With the Iowa caucuses right around the corner, some people are saying that the victor may actually end up being Ron Paul. Yeah, you know, the guy who’s had steady numbers in the polls this whole time despite some people seeming to want to ignore that fact. So, what does that mean if he wins? Well, according to Fox News’ Chris Wallace, it will “discredit the Iowa caucuses.” (Read more)

This article is so convoluted and confused, it’s barely readable.

Glad to see Frum is getting slaughtered in the comments.

See also:

Trotskyite Calls Ron Paul Supporters ‘Monkeys’

(dated Octomber 19, 2011, retrieved Dec 9, 2011)

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A few days ago, some Republican senators attempted to lay the groundwork for a shooting war with Russia. I wish I were exaggerating.

Last week, while most senators were focused on the important national issues of war funding and Americans’ constitutional liberties, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) seemed more concerned with the fate of a foreign country. Behind the scenes, Rubio moved to have a unanimous consent vote that would have hastened Georgia’s entry into NATO. The unanimous consent vote never happened because Senator Rand Paul single-handedly prevented it.

This is not a triviality. Make no mistake: Bringing Georgia into NATO could lead to a new military conflict for the United States, which is why any move that would facilitate Georgia’s entry into the alliance should be publicly debated. Rubio’s attempt to push this through by unanimous consent — that is to say, without any formal debate or vote — is highly suspect and calls into question the senator’s better judgment.

But what Sen. Rubio is advocating is nothing new. Examining the political context of McCain’s declaration of solidarity with Georgia in 2008 should give Americans pause about the Washington establishment’s foreign policy agenda. After the 2008 South Ossetia conflict, Pat Buchanan wrote:

Who is Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski as national security adviser to the president of the United States. But Randy Scheunemann has another identity, another role. He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have made this moral mercenary a rich man.

[emphasis added]

Continued Buchanan:

From January 2007 to March 2008, the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000 — pocket change compared to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili. What were Mikheil’s marching orders to Tbilisi’s man in Washington? Get Georgia a NATO war guarantee. Get America committed to fight Russia, if necessary, on behalf of Georgia. Scheunemann came close to succeeding.

Buchanan’s description of Scheunemann and his activities is instructive because Georgia’s entry into NATO would commit the United States to fighting for Georgia. Buchanan explains what would have happened in 2008 if Georgia had been part of NATO at that time:

Had [Scheunemann succeeded], U.S. soldiers and Marines from Idaho and West Virginia would be killing Russians in the Caucasus, and dying to protect Scheunemann’s client, who launched this idiotic war the night of Aug. 7. That people like Scheunemann hire themselves out to put American lives on the line for their clients is a classic corruption of American democracy.

. . . .

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Despite running a solid 2nd in the polls.

Total Talk %
Romney 18:19 25.36%
Gingrich 13:41 18.95%
Bachmann 11:39 16.13%
Perry 10:19 14.29%
Santorum 9:35 13.27%
Ron Paul 8:40 12.00%
Total 1:12:13 100.00%

Turns Talking %
Gingrich 17 23.29%
Romney 16 21.92%
Perry 11 15.07%
Bachmann 10 13.70%
Santorum 10 13.70%
Ron Paul 9 12.33%
Total 73 100.00%

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Head of Russia’s only political watchdog detained as elections begin The head of Russia’s only independent political watchdog was held at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Saturday as elections in the world’s biggest country began, The Associated Press reported. (Read more)

Independent Russian Websites Hacked, Disabled On Election Day Suspected hackers shut down several Russian websites that provide independent election data, making state-controlled media one of the few widely accessible sources of information about today’s parliamentary vote. (Read more)

Media Pressured Before Elections Reporters Without Borders said Thursday that it compiled a list of recent freedom of information violations that shows “that no methods are being spared to bolster strongman Vladimir Putin and promote unanimous acclaim for his decision to run again for the presidency.”

The most telling example is the crackdown on Golos, the country’s only independent elections observer organization, which became the target of a concerted campaign by authorities and certain media this week.

This Friday night, Gazprom-controlled television channel NTV, will air a 30-minute investigative piece on Golos, questioning the organization’s objectivity on grounds that it is financed by U.S. grants….

Other incidents this week include censorship accusations against RIA-Novosti, the country’s biggest state-owned news agency, and fresh denial-of-service attacks against LiveJournal, the country’s biggest blogging platform. (Read more)

Vladimir Putin set to lose majority amid complaints of electoral violations Kadyrov, the brutal leader of the federal republic of Chechnya, said that 99.51% of its voters backed United Russia, out of a 94% turnout; in the past it has been reported as 100%, while he himself had promised “more than 100%” this time. (Read more)

Russia PM Vladimir Putin accuses US over poll protests Mr Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “set the tone for some opposition activists”.

She “gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work”, he said. (Read more)

psychopath.

I think all those “prevented” attacks he mentions were examples of the FBI thwarting their own terror plots.

Here’s a fun game. Let’s think of all the stuff conservatives say they hated about George W. Bush’s time in office.

No Child Left Behind? Newt Gingrich supported it.

Medicare Part D, the new prescription drug entitlement? Newt Gingrich favored it.

TARP? Newt Gingrich cheered for it.

The Harriet Miers nomination? Newt Gingrich predicted success.

Comprehensive immigration reform? Newt Gingrich endorsed it.

Then there’s “the surge,” Bush’s Iraq war turnaround strategy that conservatives love to laud. Gingrich opposed that.

So what gives?

The former House speaker’s surge makes no sense. The conservative base that was energized partly by fatigue at eight years of Bush missteps is rallying around the candidate who favored them all. What a bizarre turn. (Read more)

How the hell is this guy the front runner?

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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich once spoke at an Alzheimer’s conference sponsored by PositiveID (PSID), the human microchip implant company that came under fire for injecting 200 Alzheimer’s patients with wireless chips in Florida without properly obtaining their consent.

The issue of whether Americans should receive subcutaneous wireless RFID chip implants that can link to their electronic medical records emerged again in Wisconsin this week, where former governor and Bush Administration secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is considering a run for Senate. Thompson was a former board member of VeriChip, the company that renamed itself PositiveID, and once appeared on CNBC with PositiveID CEO Scott Silverman to advocate that everyone receive a chip from birth: (Read more)