A SUPREMELY ACTIVE SCOTUS
From Aaron Blake of The Fix today:
“With its recent decisions to take up a trio of major cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has signaled that it will become a major player in the 2012 election.
“The court’s decision Monday to review Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law was just the latest addition to what many see as its most important and politically charged docket in recent years. The court also said late Friday that it would review a contentious redistricting situation in Texas, and perhaps most importantly, a few weeks ago it said it would examine President Obama’s health-care bill.
“All three rulings, on their surface at least, favor Republicans, as the GOP had been seeking to get the high court to tackle those issues.”
OBAMA’S “SOLUTION” IS THE PROBLEM
“By the way,” writes marketing guru Dan Kennedy, “the newest head of Obama’s economic team a few years back published a study that shows that the longer people are on unemployment, the less time they spend getting educated, retrained or looking for jobs. In fact, the longer they’re on unemployment, the later they sleep in and the more daytime TV they watch.
“So what did the president include in his September ‘surprise,’ his amazing job-creation plan? Extending unemployment further than the 99 weeks already extended to. Could it be that one of the reasons unemployment is so high is people are sleeping in, nestled next to their iPads, instead of knocking on doors, making sales calls?”
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THE GINGRICH SURGE CONTINUES
“A Dec. 4-7 NBC/Marist poll finds Newt Gingrich leading Mitt Romney by 15 percentage points in Florida, 44 to 29, followed by Ron Paul with 8 percent and Rick Perry with 4 among likely primary voters. In a two-way race, it's Gingrich 54%, Romney 36.” – The Buzz, St. Petersburg Times, 12/11/11
"In South Carolina…Gingrich gets the support of 42 percent of likely primary voters, including those leaning toward a particular candidate. Romney gets 23 percent (a five-point drop since October), and no other Republican candidate registers in double digits. . . . In a simple two-way race, Gingrich's support increases to 57 percent and Romney's moves to 33 percent." -NBC's Mark Murray, 12/11/11
THE MYSTERY BEHIND THE GINGRICH SURGE
A Las Vegas Review-Journal headline on Sunday notes a sentiment confounding GOP leaders from coast to coast: “Gingrich’s appeal puzzles Republicans.” It shouldn’t. It’s actually quite simple. Here are ten top reasons for the Gingrich surge:
1.) He isn’t Mitt Romney.
2.) Unlike Bachmann, Santorum, Paul and Huntsman, he has a chance to win.
3.) He knows and can talk intelligently about the issues.
4.) He’s more than capable of going up against Obama debates.
5.) He isn’t Mitt Romney.
6.) He still gets credit for leading the House GOP out of the political wilderness in 1994.
7.) He’s spent 30-some years building a national conservative grassroots network.
8.) He’s seen as a fighter, especially when it comes to challenging the media.
9.) He speaks the “tea party” language even if his actions don’t always follow his words.
10.) He isn’t Mitt Romney.
COUNTER-ATTACKING THE ATTACK DOG
Conservatives are reminding Republicans that the chief attack dog coming from Mitt Romney’s campaign against Newt Gingrich is John Sununu, former President George H.W. Bush’s chief-of-staff who was responsible for giving the nation liberal Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
BUCKLE UP, REPUBLICANS
“The 2012 GOP presidential primary is poised to become a protracted battle over delegates, such as the one that consumed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008,” reported The Hillon Sunday. “A little-noticed change in Republican Party rules last year means almost all of the states holding caucuses and primaries before April 1 will allocate their delegates proportionally.
“This will make it very difficult for Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney to land a lights-out punch early in the contest. Unless one candidate dominates the first several caucuses and primaries, the race could easily stretch into April and beyond, say GOP veterans.”
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STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES
“In North Carolina,” writes Washington Post columnist Esther J. Cepeda, “a 9-year-old student was suspended from school for two days after a substitute teacher overheard him tell a fellow classmate that he thought his regular teacher was ‘cute.’ That’s it, that’s all the kid said. A spokesman for the school district defended the disciplinary action on the grounds that such remarks are ‘inappropriate.’”
GOING POSTAL
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes that “not many institutions enjoy the benefits that federal law confers on the Postal Service: It pays no income or property taxes, it's exempt from vehicle licensing requirements and parking fines, and it has the power of eminent domain.
“Most significant of all, it has a legal monopoly on the delivery of mail: The federal Private Express statutes make it a crime for any private carrier to deliver letters. The only exception is for "extremely urgent" letters, and even those may be delivered by a private company only if it's willing to charge a much higher rate than the Postal Service would have charged.
“Yet with all its privileges, the Postal Service is struggling, while UPS and FedEx flourish. Why? Because they have something invaluable that the post office lacks: Competitors.”
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FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"If you believe, then unbelievable things can sometimes be possible.” – Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow after another unbelievable victory on Sunday
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