Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Think Mitt Romney has clinched the nomination now that Rick Santorum has bowed out? Guess again!

In case you haven’t heard, there is only one conservative left in the race to the White House, so says the Newt Gingrich campaign in every e-blast they send and so say these six Americans who took to YouTube to voice their support for the former House speaker. The real Americans in this PSA were so fired up to support Newt that they didn’t even bother to make their beds, clean their rooms, pick their laundry up off of the floor, or turn on the lights before recording these clips on their webcams. That’s REAL dedication that only a real conservative could inspire!

Support Newt! Take a look at these six people who are throwing their weight behind his broke bare bones grassroots race to the Republican National Convention floor in August! Then, give him a round of applause for finding people who believe he still has a chance.

Photo by Jeff Meade

.

Like many of you, I’ve shed tears watching the travesties of justice that are the Trayvon Martin and Ramarley Graham stories unfold before our very eyes. These tales strike an all-too familiar chord: I’ve spoken candidly about the effect of my cousin’s murder many years ago. The anger and rage and devastation and pure disenchantment have at times been suffocating.

The video below was created after weeks of media coverage of the Trayvon Martin story: the questions; the audio tapes of a helpless scream followed by a gunshot and then silence; rising anger; marches and protests; the family of the murderer defending… murder; more anger; a carefully crafted character assassination attempt of a dead teenager; and then… the outright suggestion that a young Black boy could be killed for simply walking in a neighborhood and “looking the part.”

Enough.

We must take back our image and reject the notion that a young black man is a walking bulls-eye. It is not enough to be angry. We must fight for the young man who goes out into the world each day in fear of being who he is. These are our brothers and sons and neighbors and friends. Remind these young men that they are more than what the world perceives, and capable of much more than what many believe.

Only when we weave these messages into the mindsets of our young men of color will we “transform pain and anger into power and action,” as my great aunt always says.

Please watch. And tell a young man of color that he is worthy of praise, not fear. Tell him that he is perfect, yet urge him to strive for perfection. And that the arrogance of those who doubt him is no match for his brilliance.

.

.

Courtesy Sarah Mongeau-Birkett/BU News Service

This one is a shocker.

Mitt Romney is aloof, doesn’t know your name, and could care less if you care ’cause he don’t care!

Or something like that, says the Times, which ran this story that quoted over a dozen sources, including members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts State Senate, on his lack of interest in getting to know fellow legislators.

In a piece that seems, at times, like it should have been written for The Onion by the former Governor’s old high school arch-nemesis, the article includes the following gems:

On not knowing a fellow legislator’s name or position:

…When [state legislator Jay Kaufman] crossed Mr. Romney’s path in the building’s marble corridors one day, his fears were confirmed.

“Hello, Senator,” Mr. Romney called to Mr. Kaufman.

Sitting in his office five years later, Mr. Kaufman still seemed wounded by the slight. “No name, wrong title,” he said. “Give me a break.”

On not doing nice things for them:

Lawmakers complained… that Mr. Romney failed to observe the courtesies typically extended during events in their districts. Instead of putting the legislators front and center, [he] frequently arranged for them to sit in the audience. (“The cheap seats,” as [former Romney Aide John] O’Keefe called them.)

And, naturally, the ‘why it’s ok to not care about and/or develop rapport with the people you work with‘ rebuttal from the Romney camp:

“He campaigned as an outsider, governed as an outsider and left as an outsider,” said Peter Flaherty, a top aide in the governor’s office who now works on Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign.

The real story in all of this is that it foreshadows the kind of relationship with Congress that a President Romney would have. Methinks it’d be no different than President Obama’s relationship with democrats and republicans alike, but that’s just me.

I tell you what: for anyone that is surprised about Mitt Romney’s reported ambivalence to folks in less-than-powerful positions (who cares about the poor, anyway?), I have an island named ‘Staten’ for sale on Ebay.

Full story at The New York Times

Photo by John Harber

January 2012 marked the strongest job growth in over 9 months, as the private sector added more than 257,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dipped to 8.3%, according to the Labor dept’s monthly jobs report.

Even more: according to Labor secretary Hilda Solis, the unemployment rate among African-Americans fell by 2.2 percent in January down to 13.6 percent — “the largest one-month drop in recorded history.”

Perhaps I live in an alternate universe where this information is considered good news. But alas, this is the real world, and John Lott over at Fox News has your real world answers!

“The newly released 8.3 percent unemployment rate is still a half a percentage point higher than when [President Barack Obama] took office. But that still might be looking at the bright side. If we include those who have given up looking for work, the unemployment rate stands at almost an entire percentage point higher than when Obama entered office.”

There’s even a picture!

SNL could do an entire show of Debbie Downer skits, starring the GOP. You can surf the ‘net and find statements from John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and a host of other Republican legislators and operatives who have similar statements about the latest employment report. In fact, ALL of their statements – month after month – have the same references and tone.

The issue that I have with these negative talking points: It affects our mood. Right now, the country overwhelmingly feels negatively about the direction of the country. People rely on the words and actions of our elected officials to paint a picture of our trajectory. If all good news under this president is greeted with doom, negative spin, or even worse – GLOOMY ILLUSTRATIONS like the one above – how will Americans ever feel confident about the future of the country?

We would never tell someone who almost lost his or her life in a major car accident “you know, you sure as hell could do better than taking that first step! You used to be able to run faster!!!!”

We can’t forget the severity of where we once were – our economy and all american industries faced severe trauma. And just as a person recovering from trauma should feel encouraged at every bit of good news, so, too, should all of the american people. It’s reckless to react with the same talking points when there is reason to feel good about where we’re headed.

The fact is: we were once upon a time hemorrhaging jobs at a rate of 750,000 per month. Today, we are creating over a quarter of a million jobs in the same time frame. Recovery could be more robust and faster, absolutely. But think for a second where we were.

I don’t say any of this because I’m some raging liberal fired up about November. I’m just looking at reality. Progress, no matter how you measure it, is still progress. Don’t let the spin fool you.

Mitt Romney campaigns in Ames, Iowa. Photo courtesy of WEBN-TV.

And you thought President Obama was the only one that could sang!

At a campaign stop in Florida, where he’s sure to win today’s Republican primary, presidential candidate Mitt Romney hit the crowd with a taste of his patriotism. And if that soulful performance left you with any doubts that he, you know, really loves America and its people, he let everyone in on a secret: he knows ALL of the verses of “America the Beautiful.”

Some of you can’t even remember the pledge of allegiance!

Check it out:

Standing ovation for that man! Get him a recording contract STAT! I could clean my apartment to this every Sunday morning.

Official Huntsman Campaign photo.

Good for him for accepting reality faster than Rick Perry.

After throwing all his hopes in New Hampshire and finishing a disappointing 3rd place behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in the state’s primary, Jon Huntsman is suspending his campaign. The New York Times reports that he will endorse Mitt Romney at a speech in Myrtle Beach later today.

Despite the wave of shock felt in the aftermath of this development, it should hardly come as a surprise and will probably have zero impact on the race. Huntsman polled at about 3% in state and national polls – not even the margin of error by some standards. His campaign was operating on a shoe-string budget and, as a result, failed to compete anywhere outside of New Hampshire.

I’m reading the two or three countless theories being thrown about as to why Huntsman never caught on. Just a few moments ago on Morning Joe, someone said he wasn’t “shrill” enough – that his restrained behavior almost eliminated him by default because of the crazy-status of today’s Republican party.

Another theory is that he automatically disqualified himself because he served in the Obama administration as the Ambassador to China.

Besides Rachel Maddow’s smart, spot-on analysis of Jon Huntsman’s campaign missteps last week, both of these are inaccurate. I’d hardly call Mitt Romney “shrill,” for example, and one could almost argue that Romney cruised to the top of the polls simply by showing up and standing on stage at debate performances and looking all presidential and stuff. As far as being disqualified because of his former Ambassadorship, there’s a great chance that Republican primary voters have failed to learn this gem of information because no one knows who Jon Huntsman is. And that, ladies and gentlemen, has been the problem. Here are my three reasons why Jon Huntsman never caught fire in the primary race.

He lacked a message that urged a call to action.

Jon Huntsman makes his compassionate, compelling plea for the presidency.

Can I share with you a campaign email from the Huntsman team that I received back in October?

“We need a nominee who can beat President Obama and unite Republicans, Independents and disaffected Democrats, just as Ronald Reagan did. We don’t need hope and hype anymore; we need solutions. We need a principled leader who has a set of core beliefs they can draw upon in the Oval Office. We don’t need a nominee who is choosing his positions like a weather vane blowing in the political winds.

If you agree, I hope you will support my campaign for President with an immediate donation before midnight of $10, $25, $50, $100 or more. Our support in New Hampshire is on the rise and you can feel the excitement on the campaign trail. What we need now are the financial resources to compete. 

So please endorse my campaign with an immediate donation of $10, $25, $50, $100 or more before our midnight fundraising deadline. 

I am counting on your support.

Sincerely, Jon Huntsman

PS Our support in New Hampshire is growing. What we need now are the resources to take advantage of our momentum on the ground. Please help us with an immediate donation before midnight. Then please forward this email to at least five of your friends. Thank you in advance!

Who wrote this email!? This has all the urgency of a guy gunning for that promotion from head cashier to shift supervisor. But does it make the case for someone aspiring to lead the free world? Not so much.

“If you agree, I hope you will support my campaign for President.“ A man who knows he is making a strong case for the presidency doesn’t use terms like “if you agree, I hope…” Also, isn’t Jon Huntsman a rich man? The redundancies here (care to make an immediate donation? how about making that immediate donation? oh, by the way, tell a friend and make an immediate donation.) make it hard to believe that there are real live people being paid out of his father’s Super PAC super rich pockets to produce such amateur work. I’m not speaking solely about this one missive – all of his campaign updates read like he hired the kids from the local high school to devise his strategy.

You sometimes got the impression that you were reading a Land’s End catalog.

Take one look at the merchandise section on his site. There is some really cool, well-designed stuff on there! I actually considered buying a black t-shirt with the futuristic ‘H’ emblazoned across my chest.

That's not me in this photo, by the way.

The problem is that it looks like more thought went into the design of that gigantic “H” than into an actual message, policies, and overall strategy. While you’re selling can coolies and tumblers and mugs and lapel pins via Paypal, no one knows who you are. But you’ve got nice shirts, sir.

His campaign always seemed to be running from behind.

Another not-so-smart highlight of the Huntsman brand would be this graphic that served as the marquee banner to all new visitors of Jon2012.com last week:

Jon Huntsman appeals to folks to help him air an ad.

The issue here? It was still the site’s lead story just hours before the New Hampshire primary. At that point, the ad should have been streamed on his site automatically, complete with links to voting sites as well as photos of enthusiastic voters amped to show their support for the former governor. Instead, curious visitors to his website were being asked to donate money to air an ad in a state that would be forgotten in a few hours? I’m glad I bought a sandwich instead.

According to his own official bio, “Utah… was named the best-managed state by the Pew Center” under Huntsman’s leadership. Yet, the man couldn’t hire anyone to manage his little website with basic updates that were, in fact, up to date? I don’t get it.

I think it’s admirable that governor Huntsman managed to build his support from 1% in Hew Hampshire to around 20% in an organic fashion. That’s remarkable. And I believe that if the New Hampshire primary were to be held tomorrow as opposed to last week, he could’ve won, or came in a close second to Romney. I’m also not suggesting that it’s an easy task to run for president.

But there were obvious signs from day 1 that Huntsman’s team was always a day late and a dollar short. It wasn’t because he was steady or sober or calm and collected. It was a lack of discipline in messaging, direction, conveying urgency, management of the campaign strategy – those are the reasons that Huntsman never moved beyond last place in the polls. And that’s disappointing from someone who seemed primed to make the 2012 race interesting and close.

We’ll see if and how much he improves come 2016.

Former Governor Jon Huntsman (R-UT) speaking at CPAC FL in Orlando, Florida. If you look closely, you can spot the Chinese features and Chinese values. Photo by Gage Skidmore.

Texas representative Ron Paul is having a hard time distancing himself from racist materials that bear his name.

New Hampshire Liberty 4 Paul, a group of so-called “Ron Paul Supporters,” produced this ad depicting former Utah governor Jon Huntsman as a secret, scary Chinese man – the real manchurian candidate if you will. (If you remember, Governor Huntsman served 2 years in the Obama administration as an ambassador to China). The ad depicts him as someone who has Chinese values – scary! – and even speaks Chinese, although some have called his Chinese-speaking abilities even scarier. Make sure you keep the lights on while you check out the clip below:

I mean, really…

Even though it’s not tied to a Ron Paul PAC, it would be best if congressman Paul came out and denounced this as monstrous, racist, and unacceptable.

Perhaps the only good thing coming from this episode, however, is that we’re actually talking about Jon Huntsman. Despite practically camping out in the White Mountains for the last six months, the former governor has barely made a mark in New Hampshire and national polls.

If this is a sign of things to come in the general election, expect a slew of Orly Taitz & Donald Trump ads calling on Obama to reveal his Kenyan birth certificate.

Photo by Flickr user photologue_np

Slow and steady progress.

In a better-than-expected monthly jobs report released this morning by the Labor dept,  the U.S. economy saw an increase of 200,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 8.5%.

Despite today’s positive news, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney continued to hammer President Obama. Campaigning this morning in Conway, SC alongside South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and AZ senator John McCain, Romney charged “remember [president Obama] was early in his administration, he said ‘look if you let me borrow 787 billion dollars, well I’ll be able to keep unemployment from going above 8%.‘ Well it went past 8% and hasn’t been back since! 3 years later!”

The AP and other outlets had already reported that this past December capped a 2011 which saw more growth in the economy that hadn’t been seen, by some measures, in over 5 years. Let’s hope for more news like this in the months to come. Read an in-depth analysis of the numbers over at Reuters or the official statement from Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis here.