USA Presidential Primaries - Newt Gingrich takes South Carolina

… To be his forth wedded wife...

It was a landslide victory on Saturday for the amphibious and slimy Newt Gingrich. A man who in his life time has married, cheated, divorced and married the woman he was cheating with... then repeated - this time with second wife Marianne. Now I'm not normally one to judge a politician by their personal lives but when you come out onto a public platform claiming that homosexuals do not deserve the right to marry in order to preserve the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, you should first clarify how many women – otherwise people might think you're a hypocrite. In fact if you type the words 'Newt Gingrich wife' into Google one of the top results is:

“Best guess for Newt Gingrich Spouse is Callista Gingrich”

Romney came in second to Gingrich's 40%, with 28% which he accepted through gritted teeth, whining and complaining about the big boy who stole his tricycle. Santorum received 17% of the vote and graciously praised Gingrich. Many speculate that he may drop out and begin to endorse Gingrich, but there's also the very real possibility he's still jumping for joy after a recount in Iowa confirmed him as winner. He highlighted there had be three primaries so far, all with three different winners. Its a first for the Republican Party in more than 30 years and proof that this is still anyone's game. Although, I think most Republican's are aware, this is not a man who could ever take the Presidency from Obama, if only because when you type the word 'Santorum' into Google the TOP result is:

“Santorum

spreadingsantorum.com/

Block all spreadingsantorum.com results

Santorum 1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum.”

Ron Paul came in last with 13% of the vote but this funny little man is a force to be reckoned with and not to be underestimated. If inconsistency, racism and sexism form an important part of the fabric of the Republican Party as I have come to believe it does then he's still got a shot at being the Republican Candidate.

Absent from the list of results from South Carolina is Governor of Texas Rick Perry or George W. Lite as many in the press thought of him, who like a rat from a sinking ship withdrew his candidacy last Thursday. After doing badly in the Pre-South Carolina polls he stepped down extending his support to 'The Newt' who is “Not perfect... But who among us is?”. It was a long time coming following stumbling performances during the televised debates and a poor result in the Iowa caucus. Rick Perry's dropping out may have contributed to boosting Gingrich's votes in South Carolina, but Romney is a firm favourite in Florida with an alleged 25% lead in the polls. As The Newt pointed out himself, he just doesn't have the kind if money that Romney has available to him. Florida votes for their Republican candidate of choice on the 31^st January.

One last thing before I go, here's the awesome Sam Sedar kicking former nominee dear old John Huntsman while he's down and highlighting just what US elections are all about...

USA Presidential Candidacy - Huntsman Drops Out of the Race

Just when I was starting to give up that anything interesting was going to happen until the South Carolina Primary, Jon Huntsman, the only one teetering on the edge of madness (if only for identifying himself as a Republican), as opposed to basking in it as the other's do... has dropped out of the race. This comes despite coming in third in the New Hampshire primary . He's the newest casualty in a long line of candidates without enough bottle to endure the almost inevitable dismantling of their career through personal attack after personal attack. Its getting to the point where so little separates these candidates on policy that the only poo they can metaphorically fling at each other comes in the form of private scandals and personal mistakes. Its not only ridiculous and trivial at times, but also starkly brings to the fore-front another attribute which they all possess in equal amounts; Hypocrisy. Something all politicians are good at, but that American ones are particularly famous for.

Its been a long week of poo flinging. Mostly at Romney. Mostly for speaking French. I thought lots of people spoke French. I thought a bi-lingual President might have an edge in foreign policy. Oh, no... Its bad because the only other politician in America who speaks French is a disconnected Democrat who ran against Bush in 2004 and the only reason I remember his name is because it bares resemblance to my favourite rubber faced Canadian comic – the forgettable John Carrey.

More Bain Capital discussion presented itself, this time boomeranging to highlight Gingrich's hypocrisy further, but also lead to him scoring an own goal for the entire Republican Party. Sam Sedar clearly points out, as did Jon Stewart, that dear old Gingrich, and Perry, have attacked Romney for being mega-rich and exploiting the very system that they advocate, the very system they see as a right for all Americans. Funny how when you're the one that feels exploited its suddenly a horrible thing that someone else is using their accumulated wealth against you. The political system isn't fair. Neither is the economic one.

Watch to the end for another of Romney's 'Rich Jerk' gaffs. It has a faint whiff of a lot of the crap that falls out of Cameron's mouth, especially before he was elected.

I have mixed emotions about Huntsman dropping out. On the one hand having a moderate who was once a foreign ambassador for Obama out of the race bodes well for the Democrats and although he's no leader of the year I'd rather have Obama in office more than anyone who wants to lower, and in some cases scrap, taxes on the rich and repeal Roe Vs. Wade – which allowed women's rights to supersede that of an unborn foetus thereby allowing women the right to choose. On the other hand his dropping out, as I understand it, because of lack of support in South Carolina I believe is a sad thing. Of all the candidates he was probably the best of a bad bunch. He kept one foot firmly on the fence but still came out in support of Civil Unions between same sex couples. A far cry from Santorum's and Cos backwards, and highly offensive, views on gay marriage. He was also the only candidate to clearly state that he believes in the theory of evolution – making him the only candidate who isn't crazy. AND trusts scientists on global warming, something that even Romney, who is considered a moderate, can't seem to make his mind up about. Now, believing things based on tangible evidence... That's so not Republican. It makes it ever more clear why he dropped out. Its a sorry state of affairs when the only candidate who isn't deluded feels he needs to drop out. He is now extending his support to 'moderate' rich jerk Mitt Romney, a fellow Mormon and runner up in the 'Not-as-crazy-as-the-others' competition. We'll only know on Saturday whether he made the right decision for his party. CNN certainly think so.

USA Presidential Candidacy - Romney Wins New Hampshire

Mitt Romney wins the New Hampshire primary miles ahead of his fellow candidates with 39.3% of the vote. Though this came as no surprise. Many have know that Romney was likely to win hands down. Libertarian Ron Paul took second place with 22.9%, and spoke up about being ignored in the media. This is probably down to everyone pretending he doesn't exist because his anti-war stance has been highly controversial. He also said that he got a kick out of being called dangerous when they did acknowledge him.

I wonder if he likes being called crazy too, because if that's the case he's got an awesome few months coming up. He is the only Libertarian running, promising to shut down a number of government offices. Imagine as little government intervention into your life as possible... Unless of course you like having sex. Then they'll be lots of intervention and cries that society has been poisoned by your unnatural actions! Racist, sexist and homophobic... and all his fellow candidates seem to slam him for is being anti-war. If ever there was an insight in this sick horse race...

Huntsman came third with 16.9%, Gingrich and Santorum next with 9.4% and Perry dead last with a disappointing (for him) 0.7%. You may think Santorum's drop to fifth place would leave him feeling deflated but there was no pressure for greater votes in New Hampshire. Has his moment passed? Perhaps not, but for the moment Ron Paul looks.... Dangerous? More in a creepy man following you down an alley than a political underdog kinda way. Anti-war he maybe but after hearing his views on abortion, birth control and the recent discovery of his racist newsletters he doesn't even have my respect for being a pacifist.

In other news, today I discovered, a little late, that Romney is a Mormon. If there was a chance in the deepest, darkest, dingiest corner of hell that he could become president he would be the first Mormon to take office. Something vast numbers of the Mormon community think that won't happen as he will be discriminated against for his religion. No doubt his fellow candidates will pick up on this. In fact Perry already has in a way, with one of his close supporters claiming the Church Of the Latter Day Saints is a cult back in October. Apparently being 'a moral person having a good family' doesn't make you a Christian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9kRO0Sz-vs

I thought being Mormon was about as conservative as it gets. And yeah it might make a few interesting lines in a history book someday but what really matters is the man himself, who last night was described to me by a friend as 'Boring'. But that Ron Paul, he's DAAAAAAAAAAN-GER-OUS!

So on to South Carolina on 21^st January. With all six candidates coming back for more, its anybody's game far as I'm aware. Romney's chances of winning the state are far less guaranteed than they were in New Hampshire.

USA Presidential Candidacy - Pre-New Hampshire Air

Every four years an extraordinary event takes place across the pond. The United States hold their primaries to chose who will become the Presidential Candidate to face the existing President in the nation-wide elections held at the end of the year. And this year is special, because there is a Democrat in the White House we are treated to the biggest political car crash on Earth as the Republican Party Candidates fight to become leader. And I just can't seem to look away from the carnage.

In last weeks caucus in Iowa Mitt Romney (I promise a breakdown of the front runners, who they are and their crazy arse policies as soon as New Hampshire primaries are over) won by just 8 votes, while Rick Santorum finished in second place, with many claiming it was a bigger victory for Santorum. I think of all of the candidates, Santorum maybe the craziest and most offensive of them all. That's not to say the other's aren't disgusting human beings, but if this race for candidacy is about who is the most horrible human on the face of the earth, this guy might just win. Any way, I found an awesome little video explaining why Santorum may have lost in the Iowa caucus by the crazy guys from College Humour.

This week all eyes are on New Hampshire and in a few hours we should know whose won there. If Mitt Romney wanted to see a repeat of his success in Iowa, one would imagine all he had to do was keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately he was unable to do so and a couple of days ago made a very silly mistake while talking about health care insurers and the wonder that is the free market. A little back story. As CEO of Bain Capital Romney built a reputation for buying up small businesses, letting off the workforce and stripping the company's assets for gain. Here's a good explanation of what happened the day that Mitt Romney admitted he liked firing people from a big supporter of Occupy Wall Street.

So, when Romney made this declaration his fellow Republican rivals jumped on it like cats in heat. One candidate who took full advantage was Newt Gingrich who commissioned a $3.4M filmette. One can't say whether it will have a massive effect in New Hampshire until tonight, but the trailer is already being shown in South Carolina where Romney's campaign was sure to lose steam even before the sound-bite blunder. The whole thing runs to like 25 minutes, so here's the trailer.

Such vicious attacks are not entirely uncommon in the UK, but its not just the media that creates the storm out there, its the candidates themselves and the sheer cost of stabbing each other in the back is mind-boggling. Its the real world equivalent of paint-balling, only you're all on the same team. Its political suicide to even think about running for Presidential Candidate. And the trouble is, with this crazy bunch, once November comes, if any of them are left standing, they may just be in such bad shape that the only reasonable choice for presidency is Obama.