I have no reason to believe that any royalties have been paid.Additional commentary by Timothy Horrigan; November 14, 2011
The Republicans consider losing an election to be a career-ending event— when a Democrat is the loser. When a Republican loses, his or her stature actually increases.
You can see this in the 2012 Presidential Election field. All the leading contenders, with two exceptions, have a track record of failure. (The two exceptions are Rep. Michele Bachmann and Gov. Rick Perry, but they make up for their lack of electoral failure somewhat by their mediocre performance while in office.)
The leader in the race, Willard M. Romney, has won just one election— and he didn't even bother running for re-election after his one dismal term as the Governor of Massachusetts.
On November 10, 2011, the right wing blog GraniteGrok.com and a local 912 group invited two candidates who have a particularly strong chance of catching Romney to debate each other. Rick Santorum's record is marred by 16 years of service in Congress, but he established his credibility as a Presidential hopeful by losing his 2006 US Senate re-election campaign 59%-41%. Newt Gingrich's record is marred by 20 years in Congress, including three terms as the Speaker of the House. He began rehabilitating himself in 1998 by leading the Republicans to a huge defeat in the midterm election. Immediately after the election, he led an effort during a lame duck session to impeach President Bill Clinton for no good reason. He also got mixed up in several scandals of his own, and he resigned on the first day of the new 106th Congress. After a wide variety of other self-inflicted humiliations including an abortive run for President in 2008, Gingrich has established himself as a leading contender for the 2012 Republican nomination.
Here are a series of videos. The
opening theme music (which gets annoying after a few repetitions even
though it rocks hard) is an excerpt from "Enter
Sandman" by Metallica.
There was also a debate that night between lesser-known candidates Buddy Roemer and Gary Johnson. Gov. Johnson has never lost an election, so it is obvious why he can't be taken seriously as a Republican Presidential hopeful, but Gov. Roemer hasn't won anything since 1991 and therefore should be in the first tier of candidates.
Introduction by Jerry DeLemus:
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Question 1 (Size of Government):
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Question 2 (Constitutionality of Congressional "SuperCommittee"):
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Question 3 (Constitutionality of Overseas Military Troops)
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Question 4 (Should states have the right to defend their own borders?)
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Question 5 (Gingrich asks Santorum about establishing a virtuous society; Santorum asks Gingrich about amending the Constitution)
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Question 6 (Biggest constitutional failing of Obama Adminsistration)
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Question 7 (Same-Sex Marriage)
Gingrich has shown his strong commitment to traditional heterosexual marriage in his personal life by marrying three women so far and counting— and no men.
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Question 8 (Reducing the size of government)
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Santorum's Post-Debate Press Conference:
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Gingrich's Post-Debate Press
Conference:
"Connors'
Conservative Corner" is spelled with three C's, I hasten to add
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Jeff Chidester & Chris Buck's
Analysis
Chris
Buck is new to the New Hampshire political scene, but he has quickly
established his credentials as a Republican up and comer by losing
three elections in the space of just one year. A few more defeats
and he will become a figure of statewide or even national stature.
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See Also:
Rick Perry's very animated October 28 & November 30, 2011 New Hampshire speeches
Speaker Bill O'Brien endorses Speaker Newt Gingrich for President; December 21, 2011
