Rick Perry Touts Downhome Résumé

Barely 48-hours into the race and virtually the entire Democrat-Media-Complex has the hit in for Governor Rick Perry. For example, from Paul Krugman, "The Texas Unmiracle." And more at NYT, "In Texas Jobs Boom, Crediting a Leader, or Luck." Los Angeles Times piles on, "Rick Perry's big donors have fared well in Texas." Then there's all kinds of gotcha reports at Memeorandum. Perry questioned Obama's patriotism? OOH!! Wouldn't want to do that now, would we?



In any case, for a less antagonistic piece, see Wall Street Journal, "Touting a Downhome Résumé."

DES MOINES, Iowa—Rick Perry became an Eagle Scout and Air Force pilot after growing up as the son of a cotton farmer "from a little place called Paint Creek, Texas," whose house had no indoor plumbing. As Texas's longest-serving governor, he says he cut taxes and red tape and helped boost job growth.



Mr. Perry is betting heavily on that biography and his charm as he introduces himself to voters in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.



With the GOP race suddenly shaping up as a contest pitting him and fellow conservative Michele Bachmann against the front-runner, Mitt Romney, Mr. Perry hopes to distinguish himself as the humble farmer who now runs the state with the country's briskest job-creation results ...

Sounds pretty good. More at the link.

After Iowa, Republicans Face a New Landscape

At New York Times, "After Iowa, Republicans Face a New Landscape."

WATERLOO, Iowa — The leading Republican presidential candidates scrambled to take command of a new landscape on Sunday after Tim Pawlenty abruptly ended his campaign and a three-way race began taking shape to find a nominee who can emerge as the strongest challenger to President Obama.



While Gov. Rick Perry of Texas had hoped to turn the contest into a two-man duel with Mitt Romney, he starts by facing Representative Michele Bachmann, whose weekend victory in the Iowa straw poll reordered the top tier of candidates. On the second day of his announcement tour, Mr. Perry sent a subtle message: making his first Iowa appearance in her hometown, but not taking her on directly.



While Mrs. Bachmann, Mr. Perry and Mr. Romney each have emphasized cutting attacks on Mr. Obama, they now face the need to begin drawing distinctions with one another and set up what could be a long and hard-edged campaign for the party’s nomination.

More at that top link.



Plus, I suspect Los Angeles Times is straining a bit here, trying to spin a different angle: "Perry overshadows Bachmann's Iowa victory."

Tim Pawlenty Ends Presidential Campaign

I just clicked on The Other McCain and saw this: "Tim Pawlenty Quits!" While the news could probably use a couple of exclamation points!!, I'm not surprised. The GOP field is getting crowded with Rick Perry's entry into the race, and as we saw from the debate the other night, Pawlenty was hoping for the knock out blow against Michele Bachmann and he failed miserably. She held her own and made Pawlenty look a Republican Mario Cuomo. Bachmann went on to win Iowa and that had to be like a right upper-cut landing on Pawlenty's chin. He's down.



See also Legal Insurrection and New York Times (via Memeorandum).

Governor Rick Perry Throws His Ten-Gallon Hat in the Ring

Some folks have criticized Rick Perry's timing , but I'd say it's one heckuva campaign launch (and so does Nikki Haley). Perry seems both amicable and capable, and the record of job creation in Texas would be a huge asset against Obama in the general election. But that's about all I know, so more on Perry later. A interest group sent me the YouTube below, FWIW, "Keep Conservatives United Aiming To Even Playing Field For Bachmann."



And at New York Times, "Promising Better Direction, Perry Enters Race," and "Money No Obstacle as Perry Joins G.O.P. Race."

Sarah Palin at Iowa State Fair

I wish I was there!



See Daily Caller, "Palin at Iowa State Fair: I’m still undecided on 2012" (at Memeorandum).

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "Herman Cain Speaks at Iowa State Fair."

'Both Gingrich and Paul have a nasty demeanor of a sort that, I think, will never make it to the White House...'

That's Althouse on the performance last night of New Gingrich and Ron Paul. And that's funny, because it's those two who I chose to blog on as well. (I've met Gingrich personally, and I've mentioned before, he's a terrible people-person. Ron Paul? I've never met him. But, well, he's just crackpot all around.)



See, "The Iowa Debate."



Previously, "Ron Paul at GOP Debate: 'There Was No Al Qaeda in Iraq'," and "Newt Gingrich at GOP Debate: 'Put Aside the Gotcha Questions'."

Ron Paul at GOP Debate: 'There Was No Al Qaeda in Iraq'

I almost fell on the floor listening to this guy. There used to be some kind of rule for excluding marginal candidates from these debates, and the organizing committees should have invoked it for Ron Paul years ago. What a disgrace:

See Sacremento Bee, "Paul and Santorum clash over US-Iran relationship."



Anyway, a big write up at NYT, "8 From G.O.P. Trade Attacks at Iowa Debate."

Newt Gingrich at GOP Debate: 'Put Aside the Gotcha Questions'

I'm actually watching this right now, as I got home a little after 9:00pm PST. This exchange between Chris Wallace and Newt Gingrich was pretty intense:

More at the Des Moines Register, "Gingrich accuses debate moderators of ‘gotcha’ questions." And also at Los Angeles Times, "Gloves come off in second GOP presidential debate."



I'm watching, so more later ...

Mitt Romney Heckled in Iowa

This gets pretty heated, especially after 2:00 minutes at the clip:

See Legal Insurrection, "Obama campaign tactics against Romney already surface."



More at London's Daily Mail for the details, "Mitt Romney shouts at heckler as he remains in pole position for president nomination ahead of GOP head-to-head debate."



EXTRA: Robert Stacy McCain's on the ground in Iowa, "Mitt-Mania In Des Moines." Also at Memeorandum.

Robert Stacy McCain Covers Mitt Romney in Iowa

See: "Mitt Romney Comes to Des Moines, Attracts Massive Media Coverage."



And a Romney campaign ad, "Civility":

RELATED: At New York Times, "With Return to Iowa, Romney Heeds Call of G.O.P. Strategists."

'Always Proud' — Sarah Palin Bus Tour Rolls Into Iowa

Here's the new video from SarahPAC, "The SarahPAC One Nation bus tour Rolls On!":

And at CNN, "BREAKING: Palin bus tour to roll into Iowa" (via Memeorandum).

Palin's re-emergence in Iowa just hours before the debate is a reminder that the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee intends to remain part of the presidential discussion as long as possible, despite being largely dismissed by party insiders.

No doubt. In fact, it's getting pretty crowed in the Hawkeye State.



RELATED: Robert Stacy McCain continues his reporting, "Iowa Notebook: Romney Coming to Town; Pawlenty and the ‘Plausible Chance’ Trick."

Texas Hotties for Rick Perry!

And of course, Robert Stacy McCain is on the case!



See, "Young Minions of the Sith Lord of Texas."

Also at the Des Moines Register, "Rick Perry to make Iowa speech on Sunday." And at Politico, "Rick Perry to make 2012 intentions clear Saturday."

RSM Covers Herman Cain in Iowa

I commended Robert Stacy McCain the other day on Twitter, thanking him for his excellent coverage of the run-up to the Ames straw poll.



And now he's got some more great blogging, on the Herman Cain presidential campaign. See "Sioux City: Herman Cain Begins Iowa Bus Tour With Noon Speech to Jewish Group," and "Denison: Overflow Crowd Hears Herman Cain Slam Obama: ‘That’s Not Leadership!’"

Check for updates at The Other McCain.

Stock Market Plunges

At USA Today, "Crisis of confidence leads to fears of bear market," and New York Times, "Stocks Plunge in Worst Day in Two Years." Also, at Wall Street Journal, "Downgrade Ignites a Global Selloff: Dow's Plunge Worst Since '08":

The downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating sparked a global selloff on Monday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its sharpest one-day decline since the financial crisis in 2008.



In scenes reminiscent of three years ago, selling accelerated as the day went on, and investors were forced to sell to meet margin calls from lenders demanding more collateral. The Dow ended the day down 634.76 points, or 5.5%, at 10809.85, its lowest close since last October. Trading volume of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange hit the fourth-highest level in history.



It was the Dow's biggest percentage drop since December 2008 and its sixth-largest point decline ever. Other major stock indexes also fell heavily. Traders also dumped corporate bonds and industrial commodities.



Investors fled to the traditional refuges: gold, currencies of safe-seeming countries such as Switzerland, and, ironically, the very securities that Standard & Poor's downgraded on Friday, U.S. Treasury bonds. For most investors, Treasurys seemed a lot safer than stocks.



Tuesday morning in Asia, Tokyo shares opened lower, falling 3.4% in the first minutes of trading.



The Financial Stability Oversight Council, a group of U.S. regulators led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, held an emergency conference call Monday afternoon to discuss the financial-market volatility, a person familiar with the call said.



"There's probably as much uncertainty as we've seen since 2008," said Eric Pellicciaro of asset manager BlackRock's Fundamental Fixed Income division, which has $612.5 billion in assets under management. "There's a general feeling that policy options are few and far between. There's a feeling that fiscal austerity is coming at the worst possible time."

Interesting how Treasury securities remained a safe haven. That can't go on forever.



I'll have more on this tonight.

Newsweek Publishes 'Queen of Rage' Hit-Piece Cover Shot of Michele Bachmann

Go check Michelle Malkin's report, "The Conservative Crazy Eyes Cliche & Other Stupid MSM Photo Tricks."

She's got a larger image of this wild --- and wildly inappropriate --- cover photograph of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The key passage:

Rep. Bachmann is unabashedly conservative, willing to take both parties’ leaders to task, passionate about her work, popular with grass-roots activists on the Right, committed to reining in the size, scope, and power of government, and yes, expressive. For all this, she must be destroyed.

Also:

Disseminating unflattering photos of conservatives isn’t journalism. It’s Alinskyite narrative-shaping.

This comes of course as Michele Bachmann has rocketed to frontrunner status in Iowa. See Rasmussen Reports, "Iowa Caucus: Bachmann, Romney and Paul on Top." The poll samples likely causcus participants and has a 4-point margin of error. It's looking good for Bachmann.



RELATED: At the Other McCain, "Liberal Head-Explosion Warning VIDEO: Michele Bachmann Testifies for Jesus."

The Debt Downgrade Blame Game

I was up in time for the Sunday news shows. I flipped back and forth for a minute between ABC and NBC and finally settled on "Meet the Press." John Kerry and John McCain were interviewed, forgettably, with the exception of McCain's comments on Afghanistan. But the roundtable discussion was a keeper. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan stole the show (a bit of which can be seen here). But frankly the reason I didn't channel surf further was Rachel Maddow. Maddow is maddening. The S&P downgrade dominated the discussion, and Maddow's entire shtick was political. David Gregory asked her about economic implications and she segued into an attack on "Republican intransigence." Check it out:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Maddow was sticking like glue to S&P's press release, which claimed that the downgrade was a comment on political gridlock in Washington. But Maddow's fascinating because she perfectly encapsulates all that's wrong with the Beltway media mindset: She blames Bush for the crisis, citing the revised GDP numbers to argue that "the hole we've been getting out of is even deeper than we thought." Well, I guess if you're in a hole you stop digging, but the Obama-Dems 2012 budget was pegged to add $7.2 trillion in new debt over the next decade, and that's after racking up $1.7 trillion after the administration's first year in office. Congressional Republicans stood up to this, and that fortitude so enraged the progressive political class that "tea party terrorists" were claimed to be the greatest threat to national security since Nazi Germany. But Maddow goes on. And bless his heart, but Alex Castellanos fails to get a smackdown rebuttal until much later in the broadcast. I reported on Janet Daley's essential piece earlier, "A Capitalist Economy Can't Support a Socialist Welfare State." The GOP talking point has to focus on the unsustainability of big-government entitlements. Republicans won the day by standing firm, and the S&P downgrade ultimately will damage Democrat reelection prospects next fall, hence Maddow's desperate efforts to spin this as not an economic issue at all, but one of tea party "intransigence."

In any case, see Karl at Patterico's Pontifications, "For Whom the Downgrade Tolls":

In sum, the S&P downgrade marks a post on the road where progressive demagogy loses its power. The downgrade marks a post on the road to extinction for 19th-20th century progressivism. That’s why the Obama administration — and true progressive ideologues — made S&P their first target, however futile the gesture.

RTWT.

I wouldn't separate the partisan left from the ideological left so much (Maddow is both, for example), but it's a really perceptive essay otherwise.

UPDATE: Linked at Atlas Shrugs and Yid With Lid. Thanks! Also linked at Blazing Cat Fur!

Rick Santorum's Family Off Limits to the Media

Robert Stacy McCain continues his coverage of the Iowa campaign: "Rick Santorum’s Iowa Barn Party." And here's Robert on some of the Santorum campaign's press rules:

Karen Santorum with her two oldest daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth. Right after I took this photo, Santorum’s press aide told me that the family are “off limits” to the media. But, of course, I’m just a friend of Lisa Graas, right? It’s not fair to treat me as “media.”

A beautiful family.

Related: At the Des Moines Register, "Santorum: Credit downgrade another example of Obama’s ‘epic failure’ in leadership." And from the Ames Tribune, "Santorum: Iowans 'can have a profound impact'."

And see New York Times, "Republicans Jockey as a Big Week Begins in Iowa."

Michele Bachmann: 'President Obama is Destroying the Foundations of the United States Economy'

Via The Other McCain, "VIDEO: Bachmann Demands Resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner."

Also at Gateway Pundit, "Michele Bachmann: “I Call on President Obama to Demand Resignation of Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner” (Video)," and "Geithner Flashback: “There’s No Chance US Will Lose Top Credit Rating” (Video)."

Robert Stacy McCain Reports from Des Moines

See: "Fear and Loathing at the Quality Inn."

Pawlenty is pulling his ad buys from Iowa three days before the straw poll, but these spots are flooding the cable channels right now:

Stacy has more on what's shakin' in Iowa.

Long Knives Out for Michele Bachmann?

Yep, according to Robert Stacy McCain, who's on the ground in Des Moines, "Long Knives in Iowa."

And check this Google link for the click through to Wall Street Journal, "Behind a GOP Contender's Iowa Surge."

MARION, Iowa—To understand why presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has surged in Iowa, watch when she is handed a baby. On a recent stop here, she took off her bracelet, dangled it before the infant and cradled himDuring another campaign appearance, Ms. Bachmann climbed down from the stage to take the hands of a woman who asked a question, holding them as she answered. Meeting a teenager with Down syndrome, the Minnesota congresswoman swept him up in a hug, then signed his T-shirt.

Ms. Bachmann has built a national reputation for hard-line conservative stances—most recently, she bucked her own Republican leaders to oppose the debt-ceiling compromise—and her repeated vow to retire President Barack Obama.

But here in Iowa, the tough rhetoric is sheathed in a soft presentation. Ms. Bachmann hugs, dances and offers girl talk on the campaign trail—"That's a rockin' shirt!"—as if baking her steely conservatism into a warm apple pie. while he teethed on the pearls.

It's true. She's the warmest in person!