florida debate

So if you missed last night's debate like I did, you can watch it here. First of all, not to be negative, because we all know I'm the princess of positivity, but Romney and Gingrich were terrible. I mean, really.

Tax returns.
Private sector.
Career Politician.
Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac.

We get it. We got it 35 debates ago when they started all this nonsense.

Finally, somebody called them out on their petty drama. Who? None other than the vest man himself! About 35-36 minutes into the debate, Santorum confronted the two middle school girls... I mean... the speaker and the governor.

"Can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of Congress to go out and advise companies, and that's not the worst thing in the world, and that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy because he worked hard, and he's going out and working hard. And can you guys leave that alone and focus on the issues?"

Good job, Rick! He did so well last night! Nailed every question. Responded to every comment. Nobody has any accusations against him - why? Because his record is clean! Definitely the winner. No doubt.

Now that we've crowned him the winner, can I just please say how completely and utterly terrible Newt's "my wife would be the best first lady" response was? (About an hour and 15 minutes into the debate) Honestly. I mean, he's told us the reason he divorced his second wife and ushered Callista into the Gingrich's Wives Club.

Why? Because it was going to help him become president. - because she was first lady material? Please. He could be her father. Then his response was so... unflattering. He's completely unelectable on the divorce reason alone.  None of our presidents have ever been divorced (apart from Reagan, which really nobody ever knew about - and she left him.). And it's not that America's never run a divorced candidate. Because we have. And they haven't made it. So if a man who's been divorced once can't make it to the White House, how in the world would we think that Gingrich, currently on wife #3 (no telling what will happen if Callista doesn't win him the White House), could ever make it?!

That's beyond me.

Statistically, electing a divorced candidate isn't going to happen. Newt fans, you need to rally behind Santorum. Your vote's going to be wasted!

As long as we're on the topic of supporting Santorum, all you Paulites need to realize your candidate is never going to win. He didn't in 1988. He didn't in 2008. He won't in 2012. You're also wasting your vote.

Let's all rally behind and support Rick Santorum! He's the stark contrast and change we need to defeat Barack Hussein Obama!

santorum president/obama lies

And this is why Santorum has to be the next president.
He, out of the only three real contenders left in the election (Paul is just a joke), is the only true conservative.

He's the only one who can give us something different than what we have now.
And we all know that man in the White House has got to go. Anybody who can outright lie to the American people and say, "Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn't know what they're talking about."

One of Obama's lies to the United States

Noooo, we're not in decline. We haven't lost our AAA rating. Our unemployment rate isn't through the roof. Our debt... well, let's just look at our debt over the past 12ish years (somebody has to because our president sure isn't).

In 2000 when Bush was elected, he came into office with almost 6 trillion dollars of debt. He, like Obama had a mess to clean up. Whoever says that Clinton balanced the budget is just ignorant.

Bush left, having raised the debt less than 3 trillion - over the course of 8 years. Obama, however, has raised the debt 6 trillion dollars over 3 years. That's double what Bush did in his entire 8-year administration.

2000 Debt Clock

2008 Debt Clock

Current Debt Clock


Let's take a look at our current president, shall we?

When Obama came into office with 9+ trillion, we all know Bush gave him some stuff to clean up. (You forget, though, that Bush came into office with 6 trillion dollars of debt and no expectations of being attacked by terrorists - war=$ -)

I'll give Obama that much.
But Bush didn't give him a 2000+ page healthcare bill.
Bush didn't give him Libya.
Bush didn't give him so much more that he's done to this nation.

And how long is it the previous president's mess considered the previous president's mess?
When does it become the new president's problems and responsibilities?
Evidently this country doesn't have any problems. We're soaring!!  We're so influential everybody wants to be just like us!
Fifteen trillion dollars in debt.
Multiple wars.
A terrible relationship with Israel.
An extremely high unemployment rate (oh. I'm sorry. It's dropped to 8.5. How critical of me. Mind you, Bush kept it between 4.2 and 7.3, but Obama can't seem to keep it below 7.8. he sure can get it to 10%, though!)
And if you think that we're not soaring, if you think our country is in decline, your opinion is absolutely ridiculous and you "don't know what [you're] talking about."

I know it looks like I'm comparing Bush and Obama. I am. Bush wasn't my favorite president either. But don't give Bush the "he gave Obama so much debt" garbage when you should actually be looking at the current president who may or may not be creating jobs? That's still up for debate. When I see the unemployment rate drop more than .5 percent in 4 months, I'll reevaluate.

I'm sorry I'm not sorry. I obviously have no clue what I'm talking about.

back from the SC

After 10 days of phone calls and sign waving, I'm back! I literally had the absolute best time of my life. Seriously - and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my cousin!

Hali and me waving signs in downtown Charleston. Notice the official Santorum vest.

       

One day (and after being there almost two weeks, it's hard to tell which day) Hali and I made phone calls all day - and were basically competing with this eight year old. No joke. She was a little homeschooled girl from Pennsylvania making phone calls to hundreds of people a day to convince people to vote for Senator Santorum. She was absolutely inspiring.






Speaking of calls... I made the official Rick Santorum video!!

Game on in South Carolina!

My previous post talks about the presidential debate and the annoying Ron Paul campaigners (who were almost as bad as the protesters) and obnoxious protesters who were... I guess exercising their First Amendment rights?  One protester, though, was kind enough to take a picture for us. Thanks, random socialist! You're so kind!

This is that same night of the debate in Charleston.

Hali and me in the median of the highway. 

So we ended up not getting into the debate because our way cool security friend, Mike, couldn't get us in, although (as you'll see in a few minutes) he was able to get us in backstage at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference to meet Herman Cain. Score.

After waving signs all night, we decided to head back to the hotel and watch the end of the debate and comments on the news while we painted. (Hali's is to the left. Mine's to the right.)Yeah. we're cool like that. We even asked the people at the restaurant we went to one night to turn one of the tv's from football to Fox News with closed captions so we didn't miss our nightly Fox News. Don't judge.


People from the Boston Globe, some local papers, and some other media source that didn't really tell us who they were (I thought about afterwards how that was kinda sketchy) and other people interviewed me and took our picture (or in Hali's words - "we got our picture made"). Most people had driven from up north, but we were the only southern belles in Charleston.

Campaigning downtown. Again. Waiting for Santorum.

After waving signs for about two hours, Santorum "left the building" decked in his vest and all, and he and his wife thanked all the volunteers. Hali and I visited with a volunteer and his daughter from London.  He was a speechwriter in the House of Lords - he had read 9000 books. Impressive? Absolutely.

There he is! Probably one of the most humble men I've ever met in my life.

What happened when Santorum left? I thought you'd want to know. Our dear friend, Mike ran outside, grabbed us like the world was going to end, gave us backstage passes, and we were able to meet Herman Cain!

 Ok. So Mike wouldn't make a good living as a photographer, but he's good at getting backstage passes. That's all I really cared about in that moment.

How did we get a picture with Herman Cain? Glad you asked. Do you see that crowd of media behind Herman? Yes. Our dear friend Mike stopped them all in their tracks for us to get a picture. Did they hate us? Probably. Did we care? Absolutely not. We'll never see them again. Herman Cain acted happy as a lark to take a picture with us.

To finish off our trip, we attended the Santorum election party, and we made the official page! Whoop whoop!

Dustin, Hali and Me at the election party!

Absolutely the best trip ever. Period. The end.

Occupy vs. the Cousins

Last night before the debate (which is another post in itself), we went to wave signs outside the coliseum.  Were we the obnoxious girls who ran across the highway to stand in the median to get away from the Ron Paul losers? Duh.

However, we were not nearly as obnoxious as the Occupy people who came.  I would say we were about 1% obnoxious. Them? Definitely 99%. And they didn't mind yelling how 99% obnoxious they were last night. All night.

Here's my thoughts on the Occupy (I'm not sure if it's supposed to be capitalized or not, but I don't know the grammatical rule on capitalization of an obnoxious group of ignorant protestors) people's protesting events (because I know you're dying to hear).

I'm pretty sure there's a mass e-mail that goes around that says something like this:

Dear Communist Comrades,
       We here at the Occupy movement just want to thank you so much for your protesting efforts. During your next march/protest, make sure you all have a scraggly beard and dress like you've been homeless for about seven months.
        Five tips for looking homeless:
               -Don't take a bath or brush your teeth for two weeks.
               -Along with not taking a bath, stay away from deodoarant.
               -The signs you make cannot be printed like the 1%'s political signs. I know you all have money to pay for your monthly smart phone bill, so your local Occupy group definitely has the funds to get some signs printed, but please. You'll just look like them (you know. the corporations who aren't people).
              -When we say the signs can't be printed, we mean make your signs on pieces of cardboard, using a sharpie and really bad handwriting (like a homeless person's sign).  On your signs, cartoon characters, such as the monopoly man, Spongebob, etc make a nice touch.
              -Also, if you're over 60, try to find a cane. (It increases the sympathy the other 99% have for you, and when you're shouting those obnoxious phrases like "You are the 99% too!" they'll realize that, because they don't make what that 1% makes, maybe one day they'll end up homeless with a cane.)
       We're so encouraged by your efforts, (that have really done nothing except make some people really annoyed, some others pretty injured, one or two raped - oh. and temporarily shut down some small business owners by your protests in NY- you know, the ones that are not the 1%. Congrats on that one.) We appreciate them.
       Be in touch, and we will see you on the liberal media outlets.
Sincerely,
Your Occupy Leaders

and then there were four

As if Santorum winning Iowa wasn't enough of a reason to celebrate like it's New Year's, Rick Perry's dropping out this morning!


About 11:00, Perry is going to finally withdraw from the race. Is the campaign headquarters ecstatic? Of course. Is the campaign headquarters baffled as to why he's going to endorse Gingrich. Yes.

Especially after this comment.

At least he's dropping out.

PTL. Fear the vest! SantorumTTT!

ding ding ding! we have a winner!!!

The Iowa recount is in... and Santorum WON!!!

My cousin, Hali, came up to SC last night to volunteer, and we woke up this morning to the news. We're basically jumping up and down on our hotel beds like children.

In all these thousands of phone calls, I keep hearing, "I really think Newt can beat Obama."

Ok. I'm sorry to tell you this (not really), but Newt hasn't beat anybody in his own party so far.
He came in 4th in Iowa and 5th in New Hampshire. Let's be serious people. I mean, he has a better chance than Perry, God love him, but he's not going to get it.


Don't waste your vote.

SantorumTTT! Fear the vest!

interesting responses take 2

  Just a few good ones -

"Anybody would be better than Odumba." I mean, I agree. But really? Odumba?

"You could put your hand through Romney's navel. There's nothing real about him." At least somebody's seeing through him.

"Newt is like a fungus. He makes me feel like I need to take a bath after I see him." Nuff said.

"You're young and don't know what you're talking about." Right. I don't have a degree in political science or anything.

"Just because you were so entertaining to talk to, we'll reconsider!" Score.

london volunteer

The title of the post is pretty self explanatory. I drove 11 hours to SC to volunteer. Pretty long way, I thought.

Wrong.

We have a volunteer from London.
London, England.
He's from another continent!
How cool is he?!
Answer: way cool.

phone call converts

Gingrich Converts -
Both basically said "I really like Gingrich because he's so smart, but I'm torn between him and Santorum." "Well, there's a difference between being smart and wise. You can know every word of the Constitution and the founding fathers' documents and have written 428 books, but marrying three different women isn't the wisest thing to do. Don't you think we need someone wise in the White House?"

Answer #1: "Oh. Well, that's a very good point. I guess you're right. You just changed my mind. I guess I'm not undecided anymore."

Answer #2: "Wow. We do need wisdom! I guess I'm voting for Santorum!"

Boom.


Paul Convert -
She was voting for either Paul or Santorum (of course I'm going to try to convince her). I'm always very curious as to how people are undecided between these two. Paul is so extreme, crazy, ridiculous, dogmatic - even his fan(atics) have to agree to this - and Santorum is so level headed. So I asked her if she was more socially conservative or socially liberal. "Socially conservative," she replies.

Perfect.

"Ok, Mrs. Whatever Her Name Was, did you know Ron Paul is so adamant about the 10th amendment and state's rights that he's ok, if states decide they want to, with them can legalizing prostitution, gay marriage, abortion, marijuana and several other drugs?  However, Santorum wrote the bill which banned partial birth abortion and is for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. So, if you're socially conservative and torn between the two candidates, I strongly suggest you look at Santorum."

"Well, I guess you just made my decision."

Score.


Romney Convert -
I just talked to a man who wanted his president to have the same religious beliefs as he did, which is why he was "voting for the man from Massachusetts."  I proceeded to ask him (if he didn't mind telling me) if he was Mormon, since that's what Romney was.
He wasn't a Mormon. I figured as much.
So I asked him if he was ok with a president that thought Jesus and Satan were brothers.
He was horrified. I figured as much.
He said my information was wrong. I figured as much.
I told him Romney actually said it himself in a debate when he was running for president in 2008.
He then proceeded to tell me how religious he was - raised in a Baptist church, deacon, Sunday school teacher.
Then went to a Presbyterian church.
Then a Pentacostal church.
Then a Lutheran church.
Then an Episcopalian church.
Then a Catholic church.

But never a Mormon.
Hmmm. Weird. Because he's going to vote for Romney - genius.
Since his last religious affiliation was Catholicism, I figured (since his main concern was a man who had his same religious beliefs) I would attempt a Santorum conversion.

So I did.
And I won.

My first goal at the phone bank was trying to make the most phone calls.
No. I'm trying to convert the most people.

SantorumTTT! Fear the vest!

interesting responses

So our phone script goes as follows:

"Hi, my name is ___, and I'm a volunteer for Senator Rick Santorum's presidential camapaign. Do you have a few moments to answer two questions for me?"

The first has to do with what issue is most important to them in the 2012 election, and the second has to do with who they plan on supporting Saturday in the SC primary.

Some great responses -

"Santorum is Satan." (Because that's a logical answer)

"I'm worried about the economy.  I've always been a Republican, but there's not a good candidate, so I'm voting for Obama." (You're worried about the economy, so you're going to vote for the man who has run our country into the ground in every way - especially economically. We're in a ridiculous amount of debt because of this man and the Democratic leaders in Washington.)

"Healthcare. Huntsman." "Do you know he dropped out last night?" "No. But I'm still voting for him"
(Ok. Thanks. Glad to know we have some smart people out there)

"Is Santorum Pro-Life?" "Absolutely." "Well, that made up my mind. I don't believe in birth control, but I believe in abortion, so I will not be voting for Santorum." (I really have no idea what to say to that)

"Well, I know Paul can't beat 'you know who'. We don't say his name in our house. And we don't like Romney. And Gingrich has done everybody, so I guess we're looking at the two Rick's." (Perfect.)

And they just keep coming...

phone bank leaderboard

The Santorum phone bank is getting heated with all this competition. Alex A beat me yesterday and today. 800 calls? I don't know how he's doing it. He must not be eating or taking bathroom breaks.

            
For real, though. The competition is oooonnnn. SantorumTTT!!
Fear the vest!

lunch surprise!

So the phone bank didn't open today til 1, so I headed to downtown Charleston for brunch. I ate at Virginia's on King (I highly suggest it if you're ever in Charleston).  Who did I see while I was eating my wonderful quiche? No, unfortunately not Santorum. But hey. I saw him yesterday.

I saw John Huntsman! I didn't just see him. He spoke to me. I spoke to him, and I shook his hand. Ok. Make it known that I am not a Huntsman fan at all (if you haven't gathered that by now, you obviously have a problem).  But seriously. How many times do you get the chance to see a presidential candidate? He's definitely last on the list of the six I'd like to have met, but still. You have to admit, it's pretty neat.

Here's my sorry picture of the back of his head.

So that was this morning's SC adventure.
And dad, if you read this... The picture below is for you - how I remembered where my car was.

South Carolina So Far

Since my last post I've been writing papers and driving so I could head up to South Carolina to campaign for Rick Santorum. I've been here since Friday, and it's been greeeeaaaat!   Since I got here Friday afternoon, I've made over 1100 calls at the phone bank.  I'm obsessed with campaigning. Seriously. It's probably unhealthy. 

Yesterday afternoon we walked around downtown Charleston handing out booklets about the senator and stood outside the theater where the Fox News/Mike Huckabee debate was being held. Yes, people were quite impressed that I drove 11 hours - quite the reason to tell them how important it is they vote for him. 

I got to meet the senator yesterday.  He came by the South Carolina headquarters in Mt Pleasant to talk to all the volunteers. Precious man. He should definitely be the next president.  No doubt about it. If you haven't checked him out, you should - right here. And of course, I got a picture with him. What a silly question.

"Of course, I would be honored to take a picture with you" - Rick Santorum

If you want an easy way to help out Rick Santorum, you can work the phone bank from your home!
I'm about to head out to do some touristy things while people are at church... yeah. Go ahead. Judge me. I'm being that girl today. Seriously. How many times are you in Charleston?

can't wait til tuesday

I really get more excited about good debates and election season than most people do about... well, pretty much anything. Kids count down to Christmas like I count down to Election Day. It's sad. I know.

Two debates in 12 hours? Heaven.

Meet the Press (one of my favorite shows), along with Facebook, hosted this morning's debate.  All six candidates did well.

Romney started off bumpy, arguing with Gingrich again about how he wasn't a career politician. We've all heard this argument. Multiple times. We know he worked in the private sector. We know he's not technically a career politician, as in, he didn't hold office for decades (yet, he has campaigned for years). We also know he would be a career politician had he not lost to Ted Kennedy years ago.

The Romney-Gingrich arguments didn't stop at the career politician squabble. Later in the debate, they both claimed that the other had false, extreme information about the other on their superpac attack ads.  David Gregory (or one of the other moderators) asked if they would consider taking down those ads. Both skirted the question. Politicians.

The media, especially during election season, along with candidates' opponents, love sound bites. Taking clips of a politician's speech or response and twisting it one of the most common strategies used in negative campaigning - and Romney gave them plenty of ammo this morning.

Romney said that politics was not his career. Ok. So what is? Is it is side job? Is he not taking it seriously? I would hope whoever is governor, much less president would take his job seriously. 
Besides informing the American population that politics wasn't his career, he also, a conservative by recent identification (previously he was a "progressive", not a "partisan Republican", and "moderate"), does not blame Obama for the country's recession and decline.  I'll admit, Obama got handed great deal of debt - but he's spending more than Bush ever thought about. This article is a little old, but it shows the stark difference between Bush and Obama - and this is from the most liberal news source out there!

Obama vs. Bush on Debt

Now, don't ask Obama what he thinks - he'll put his record up against almost any president -

Fourth Best President

Back to today's debate, though - If Romney doesn't blame Obama... who/what does he blame for the high unemployment rate, America's loss of the AAA rating, and the debt ceiling having to constantly be raised? That's going to come back to bite him.  However, along with his downfalls, Romney did have some positive moments as well.  He clearly stated his stance not discriminating against gays (but not favoring same sex marriage) and on not changing benefits to those who are currently on Medicare and/or Social Security but limiting the support for those future members who make higher amounts of money. He stated that he had found common ground with the 85% Democratic government while he was in Mass., so he knew it was possible, and he knew he could do it again in the White House.

While Romney was successful as a "non-politician" (I'm still not buying that one), Ron Paul, on the other hand, has not been - and a Facebook viewer brought the topic to the stage.  How, he/she asked, is Paul going to enact all of his radical policies? He's only gotten four bills to the floor, but only one has passed? Not a great record for a president.  Santorum said Paul had not been successful in accomplishing anything, and obviously working with other people wasn't his forte either. But does Paul doesn't take responsibility? No. He blames it on the government - that they're out of touch with the American people. Isn't he, as a representative, part of the government? God, love him.

This morning was definitely one of Perry's best debates. He nailed the programs he wants to cut (no "oops" this time), and conveyed a firm response on his stance on right-to-work legislation. Not necessarily anti-union, he said, but definitely pro job and ready to evaluate unions and determine which ones are actually job-creating and which ones are job-killing. What may have hurt Perry today? Calling Obama a socialist. The Democratic Party, in general, is for bigger government - Obama has just been more liberal than most.  Mind you, I don't like the man, but I don't think he's a socialist - just a crazy liberal.

Santorum moved from last night's runner up to today's winner.  He flawlessly answered the media's attempt to sabotage his stance on gay rights.  Treating them with respect, he says, was his answer.  Just because he doesn't agree with changing the law doesn't mean he can't respect them, but to keep the best for society, the nuclear family must stay the same.  Homosexuals are people and need to be respected, but as far as gay marriage goes, they should not receive the same rights.  The moderators asked Santorum what he would do if he had a gay son (mind you, they never asked any other candidate anything near this), and he answered it perfectly. Santorum said he would love his son just as much as he did the second before he was informed.

Other than Huntsman's always putting America first, I wasn't impressed (not that I ever am with him), and even Gingrich, my #2, keeps reliving the past. It's 2012 - you were speaker last century. Reagan is dead (makes me want to cry, but it's true). Tell us why you would be good now - because I know you will be!!

I guess we'll see Tuesday in New Hampshire who really won this weekend's debates, but I definitely think today's was Santorum.

Can't wait til Tuesday!!

contraception response

My previous post questioned Romney's response to the issue of state's rights in the area of banning contraceptives.  This video is his response, for those of you who couldn't remember (like me) or were watching the Saints game (yes, I'm judging you).

10 minutes til the NBC/Facebook debate! Hope you're watching!

gop debate response

For those of you who decided to watch the GOP debate instead of the Saints game - Congratulations! You're a true American! You haven't thrown away your life to the idiots passing and fumbling balls and scantily clad women trying to relive their high school/college days by throwing pompoms in the air.

So who's who from tonight's debate?

 The assailant.  For somebody who wants to get out of all these wars, he didn't mind creating his own enemies on the GOP stage tonight. "Don't interrupt me!"

 The linguist. Keep your Mandarin for China.








                                        

The one who just needs to drop out.

 The overly qualified whiner. I really liked you, Newt, but you whine more and more every time you open your mouth. Tonight, you lost my vote.

The runner up. Again.
(Got my vote, though)












The winner.
As much as I dislike him, Romney did a good job tonight. I have to give it to him. He didn't attack like Paul and Perry (accusing Paul of being a hypocrite), and he was relaxed and answered questions calmly.  I do, however, need to look back at his statements claiming that no states want to ban contraceptives.

Recently, Mississippi tried to pass an proposition that would ban all abortion and abortifacients. There were, unfortunately, a lot of muddy waters about whether or not contraceptives would be made illegal. Many extreme pro-lifers were OK going without contraceptives  (thank God that wasn't the case, or we'd all look like the Duggars.)

 

A few other states tried this same "Personhood Amendment" we Mississippians tried (Georgia and Colorado?), and also failed. Slightly off topic, but Romney needs to make sure NO states are wanting to ban contraception - because some of them are trying - failing... but trying.

Tonight's debate was good, but I'm looking forward to what tomorrow morning's debate will hold!

torn

GOP debate #19 comes on tonight at eight o'clock. It's the first debate of 2012, and one of two this weekend.  Clearly, the Strahan family will be watching. Popcorn and all.  Who is our favorite?  For the first time in Strahan history, all four voting-age members are rooting for someone different.  (I say rooting because, in my house, political events are like football games)

Ashley-Kate, my 20-year-old sister, is being shady about her choice for candidates and won't tell anybody until we vote March 13th. (I think she's narrowed it down to Paul or Santorum)

My mom has chosen to join the Ron Paul fan(atics).  We've almost decided to disown her. (She's a pretty good mom otherwise, so we're keeping her for now)

My dad is pulling for Iowa runner up, Rick Santorum.

As for me, I am currently torn between Gingrich and Santorum.  I like both, but Gingrich, in my opinion, is not as electable as Santorum.

I guess we'll see on the 10th, although I'm pretty sure Romney's got that one in the bag. I say "in the bag" - meaning a victory more than 8 votes.

The two younger siblings, 14 and 11 are also split.  Amelia is for Santorum "because he's cute." Clearly a teenager.  Aaron is for Newt Gingrich - at 11 he's reading Gingrich's book,  Winning the Future.

So there ya have it - opinions are spread far and wide - except the Morman liberals. They haven't found a happy place at the Strahan house yet.
(I'm still not sure why they're tarnishing the GOP stage).

As long as Obama doesn't take the White House for the next 4 years, I'll be OK, but if one of these end up taking his place, I don't know how different Washington will be.