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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Benny B on November 16, 2011, 04:14:14 AM
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newt is the best the republicans have. he's surely not perfect in any way, but it's closing time at the bar and you have 4 skanks smoking and doing shots... unless you wanna go home to your wife (Obama), you're going to have to pick one of them for that quickie.
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Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac
November 16, 2011
By Clea Benson and Dawn Kopecki
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement.
The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse.
Gingrich’s business relationship with Freddie Mac spanned a period of eight years. When asked at the debate what he did to earn a $300,000 payment in 2006, the former speaker said he “offered them advice on precisely what they didn’t do,” and warned the company that its lending practices were “insane.” Former Freddie Mac executives who worked with Gingrich dispute that account.
Gingrich’s first contract with the mortgage lender was in 1999, five months after he resigned from Congress and as House speaker, according to a Freddie Mac press release.
His primary contact inside the organization was Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist, and he was paid a self- renewing, monthly retainer of $25,000 to $30,000 between May 1999 until 2002, according to three people familiar with aspects of the business agreement.
During that period, Gingrich consulted with Freddie Mac executives on a program to expand home ownership, an idea Delk said he pitched to President George W. Bush’s White House.
Political Benefits
“I spent about three hours with him talking about the substance of the issues and the politics of the issues, and he really got it,” said Delk, adding that the two discussed “what the benefits are to communities, what the benefits could be for Republicans and particularly their relationship with Hispanics.”
One idea that the former Georgia congressman proposed that Freddie Mac didn’t pursue was initiating a program with the Boy Scouts of America to teach youngsters the importance of saving money and maintaining good credit so they would qualify to buy a home later in life.
In 2001, according to one person familiar with the work Gingrich performed, company officials asked him for feedback on their plan to publicly embrace “six voluntary commitments.”
The six items included a pledge to periodically issue subordinated debt, manage liquidity, undergo capital stress tests and expand various types of risk disclosures. Gingrich applauded the ideas, saying they would enable Freddie Mac to demonstrate benefits to the taxpayer, the person said.
Not a Lobbyist
“What he did was provide counsel on public policy issues,” Delk said in an interview. “There was no expectation that he would do any lobbying, and he did not do any lobbying.”
While campaigning in Iowa this week, Gingrich, 68, was asked about his relationship with Freddie Mac. He said he did no lobbying “of any kind.”
Gingrich’s second contract with Freddie Mac was a two-year retainer for which he was paid a total of $600,000, said two people familiar with the agreement.
What he did for the money is a subject of disagreement. Gingrich said during the CNBC debate that he advised the troubled firm as a “historian.” Gingrich said he warned that the company’s business model was a “bubble” and its lending practices were “insane.”
None of the former Freddie Mac officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Gingrich raised the issue of the housing bubble or was critical of Freddie Mac’s business model.
‘Strategic Advice’
“We dispute your sources’ account,” said R.C. Hammond, a Gingrich campaign spokesman.
Hammond confirmed that Gingrich had multiple contracts with the mortgage company.
“Newt did have a series of contracts with Freddie Mac over a period of many years, during which he was paid to give strategic advice,” Hammond said in a telephone interview.
A Freddie Mac spokesman declined to comment on the Gingrich contracts.
Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with his work in 2006 say Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.
He was expected to provide written material that could be circulated among free-market conservatives in Congress and in outside organizations, said two former company executives familiar with Gingrich’s role at the firm. He didn’t produce a white paper or any other document the firm could use on its behalf, they said.
Attacking Freddie Mac
Since his retainer with Freddie Mac ended in 2008, Gingrich has become a critic of the government-sponsored enterprises, which were pushed into insolvency by subprime mortgages.
The two companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, “are so thoroughly politicized and preside over such irresponsible lending policies that they need to be replaced with smaller, private companies operating without government guarantees, whose leaders focus on making a profit, not manipulating politicians,” Gingrich wrote in his 2011 book, “To Save America.”
In an Oct. 11 Republican presidential debate, Gingrich said, Democrats and housing-loan loan practices led to the house industry’s collapse.
“You ought to start with Barney Frank,” when talking about people to put in jail, Gingrich said, referring to the Massachusetts congressman who serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “Go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to at Freddie Mac,” Gingrich said in the debate, sponsored by Bloomberg News and the Washington Post.
--With assistance from Kristin Jensen and Jeanne Cummings in Washington. Editors: Jeanne Cummings, Mark McQuillan, Jim Rubin.
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His job, according to freddie, was to "bridge the gap with members of congress".
Yet he claim he wasn't a lobbyist.
Then again, Cain was a lobbyist too. Perry was for sale and forced HPV vaccinations to 11 year old girls in his state.
Ron Paul is the only politician in the repub race who isn't for sale, and repubs hate him because he's not screaming uncontrollably or firing off guns pandering.
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Got to admit, Liberals couldn't run on issues if their lives depended on it, but like their policies they sure no how to destroy peoples political lives. Most Liberals = losers.
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Newt is way better than Obama (MF Global/Goldman Sachs)
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A Long Crooked Record: Why Newton Leroy Gingrich Should Never Be President of The U.S.
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LMFAO. After the disaster that is Maobama - Bernie Maddoff would be a better replacement for this creep in the WH.
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Don't confuse Benny with facts. He looking for more shit to cut and paste.
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Got to admit, Liberals couldn't run on issues if their lives depended on it, but like their policies they sure no how to destroy peoples political lives. Most Liberals = losers.
Obama can't run on his record, experience, or the issues.
Obama CAN run on overall competence.
Obama sucks, but he's stable. Cain/Perry... voters might believe they aren't even competent. Mitt, Newt, RPaul, ,TPaw, and a slew of other repubs all appear confident.
RCP has obama beating every repub competitor - 3% over romney and 10% over Perry and cain.
Rassmussen has obama at 50% approval rate.
It's unbelievable, it really is.
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Newt is way better than Obama (MF Global/Goldman Sachs)
agreed. and the majority of voters will probably agree with you.
Perry and Cain - I feel they are incompetent and will gift-wrap another 4 years of Obama.
Repubs have a duty to select a COMPETENT candidate. These 2 have cracked under pressure.
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(http://bsimmons.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/debt1.jpg)
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Obama can't run on his record, experience, or the issues.
Obama CAN run on overall competence.
Obama sucks, but he's stable. Cain/Perry... voters might believe they aren't even competent. Mitt, Newt, RPaul, ,TPaw, and a slew of other repubs all appear confident.
RCP has obama beating every repub competitor - 3% over romney and 10% over Perry and cain.
Rassmussen has obama at 50% approval rate.
It's unbelievable, it really is.
HA HA HA!!!! Are you fucking kidding?
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HA HA HA!!!! Are you fucking kidding?
It's true actually -
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
Straight down the line, Obama is leading every single repub. He only leads Romney by 3, but Perry and Cain both by 10 points.
I don't get it.... How the hell is his position IMPROVING as the economy continues to suck?
MORE:
RASSMUSSENREPORTS: OBAMA APPROVAL NOW 50%, DISAPPROVAL 49(+1)
Approval: 50%
Dissaproval: 49%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com
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Obama is not competent or stable.
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Obama can't run on his record, experience, or the issues.
Obama CAN run on overall competence.
Obama sucks, but he's stable. Cain/Perry... voters might believe they aren't even competent. Mitt, Newt, RPaul, ,TPaw, and a slew of other repubs all appear confident.
RCP has obama beating every repub competitor - 3% over romney and 10% over Perry and cain.
Rassmussen has obama at 50% approval rate.
It's unbelievable, it really is.
His record show's he is incompetent. I'm not joking nor trying to be a dick. just stating a fact. The others at least have a record to go by.
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His record show's he is incompetent.
Obama is not competent or stable.
You two guys kill me.
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You two guys kill me.
How is obama competent or stable?
He doubles down on failure and rewards incompetence and corruption.
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(http://content.cartoonbox.slate.com/?feature=1956bc05d7333cec35e00da4b7ea652e)
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(http://content.cartoonbox.slate.com/?feature=1956bc05d7333cec35e00da4b7ea652e)
Wow, great, hilarious: a cartoon! here's the man, the self proclaimed wizard of the westwing, who apparently is the most knowledgeable and wise in all the land when it comes to politics yet his perception of politics is no different than a 10 year old child's watching a football game. rooting and cheering for the team whose jersey he happens to be wearing, for no other reason than because he's told that team is the "good one" and the other team is the "bad one"
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Vamos a la playa!!!!
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Wow, great, hilarious: a cartoon! here's the man, the self proclaimed wizard of the westwing, who apparently is the most knowledgeable and wise in all the land when it comes to politics yet his perception of politics is no different than a 10 year old child's watching a football game. rooting and cheering for the team whose jersey he happens to be wearing, for no other reason than because he's told that team is the "good one" and the other team is the "bad one"
Spot on.
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Spot on.
fuck you been?
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Spot on.
A post as hollow as the space between your ears. ::)
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A post as hollow as the space between your ears. ::)
www.gallup.com
Your communist messiah dropping like a stone.
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sooon it will all collapse and falcon will get the nominee
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A post as hollow as the space between your ears. ::)
Why say it all again, when the guy above me has said everything that needs to be said?
Oh, I forgot, you feel the need to spew your bullshit to people to try and make yourself feel important. You wouldnt understand keeping your mouth shut if someone has already spoken everything that needs to be said..
Youre pathetic Benny, just a race obsessed bitch.
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Why Newt Gingrich Will Never Be President
By Linda Killian
Thin-skinned, self-regarding and with a long and tangled political and personal history, the former speaker's rise in the polls means nothing
Newt Gingrich has shot to the top tier in several recent national polls of Republican presidential hopefuls, becoming the latest beneficiary of GOP skepticism about Mitt Romney as well as the troubles of Herman Cain and Rick Perry.
But many Republican observers still doubt that Gingrich could ever be their nominee, much less president.
Undisciplined, angry, thin-skinned and unpopular with many Republicans, not to mention independent voters, Gingrich has up till now been running what many considered a vanity campaign to sell books and increase his speaking fees and national profile. No Republican operatives I've spoken with think he's a threat to become the nominee, even now.
Yet there's no doubt that Gingrich's fortunes have improved in recent days. In the past week, according to a spokesman, the campaign has taken in over $1 million, more than it raised from July through September, and also about the same amount of debt it had when its third quarter FEC report was filed Sept. 30.
Gingrich has also been adding staff on the ground in New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he previously had virtually no field operations.
Former GOP Congressman John Shadegg, who was a member of the famous Class of '94 which won the Republicans the House majority and Gingrich the speakership, said in an interview, "I think that Romney has the inside track but I think people are looking seriously at Newt."
Two months ago, Shadegg says if you had asked him, he would have said Gingrich was "not a serious candidate." But, he says, things in the race have changed.
In the spring and summer, the Gingrich campaign was in shambles, losing its top-level staffers and facing negative press stories about the candidate's commitment to the race amid stories of Tiffany's spending and Greek island cruises.
"I thought Newt would surge when he initially got into the race," says former GOP congressman and long-time Gingrich friend Vin Weber. Then "the campaign began so disastrously and collapsed coming out of the starting gate, so many of us thought it was over," he observes. "But it doesn't particularly surprise me that he's coming back."
Weber, who was policy chairman of Romney's 2008 campaign and is also supporting and advising Romney this time around, thinks the debates and candidate forums which have dominated the pre-primary campaign so far are "a perfect mechanism" for Gingrich. He has a reputation for being the big thinker in the field and when those who know him talk about Gingrich's attributes, they mostly cite his debate performances, intellect and ideas.
Shadegg, who is not yet supporting any candidate, says he's talked with a lot of Republicans who would love to see a debate between Gingrich and Barack Obama. "He has so much more substance than anybody else," says Shadegg. "There's no doubt that his rhetorical skills and knowledge of history exceed those of his opponents."
With this GOP field, the bar isn't set all that high: A Romney supporter and fundraiser told me Romney has certainly "benefited from a far inferior class of candidates to 2008."
Gingrich's reputation also comes from his habit of making it abundantly clear that he believes he's the smartest guy in the room.
"He loves to hear himself think," says the Republican consultant, who adds that Gingrich is famous in GOP circles "for sending 'Here's what you should do' emails to political operatives and then copying 12 people and bcc'ing ten more."
Well heeled conservatives have long been wowed by what they perceive to be Gingrich's brain power, and that's helped him raise a great deal of money from them over the years for his various PACS and advocacy groups. Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future group collected more than $50 million in just four years -- two-thirds of which reportedly went toward fund-raising and "expenses."
It's been harder to raise presidential campaign cash in the smaller amounts required by law, especially as Gingrich has no natural constituency within the GOP primary electorate. He can pull some conservative support from Romney. But Gingrich has been around far too long to be considered a political outsider, which is what Tea Party voters seem to want, and his marital history and infidelities don't sit well with the religious right wing of the party.
More than any other political figure, Gingrich bears responsibility for the negative state of our current politics.
And one thing Gingrich's new reputation as the GOP's thinker doesn't take into consideration: More than any other political figure, Gingrich bears responsibility for the negative state of our current politics. He is the grandfather of negativity, partisan attack and governmental gridlock. More than any current thing, it is this history that will prevent him from ever coming close to the presidency.
A few years after he was elected to the House in 1978, Gingrich and several other Republican congressmen, including Weber, formed the Conservative Opportunity Society to advance conservative ideas and attempt to win control of Congress. Gingrich advocated that Republicans become more partisan, more negative, and more confrontational -- and less open to compromise with the Democrats. Gingrich saw that a take no prisoners, slash-and-burn attack on Democrats both personally and politically was the best way for Republicans to win, a strategic shift that virtually insured a toxic future political environment.
In 1989, Gingrich was successful in forcing the resignation of Democratic Speaker Jim Wright over ethics charges, which was a major career boost. He became minority whip the same year and then led the Republicans to a takeover of the House in 1994. What followed was a zenith of partisanship and discord in Congress. Gingrich presided over possibly the most partisan Congress in history, launching a strategy of fierce lockstep party obedience that continues today.
"I have mixed feelings about what we did," says Weber, who admits that their approach did lead to increased political division. "There was clearly a strategy of polarization and it grew out of many decades of frustration about being in the minority." But Weber believes that without that strategy, Republicans would never have been able to win back the House. The 104th Congress, led by Gingrich, is perhaps best remembered for shutting down the government in a budget showdown with President Clinton. Its Republicans took a long time to recover from that shutdown, losing House seats in 1996 and 1998.
Gingrich has always had a problem with losing his temper and popping off. In November 1995, around the time of the government shutdown, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Gingrich attended the funeral with the American delegation aboard Air Force One and later complained to reporters about his seat on the plane. Gingrich's remarks got national media attention and the New York Daily News put him on the front page in a cartoon in diapers with the headline "Cry Baby: He closed down the government because Clinton made him sit at back of plane."
Many of his GOP colleagues in the House saw Gingrich as a liability who had hurt them electorally with his public comments and his ethics problems.
During that time I was working on a book, "The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution?" and was talking frequently with members of the House Class of '94 like Joe Scarborough who told me that most of his classmates didn't like Gingrich and resented his trying to take all the credit for getting them elected. A group of the freshmen even launched a potential coup trying to oust him as Speaker.
The House ultimately voted 395-28 to reprimand Gingrich and order him to pay a $300,000 penalty for ethics violations involving contributions and political activity. It was the first and only time in the history of the House that a sitting Speaker had been disciplined for ethical violations.
In typical Gingrich fashion he blamed his lawyers and the liberal media. "If you are a conservative and... if you make a single mistake, you better plan to be pilloried because you're politically incorrect," he said.
Gingrich resigned the speakership at the beginning of 1999, becoming only the third House Speaker in U.S. history to do so after Wright, whom he had toppled, and Henry Clay, who did so for personal reasons.
And then there's the hypocrisy. In the months before his resignation,Gingrich was pushing for impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky -- as well as possible perjury and obstruction of justice charges -- while at the same time the married Gingrich was carrying on a long affair with House staffer Callista Bisek, 22 years his junior and now his third wife.
The conservative religious wing of the Republican Party is all too familiar with Gingrich's marital infidelities and history. It was no accident that at a recent debate, in an example of his constancy, Romney mentioned that he had been married to the same woman for more than 40 years. Or that an anonymous individual or group has been leafletting in Iowa to remind voters about Gingrich's marital history, accusing him of failing to take his vows to women and to God seriously.
Gingrich is simply too angry, has too much baggage and will not play with a majority of Americans -- and Republican Party leaders know it.
The one person who doesn't seem to get this is Newt Gingrich. Lately he's been talking about how he is running the most substantive campaign in modern American history and how he will win South Carolina, Florida and the nomination.
For all his bravado and bluster, Gingrich is anything but immune to criticism and extremely sensitive to slights. And some GOP officials believe Gingrich's personal foibles will be even more of a problem for him than his checkered political history.
In an upcoming 2012 campaign e-book, Tom Bevan and Carl Cannon claim that Gingrich spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Tiffany jewelry to get his wife to agree to his running for president. Gingrich's Tiffany bill may be little more than an interesting side-note but in these times of economic crisis for so many Americans, it also reflects a tone deafness, just like Gingrich's acceptance of more than a million dollars to serve as a consultant for Freddie Mac.
Gingrich also lacks the personal skills that presidents must have to bring people together and govern. Another person who has known Gingrich for many years told me, "Newt doesn't have any close friends."
And that is probably the secret to Herman Cain's ability to hang in the chase despite all the charges of sexual harassment being leveled against him. Republican voters -- or at least Republican men -- still seem to like him. Even Rick Perry has shown, after his debate "oops" moment, a capacity to laugh at himself.
If Gingrich had screwed up at a debate, as Perry did, you just can't picture him making fun of himself in an attempt at damage control.
"Gingrich is getting his moment in the sun, but the fundamentals of the race haven't changed," observes a Romney supporter, adding, Romney's got the money and organization to go the distance.
No matter how much talk you hear about the Gingrich surge and Gingrich as the anti-Romney, the only important fact you need to remember about the former speaker is this: Newt Gingrich will never be president.
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(http://content.cartoonbox.slate.com/?feature=c6d9ac001535b22ed7a5efd823c24a53)
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Can someone put this fool in time out
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He's got you nervous.
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lol just another flavor of the week or two, it was cain the last two weeks now it's newt, then he will get exposed for all he has done, then it will be somebody else, they just don't have anybody good to run except Ron Paul, but he doesn't kiss Israel's ass so they don't like him.
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Yet he dedicated a thread to him.
Definitely nervous.
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Yet he dedicated a thread to him.
Definitely nervous.
I don't think anybody is that nervous about Newt, yeah he is up now, but when his past starts getting brought up like it will from his opponents they will drag him right back down, give it a week or two, then who will be next lol. This GOP selection is like a marry go round.
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Nobody cares about your propaganda. Everyone knows you only support Obama because he's a Black liberal. Doesn't really matter what he does.
Do something more useful like maybe work out once in a while you fat, old, bitter and angry kneegrow.
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As long as they keep debating, he'll stay on top.
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His record show's he is incompetent. I'm not joking nor trying to be a dick. just stating a fact. The others at least have a record to go by.
Cain doesn't have a record outisde of "i worked for some big businesses and was forced out due to sex allegations".
Perry's record, Romney's record... half dem/half repub.
Newt? Helluva lobbyist.
Ron Paul? he rocks.
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Sometimes (most of the time) commonsense trumps politics. If Obama a most "progressives" had a lick of commonsense they might be a little more credible. Obama is exactely what the right said. Even worse. Its not because I'm bias its because its the damn truth.
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What I think is funny, Benny posted the article but failed to tell everyone Newt is a private citizen during this whole time. There is nothing saying a person can't make a living no matter how "controversial" Benny and the media try to spin it.
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What I think is funny, Benny posted the article but failed to tell everyone Newt is a private citizen during this whole time. There is nothing saying a person can't make a living no matter how "controversial" Benny and the media try to spin it.
Incredible no? these leeches say nothing about pelosi insider trading, kerry doing the same bs, etc.
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RON PAUL
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RON PAUL
he is really the only one who represents real change of any sort. the others nip at the margin.
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What I think is funny, Benny posted the article but failed to tell everyone Newt is a private citizen during this whole time. There is nothing saying a person can't make a living no matter how "controversial" Benny and the media try to spin it.
I've lost count at the number of threads Benny has been brutally owned, raped and runs off in tears. Over the years he has lost so much credibility that he's become the village idiot. No one takes him seriously. He's become a caricature of himself.
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Obama pimp slapping the war hungry GOP crazies letting them know now that they refused to cut millionaires taxes, defense cuts will go through and he will veto any bill to stop it, BOOOOM.