Michelle Malkin at CPAC: GOP Sold Out Movement Conservatives

Michelle Malkin at Occupy the Truth Rally in Cleveland, 2012

Photo credit: Pat J Dooley

Michelle Malkin at CPAC: GOP Sold Out Movement Conservatives

Legal Insurrection reports on Michelle Malkin’s explosive speech at CPAC:

Many speeches were given at CPAC this weekend, but one stood out from the rest.

Conservative author, activist and entrepreneur Michelle Malkin gave a fiery speech in which she reminded movement conservatives that they have been repeatedly betrayed by the Republican Party.

Malkin began her speech by saying:

“It’s not people outside the party that have thrown the conservative grassroots base under the bus. It’s the people who have paid lip-service to limited government while gorging on it.”

She was only getting started. In the course of her seventeen minute speech, she went after Republicans for the Gang of Eight, Common Core, cronyism, immigration and more.

She slammed the party elites who smear and sneer at the conservative grassroots as fringe while pretending to support causes they care about at election time.

When it came to Common Core she named names, singling out John Kasich for claiming he believed in local control of education. About Bush, she said:

“There are three reasons why Jeb Bush failed. His last name, his support for amnesty and his cheer-leading and cashing in on Common Core.”

This was the first time Malkin has spoken at CPAC in 13 years and it was well worth the wait. Once you start watching this, you won’t be able to stop.

The video is on the same page here.

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GOP debate and Fox “moderators”: Unfair and Unbalanced

cartoon credit: thethinkinggaill.com

Cleveland Tea Party does not endorse any of the four remaining candidates for the GOP nomination, but whether you support Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, or Trump, you were probably appalled at the conduct of the Fox News moderators at last Thursday’s debate. Even if you can’t stand Trump, the bias against him was obvious. If you thought the 2012 Candy Crowley-Mitt Romney moment was bad, take a look at John Nolte’s analysis of the debacle over at Breitbart: 

Another Fox News debate, another two hours of proof that the “fair and balanced” network is nothing more than a super PAC for

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who, by the way, had a terrible night. In their naked pursuit of Donald Trump’s scalp, moderators Chris Wallace, Bret Baier, and Megyn Kelly used every cheap trick in the book.

None of the other candidates faced dramatic graphics. Trump did.

None of the other candidates faced video of past statements.* Trump did.

Trump was never asked to attack his rivals. On at least three occasions, Trump’s rivals were invited to attack him.

. . .

On a number of occasions, Wallace and Kelly tossed off their roles as moderators to actually debate Trump, in the hopes of tripping him up or cornering him. As bad as the mainstream media has been to Republican presidential candidates over the years, I have never seen anything like this.

. . .

There were two unbelievable moments even lower than that. The first came from Kelly, who used leaked reports and unsubstantiated rumors surrounding an off-the-record interview Trump supposedly had with the left-wing New York Times. 

Apparently, the Times leaked information about the off-the-record interview to the left-wing BuzzFeed, who in turn, without hearing the audio, launched a McCarthy-ite attack against Trump, accusing him of saying one thing to the Times and another to the voters regarding immigration.

BuzzFeed then demanded Trump prove he’s not a communist liar.

There is nothing more sacred in journalism than an off-the-record situation. This is supposed to be inviolable. To see the New York Times and BuzzFeed behave in this way is one thing. To see Megyn Kelly and Fox News use a sacred off-the-record conversation to launch a relentless McCarthy-ite attack, was beyond disgraceful.

. . .

This is Fox News going way beyond anything we’ve seen in the past from CNBC’s John Harwood or ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

In the future, any Republican stupid enough to talk to the New York Times, BuzzFeed, or Fox News in an off-the-record capacity, deserves whatever knife he or she gets in the back.

. . .

Fox News’s brand and reputation is already in freefall. Thursday night, in service to Marco Rubio and the Republican Establishment, Fox News stooped lower than NBC News or CNN — something many of us never thought possible.

*To justify singling Trump out with graphics and videos, Fox News announced at the beginning that the other candidates had faced these in the debate Trump boycotted.

Read the rest (including transcripts of some of the more egregious set-ups) here.  

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Speaker Paul Ryan at CPAC: A standing ovation?

CPAC YouTube video shows Speaker Paul Ryan getting a standing ovation at the convention. Gateway Pundit reminds his readers that 

In December Speaker Ryan passed a trillion dollar budget deal that was widely praised by Barack Obama and Democratic leaders. 

They got everything they wanted. 

A standing ovation for what? Read the rest here. 

Yet another GOP debate tonight

cartoon credit: gstatic.com

(The cartoon says Weds., but the image was too good to pass up 

just because it's Thursday.)

Another GOP "debate" tonight on Fox at 9pm. Expect another brawl.

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It’s Super Tuesday

map credit: dailykos.com

From Politico:

What is Super Tuesday?

“Super Tuesday,” which is scheduled for March 1, refers to the day when a dozen states (and one territory) will hold their nominating contests this year. Generally, “Super Tuesday” is the unofficial name for a Tuesday during the presidential primary election when the largest number of states hold their nominating contests.

Which states are voting on Super Tuesday?

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia will hold contests for both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans in Alaska will hold caucuses. Democrats in Colorado will hold their caucuses as well. Finally, Democrats in American Samoa are also holding their nominating contest.

When do polls close on Super Tuesday?

Voting occurs throughout the day, but polls will close at different times. Polls in Alabama, Georgia, Vermont and Virginia close at 7 p.m. (all times Eastern). Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee close their polls at 8 p.m. Most Texas polls close at 8, but a few in the state’s western region will close an hour later. Arkansas' polls close at 8:30 p.m. Minnesota’s caucuses begin at 8. Alaska’s caucuses close around midnight.

What is the “SEC Primary”?

The “SEC Primary” is a nickname for Super Tuesday and is an ode to the Southeastern Conference, an athletic conference that includes universities in many of the Southern states holding their contests on Tuesday. The heavy concentration of Southern states in Tuesday’s primaries—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas—gives a regional flavor to the voting, hence the alternate name.

How many delegates are at stake on Super Tuesday?

661 Republican delegates will be allocated, based on Super Tuesday, and 865 delegates for Democrats.

How are Super Tuesday delegates distributed?

Under party rules, no state holding its primary before March 15 can do a winner-take-all allocation of delegates, meaning that all Super Tuesday states will divide up their delegates in some way. In some states, that’s close to directly proportional to voter results, whereas others have a “winner-take-most” allocation structure or minimum vote thresholds for scoring delegates.

More here.

Gateway Pundit is already reporting on irregularities at the polls in Texas.

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“Rubio trounces Trump in the GOP debate” ???

Art credit: therightscoop.com

Today’s message from the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund PAC opened with its endorsement of Ted Cruz, followed by this:

Rubio routs Trump in Thursday’s debate.

After last month’s weak (devastating, really) debate performance in New Hampshire, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio desperately needed a win at this week’s debate. And on Thursday, he certainly got the win his campaign wanted.

Sen. Rubio’s winning strategy centered heavily on attacking Donald Trump’s record. For many of the past debates, Trump’s opponents have given him a pass, choosing instead to attack one another – they figured (wrongly, it turns out) that rather than challenging Trump directly, the better strategy was to attempt to knock each other out in hopes of being the Last Man Standing against Trump (at which point they believe the 65-70% of the anti-Trump voters in the GOP would rally to their cause). But with Trump’s latest victory in Nevada, the other candidates are quickly realizing the short-sightedness of that strategy. And Sen. Rubio, for one, decided it was time for Trump to account for his record on everything from founding a “fake university” that defrauded people, to his history of hiring undocumented immigrants.

During the debate, Trump – who long ago became accustomed to being unchallenged in the debates – seemed unable to regain his footing after several of Sen. Rubio’s zingers. . . .

But here are some key polls, h/t Conservative Treehouse:

Drudge Report  

Political Opinion 

Right Scoop  

Telegraph  

Wall Street Journal 

The Blaze (click on the list of names to see results)

TimeDotCom  (click on the list of names to see results) 

Slate

All these polls showed Trump the winner. The Blaze poll is especially telling, since everyone knows that Glenn Beck has endorsed Cruz and loathes Trump. The Telegraph didn’t much like the poll results, either. But regardless of where you stand on the candidates, it’s unfortunate that Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund claims that Marco Rubio the winner of the debate, that he trounced Trump, when the above polls show otherwise. Where was at least a qualifier?

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And then there were five.

carton credit: thefederalistpapers.com

Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, and Carson

AP: The ninth Republican debate of the presidential campaign will take place just a few days before 11 states hold GOP elections that will either cement Trump's dominance — or let his rivals slow his march to his party's presidential nomination.

Tonight on CNN (Cleveland area Time Warner ch. 34) at 8:30 pm.

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