her own state on ethics, something I cover in my new book The Hillary Effect. It’s the very thing Tom Brokaw is talking about regarding Newt Gingrich in the Romney ad above, though Brokaw, and NBC are protesting. The Romney hashtag for it is #Newtorious. You don’t need partisan rhetoric or his scandals to fillet Newt...

The Top 5 Secret Tips for Basic Training Success by Michael Volkin author of The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook: Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Surviving Boot Camp www.UltimateBasicTraining.com I have spoken to thousands of recruits, countless drill sergeants, and hundreds of soldiers about basic training. Many recruits aren’t aware that they can learn secret tips before arriving at basic training to make...

Here is a fun diversion (hat tip to Jimmy Kimmel show who did it with a scene from Jersey Shore) Take a sentence and translate it into a foreign language on Babelfish or Bing Translator Then translate that sentence into a 2nd language Then back into English I tried “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal” and took it from English to Japanese to French to English I...

I’m turning forty years old this Sunday. Which means if I’m lucky I’m at the half way point. Although I think eighty might be wishful thinking if I don’t start increasing my daily mobility. Sitting on my butt for prolonged increments of time is one of the shared job descriptions that unites my roles as pastor, writer, and radio host. Some days I feel like a stalagmite. However, unlike...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com A new Reuters/Ipsos online poll mirrors what most polls are finding: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seems to have Big Mo in Florida while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s poll numbers are going anywhere but in the direction of the moon: White House hopeful Mitt Romney widened his lead over rival Newt Gingrich to 11 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos...

Today’s New York Times features an article headlined “Goldman Ties Enrich Public and Private Life for Romney.” It details how the likely Republican candidate for president not only keeps his family money tucked away with the corporate face of Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, but is getting much of his campaign money channeled from this same outfit. My, my. Stories such as these will likely appear...

LAPLACE, Louisiana –How could I resist? Here I am at Laplace, Louisiana, en route to another city in Louisiana, on a quick stop. I check the Internet and there it is: a post that says some of what I suggested in an earlier post. So I want to say what I always wanted to say: As I’ve noted before, no, Sarah Palin lovers and admirers, your heroine is NOT universally loved, admired or — in some...

During a speech to a Hispanic leadership group Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) was interrupted by a group of protesters upset over his opposition to the Dream Act. They first held up signs objecting to his opposition to the law held up signs linking him to the Tea Party and implying that he was anti Hispanic. In a move I think many politicians could learn from Rubio praised the bravery of the protesters for...

A make who makes pizza sings opera. And now he has gone viral: video platform video management video solutions video player I predict this guy will make a lot of dough. (But politicians go one step further: they give us a song AND a dance.)

In the final scene of the classic 1931 movie “Little Ceasar,” the gangster, played by the great Edward G. Robinson, his body riddled with bullets shot by police, says: “”Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?” In the wake of last night’s lively CNN Republican Presidential debate, many observers are now seriously asking: “Mother of mercy, is this is the political end...

WASHINGTON – Florida is not South Carolina, and if Newt Gingrich isn’t punching the media he doesn’t seem to have anything to say. That Mitt Romney got a new debate coach who pumped up his aggressiveness and gave him game caught Gingrich off guard. It was Rick Santorum that leveled the only hits on Romney via the health care mandate, with the consensus on Twitter that his veep spot is now...

The increasingly strident tone of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as they faced off in tonight’s G.O.P. debate in Florida must be considered in the context of the battering each has been receiving from the other’s SuperPAC. Of course, both candidates deny their ability to control these attack ads and criticizes the other’s ads for falsehoods and misstatements of the facts. Perhaps desperation reared its...

Here is a case to show the possible complications of technology. In the case a woman and her husband were arrested and charged with bank fraud. When they were arrested the police served a warrant and seized several laptops. One of them had encrypted files on it. Based on both the names of the files on the laptop and comments by the defendant Ramona Fricosu, they determined it was her laptop and she knew the...

WASHINGTON – How many people were waiting for this to happen? Newt Gingrich has been tripped up and caught making claims that are now proven to be false. “Tonight, after persistent questioning by our staff, the Gingrich campaign concedes now Speaker Gingrich was wrong — both in his debate answer, and in our interview yesterday,” King said on tonight’s edition of John King USA. “Gingrich...

In President Obama’s State of the Union address this week, he criticized countries that don’t play by the rules of international trade. He noted that his administration had initiated nearly twice as many trade cases against China as the previous administration. He criticized countries (read China) who let movies, music and software be pirated. And he exclaimed that it is unfair if foreign manufacturers...

It turns that now it has been proven and Newt Gingrich has admitted he was wrong about the witnesses he had to rebut his ex-wife’s allegations and ABC’s response to his purported offer to bring them foward. A slight inaccuracy — but, hey, it allowed him to puff up his big melodramatic moment against the press and hit that good, old hot button that helped him with the South Carolina primary....

Available in print at Amazon.com WASHINGTON – The reason I wrote my book was to tell a piece of history. It was to set the record of events out for people to read and connect. The Hillary Effect gets another big boost from recent reporting that bolsters the case I make, which is backed up by the facts I offer. A memo revealed by Ryan Lizza in “The Obama Memos”, printed in The New Yorker, proves...

How is this story for amazing…. President John Tyler was born while George Washington was President, he served from 1841-1845 and died during the Lincoln years. Yet two of his *grandchildren* are alive today…. Both he and his son had children quite late in life and the grandkids are pretty long lived themselves…

AUSTIN, Tex. — It’s a new, unsettling era for Republicans on many fronts. For instance, take Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Please. Many Texans still love Perry and felt badly about his wipe out on the national political stage. The Dallas Morning News had this big headline: “Perry’s dream dashed…With S.C. out of reach, he bows out, backs Gingrich.” A story underneath that: “After...

While most people weren’t looking, America’s controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay turned ten years old a few weeks ago; for some reason, the President didn’t mention this during the State of the Union. I used the occasion of Guantanamo’s birthday party in Washington, D.C. to meet, and to arrange an interview with, retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis, once the Chief Prosecutor...