Is Newt Gingrich Running for POTUS or Working at the Chocolate Factory?
Newt Gingrich needs to stop his parade of excuses for failing to qualify to get his name on Virginia’s GOP presidential ballot. “I think it’s more like Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory.
You’ve got to get it organized,” quipped Romney about Gingrich’s Virginia fiasco. For once I agree with Mitt Romney. The “only failed system” is the Gingrich campaign’s incompetence, not Virginia’s law, which has been in place since 1970. As a person who has written favorably about Gingrich as being the most qualified candidate on the GOP presidential stump, I was shocked by the turn of events in Virginia and offer the candidate some constructive criticism.
If both Romney and Congressman Ron Paul could muster the minimum requirement of 10,000 signatures from 11 Congressional districts throughout the state of Virginia, clearly the task of getting on Virginia’s ballot can be met. It’s called following the rules! When you are running for president, excuses like the “dog ate my homework” frankly won’t do.
Moreover, what message does it send to your supporters and those weighing support for you that you would want to be President of the United States but can’t even pass the simple test of getting on a large state’s primary ballot? As Larry Sabato, of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said “It also sends a message to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that his campaign isn’t serious.”
It wasn’t bad enough Gingrich totally blew it in Virginia, particularly since he leads Romney by 5% points among Republican voters, but his campaign made an awful PR move by casting blame at everything under the sun but the campaign’s lack of organization. First, Gingrich and his campaign manager Michael Krull blamed it on Virginia’s 1970 law calling it “a failed system” instead of taking responsibility for not scoring the goal.
Making Gingrich and his campaign look even more arrogant, like he was above the law and somehow exempt from following the states rules, Krull pledged it would organize an aggressive write in campaign without bothering to read Virginia’s election law which expressly prohibits write-ins during primary voting. Comparisons made by the campaign to this being its Pearl Harbor moment were also beyond ridiculous and unhelpful.
Christmas Eve, Gingrich made a move in the right direction, admitting it was “our fault” not qualifying for Virginia’s primary ballot. But this was undercut by his insistence the campaign would try to get Virginia’s legislature to change the election law to allow for write in votes. This is zany talk and makes the Gingrich campaign look silly and not serious for two reasons. One, there is no time for such action to occur when the General Assembly reconvenes July 11, 2012. Two, it would negate the hard work of the Romney and Paul campaigns who followed the rules and got the job done. Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell noted: “It’s the law. I like Gingrich, personally. I just don’t think you’re going to see a majority change the law to benefit one person.”
I like Gingrich too and think he’s the best man standing to tackle Obama in 2012. But Gingrich needs to abandon his Field of Dreams in getting on Virginia’s ballot, own up to his gross mistake, prove he seriously wants to be POTUS, and not make of fool of himself or his loyal supporters a second time.
So glad to find/”meet”another Conservative sister! Love the articles & we are growing in numbers. I’m a Conservative Black female blogger also : )
Great to see you on CNN today ! Love your site. I think you do bring out the point that conservative does not necessarily equal republican. And the present day republicans need to reposition themselves to show what real ‘conservatives’ are !
“Smugglers allegedly used black drivers to avert suspicion at border, Five people are charged in a plot to employ African Americans, mostly from Compton, to avert suspicion when bringing illegal immigrants across the border.” by Victoria Kim, LA Times, February 3, 2012
1. If you value your U.S. citizenship don’t provide refuge for an illegal alien.
2. It is a felony to harbor or bring in an illegal alien or aliens.
3. Illegals would do anything for just one opportunity to take your place to be a U.S citizen.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-smuggling-charges-20120203,0,7381514.story
Smugglers allegedly used black drivers to avert suspicion at border, Five people are charged in a plot to employ African Americans, mostly from Compton, to avert suspicion when bringing illegal immigrants across the border.
by Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2012
Vehicles used by the alleged smugglers were elaborately modified to accommodate illegal immigrants. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement / June 13, 2010)
In the calculus of cross-border human smuggling, Maria Lopez-Diaz allegedly concluded that black instead of brown equals green.
The 60-year-old Compton woman, prosecutors say, tried to cash in on racial profiling by operating a human smuggling ring that hired mostly African American drivers who didn’t speak a word of Spanish to ferry small groups of immigrants from Mexico to Los Angeles.
In the end, the alleged venture failed. Authorities announced charges Thursday against Lopez-Diaz and four others, including conspiracy and transporting and harboring illegal immigrants. Lopez-Diaz, two family members and a driver were arrested by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
A second driver facing a conspiracy charge, 32-year-old Yvette “Hazel” Binford, remains at large.
Authorities said the group’s approach was the latest innovation they have seen in the evolving trade of sneaking illegal immigrants into the United States.
“It’s absolutely true that most of the people involved in transporting human smuggling networks are Hispanics, by virtue of the fact that most customers are Hispanics,” said ICE Special Agent in Charge Claude Arnold. “This organization thought, ‘What if we recruited those who attract less attention from law enforcement?’ Obviously they were wrong.”
The group, allegedly headed by Lopez-Diaz and two family members, recruited drivers who were down on their luck — jobless, homeless or drug-addicted — who were lured by the few hundred dollars’ payoff and kept in the dark about the extent of the enterprise, prosecutors said. Had they been able to communicate with their passengers, they would have learned the ringleaders charged the immigrants up to $4,000 a person for the ride north, authorities said.
“There were two layers of exploitation here, one of the aliens in the trunks coming up to Los Angeles, and then of the drivers they used,” said U.S. Assistant Atty. Rupa Goswami, the federal prosecutor in the case.
The investigation began when Border Patrol officials noticed an unusual pattern in early 2010. They found African Americans, mostly from Compton, carrying up to six immigrants in the trunks and hidden compartments of their cars. Their vehicles were elaborately modified, including compartments under the hood or under the back seats, as well as special shock absorbers to conceal the heavy load.
The group is estimated to have smuggled several dozen immigrants a month into Los Angeles, immigration authorities said.
Juan Eduardo Baltazar, 35, Lopez-Diaz’s son-in-law, was allegedly responsible for preparing the vehicles and installing the compartments. Her daughter-in-law, 23-year-old Karen Esteban-Morales, is accused of coordinating the pickup of the immigrants. Lopez-Diaz and her two family members are themselves in the country illegally, according to authorities, and face deportation if they are convicted.
Also charged are drivers Binford and Bobby Johnson, 67, who allegedly transported groups and recruited drivers. Authorities said they have identified an additional 19 drivers, many of whom are cooperating with investigators.
On Thursday, a federal magistrate judge ordered Lopez-Diaz and Esteban-Morales held without bail, and for Johnson to be released to a drug rehabilitation facility. Baltazar’s initial appearance was delayed until next week.
Dana Cephas, an attorney representing Lopez-Diaz, declined to comment.
Each charge in the three-count indictment carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
victoria.kim@latimes.com
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
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