Yesterday Rick Santorum held a rally in nearby Montrose. Our local reporters all trekked down Highway 50 to get the story.

Meanwhile, back in Grand Junction, I was shopping with my mother. I frequently shop and run errands with my mother on Saturdays because she doesn’t drive, and since my father passed away doesn’t have a live-in chauffer. I don’t always dress up to go shopping with my mother. In fact, yesterday I had pulled my hair back with combs and gone out of the house without any make-up. No 63 year old woman wants to be photographed without having her hair and make-up done.

So, I was a bit conflicted when I got a call from a reporter from the local NBC affiliate, who wanted a comment from a Democrat about Santorum’s visit. I wanted the rest of the story to be told, but I didn’t want to appear in front of a camera. In the end, I decided to take one for the Party.

Our interview probably lasted for about 15 minutes in the parking lot of a WalMart store on North Avenue.  I said many outrageous things:

Why would any woman vote for a man who wants to take away birth control?

Republicans talk about jobs but get it all wrong—commercial leases of oil shale federal lands isn’t going to create any jobs in THIS century.

Why is it that Republican politicians all say that government doesn’t create jobs, yet they are all trying to get on the government payroll?

Santorum is just another Anybody-But-Romeny candidate. Romney has the money and the plan to go the distance in the primaries; he is going to be the candidate.

Guess which comment they decided to use? The good news is that they didn’t broadcast any of the footage they took in that parking lot. Maybe the reporter IS a liberal!

Homework

NBC 11 Story

Romney finally released his tax returns yesterday. In an effort to prove that he’s more transparent than Romney, Gingrich released his contract with Freddie Mac. The release of documents by the two presidential campaigns proved several things: Only the rich need apply to the GOP; the rich don’t pay into Medicare; and the GOP doesn’t respect actual work.

We all knew that Romney is wealthy. The problem is that he doesn’t seem comfortable discussing his wealth, or hanging out with ordinary voters. He prefers discussing things like that in “quiet rooms.” He only released his tax returns after people like Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey told him it was the right thing to do. Before releasing them he said that he paid close to 15% of his income in taxes. The actual returns show that he paid 13.9% of his almost $22 million in income in 2010 and expects to pay 15.4% in 2011. Even more interesting is the fact that Romney doesn’t have to do a thing to get that $22 million. His assets are all in a “blind trust” where the trustee makes all decisions. Since he doesn’t have to work, he can do things like take six years out of his life indulging in his hobby of running for political office. The good news is that he probably can’t be bought.

Gingrich, on the other hand, actually had to work to get his millions in income. I’m not saying that he had to put on a hard hat and run a jack hammer in a coal mine, breathing in coal dust all the live long day. But he did have to exercise his dial finger, probably building quite the callus, calling all of the friends and acquaintances he accumulated as Speaker. No doubt the experience prepared him for a presidential run, since it was hard work urging the recipients of his calls to make sure that Freddie Mac continued to be viewed favorably in congress. The man who actually “worked” for a living paid 32% of his income into the U.S. Treasury. He avoided paying even more by using a tax loophole. He avoided paying into Medicare by setting himself up as a Sub S Corporation.

Gingrich claiming that he didn’t work as a lobbyist is a bunch of pious baloney.  Lobbying is the act of influencing legislators to vote in favor of an issue. Gingrich reported to the head lobbyist at Freddie Mac. He didn’t get that callus on his finger because he was discussing history with a bunch of guys on K-Street or in the capital. He got that callus because he was connected to people who could make decisions impacting the regulation and funding of Freddie Mac. That’s a lobbyist.

Homework

Romney Tax Returns

Gingrich Consulting Contract

Gingrich Tax Returns

Gingrich Tax Rate

I was awakened in the middle of the night with the sound of my dog barking his head off. That isn’t all that unusual because when he needs to get out he stands at the door and barks. What was unusual was him rushing through his doggie door, yelling at the top of his lungs. Lately Jackson has been demanding that the human door be opened for him. I have been teasing him about losing his mind, and becoming forgetful in his old age. I thought he had forgotten all about that doggie door.

It turns out there was a cat in the garage, and Jackson was more than a little irritated about having his space invaded. I don’t think Jackson has ever gotten close to a scared cat, one of which he quickly cornered. The tabby behaved exactly as a one would expect a cornered cat to behave. A cornered cat is dangerous. As soon as I was able to get my hands on Jackson, I removed him from the site, and opened the garage door to let the frightened invader back out into the night where he belonged.

Jackson got the worst of it. His ear was wet with cat slobber. His mouth was bleeding from a cat scratch, and he was favoring one paw. And he was mad at me for breaking up the fight.

Since I’m a political junkie, I was reminded of the fight between Romney and Gingrich. Even though dogs and dog lovers everywhere would ban Romney from their company, in my mind’s eye, he became the dog—a pampered dog who has spent his entire life sleeping on silk pillows and prancing at elite dog shows. Gingrich became the scrappy cat, cornered and fighting for his life, using every sharp tool at his disposal.

I hadn’t planned on watching the billionth GOP debate tonight, but I just may change my mind. Yesterday Gingrich made the round of morning talk shows, having licked his fur back into place after his most recent alley fight with a newscaster. He even wore the colors of a tabby, with a yellow silk tie neatly in place, disguising the ruffled fur of a seasoned fighter. The fangs were hidden, and the sharp claws had been placed in neutral position. It won’t take much to corner Newt, and the fur will fly again. He is feeling cocky because he won the most recent scrap. But it is Romney who has the owner with the means to send the invader back out into the night. Romney might have a few cat scratches, but the elitists aren’t interested in sharing their pampered space with a stinky old alley cat.

In 2010 every politician ran on a plank of “Jobs Now.” I know I did, I have the T-shirt to prove it. But since the electoral winners were sworn in, and took their seats in legislatures, both in states and in Washington, what we’ve seen is a GOP war on women’s rights.

The most recent attack comes in the form of H.R.358, which was passed in the U.S. House, but will fail in the U.S. Senate. HR358 represents the seventh anti-abortion bill passed in the U.S. House this year. I swear when male legislators think about women’s rights, they think with their little head instead of their big head.

Or maybe they really do think that keeping women barefoot and pregnant, or letting women die because of complications of pregnancy somehow crates jobs. Do they think if there are fewer women in the workplace there are more jobs available for men?

Right now the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, is the first line of defense for women’s rights. We also have a champion in the White House. Upon passage of HR358, the White House issued this statement: “The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 358 because, as previously stated in the Statement of Administration Policy on H.R.3, the legislation intrudes on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that women and their families have today.”

In an interesting development, Mitt Romney was confronted by an Iowa voter yesterday who asked him why he wanted to ban birth control. The look on his face was priceless when the question was posed. He was dumbstruck and confused. He says he supports birth control. But supporting the Personhood amendments floating through state legislatures would ban most forms of birth control. Rachel Maddow, on her MSNBC show last night, took Romney to her virtual man cave and explained the facts of life to him. Birth Control prevents fertilized eggs from implanting themselves into the uterine lining of a woman. If “personhood” starts at conception, birth control will be banned.  

Homework

Let Women Die Act

Maddow's Man Cave

Let me start by saying, once again, that I will never understand the way that Republicans think. It is possible that I also do not understand the way that media political analysts think.

The consensus seems to be that the two front runners going into the debate are the winners coming out of the debate. There isn’t much difference among the candidates in terms of content:  lower taxes, get rid of regulations, Drill Baby Drill. My impressions therefore are on the way the candidates came across to me, a progressive, who is never going to vote for any of them.

Mitt Romney reminds me of a used car salesman. Strategically he positioned himself well when he took on Perry about Social Security. My problem with him is that he always sounds so hesitant when he speaks—like he just can’t get his mouth to wrap around the words. Superficial, I know, but if he wins the nomination he will be up against a silver tongued devil, and the contrast will be stark.

Rick Perry reminds me of the high school quarterback. He is affable, and won’t back down even when the entire opposition team tries to sack him and pile on to make matters worse. I can’t take anyone seriously who is failing science and needs a tutor just to stay on the team. I can hardly wait for the seniors in Florida to ask him about his Ponzi scheme comment.

Michelle Bachmann’s star has been eclipsed by Perry. She reminds me of the prom queen, who is more concerned with her looks than getting the highest grade on the SAT tests. She sticks to message, but the message is shallow. I might have the prom queen analagy wrong, since nobody seems to have told her that women look powerful in red. Had she not dressed as a little brown sparrow, maybe more questions might have been directed in her direction. Nancy Regan understood that. She was in her trademark red.

I seem to be in a minority when I think that Jon Huntsman is the most appealing candidate. In one way he scares me—I believe he could be the candidate that could attract enough independent voters to take the White House away from Democrats. In another way he isn’t as scary as the other candidates—he actually believes in science, and knows about foreign policy—which is the job of a president. I liked his comments about getting out of Afghanistan. The MSNBC pundits think he is ho-hum.

The rest of the line-up just bored me, with the possible exception of Ron Paul. Paul seems like the crazy uncle who comes for Thanksgiving, and has all kinds of crazy ideas, none of which he is able to clearly articulate.