considering Ron Paul goes nowhere after IA; Mitt Romney may take NH but he was always favored to do so. It’s the elite, northeastern element of the GOP; its his for the taking because its his home turf. It would be fun to see Huntsman give him a run for it, but either way, its a primary the others can write off. Whenever a ‘home turf’ candidate in that region runs, its going to go in their favor. The danger for Mitt comes in SC and Florida. He is not a southern boy and in spite of Nikki Haley turn-coating on the tea party, he will not carry SC. Re: FL, Rick Scott and Rick Perry are friends and fellow members of the GOP Governor’s Assoc. As we saw in ’08, the FL sitting governor can make a big impact on how goes FL. We will soon witness the fortitude, discernment and courage of Gov. Scott.

Both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are dangerous threats to Romney by the time the race rolls down to SC and FL.

Regarding the VA ballot issue, notice that late-comer’s Gingrich, Santorum and Huntsman all want a piece of the legal action now to get on the ballot? Lest we forget which candidate showed LEADERSHIP and had the courage FIRST to take the VA GOP on. Rick Perry. He was not afraid to stand up and ask questions and challenge the status quo even when his critics were saying, “is this TOO risky a move? Is Perry just showing desperation?” When it was time to lead and time to act, he did it. Mitt Romney didn’t have the courage to stand up and ask for clarification to be sure the process was fair. No, he used it as a chance to ridicule those that didn’t qualify and went to so far as to insert Lucille Ball into the conversation. Very Obama-like of him. Next thing we’ll hear is his own version of the bitter clinger theory. He seems to enjoy a joke when at the expense of others but can’t man up and stand up for his fellow contenders when a myriad of unaswered questions surround a situation.

We’re not done here. If IA caucus goers refuse to acknowledge Santorum’s background and record in Congress (political pundit, Charlie Cook notes today that Santorum’s IA surge is due entirely to the fact that his record has NOT been scrutinzed.) If IA caucus goers think ignoring the dangerous foreign policy of Ron Paul is a good plan at such a threatening time in world history, then their opinions are irrelevant because the rest of the nation will not agree with them as state after state goes to the polls.

If IA caucus goers turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of Mitt Romney thinking his Hollywood good looks are enough to defeat Obama, then their votes aren’t worth much. A few headliners on him have broken in the last 2 days but good luck finding Karl Rove or Ann Coulter or others racing to microphones to talk about them. Maybe EE can find willing ears in IA (other than those of corn) to pay attention to:

Matt Romney ‘jokes’ that his dad will release his tax records if Obama releases his birth certificate. Whoa! Weren’t Republicans that talked like Birthers told to shut up and sit down just a matter of weeks ago? Rick Perry has blasted up one side and down the other when he kinda sorta walked up to the Birther pool but really didn’t put a toe in it, yet Reince Prebius, the all-knowing leader of the RNC told The Hill’s Alicia M. Cohn on 10/20/11, “Republicans, including Rick Perry, should drop the Birther issue.” Thus also sayeth Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly, a laundry list of sitting Congressmen and Senators including McCain, Boehner and Cantor. Oh, we get it. When ‘idiots’ like Rick Perry or Donald Trump talk about it, they should be discredited and deserve a plummeting of poll numbers. When it haphazardly slips from a Romney tongue, it was simply ‘ a joke’. Well, that joke has already made its way to an Obama coffee mug according to an ad / fundraiser showing up online. And, no doubt young Matt Romney’s words will be recounted in a campaign ad. Darn, and the RNC just told us recently to be nice and not say anything offensive toward Mr. Obama personally. But, as we’ve come to realize, such things only matter when they come from certain campaigns, and conversely, are forgiven and quickly buried and never see the light of the media day when coming from others.

Also, IA values voters, take heed of this: If you vote for Romney in your caucus yet claim to be a staunch pro-lifer, how do you reconcile the fact that your candidate opted to go public as a pro-choicer in ’94 when internal polling told him he could not beat Ted Kennedy for the Senate seat if he remained pro-life. As reported in the new book, “Mitt Romney: An Insider Look at the Man and His Politics”, your candidate personally appeared before leadership of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City to tell them of his scheme. He would publicly and politically change to pro-choice in order to be competitive against Kennedy, but privately he would be pro-life. He lost that bid in ’94 but he never flipped back to pro-life publicly. In fact, he stuck with is pro-choice stance all the way to ’08 when he decided if he wanted to now attract conservative votes, he better switch.

Your #1 candidate leading the polls, Iowa, is a man that threw the unborn under his campaign bus in response to polls and for political expediency. Who is next? Are you comfortable going to church today and talking to your peers about your choice in the caucus on Tueday?

And, let’s not forget another flip flop that occurred in IA the last few days. When asked, Romney was quick and firm in saying he’d veto the Dream Act. The Dream Act, as pending in Congress, provides a path to citizenship for young people willing to serve in our military. After realizing he may be criticized for his ‘veto’ comment, he then flopped and said he’d support certain components of the Dream Act and would agree with the military service in exchange for citizenship portion of the bill. The bill likely won’t come to his desk in the Oval Office in neat, compartmentalized components. He won’t get to pick and choose which ssues he signs and which he doesn’t because the bill will only reach his desk once Congress has debated it over and over again after receiving input from their districts. Again, picture a campaign ad rolling out next fall of tearful children being dragged away from parents and aging grandparents in wheelchairs. Heart-wrenching scenarios connected to Mitt Romney’s positions on how to handle the immigration issues. Imagine TV ad’s of the faces of weathered ranchers in Texas talking about how under Romney’s plan, they will be forced to forfeit land handed down generation to generation so that a fence can be built when a drone or electronic fence could do the same job. Imagine TV ad’s of illegals that have served the U.S. in Afghanistan or Iraq, talking about how they believe their service shouldn’t be a political football for Mitt Romney. Mr. Romney is appeasing the ‘load them up and ship them out like cattle’ faction of the one-issue immigration voters. It will not work and he’s already losing to Obama with Hispanic voters by about 65% to 23% according to Pew Hispanic polling data released this week.

IA seems heck-bent on promoting Mitt Romney, who is wrought with problems that thus far have been seldom disclosed. IA seems comfortable with promoting Ron Paul that would be more dangerous to America in terms of foreign policy than any president in modern history. IA seems o.k. with taking the word of Rick Santorum that he’s proud of his earmark votes in Congress and they don’t question why his own state of PA soundly defeated his re-election bid by almost 20 points.

At this point, on the brink of a brand new year that should be about new beginnings, taking a fresh new look and approach to the issues of the day, being willing to do a recheck on our own sensibilities and opinions, it sure seems the good folks of IA are content with sticking to the old and often failed habits of the RNC and GOP in the past. Go with the flip flopper; go with the big spender in Congress that has helped saddle your grandkids with debt they can never live long enough to repay; go with the wacky little man with a dangerous, demented foreign policy view. Do what you must. Hopefully, the rest of the country will come to their senses before its too late.

and making sure we all dot our ‘i’s’ and cross our ‘t’s’ and that’s the way it should be. I’m the FIRST to admit that I don’t do a good job getting my points across. My muddled brain runs faster than my impaired keyboarding abilities. I know what I think I know and sure try to help others along to my way of thinkin’. Makes for a dangerous combo!

Getting back to the issue, I think the take-away for me and what I was trying to express is, Romney, aided and abetted by the media, will skate on this. There was nothing any more sinister or deviant or disrespectful to Obama in Perry’s comments in Oct than there was in young Romney’s off the cuff remark. Yet, Perry suffered for it. He was asked a loaded question and he answered. For days, the Right media scalded him over it (looking for any & all easy opportunities, I believe). Every so-called brainiac that has online access beat up Perry for supposedly opening a closed issue. Only an idiot would do such a thing, they chimed. Young Romney brought the subject up out of the blue even after his daddy has repeatedly avoided ever going after Obama in a personal way.

Romney goes unscathed….for now. The general election is another story.