We dodged a bullet last Tuesday. A bullet directed at the heart of the American dream.

In the timely defeat of Hillary Clinton and in the stunning victory of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, a significant battle has been won. Much, however, remains to be done -- at levels strategic and foundational -- if we are to carry days beyond this day.

As a matter of strategic import, we must restore the real-world governing centrality of the U.S. Constitution, as written and not as killed by secularists and their dead "living" "Constitution" -- which they then mangle to make it say and ratify whatever it is they want to do to have their way with the American body politic.

It is a simple fact: The freedoms so central to a humane life here in the U.S. cannot be sustained, and are not being sustained, by mere lip service to a bunch of words on a piece of paper called the Constitution. This is what the presidential oath of office has been reduced to -- just a perfunctory act on Inauguration Day, the content of which is denied all the other days by that massive non-Constitutional monopoly of establishment power that is the federal government, its eyes and tentacles reaching and probing every aspect of our individual lives.

That is not freedom. That is not human dignity. We are made for better than this.

And so we can be thankful that Hillary Clinton's defeat derails what clearly would have been a successful effort to radicalize the Supreme Court by inserting extremist activists pretending to be justices. Pretenders -- not judges, but partisan operatives. Not justices, but political hacks. Using their position to legalize brutality, empower the executioners, and create "law" out thin air. What an inhumane disaster an anti-Constitutional Clintonized court would have been.

Also as a matter of strategic and foundational import, we must restore the Declaration of Independence -- to which the Constitution is inextricably linked. To which it is wonderfully and ingeniously linked. Such that to delink these two foundational documents is to occasion great harm and sorrow. It is to strike at the heart of that liberating dream and beckoning land which is called America.

In fact, if we allow political elites -- whether Republican or Democrat -- to alienate the Constitution from the principles of human freedom and human dignity set forth in the Declaration rooted with practical realism in an actually existing Creator -- well, let's just say that's how tyrants can use the "form" of the Constitution to deny its liberty and thereby impose an authoritarian, centralized power regime upon "We the People." 

What a gross and outrageous offense to the human being. We bearers of publicly actionable unalienable rights endowed by the Creator are made for better than this.

Thus the disaster of Washington elites so alienated from the American people of today -- in very large measure because these elites are already so alienated from those "magnificent" words of the Declaration and the Constitution, to quote Martin Luther King, Jr. Were it not for those magnificent words, there would have been no Martin Luther King. And never could there have been that shining, bright light of cultural advance displayed in the magnificent words of his epochal speech "I Have a Dream."

And so, because of the electoral outcome last Tuesday, we live to fight another day. We live to face down the spiritual terror aching to be unleashed yet more by extremists against the Constitution and Declaration -- by yet more aggressive figures to arise and attack in the mold of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

These are the soft-spoken suit-and-tie totalitarians. The professionally aggrieved pantsuit propagandists.

They call it "transforming America" -- in reality, it's an attack on America. An attack on the indispensable foundations of human freedom and human dignity. An assault on the heart of the American body politic that is rightfully so challenged, and so uplifted to the challenge, by magnificent Constitutional and Declarational words conveying liberating principles that speak to the very center of every human being.

To add insult to injury, and offense to indignity, this attack is so extremely dishonest.

They call it "liberation." They call it "equality." "Diversity." Words and slogans whose hidden purpose is to dominate and control, to elevate into power an elite "more equal" than "We the People," and to impose a phony diversity the better to divide -- that the controllers might more easily conquer and rule.

What dishonesty, how inhumane, and such disrespect. We the human beings are made for so much more than this.

So, yes: Congratulations, O America. We live to fight another day. America lives to fight another day.

Let us make the most of who are. Let us make the most of what America as America always can strive to be. A walking dream from the mind of the Creator. A land of light, liberty, and humanity.

No perfection, it is true. And yet enough of a marvel to draw the people of the world to the beacon of our borders and the shining of our shores.

Note: This column, republished at 3:51 pm, Nov. 10, 2016, has been updated and edited from an earlier version.

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Brittany M. Hughes writes at MRCTV.org:

The front page of the left-leaning Huffington Post didn't shy away from what its publishers thought about Tuesday's election. Stark, bold letters emblazoned on HuffPo's homepage screamed, "Mourning in America: NIGHTMARE: Prez Trump . . . America Elected A Man Who Said 'Grab Them By The Pu**y' Over The First Female President . . . Party Ends In Tears . . ."

Poor HuffPo seemed downright stunned that any voter would choose Trump over Clinton and her "history-making story arc."

"HuffPo was just one of a slew of liberal media outlets losing their minds over Republican presidential nominee -- and now President-elect -- Donald Trump's victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night in an upset that shocked many liberal and conservative pundits alike," Hughes writes.

Read more.

Some people seem to think that "voting my conscience" absolves them of their ethical responsibility regarding the on-the-ground reality their votes help create after this election.

But merely "voting your conscience" is truncated ethical voting -- a form of privatized spirituality more Greek and secular than Judeo-Christian and humane.

In addition, going 3rd party in Election 2016 potentially enables into vast power a Hillary Clinton -- a well-practiced destroyer of foundations. You can see the the problem.

"Voting my conscience" is useless if not outright dangerous if it does not include love of neighbor within its scope of application.

Go ahead. Swing at Trump. Be alerted, however: Your neighbors may well be a bit upset if your swing at Trump ends up hitting their families.

Which is what will happen if "conscience" voters elevate a wrecker like Clinton to the most powerful elected political office in the world.

These remarks, slightly edited here, were first published on FB.

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We stand on the eve of one of the most profound moments in our nation's history. I mean this, and I affirm this, with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind.

That is what Election Day 2016 is. For good or for ill, E-Day Nov. 8, 2016, presents us with a choice that will decisively impact every single one of us on the very deepest of levels of who we are.

The results of this day will affect us immediately in the concrete realities of our daily lives -- reaching even into matters of life and death. Even more, the results of E-Day will immediately and decisively affect the very structure and direction of who we are as a people and as a national community, whether we shall stand for great good and beauty or for great ill and ugliness.  

To help clarify the gravity of this election, consider "The Parable of the Three Firefighters":

As dusk approached, a mother and father were working together in their garden. They heard shouts and saw smoke and firelight coming from a direction that could only mean their home was on fire and their three children at risk.

They dropped their gardening tools and rushed home to hear voices say, "Mom! Dad! Help us!" The father rushed toward the home to save the children, but collapsed before entering, so hot was the blaze. He was pulled to safety.

Two firefighters appeared on scene, one slightly earlier than the other, both ready to work. Because of logistics, only one firefighter with truck and crew could be positioned to quell the flames.

The first firefighter arrived and said truck and crew were ready and that fire hoses could be deployed to put out the fire, save the children, and keep the house from burning down. This firefighter was long-approved by pillars of the community. The only problem was that this firefighter's fire hoses would be filled with gasoline.

The second firefighter was gruff and disliked by some of the neighbors. But his truck and crew were ready and his fire hoses could be deployed immediately to save the children and keep the house from burning down. And there was water in the hoses of his fire truck.

A third firefighter and his fire truck were on the way. Some said he was the best firefighter the community had ever known. "It would be best to wait for him," they said. But he and his crew were many miles away and there was little chance he could arrive in time to put out the fire, save the children, and keep the house from burning down.

The mom and dad almost allowed the first firefighter and crew put out the fire. But the parents smelled the gas in the nick of time and discovered the fire hoses were filled with gasoline, not water. So they said no to the long-approved firefighter because they loved their children and knew the result would be a disaster.

The mom and dad liked the third firefighter and listened when neighbors said, "It would be best to wait for him." But the parents understood that the third firefighter and his crew were many miles away and there was little chance they would arrive in time to put out the fire, save the children, and keep the house from burning down.

So the mom and dad decided in favor of the second firefighter, even though he was gruff and disliked by some of the neighbors. For his truck was ready and his fire hoses could be immediately deployed to save the children and keep the house from burning down. And there was water in the hoses of his fire truck.

And there was singing and great rejoicing as the children were saved and much of the house preserved, to be rebuilt better and stronger than before, because mom and dad acted wisely on the day when fire threatened the future of them all.    

In "The Parable of the Three Firefighters," the first firefighter represents Hillary Clinton. As the initial responder, Mrs. Clinton with her crew is ready to "put out the fire." Unfortunately, her fire hoses are filled with gas -- that is, applying her solutions to America will only make matters worse in our country, in fact, dramatically and potentially catastrophically worse.

It is important to grasp that what Hillary Clinton will unleash is a form of spiritual terror. Consider the spiritual terror of immigration chaos in a nation without effective borders. Common sense tells us that just as the human body needs skin to regulate what is allowed in physically, even so a nation needs a border to regulate what is allowed in nationally. As human skin is to the health and growth of a human body, even so national borders are to the health and growth of a humane nation. No skin, no body; no border, no nation.

A healthy body politic therefore respects strong borders to protect our domestic life against criminals, drugs, cartels, Islamic terrorists, and so on. A healthy nation rejects illegal immigration and carefully regulates legal immigration to ensure that only those who love what it means to be American are allowed the privileges of citizenship. To do otherwise is violence against the spirit of America and places the lives of our sons and daughters -- in fact, all of us -- in harm's way.

We have already seen how eight years of the Obama regime have brought home murder, sexual assault, drug abuse, Islamic jihad into America, and more. It's hard to see how any humane person could knowingly vote in ways that enable a Hillary Clinton to assume the office of the U.S. presidency.

Much the same could be noted in relation to the spiritual terror that a President Hillary Clinton would unleash regarding Islamic terror, which she refuses even to name. Imagine going to a doctor unwilling to name a life-threatening cancer, lest he be accused of being "cancer-phobic." Such a doctor would be a quack -- and a deadly one at that. Enabling the elevation of such a person to high office would be unconscionable. To the office of the U.S. president? Insane.  

But let us not fail to mention a deeper aspect of Clinton's spiritual terror, and that is the anti-Constitutional terror and anti-Declaration of Independence terror that will be unleashed across America in a Clinton regime should we allow her to occupy the office of president.

The core of America, that genius of America, that enduring mainstream of America, is located in the Declaration of Independence for all to see. It is that to which the next president will swear to "preserve, protect, and defend" when taking the presidential oath of office.

The core, the enduring mainstream genius, is the political vision that accepts the real-world, publicly actionable principle that an actual and real Creator, and not any merely human state, is the ultimate source and ground of human freedom and human dignity.

Hear these words, O America:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. . . ."

These principles express the ultimate core of what the next president is pledging allegiance to when taking the oath of office and swearing before America and the entire world political fidelity to the U.S. Constitution. A Constitution whose purpose is what? To enflesh the amazing liberating principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. And thus is released a spiritual liberty into the world, to be expressed humanely and holistically across all of life, both publicly and privately, including political life.

But it is this spirit of liberty, O America, that Hillary Clinton does not want you to hear or understand or accept. She the secularist rejects the actual and real Creator of the Declaration and instead would impose her politically correct Trinity of Almighty Diversity, Totalitarian Tolerance, and Authoritarian Equality.

That she will unleash her spiritual terror is not a matter of speculation, for she is on record calling for the enforcement of her agenda. "Laws don't count for much if they're not enforced," she proclaimed at the sixth annual Women in the World Summit. What she calls "rights" "have to exist in practice -- not just on paper."

This proclamation is a warning. Hillary Clinton will use "law," law that stands in violation against the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Should Mrs. Clinton assume the White House, you can expect her to begin unleashing spiritual terror upon America and upon the world. Millions upon millions will be impacted grossly and inhumanely. And she will begin immediately.

Donald Trump is the second firefighter in "The Parable of the Three Firefighters." By his own recorded words, he can employ sexually gross language that is very offensive, and he can be gruff on the campaign trail. His flaws are not to be dismissed, and they are not to be minimized in any way.

To be balanced, let us also not dismiss nor minimize that he shows no track record of being someone who wakes up each morning thinking about advancing an extremist vision that is alien to the norms of human freedom and dignity. And for all his gruffness, note that Trump has taken positions that can help quench the flames that are currently threatening to engulf our nation.

On immigration, he wants good people in and bad people out, and he understands that nations without borders are not nations much longer. On destroying pre-born American citizens, he stands against partial-birth abortion. On the economy, he wants to lower taxes, which assists families by helping create jobs.

On the military, he wants to rebuild all branches of the armed forces, which decreases the likelihood of war because bad guys may be crazy but they're not stupid -- few want to take on a strongly armed opponent. "Peace Through Strength" is a valid principle of life, whether we're talking foreign or domestic policy.

Getting rid of Obamacare. Excellent. Getting rid of Common Core and returning education to state and local control. Excellent again -- and a primary strategic move toward breaking that bastion of propaganda currently known as the public schools. This is a generationally positive move that we need to see immediately, if not sooner.

The point is that the gruff firefighter disliked by some of the neighbors happens to be on hand with water in his fire hose. This marks him as qualitatively superior to Hillary Clinton, who has gasoline in her fire hose. With him, the children are saved and so is much of the family's home. With Hillary, the more she helps, the worse things get.

The third firefighter in our parable is Evan McMullin -- or someone like him. McMullin is a former CIA operative whom some people regard as a true conservative, a candidate who most matches their principles, and so on. An alternative to Donald Trump.

For the sake of discussion, let's grant that McMullin (or some other third-party candidate who has recently entered the race) is 100% of what we are looking for in a president.  On all levels, he's everything anyone could want.

There remains a huge problem. As the third firefighter, McMullin is too far away to reach the house in time, and relying on him to get there will result in the destruction of your home and in the irreplaceable loss of your children.

"The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it" (Prov. 27:12). Prudence sees the danger of waiting for McMullin, and prudence says avoid that danger, which can be done because the second firefighter is on hand to do the job.  

Applying this to elections, wise ethical voting means we are responsible not just for inputs (our vote) but also outcomes (the impact of our vote). Ethics is not privatized: It applies not merey to personal choices but also to public results.

With near mathematical certainty we know Hillary Clinton, if elected president, will seek to enact an extreme, inhumane, and harmful agenda. Our own family members may suffer, and perhaps die, as the direct result of her having been elected into office. Just think of inhumane disasters such as Obamacare, illegal alien crime, and Islamic terrorists parachuted into our neighborhoods as "refugees."  

In election 2016, it is clear that a McMullin has zero chance of winning. He's the firefighter "too far away." But by touting him, and encouraging others to do so, some people may thereby enable the election of Hillary Clinton, the firefighter with gasoline in her fire hose.  

It is a certainty that innocent human beings will be killed as the direct result of Hillary Clinton in particular being elected to office, because her inhumane, extremist set of political principles out of their inner essence allow and even encourage the use of human beings as so much meaningless political fodder to be consumed on the road to attaining, maintaining, and expanding political power. And that's just her vision. In addition, her biography includes a well-documented history of pursuing that power selfishly, criminally, and morally corruptly.

What a terrific shame, and what a sad irony, if evangelical Christians by their voting enable such a person to occupy the White House and be positioned to work her will, to have her way, with the American body politic.

Christians would thereby be agents enabling her to unleash spiritual terror not just upon Christians themselves but also upon the whole of America, with grave implications for the world beyond our shores. "Love thy neighbor" means caring how our vote impacts our neighbor's neighborhood, both at home and abroad.

As we stand on the eve of Election Day 2016, the unnatural disaster of a Hillary Clinton presidency is avoidable. I don't mind -- that is, it's understandable -- when people upset with Donald Trump take a swing at him. He's a big guy and seems able to take care of himself. I do mind it when that swing ends up hitting my family and hurting my loved ones.  

Let's vote morally wisely, protect our kids, and elect to live and fight another day. If that third-party guy is good, he'll be back in four years. And so will we.

Todd Starnes writes:

The pastor of a Texas megachurch said he was stunned when a government agent stopped him at a TSA checkpoint so his Bible could be inspected.

"I couldn't believe it. I literally couldn't believe it," said Gene Lingerfelt, the pastor of Faith Christian Center in Arlington, Texas.

Situational awareness requires that no one in America today should be stunned that government officials are targeting the Bible and Christians for "special treatment."

Situational awareness also requires realizing that this is the kind of "America" we will get a millionfold if people vote unwisely this presidential election and Hillary Clinton ends up occupying the White House.

You may have noticed in the news lately (for a couple of decades), that there is an extremist, fanatical secularism quite at home in the corridors of power -- from the hollowed halls of Congress (yes, I mean hollowed) to the personally invasive TSA lines at American airports and to so many strategic sectors in American society (Hollywood, the media, academia, the corporate world, and so on).

And if you notice how these folks respond to honest questions, you realize that this secularism is rather cultist -- that is, it operates like the worst kind of anti-intellectual, authoritarian dogma set-up that thinking people and the Biblical information so properly reject.

At the top of the observable political heap of committed secularists stand the likes of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- people who are ideologically and politically committed to removing emancipatory Judeo-Christian thoughtforms and social norms from every single strategic sector of American life. These people understand what is at stake, and they move to defend and expand their oppressive vision by all means possible. 

Clinton, Obama, and their multitudes of organized, billionaire-funded followers will push and grab and inspect and take for themselves whatever it is we will allow them to take. They will grab your Bible just as they already are grabbing your money, your land, your children, your words, your conversations, your sermons, and your jobs.

In this comprehensive, visionary, principial, and strategic assault, if it's yours, they want it, they claim it, they take it. All must be inspected and watched and measured to ensure compliance with the endless commandments and regulations emanating outwardly from that monopoly of power concentrated in Washington, D.C.

They will exercise this oppression and inhumanity in the name of various secular mythologies advanced by soothing fables for the weak, such as  "church-state separation," the "right to choose," and "you hurt my feelings." Media and other secularist operatives will do so as well, in the name of blind, vengeful self-righteous obedience to the humanity-denying gods and goddesses of almighty Diversity, totalitarian Tolerance, and authoritarian Equality.

And as we approach November 8, this also needs to be said:

What we see today is nothing -- absolutely qualitatively nothing -- compared to what we may see if Hillary Clinton occupies the Oval Office.

For Mrs. Clinton and her army of allies have been committed for decades to advancing their vision -- which is so totally out of and alien to the American mainstream -- and she will enforce that alien vision with as much power as post-Constitutional political calculations will allow. For many people -- for our friends, our neighbors, our families -- the resulting pain will be incalculable.  

And if previous performance is a reliable guide, we can expect a President Hillary Clinton to strike against those who would defy her will and who have dared speak fact and wisdom to politically correct mythologies and their destructive impact upon everyday Americans.

It is important to realize that her extremist gods and goddesses of secularism demand obedience. They require, as deity substitutes, that all resistance be crushed, destroyed, if not driven out of the land -- first out of the public spaces, and then driven out to the ends of the earth. The U.N. and massive trade deals would be apt vehicles for that.

Thus far Hillary Clinton has been more than willing -- as a matter of fidelity to her idolatrous political ethos -- to sacrifice marriage, morality, freedom, science, and humanness on her journey to self-fulfillment, to secure her rightful place in history, to hold power above all power, and to stay out of jail. And to be the first "woman" president in a gender-identity world where "woman" no longer means anything in relation to objective reality.

It seems to me, therefore, that no thinking or compassionate person would knowingly cast a November 8 vote whose real-world result enlarges the possibility of a Hillary Clinton occupying the White House.

For if that eventuality comes to be, I say again, what we see today is nothing -- absolutely qualitatively nothing -- compared to what we may very well see if Hillary Clinton takes the White House.

If you think that suggests "vote Trump," I agree.

Trump is flawed, and that is not to be dismissed. It is not to be minimized. We must also not dismiss or minimize that he shows no track record of being someone who wakes up each morning thinking about how he's going to attack the foundations of the American republic.

In qualitative contrast, such a destructive commitment is required by Hillary Clinton's extremist secularist vision and politics. On the basis of that vision, a very ugly result out into our society is primarily a matter of her actualizing what are the practical real-world outworkings of the inner secular, post-Constitutional principles to which she is committed.

In the news virtually daily, we see that Hillary Clinton's biography includes a public, governmental record of advancing herself and her politics on the basis of her flaws, including gross criminality while holding high public office.

Perhaps most concerning of all for caring people, America as America simply cannot exist to the degree that someone like Hillary Clinton occupies the White House and is allowed to systematically inject her extremist and alien ideological secularism into the foundations of the American body politic.

Without those solid foundations, it is naive to think America as America can withstand the pressures of external or internal attack. A land once committed to human freedom and dignity in community with God and neighbor (see the Declaration of Independence) will be all too easily tossed by barbarians upon the ash heap of history.

As surely as day is eclipsed by night, to vote in a way that enables Hillary Clinton to land in the office of the presidency is to court profound disaster, beginning the very day the final election returns come in.

By contrast, to vote Trump is to give ourselves, our friends, families, communities, and nation a new day to struggle forward on behalf of human freedom and human dignity.

I say, "vote Trump" not because Trump is the answer -- he's good on some issues, not good on others -- but because the enduring American mainstream points the way (again, see the Declaration of Independence) and the defeat of Clinton buys strategic time to prepare for strategic victory.

Giving a humane American resistance time and space to organize, resist, and overcome is a morally good outcome. Voting against Clinton, against that which principially assures utter defeat if not effectively countered -- in this election and beyond -- is a morally good means to accomplish that morally good outcome.

The Observer has published a report on an "unearthed tape" in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can be heard saying the following: 

“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake.

"And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win."

The audio is evidence that Hillary Clinton is comfortable with rigging the outcome of an election.

In other words, the perceived outcome of an election can be a total lie, and Hillary Clinton would be comfortable with that illegal result -- "We should have made sure that we did someting to determine who was going to win."

I would suggest that if someone is willing to rig an election abroad, that same someone may be willing to rig an election at home.

Which means that person may be willing to steal a U.S. election.

To do "something" in the U.S. that would "determine who was going to win" would constitute an illegal transfer of power and would represent gross electoral violence not electoral justice.

That would be a coup d'état ("a change in government illegally or by force") -- which is what may be happening here and now in the U.S., as Peggy Ryan argues at American Thinker.

A free people, a people of dignity, will not stand for this. Phony leaders who espouse rigged elections have no business in public life.

Destroying the foundations of a constitutional republic that attracts people around the world to her borders and shores seems an odd way of making the world a better place.

To read more on the unearthed 2006 Hillary Clinton rig-the-election audio, go here.

John Perazzo writes at Frontpagemag.com:

In poll after poll, a majority of American voters have reported that they hold an "unfavorable" opinion of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Nevertheless, there are enormous differences in the policy positions which these two candidates embrace.

Following is a comprehensive overview of exactly what their positions and agendas are, with regard to the major issues confronting the United States.

In some instances, background information is provided in italicized print, so as to place the candidates' positions in proper context.

Go here to see the candidates' positions on the following:

Syrian refugees; immigration, amnesty, and borders; sanctuary cities; 2nd Amendment; Obamacare; healthcare and illegal aliens; ISIS and terrorism; the Supreme Court; voter ID laws; early voting and voter registration; felon voting rights; taxes; death tax and corporate tax; minimum wage; Clinton and the 2008 financial crisis; Social Security; infrastructure spending; school-to-prison; school vouchers; preschool for all; "free" college; partial-birth abortion; taxypayer funding for abortion; reforming criminal justice; releasing "non-violent" offenders; voting rights; climate change; climate change and solar panels; fracking; and gender "pay gap."

Not included in the above is the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump regarding that species of human freedom specified as "religious freedom." On this, please see, "Hillary Clinton Is No Champion of Religious Freedom: It's Laughable That She Pretends to Be Otherwise. And here, Trump supports Sen. Mike Lee's "Bill to Protect Religious Liberty."

That includes journalists and other Democrat operatives. More at Gateway Pundit. 

Meanwhile, Trump pulls in 20,000 in Tampa.

Further proof that "this election is all wrapped up for Hillary."

Rasmussen reports Trump at 43% and Clinton at 40%:

It's too early to measure the impact of last night's final presidential debate, but Republican Donald Trump now has a three-point lead nationally on Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online White House Watch survey finds Trump with 43% support among Likely U.S. Voters to Clinton's 40%.

Six percent (6%) still prefer Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and three percent (3%) favor Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Another three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

To see the poll's wording, click here.

David Krayden reports at the Daily Caller:

Smartmatic, a U.K.-based voting technology company with deep ties to George Soros, has control over voting machines in 16 states including battleground zones like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Other jurisdictions affected are California, District of Columbia [see note below], Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.

Nothing to see here. Just the minor observation that, if extremist billionaire George Soros is counting the votes, America is over.

Read more here.

Note: The District of Columibia is a ferderal district, not a state.

Thomas Lifson writes at American Thinker:

The left is making a bet that its vote fraud efforts can be disguised from the public long enough to win this election, and then open the floodgates to ensure they permanently rule America (and complete the fundamental transformation Obama promised). 

There is every reason to fear massive vote fraud targeted at ensuring a faltering Hillary Clinton takes the election.

Read more.

Joel B. Pollak reports at Breitbart:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump surged to a 3-point lead over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times tracking poll on Tuesday. Trump now leads Clinton 45.8% to 42.8%, his largest lead since Aug. 31 and a 4.4% spike since Sep. 11.

"The improvement in Trump's numbers follows a weekend in which Clinton referred to half of Trump's supporters as a 'basket of deplorables,' and appeared to collapse at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, raising serious concerns about her health," Pollak reports.

Read more.

Paul Bedard reports at the Washington Examiner:

Even before the FBI identified new cyber attacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a "critical infrastructure," giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and and the electric power grid. . . .

Johnson also said that the big issue at hand is that there isn't a central election system since the states run elections. "There's no one federal election system. There are some 9,000 jurisdictions involved in the election process," Johnson said.

Apart from opening the door to more easily and endlessly rigged elections, putting the White House in charge of U.S. elections seems a swell idea.

But for me, it smacks of putting foxes in charge of hen house security.

History, logic, and everything you see in the daily news tells us that human freedom and dignity prefer and require a diversity of centers of power.

You can read about this wisdom in the Declaration of Independence, and it's why the Constitution divides political and governmental power in so many ways. Checks and balances, etc.

Washington solves problems by making them worse. And in return, the federal government enfeebles and infantilizes the American people.

Listen up, Washington: True diversity really is one of our strengths. Just do your job as set forth in the U.S. Constitution, consistent with Declaration norms.

That's what's needed, and that's all we ask. 

That's why the states created you, by the way. We created you. You didn't create us. It'll be better for everyone if you can keep that straight.

Washington must decrease if America is to increase.

The possibility of Donald Trump reaching the "magic number of 1,237 and win the nomination without a contested convention all comes down to next week's primary in Indiana and the big California primary on June 7," Daniel Horowitz writes at Conservative Review.

"If Cruz wins Indiana next week, he will be well on his way to blocking the path for Trump to clinch the nomination outright."

Read more.

Matt Drudge ran on his website a readers poll of last night's GOP presidential debate. As of 10:34 EST, here are the results, based on 571,978 votes:

* Trump: 54%

* Fiorina: 20%

* Cruz, Rubio: 6%

* Carson, Paul: 4%

* Bush, Christie, Huckabee, Kasich, Walker: 1%

Related
GOP Debate: Trump Is the Target

Regarding tonight's Republican debate, this from CBSNews.com:

Eleven candidates will appear in primetime at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

The last time Republicans met for a debate, Trump was the novelty front-runner. The novelty has now worn off, and Trump, still the leader of the pack, is now a target -- of Republicans, Democrats, and immigration protesters.

The Huffington Post strikes the same theme, jumping in with the headline "It's Finally Time to Whack the Trump Piñata."

But is Jeb Bush up to the task? Maybe not, as "Bush Allies Worry: Is Jeb Tough Enough?", asks a Politico headline -- with the kicker: If Bush "doesn't land punches against Donald Trump, some warn, 'it might be over'."

A New Yorker writer raises the question "Could the GOP united behind Ben Carson to Defeat Donald Trump?" and notes that, "in stark contrast to Trump, Carson is unfailingly courteous, and he is very popular among Christian evangelicals."

"The rise of Trump and Carson has meant major pain for the former frontrunners in the race, who need to make a splash tonight," Grayson Kamm writes at WTSP.

"Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, is down to 2 percent in the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll. Back in the spring, Walker was leading the race. And Florida's Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush are both sitting in the shadows at just 6 percent," Kamm writes.

As is the case with Trump and Carson, Carly Fiorina is a "political outsider, having spent most of her career in business," the AP states. "She's also showed no fear in taking on Trump, including after he was recently quoted insulting her appearance."

And Ted Cruz? The Texas senator is "polling comfortably in the middle of the pack. He's neither desperate for attention nor has he gotten caught up in Trump's wrath," Abby Livingston writes at the Texas Tribune.

For more coverage of tonight's debate, go here.

Watch the CNN GOP presidential debate here.

Susan Jones reports at CNSNews.com:

"Immigration is a key element of our country's success," Jeb Bush, a possible contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, told the National Christian Hispanic Leadership Conference in Houston on Wednesday.

An advocate of immigration reform, Bush said the 11 million people who are in the country illegally "should come out from the shadows and receive earned legal status."

He said the United States is the only country that "has the chance to become young and dynamic again," all because of immigration. "This is not the time to abandon something that makes us special and unique," he added.

Memo to Mr. Bush: Immigration is not "something that makes us special and unique."

Rather American specialness and uniqueness is due to everyday citizens -- whether immigrant citizens or not -- who embrace the constitutional and Declaration principles that constitute the enduring mainstream and defining ethos of American governance and civil society.

The Bushes, including Jeb, appear to be nice people. But for all their suits and ties and friendly public manner, they embrace real-world politics that is a not-nice form of governance. Rather than unity and diversity with unalienable rights sourced in the Creator (see the Declaration), they see the United States as a country run by elites who hold power and occupy Washington, D.C.

This is the opposite of what America is really all about. For this is an America of centralized government, a real-world monopoly of power that wars at every level against the freedom, dignity, security, and safety of the man or woman on the street.

Many people understand that monopolies are anathema in the area of business. Well, the monopoly of power centralized into Washington, D.C., is a million times worse.

A business cannot fine you, jail you, or kill you if you decide to take your patronage elsewhere. But governments can and do.

If you doubt this, read the history of the 20th century, with special attention to inhumanities of National Socialist Germany, the Soviet Union, and Communist China. And don't forget the millions of dead via the delegated authority by which a cruel U.S. government via "choice" even now allows the slaughter of preborn human beings. So much for the choices of the "least of these."

The Constitution and Declatration, by contrast, understand that legitimate power and authority in America is rooted in the people, spread across a diversity of forms of self-governance -- from the indvidual, to family, to community, to town, city, state, and so on.

The federal government has a role, and a proper one, but it is a carefully circumscribed role. That role is not defined as that of finding the smartest people and then trying to solve problems.

That understanding of one's role is common to any person in any job or walk of life who wants to do the right thing. Every parent, school board member, mayor, governor, or president ought to operate by that principle.

But do you understand what this means? It means that the principle of "solving problems" is not what defines a specific calling. It is a good and general rule that applies to all callings; but it tells you nothing about what specifically is my legitimate role in a particular job, office, or societal sphere.

The relevant question is: What is my particular job description as parent, as pastor, as professor, as judge, as president, and so on?

The U.S. president's job is not to "run America." No, a thousand times no. That is an expression of authoritarianism, no matter how nicely it is conveyed.

The U.S. president's job is to protect and defend the U.S Constitution, which was ratified to incarnate the principles of the Declaration of Independence. The point is to undercut would-be messiahs from Washington-on-high. These saviors -- whether Republican or Democrat -- do far too much damage.

To operate outside of this constitutional circle of understanding is to violate your presidential oath and, unavoidably, to court tyranny. Even if you are a nice guy, violating the presidential job description is an open door to tyranny.

In the liberating American ethos, there is no concept of a federal government with a blank check able to write for itself its own purchase on power.

In addition, to the degree that a political figure or arm of government operates outside of this mainstream of human liberty, to that degree one is an extremist against the freedom and the dignity of each man and woman. Clearly, this is not good, no matter how much you smile or even if you are married to a minority.

In contrast to Mr. Bush, the Declaration of Independence understands that what makes America "special and unique" is not that nice and smart people win elections, move to Washington, and then run the country.

Rather, the Declaration proclaims that all of us run the country, each in our own sphere of authority, upon the basis that every human being is "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights" and "that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Truly, this diversity is our strength.

Here are a couple of suggestions. Let millions who want to immigrate to American first understand and embrace the rules of human freedom and dignity that make America "special and unique." At a minimum, this requires a repudiation of the cheap patriotism of illegal immigration.

And to avoid the blind leading the blind into the ditch of authoritarianism and its attendant inhumanity, those who seek office in America should respect and apply the enduring rules of freedom. Tyrants at home and abroad should fear whoever is elected president of the United States. 

"If Republicans run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney, we will end up with the same result, which is millions of people will stay home on Election Day," Cruz said on CNBC today, according to Newsmax. "And if we run another candidate like that, Hillary Clinton will be president."

"The Texas Republican, a favorite of Tea Party supporters," also said "that the party needs to find a conservative candidate who can galvanize voters -- someone like former President Ronald Reagan," Newsmax reports.

"This year, far more than the last midterm elections, Democratic candidates across the country are fleeing the incumbent president," Joseph Curl writes at the Washington Times.

Speaking to radio talk show host Mark Levin, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said the following about the GOP Senate primary runoff between incumbent Thad Cochran and Tea Party-backed challenger Chris McDaniel:

In the past week or so, we have seen serious allegations of voter fraud, and I very much hope that no Republican was involved in voter fraud. 

But these allegations need to be vigorously investigated, and anyone involved in criminal conduct should be prosecuted.

The voters of Mississippi deserve to know the truth.

Read more at Breitbart TV.

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At Breitbart TV:

On Tuesday's broadcast of Fox News Channel’s "Hannity," network correspondent Ainsley Earhardt unveiled one of the attack radio spots that aired on stations around the state including WMGO 1370 AM in Canton, MS.

The spot urges listeners to participate in the vote and warns if voters fail to do so, it will result in the loss of entitlement benefits and funding for black universities.

"If someone tells you that by voting today, you cannot vote in November -- it's just a Tea Party, bald-faced lie.

"Are you going to let the clock run out on today?

"By not voting, you are saying 'take away all of my government programs, such as food stamps, early breakfast and lunch programs, millions of dollars to our black universities.'

"Everything we and our families depend on that comes from Washington will be cut.

"Mississippi will never be the same.

"The question is, will you spend $5 on gas to vote, or allow the Tea Party to send us back to the good ol' bad days?

"Vote against the Tea Party.

"Vote Thad Cochran."

Earhart identified the group responsible for the ad to be a group called Citizens for Progress, which according to Earhart is a group tied to former RNC chair and Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS).

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Craig Shirley writes at Breitbart:

This is not the first time the corrupt national GOP power structure and the Mississippi Republican Party have betrayed conservatism.

By now, the deeply questionable practices of the Thad Cochran campaign and his apparatchiks in Mississippi are known to all. Mysterious robo-calls, unaccounted for mailings, street money, all designed to not just to defeat but ruin Chris McDaniel, because he had the temerity to take on the Establishment.

The anti-conservative forces inside the GOP even engaged and paid Democratic consultants to help destroy the campaign of a fellow Republican. . . .

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At Fox News:

The Tea Party-backed challenger who narrowly lost a GOP runoff to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran said Wednesday he is weighing whether to challenge the result of the race.

Cochran was declared the winner of the tight race by a 6,373-vote advantage late Tuesday night over state Sen. Chris McDaniel. However, McDaniel has not explicitly conceded, instead complaining of "dozens of irregularities" that he has implied were due to Cochran courting Democrats and independents.

"Tea Party leaders told Fox News earlier Wednesday that McDaniel campaign operatives are weighing the challenge on the grounds that Democratic voters allegedly crossed over from the Democratic primary to vote for Cochran. Under Mississippi law, voters in one party's primary must intend to support that party's nominee in the general election," according to the report at Fox News.

"Of particular interest to the McDaniel campaign was the turnout in Hinds County, which Cochran won by nearly 11,000 votes Tuesday. By contrast, Cochran won the county by 5,300 votes on June 3. Just fewer than 25,000 total ballots were cast in Hinds County Tuesday, while 16,640 total ballots were cast on June 3," states the report at Fox News.

Myarklamiss.com reports that Zach Dasher, whose "mom is the sister of 'Duck Commander' Phil Robertson," has "announced that he will run for Congress in Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District."

"It is time for ordinary citizens to get off of the sidelines and get involved in the political system," Dasher is quoted as saying as he officially launched his "first time to run for public office," according to Myarklamiss.com.

"For too long," Dasher said, "we've set idly by while Washington politicians slowly gain control over every aspect of our lives. I am seeking to represent the people of the 5th District in Congress so that I can effectively fight the big government intellectual elitists in Washington." 

Dasher is a Republican with a "background in the pharmaceutical industry. He also has been involved in the real estate business and with fundraising for non-profit organizations," according to Myarklamiss.com.

"Zach and his wife of 13 years, Jil, have four children," are "members of White's Ferry Road Church of Christ," and are "active in campus ministry at ULM with University Church of Christ," Myarklamiss.com reports.

In a press statement released by his campaign, Dasher also said: 

* Man is made in the image of the Almighty God. If we are afraid to say that, then we don’t have a case for liberty. Our rights do not come from a bunch of elite politicians in Washington, D.C. They come from the Almighty God. [See also the U.S. Declaration of Independence]

* We did not send people to Washington to determine our rights. We sent them there to defend our rights, but that’s not what they’re doing. They’re taking them away, day by day. They’re forcing us to purchase their healthcare insurance because they think they know better than we do when it comes to managing our private lives.

* There are many third- and fourth-generation farmers in the Fifth District. The EPA believes it knows how to run our farms better than local farmers. The federal government is trying to control every patch of farmland in Louisiana that has a ditch or a puddle. This nonsense must stop, and I’m going to lead the fight against it in Washington. 

Myarklamiss.com also reports that "Dasher is pro-life and is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. He favors adoption of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a strong U.S. military."

For more information on Zach Dasher, see Facebook, Twitter, and his campaign website.

Election day is November 4.

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Matthew Boyle writes at Breitbart:

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) confirmed on Wednesday evening that he is still unaware of the five-year-old Tea Party movement that has rocked U.S. politics, including the U.S. Senate in which he has served for 36 years. . . .

Cochran’s unawareness of the Tea Party movement comes as he is facing a primary challenger from its ranks, two-term State Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel has the support of Tea Party leaders like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, radio host Mark Levin, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, FreedomWorks, Tea Party Express, Club for Growth, and various others.

McDaniel, for his part, ripped Cochran for being out of touch because of his unawareness of the Tea Party movement for five years.

"After 40 years in Washington, it is sad to see Sen. Cochran more familiar with his lobbyist friends than the conservative folks here in Mississippi," Breitbart quotes McDaniel as saying in a statement. "If Sen. Cochran wants to learn about the conservative tea party movement, he should join me at one of my town hall meetings and actually get to know the folks who make our state and Republican Party great."

In this YouTube clip, the senator confirms his lack of knowledge concerning the Tea Party.

Lee Stranahan reports at Breitbart-Texas:

Breitbart Texas has discovered a photo of Michelle Obama with her arm around Jennifer Longoria, the Battleground Texas organizer who was videotaped bragging about taking confidential voter information off of voter Bexar County voter registration forms.

Breitbart Texas broke the scandal by publishing the latest James O'Keefe/Project Veritas undercover video last week [watch video here].

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Ben Carson writes in the Washington Times:

As we approach the national elections of 2014 and 2016, the Tea Party and all other groups who respect the Constitution and our Judeo-Christian heritage should put aside minor differences and issues that can be addressed later and present a united front of common sense to combat forces that wish to fundamentally change America. . . .

It is obvious that our God-given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are jeopardized in today's environment of overt deceit by high government officials and blatant disregard of our Constitution.

When those in power pick and choose the laws they wish to enforce and grant waivers and exemptions to their favored groups, it is clear we are moving away from the principles of fairness and equality that once characterized our nation.

When the president can change laws with the stroke of his pen or a phone call and not be challenged by the other branches of government or by the media, we are in dire straits.

As Carson sees it, "The central question is this: Do you trust the future of your children and grandchildren to this kind of governing structure? Or do you trust those patriotic citizens who wish to preserve the liberties that were fought for by the early Tea Party patriots, and by 'the greatest generation,' who stormed the beaches of Normandy in the face of fierce machine-gun fire?"

Carson concludes: "These modern-day patriots are ordinary citizens who toil incessantly day by day to provide food, education and safety for our citizens. These are the people who fill the ranks of the Tea Party. They are not demons, but defenders of freedom. They are you and me."

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"California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly announced that he is running for the gubernatorial seat in 2014," Becky Yeh reports at OneNewsNow.

"In a campaign video released by Donnelly's campaign, the Republican said he wants to let current Governor Jerry Brown know that the people of California are coming back for their freedom. Donnelly pointed to the state's poverty rate, high taxes and high unemployment.

"'California's broken. The California dream has been swallowed up by an ever-expanding government,' he says in the two-minute video," Yeh reports. 

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"Democrat Terry McAuliffe leads Republican Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II by 4 percentage points in the Virginia governor’s race, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday -- a considerably narrower margin than other recent public polling has shown," reports the Washington Times. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.

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LifeSiteNews.com reports:

When New Jersey voters go to the polls Wednesday to elect their new U.S. Senator, they won’t have to wonder what the candidates think about abortion or same-sex “marriage.”

In a political climate that has seen many campaigns minimize controversial social issues in favor of popular fiscal catchphrases like “job creation” and “tax reform,” candidates Cory Booker (D) and Steve Lonegan (R) have taken the opposite approach, exchanging frequent verbal blows about social issues ranging from gay adoption to partial birth abortion.

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Matthew Boyle reports at Breitbart:

The Tea Party Leadership Fund has decided to endorse Nancy Mace, a conservative challenger to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in the upcoming GOP Senate primary in the state, Breitbart News nas learned. . . .

Mace appeared on Breitbart News Sunday with Stephen K. Bannon this weekend to discuss why she is running, her history as a small business owner, and being the first woman to graduate from The Citadel. She said the military environment she was brought up in will help her stick to conservative principles if South Carolina voters send her to Washington in place of Graham.

"Do you bend your values and your principles to conform to the quote-unquote establishment to go along to get along, or do you stay firm and stay strong in what you believe in to be successful?" Mace said of her Citadel military history. "And I learned the latter."

According to her campaign website, the following indicates where Mace stands on the role of government, the 2nd Amendment, and the right to life:

Role of Government: "Our Founding Fathers created a constitution intended to be a guide for the decisions a government accountable to the people would make. The problem we face today, however, is that the government has overreached its boundaries into nearly every corner of our lives, and yet we are still not better off for it. . . .

"The politicians don’t understand, they don’t decide what rights we get to have and what rights we lose. Our Rights come from our Creator and are guaranteed by our Constitution."

2nd Amendment: "My father was a decorated combat veteran, and lifelong hunter who taught me how to handle a firearm at an early age. Hunting trips with my father provided priceless memories, but our second amendment rights have a deeper purpose than sport and the right to defend our homes and property. We have a duty as a free people to protect against tyranny."

Right to Life: "As it is rightly stated in the Declaration of Independence, we should all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I do not believe it was an accident that our Founders listed life as the first of our God given rights. As a pro-life conservative I believe we should defend life and liberty from conception to natural death."

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Lisa Barron reports at Newsmax:

"Our party needs something new, fresh, and different,” Paul, R-Ky., told Politico. "What we’ve been running -- nothing against the candidates necessarily -- but we have a good, solid niche in all the solidly red states throughout the middle of the country.”

Paul, a self-described libertarian who ran for the Senate in 2010 with backing from the tea party, suggested in the interview with Politico that the GOP should do more to broaden its support base. 

In the Politico interview, Paul also attempted to distinguish himself from his staunchly libertarian father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who ran for the GOP nomination last year.

"The younger Paul said he thinks there is a middle ground between 'pure libertarianism' and more traditional conservatism, and there is a role for someone with that position who 'can somehow bring about an expansion of the party'," Newsmax reports.

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Talkmeister Rush Limbaugh opened his radio show today with the observation that Obama is in Pennsylvania today, campaigning as if the election were not over, arguing for his plan to raise taxes to save America from going over the "fiscal cliff."

But there is a sense in which continuing to behave as though the election is not over is not strange at all.

In modern politics, the election is never over. "Governing" is not the point. Power is. Relentless campaigning is war by other means.

Or to say again: Obama and the "Democrats know what they believe and market it very well. Republicans do not do what they believe and market it very well." 

Xavier Lerma writes at Pravda:

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. . . .

He is a Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so. How shrewd he is in America.

His cult of personality mesmerizes those who cannot go beyond their ignorance. They will continue to follow him like those fools who still praise Lenin and Stalin in Russia.

Obama's fools and Stalin's fools share the same drink of illusion.

"Russia lost its' civil war with the Reds and millions suffered torture and death for almost 75 years under the tyranny of the United Soviet Socialist Republic," Lerma concludes.

"Russians survived with a new and stronger faith in God and ever growing Christian Church. The question is how long will the once 'Land of the Free' remain the United Socialist States of America? Their suffering has only begun."

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Really? "Extreme" Limbaugh, Tea Party Cost Romney the Election?

Lloyd Marcus writes at American Thinker:

Word on the political street from GOP consultants and the left is that Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party cost Romney the election. We conservatives are advised to "moderate our tone" and back away from our "extremist ideas." . . .

I say, "Hogwash."

Here's my take:

John Fund writes at National Review:

Congressman Allen West, an outspoken tea-party favorite whose district was pushed into largely new territory by redistricting, is claiming that massive voter irregularities are robbing him of his seat. . . .

Florida can’t afford another cloud over its election procedures, and the only way to prevent another counting disaster in the future is to have a full accounting and thorough audit of this year’s election.

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Lloyd Marcus is an angry black man. And he has a few choice words for black Americans who claim Christianity but voted Obama.

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Because "they have proven they are not responsible enough to own a firearm," reports the Daily Caller.

Jason Howerton reports at The Blaze: 

The St. Lucie County Canvassing Board has ordered the retabulation of all the county’s early votes in the highly contested congressional race between Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) and Democrat Patrick Murphy, according to Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, a volunteer lawyer for the West campaign. The board voted 2-1 in favor of recounting the votes. . . .

West needs to gain just 249 votes from those ballots to trigger a statutory recount under state law, Shapiro said. West gained 535 votes in the initial recount of 16,275 early voting ballots, making it theoretically possible that the outspoken congressman could pick up the required votes to force a recount.

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"A surefire recipe for the death of the Republican Party is to continue to listen to this finger-pointing, blame-gaming architect of defeat, discouragement and division among the rank and file of the party," writes Joseph Farah in a column challenging Karl Rove's role in Barack Obama's defeat of Mitt Romney.

"The honorable thing and the right thing for Rove to do would be to admit his own failure and move on with his life -- giving others a chance to steer the ship next time," Farah writes.

Instead of admitting his failure, says Farah, Rove "will continue to attack and marginalize all those in the Republican Party with whom he disagrees -- even to the point of violating Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment and 'joking' about murdering them -- as he did with" GOP Missouri candidate for U.S. Senate Todd Akin.

My argument is this:

If America is to survive as America -- that is, as a nation of freedom and dignity (rooted in the Creator who is the basis for unalienable rights) -- the enduring mainstream of American identity needs a national platform for unadulterated cultural-political expression.

If the house-divided GOP establishment continues to reject this message, either the GOP will die, America will die, or a third party will rise up to speak with a clarion voice.

One way or another, a non-compromised expression of the American ideal must have a clear and coherent voice on the political and cultural scene.

One way or another, the extremism of the Democratic Party, which aggressively wars politically and culturally against the rules of freedom, must be resisted and overcome.

One way or another, the extreme racism, bigotry, and passionate hatreds now organized against the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- hatreds that this hour have an officially recognized home in the party of Obama and the Democrats -- these must be resisted and overcome.

Of course, it is possible America as America might still pass away. And she certainly will if the anti-freedom rules of radicals such as Barack Obama and the Democrats have their way.

But let us at least give America a fighting chance to reaffirm the birthright of every human being, to unlock again the potential of every individual endowed by our Creator "with certain unalienable rights."

And as long as one fights, victory is possible. Freedom under God can break out anywhere, anytime.

In other words, the GOP must embrace, root and branch, with clarity, the rules of freedom. Equally so, the GOP must reject, root and branch, with clarity, the extremist rules of hatred and anti-freedom embraced by Obama and the Democrats.

On this basis, a party of freedom and humanity can win.

On this basis, a humane vision rooted in the rules of freedom can defeat a dyfunctional vision rooted in the rules of radical unfreedom.

And on this basis, a candidate and party of freedom and humanity can win a victory worth winning. 

No free-thinking person created in the image God wants to live in subservience and dependence upon a failed and failing Washington-centric idol. 

Red and yellow, black and white -- we're all better than that.

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Fox News reports:

Former CIA Director David Petraeus stoked the controversy over the Obama administration's handling of the Libya terror attack, testifying Friday that references to "Al Qaeda involvement" were stripped from his agency's original talking points -- while other intelligence officials were unable to say who changed the memo, according to a top lawmaker who was briefed.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that intelligence officials who testified in a closed-door hearing a day earlier, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, said they did not know who changed the talking points. He said they went out to multiple departments, including the State Department, National Security Council, Justice Department and White House. 

It's also entirely possible what while the Petraeus memo was making the rounds, the White House was developing its own set of talking points designed to protect the re-election prospects of Barack Obama.

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Lloyd Marcus challenges black folk who dare call themselves Christian when in reality their vote for Obama is a "sellout to skin color under a shroud of Christian principles."

"Passing on an opportunity to end Obama's anti-Christian agenda solely because he is black like you is a Judas betrayal," Marcus writes.

One can also say this: If voting against Obama solely because he is black is racist, it is equally racist to vote for Obama solely because he is black.

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"The fact that 2 million fewer people voted for Mitt Romney than for John McCain should be a huge wake-up call to the Republican establishment," Joseph Farah writes at WND.

"If they choose to nominate another milquetoast candidate in 2016," Farah continues, "they might as well not even compete. If they want to alienate their evangelical and conservative base, there is going to need to be a third party that represents them. (Now’s the time to start building it, by the way, not in 2016.)"

If Romney wasn't a "milquetoast candidate," he was certainly toast by the end of the election.

I have previously argued in favor of Romney, noting that "Obama is a leftist ideologue who rejects the rules of freedom. Romney is not a leftist ideologue who rejects the rules of freedom" and that "Romney is not all we want, but Obama is all we do not want."

A case could be made that Romney was the perfect establishment GOP candidate, a pure expression of the GOP establishment ideal. He was a far better candidate than John McCain. And, yet, ultimately, Romney was unelectable (setting aside for the moment the ample evidence that electoral criminality -- fraud -- may have "won" the contest for Obama). 

If America is to survive as America -- that is, as a nation of freedom and dignity (rooted in the Creator who is the basis for unalienable rights) -- the enduring mainstream of American identity needs a national platform for unadulterated cultural-political expression.

If the house-divided GOP establishment continues to reject this message, either the GOP will die, America will die, or a third party will rise up to speak with a clarion voice.

One way or another, a non-compromised expression of the American ideal must have a clear and coherent voice on the political and cultural scene.

One way or another, the extremism of the Democrat Party, which aggressively wars politically and culturally against the rules of freedom, must be resisted and overcome.

One way or another, the extreme racism, bigotry, and passionate hatreds now organized against the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- hatreds that this hour have an officially recognized home in the party of Obama and the Democrats -- these must be resisted and overcome.

Of course, it is possible America as America might still pass away. And she certainly will if the anti-freedom rules of radicals such as Barack Obama and the Democrats have their way.

But let us at least give America a fighting chance to reaffirm the birthright of every human being, to unlock again the potential of every individual endowed by our Creator "with certain unalienable rights." 

And as long as one fights, victory is possible. Freedom under God can break out anywhere, anytime.

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Politics can certainly be a distraction.

And yet, any aspect of creation can unduly distract and lead to idolatry -- including caring for the lost, sick, and so on.

The challenges one faces in politics are no different in principle from the challenges of living as salt and light in any calling of life today, and in any aspect of society.

A few examples: Pastors and churches are tempted to lord it over their flocks and be treated as gods; Christian businesses and bookstores equally face temptations to lie, cheat, and steal; Christian musicians face the temptation of settling for less than excellence and instead produce "praise" music that's better suited for the gods of elevators.

Politics, education, the arts, recreation -- all of life is meant to be lived in community with God and man.

But, equally, in a broken world, each of these can be a distraction and a lure away from our true calling.

A pastor, church, or Christian who fails to apply -- across all of life, including political life -- the verifiable, publicly actionable wisdom given by a knowable Creator is failing to be salt and light.

When that happens, society suffers, as is evident in the news and events of life in America today.

The comments above, slightly edited here, first appeared in Facebook.

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"Electronic-machine glitches," zero votes for Romney in Philadelphia voting districts, poll-watchers "illegally expelled," a campaign caught on tape facilitating vote fraud, Ohio counties where registered voters exceed eligible voters, missing military ballots, and more -- the "indications of electoral criminality" in the 2012 election "have been overwhelming," Selwyn Duke argues at American Thinker.

"This is why Congressman Allen West was right not to concede his Florida race," Duke concludes. "And, frankly, if Romney believes that the election may be have been stolen nationally, he should withdraw his concession."

Aaron Klein reports for WND from Jerusalem:

The speculation surrounding the sudden resignation of CIA Chief General David Petraeus is focusing in large part on his role in an alleged cover-up of the attacks against the U.S. mission in Benghazi this past September.

Perhaps overlooked is the CIA’s role in purportedly using the Benghazi mission to coordinate U.S. aid to Syrian opposition groups and information those same insurgents include jihadists openly acting under the al-Qaida umbrella.

One week before he was slated to testify before Congress on the Benghazi debacle, Petraeus on Friday night announced his resignation, citing an extramarital affair, and it was reported he will no longer testify.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, charged in an interview with CNN that Petraeus is “at the center of this, and there are answers that only he has.” King was referring to the Benghazi attacks.

Asked if he will still call for Petraeus testify despite his resignation, Rep. King replied, “Absolutely, to me, he’s an absolutely necessary witness.”

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Posted at Pro-Existence, Oct. 26, 2012:

The CIA spokesman, presumably at the direction of CIA director David Petraeus, has put out this statement: "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate."

The following message was sent to CIA employees the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 9, 2012:

Message from the Director

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA. After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation.

As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our Nation's Silent Service, a work force that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that.

Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life's greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end.

Thank you for your extraordinary service to our country, and best wishes for continued success in the important endeavors that lie ahead for our country and our Agency.

With admiration and appreciation,

David H. Petraeus

Ronald Kessler reports at NewsMax:

The resignation of David H. Petraeus as CIA director followed an FBI investigation of many months, raising the question of why he was not forced out until after the election. . . .

The investigation began last spring, but the FBI then pored over his emails when he was stationed in Afghanistan.

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Timing of "Petraeus Resignation Just Too Perfect for the Obama Administration"

Madeleine Morgenstern reports at The Blaze:

Fox News analyst Ralph Peters on Friday called the timing of Gen. David Petraeus’ sudden resignation as CIA director “just too perfect for the Obama administration” and speculated that "tough Chicago guys" held onto knowledge of the affair until they needed to push the spy chief out.

Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, said on Fox News that just as the administration initially called the assault on the Benghazi consulate on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks "purely coincidence," it’s again "purely coincidence" for the affair to surface after the election but before Petraeus went to Capitol Hill for questioning about Benghazi. 

"As an old intelligence analyst, the way I read this -- and I could be totally wrong, this is my interpretation," Petraeus is quoted as saying, "is that the administration was unhappy with Petraeus not playing ball 100 percent on their party line story."

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The GOP loses because --

It is a house divided, and houses divided cannot stand.

If the GOP does not unify -- in philosophy & tactics, root & branch -- under the Constitution & Declaration, it in fact offers no real alternative to the statists, the fascists, the passionate haters, and the Orwellian takers, and thereby wins its defeats to demagogues and tyrants promising autobahns and cellphones.

Political parties that lack a unifying political vision perish -- and a people of freedom can be sustained only by a vision for freedom. Which way, GOP? Which way, America?

Also, if the GOP wants to win elections, it needs to pay great attention to the priority of culture:

A truncated political message of freedom (GOP) cannot overcome a comprehensive cultural message of unfreedom (Dems). This is the case even if the Democrat message is false. "Politics is downstream from culture."

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Hyatt Seligman writes at American Thinker:

Our newly re-elected, incompetent President is good at one thing: Chicago style politics. Kill your opponent by character assassination and promise freebies to your base. That's exactly how he beat Mitt Romney. . . .

The community organizing, empty-suit incumbent won by pandering to the Democratic base and defaming and distorting Romney into an evil caricature. His simple plan of dividing and conquering through fear, envy and class warfare trumped all else, barely. Appeals to race, gender and emotion triumphed over economic reason and self-interest and the good of the country.

And what is Obama's base?

For them, "the external world is not real. . . . What is real are their feelings and emotions. And why not? The modern American message to minorities and women is well learned by now. It's what our public schools have taught for fifty years. The most important thing about you is the color of your skin and what's between your legs."

Seligman concludes: "You get the government you deserve. Pray for America. We have let the dogs loose."

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Todd Beamon reports at Newsmax:

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh charged on Monday that the nation’s pollsters have failed to accurately predict the outcome of the 2012 presidential election.

“Common sense tells me this election isn't gonna be close -- and it shouldn't be,” Limbaugh said on his afternoon radio program. “And yet, every poll, every single poll, has this race tied."

“The enthusiasm that got people out in 2010, I'm seeing at every Mitt Romney rally. Romney's drawing crowds of 20,000, 25,000, 30,000, 15,000," Limbaugh said. “The enthusiasm that we all saw in 2010 is there. The same issues that existed in 2010 exist today. There hasn't been anything that's gotten better.”

Oh, I was joking. Oh, my Twitter account got hacked. Or was it Facebook?

Actually, apart from substituting the word "white" for the word "black," this headline parallels precisely what Bill Maher said here:

For anyone thinking about voting for Mitt Romney . . . , I would like to make this one plea: Black people know who you are and they will come after you.

Is this the "revenge," Plan B, Obama has in mind, in case the voting next Tuesday falls short of the best corruption money can buy?

Maher says, "I'm kidding."

The problem is: There are black racists and white racists ready to act primarily and violently on the basis of skin color.

America would be so much more of an interesting country if skin color had zero predictive value for elections.

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"It is mind-boggling, really, that this sort of snide, negative motivation is what President Obama has saved up for his final appeal," Jennifer Rubin comments at the Washington Post.

Here is Romney's counter, reported by the LATimes (watch Romney's remarks here):

“Yesterday, the president said something you may have heard by now that I think surprised a lot of people. Speaking to an audience he said, you know, voting is the best revenge.

He told his supporters, voting for revenge.

Vote for revenge?

Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country,” Romney said, and the crowd of more than 1,000 cheered.

“It is time we lead America to a better place.”

Breitbart has the Obama revenge video.

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Why Vote Romney?

Radio talk show host and columnist Peter Heck examines the case for Christians voting Democrat or in support of Barack Obama and finds that case wanting.

The issues now are so sharply drawn, and the philosophical divide so great, Heck writes, that "it's a time for choosing."

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CBN reports: 

A woman was blocked from early voting near Austin, Texas, last week after wearing a T-shirt that said "Vote the Bible."

A pro-family group called Texas Values said election workers told resisdent Kay Hill at the Taylor City Hall polling place in Williamson County her shirt was quote "offensive."

She was told to turn the shirt inside out, go home and change, or cover up the words "Vote the Bible."

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Why Vote Romney?

Paul Joseph Watson writes at Infowars:

A 19-year-old man was arrested after threatening to shoot Mitt Romney during the presidential candidate’s visit to Ohio, just one of a recent wave of violent threats against Romney that have been downplayed by the media.

During class at Lorain County Community College earlier this week, Shaquille L. Brown spoke of his plan to assassinate the former Governor of Massachusetts.

“According to a police report, Brown was in an English class when he blurted out: “Can we leave, because Romney is in town and I want to go shoot him,” reports Fox 8 Cleveland.

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Neil Munro reports at The Daily Caller:

All white people are going to hell, longtime African-American civil rights advocate Rev. Joseph Lowery told an audience at a get-out-the-vote event held Oct. 27 in Georgia.

Lowery, who gave the benediction at the January 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, told the audience of up to 300 African-Americans "that when he was a young militant, he used to say all white folks were going to hell. Then he mellowed and just said most of them were. Now, he said, he is back to where he was," according to an Oct. 31 report in the Monroe County Reporter newspaper.

Lowery also reportedly said, "I don’t know what kind of a n----- wouldn’t vote with a black man running."

Lowery was speaking at the St. James Baptist Church in Forsyth, Ga., according to the Reporter.

Rev. Antonio Proctor is pastor of St. James. 

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Todd Beamon reports at Newsmax:

Radio show host Rush Limbaugh said on Tuesday that left-wing media outlets are pushing for President Barack Obama to postpone next week’s election because of Hurricane Sandy -- something he says Obama has no authority to do.

“The president has no power whatsoever to do this,” Limbaugh said on his radio program. “The president cannot do it. The fact that so many people want the president to is alarming, because it indicates how many people would be comfortabe with that kind of autocratic, totalitarian power.”

Limbaugh cited articles published on such websites as Politico, Slate, and The Atlantic -- as well as questions posed by reporters on Tuesday to White House spokesman Jay Carney as indications that left-wing organizations are pushing for a delayed Election Day.

But note: "In light of this historic storm, and potential unrest, should Obama temporarily suspend the elections to ensure that all [is] in order & the crisis averted?" I asked on Facebook on Monday. If one understands the secular liberal worldview, you can often predict what its true believers and fellow travelers will think and do.

One friend responded, "I do not believe he has a Constitutional power to do so . . . . of course that has never stopped him before."

To which I suggested the following leftist Obamaesque line of argument:

In order to protect the Constitution, which I took an oath to protect and uphold (and nobody takes that oath more seriously than I do) elections have to be suspended until they can be fairly and equitably conducted, at the earliest possible time after the Sandy crisis has been dealt with. In fact, an independent Blue Ribbon Elections commission has found . . .

"When the founders wrote the Constitution, they had no idea that a storm of this magnitude would impact upon the East coast this close to national elections," I later continued.

"[Surely,] it is in the spirit in which they wrote to allow for fairness and equality, lest voters [devastated] by this 'act of God' are unfairly discriminated against, just because they employed common sense, played by the rules, and tried to avoid the hurricane. It would only be a temporary suspension of elections."

The record indicates that Obama and the Democrats and the formerly mainstream media have little use for the rules of freedom as expressed in the Declaration and U.S. Constitution.

Thus they ably represent a history of this world that is replete with examples of opportunists ready to use crises, manufactured or otherwise, to eclipse freedom and impose authoritarian control.

Mind you, if I had concluded that the rules of freedom needed to be replaced by the rules for radicals (based on a merely naturalistic concept of equality, gender, race, class warfare, and so on -- anything but a real Creator who is the origin of unalienable rights), I would be moving in a direction similar to Obama and his media bodyguards.

But their philosophy is unsound intellectually and lacks the needed resources to sustain human freedom, human dignity, and a humane, civil society.

Does any of the above mean elections will be suspended tomorrow or in the near future? Not necessarily. But it does mean that the suspension of elections is thinkable and on the table.

It also means that the mobilization of radical presuppositions requires the demobilization of freedom -- a suspension of freedom that is already underway in a land of czars, industry takeovers, the rejection of unalienable rights, and so on.

The radical understands that the appearance of constitutionality must be maintained as long as is possible, lest the masses awaken and resist enslavement. The grooming process can be a decades-long affair.

The more obvious suspensions of freedoms (to vote, to speak, to assemble, to live, etc.) will always be for the common good ("fairness," "equality," autobahns). And temporary.

Or as Mr. Obama has said: "No sudden moves."

During an interview with Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, Charles Woods, who is the father of slain SEAL and hero Tyrone Woods, Mr. Woods said:

This is about honor, courage, and about love for America.

And remember this, Mr. President: My son and the others died heroes, and it’s better to die the death of a hero than it is to live the life of a coward.

If you are responsible for the death of my son, I forgive you, I love you. I also love America.

Read the report and watch a video of the interview here.

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By nearly 3 to 1. The Jerusalem Post reports:

Asked "in terms of Israeli interests, who would be preferable to win the elections next month in the US," 57.2% of Israeli Jews said Romney, while only 21.5% said Obama.

"Among Israeli Arabs," however, "the numbers were reversed, with 45% opting for Obama, and 15% for Romney," reports the Post.

At The Blaze: 

Madonna was booed and had several concertgoers walk out after she told a New Orleans crowd to vote for President Barack Obama, the Associated Press reported.

“Who’s registered to vote?” Madonna asked during Saturday night’s performance of her “MDNA” tour. “I don’t care who you vote for as long as you vote for Obama.”

Newsmax reports: 

A vote for a candidate who supports gay marriage or abortion rights is a vote that could “put your soul in jeopardy," a Roman Catholic bishop in swing state Wisconsin has told his flock.

Bishop David Ricken, the Bishop of Green Bay, called both abortion and same sex unions “intrinsically evil” positions in a letter to parishioners.

"A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program that contradicts fundamental contents of faith and morals,” Ricken said in the letter, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

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Fox News reports:

A late surge by Mitt Romney has made the contest between him and President Obama to win Ohio too close to call, according to a poll released Sunday.

Romney and Obama are tied at 49 percent among likely voters, according to an Ohio News Organization poll. The margin of error in the poll is 3.1 percentage points.

"The biggest movement since the group’s poll in September is Romney's lead with male voters -- from 1 percentage point to 12 points," Fox News reports.

At 1:35 am this morning, The DC Caller reports:

Iowa's Des Moines Register newspaper endorsed Mitt Romney on Saturday, marking the first time the paper has endorsed a Republican for president in 40 years.

Terry Jeffrey reports at CNSNews.com:

In the most precipitous decline it has seen in more than a year, President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dropped 7 points in three days, according to Gallup.

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Lee Stranahan writes at Breitbart.com:

A group of black farmers led by Pigford critic Eddie Slaughter has endorsed Republican John House in the race for Georgia's 2nd district. House is running against longtime Democratic incumbent and Congressional Black Caucus member Sanford Bishop.

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Watch this terrific video on Youtube.

Hat tip: David Limbaugh

Daniel Greenfield writes at Frontpagemag.com:

We know now that former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty disobeyed orders and left a CIA safe house to try and save those at the consulate.

And once there they fought a desperate fight, evacuating the consulate employees and “for over two hours they were able to fight back against approximately 200 al-Qaeda terrorists.” Numerous calls were issued for help and went unanswered. . . .

This is Medal of Honor stuff, but under Obama it’s become the stuff of a cover-up. Instead of their bravery holding the line and inspiring a rescue effort, they were left to die. . . . 

In this interview, Charles Woods, father of slain SEAL Tyrone Woods, and also a lawyer, deeply questions the Obama White House.

"The number of mentions of Charles Woods in any media outlet that isn’t FOX News is 1. A blog post on US News and World Report," Greenfield concludes. "The number of stories on 'Binders of Women'? 15,542."

You may think Obama and Romney are just politicians. You may think there is no real difference between the two. Or you may have been lied to so many times that you're about to give up and sit this election out. 

If that describes you, consider:  

Obama is a leftist ideologue who rejects the rules of freedom. Romney is not a leftist ideologue who rejects the rules of freedom.

Romney-Ryan will foster the creation of more jobs, protect more life, better defend the nation. Authentic job creation by itself provides a check and balance on an overweening Washington-centric state.

Romney-Ryan gives us time to bring in reinforcements, whereas Obama's program is to rush as quickly as is politically viable towards evermore command and control out of DC, with disastrous results on ourselves and our neighbors.

A Romney-Ryan administration will be vigorously challenged to hold to the Declaration and Constitution, which they specifically affirm.

Obama rejects those rules for freedom in root and in branch, replacing them with well-honed class warfare, racial hatreds, raw power, crony capitalism, counterfeit "marriage," merely naturalistic "equality," and with no adequate concept of a Creator who is the basis for unalienable rights.

An extremist Obama unleashed from electoral accountability could make his first four years look like a Sunday School picnic.

Romney is not all we want, but Obama is all we do not want.

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Patrick Goodenough reports at CNSNews.com:

The head of an international body that will monitor the U.S. elections next month protested to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday after Texas’ attorney-general warned that any international observer who approaches a polling station in the state risks criminal prosecution.

Art Moore reports at WND:

The son of Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va. -- who serves as the field director for his father’s campaign -- has been caught on video advising an undercover reporter how to fraudulently cast ballots in the name of registered voters by forging utility bills and relying on the assistance of Democrat lawyers.

Watch the YouTube video "implicating a sitting member of Congress."

From Rasmussen Reports:

With just two weeks to go until Election Day, the race for Ohio’s 18 Electoral College votes is a tie.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Ohio Voters, taken the night after the final presidential debate, shows both President Obama and Mitt Romney attracting 48% of the vote. Two percent (2%) plan to vote for some other candidate, and three percent (3%) are undecided.

The Hollywood megastar and former mayor of Carmel, Calif., says in a new ad produced by American Crossroads:

In the last few years, America's been knocked down.

Twenty-three million people can't find full-time work, and we borrow $4 billion every single day, much of it from China.

When someone doesn't get the job done, you've got to hold them accountable.

Obama's second term would be a rerun of the first, and our country just couldn't survive that.

We need someone who can turn it around fast, and that man is Mitt Romney.

There's not much time left, and the future of our country is at stake.

Hat tip: Charlie Spierling, Beltway Confidential

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Stephen Dinan reports at the Washington Times:

Mitt Romney crossed a major threshold early this week, moving above 50 percent in his favorability rating with voters, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls -- and for the first time in the campaign he now leads President Obama on that measure.

The Republican presidential nominee has clearly benefited from the debates. He had a 44.5 percent favorability rating at the end of September, before the debates. But by Monday, when he and Mr. Obama faced off for the final debate of the campaign, Mr. Romney’s favorability average was up to 50.5 percent.

Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, said Mr. Romney’s favorability surge “really has been remarkable.”

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Paul Joseph Watson writes at Infowars:

Despite the issue garnering a significant amount of media interest as well as the attention of the Secret Service, Obama supporters continued their threats to riot and assassinate Mitt Romney if Obama loses in the aftermath of last night’s presidential debate. . . .

Leftists routinely cry foul and attempt to demonize conservatives as violent extremists whenever online rhetoric gets heated, and yet when their own engage in even worse conduct, their behavior is absolved and the media is disinterested.

Related:
Threats to Assassinate Romney Explode After Debate
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Erica Ritz writes at The Blaze:

Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that there has been “no inconsistency” from the White House regarding the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

After a discussion of Iran, host David Gregory explained that “the issue has been . . . inconsistency from the administration with regard to how they described this.”

He then played a clip of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan saying the administration’s response has been “misleading,” before Axelrod denied it all.

Axelrod said: "There’s been no inconsistency, there’s merely been reports on the data and the intelligence that we’ve been given. And the intelligence community has been clear on this. They have been doing the best they can, giving us the intelligence they have, we’ve been sharing the information, and we’ll continue to do so."

Ritz counters with this observation: "While the 'we distributed the information as we became aware of it' line may have worked several weeks ago, officials have now confirmed that the White House knew within 24 hours that the attack was not a spontaneous mob reacting to the trailer of an anti-Islam movie."

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CBN reports:

Rev. Billy Graham is encouraging people to vote based on biblical values, in a full page ad in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

"We are at a crossroads and there are profound moral issues at stake," Graham said in the ad. "I strongly urge you to vote for candidates who support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and woman, protect the sanctity of life, and defend our religious freedoms."

The Judeo-Christian worldview is rooted in knowable, verifiable information regarding God, man, and the cosmos.

This way of life based on truth and not upon a secularized, privatized concept of "faith."

As such, this way of living welcomes the questions of free-thinking critical thinkers such as Francis Schaeffer (former agnostic) and C.S. Lewis (former atheist), not to mention our approach at The Pearcey Report.

This is about human beings and human minds set free to question authority and examine all things, and it is meant to be expressed with creativity and love and humanity across the whole of life, including political life.

This, of course, is bad news for the Obama campaign, which aggressively and religiously wars against the rules of freedom and the worldview upon which these rules rest.

But it puts Romney-Ryan on notice, as well. Freedom means nobody gets a free pass, either during the campaign or afterwards.

On his radio show today, an outraged Rush Limbaugh challenged "bird-brain" actress and Obama Co-Chair Eva Longoria for her pro-Obama efforts (which have included very demeaning, anti-women tweets -- rebelled against by the likes of Michelle Malkin). 

Limbaugh employed sharp-tongued humor to say Longoria is a "groupie" activist who goes from one sports star to the next. 

"Hulk Hogan's available," said Rush. "I heard that." Hogan is suing a neighbor over a sex tape.

Rush's point, I think, is that Longoria is not a serious, thoughtful person, and that she is trading on her looks and star power to advance her political cause. 

Longoria may be learning that if one is to become publicly involved in politics, a) being educated and informed is vital, b) you must expect counter critique, especially if you demonize others, and c) outside of the Hollywood bubble, many intelligent, informed, creative, and caring people have concluded Obama is a disaster for America.

Intelligent, informed, creative, and caring people are equally concerned that the liberal Hollywood bubble is also a disaster for human creativity and proper rebellion against the status quo.

Whether America in the main, or Hollywood in the specific, you cannot abandon the rules for freedom and sustain a society of freedom.

If and when Longoria arrives at a social or political position not consistent with Hollywood elites, let her then voice that position and see how those elites react. I double-dare say, if Longoria were, as a thought experiment, to show an openness to other voices, she might be surprised at the reception she receives from her Beverly Hills posse.

It's counterintuitive but true: Establishment Hollywood fears real rebels.

Come on, Eva. Be a rebel. Discover who your real friends are.

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Author and columnist Michelle Malkin writes:

Liberal celebrities want all of the adoration that social media engagement has to offer -- but none of the accountability that actual engagement requires.

For the Hollywood elite, it’s “do as they say, not as they tweet.”

But actress and outspoken Obama campaign co-chair Eva Longoria learned a hard lesson this week on Twitter.

"On Tuesday night after the second presidential debate," Malkin recounts, "Longoria shared a 'retweet' from one of her 4.4-plus million followers on the micro-blogging network. 'I have no idea why any woman/minority can vote for Romney,' the message read. 'You have to be stupid to vote for such a racist/misogynistic tw*t.'”

From this vainglorious public moment, it was all downhill for Ms. Longoria.

"For decades, conservative women and minorities had limited public opportunities to tell the Beautiful People that they didn’t speak for us," Malkin writes.

But now, Malkin concludes, "the game has changed. The walls have crumbled. The era of one-way political monologues from Tinsel Town hypocrites is over. To borrow language they understand: That’s a wrap. You’ve been schooled."

Jeffrey Lord writes at American Spectator:

She got it wrong.

She interfered.

She took a side.

Candy Crowley may finally have done something else as well: so visibly tipping the scales of media bias that the end result makes Mitt Romney the next president.

Taken all together, CNN's Candy Crowley, in her zeal to intrude on the presidential debate and save President Obama from himself, may just have provided the televised moment that finally sparks a revolt against the four years of fawning coverage of President Obama.

The formerly mainstream media have already lost their grip on authentic journalism, and the establishment press no longer embraces the rules of freedom as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

These rules understand that human liberty and civil society are rooted in unalienable rights from the Creator, not from the state or from any aspect of temporal reality (nature, gender, class, diversity, polls, Supreme Court decisions, or tweets for Hollywood actresses).

If Jeffrey Lord is correct, a Candy Crowley tipping point may be the beginning of when the formerly mainstream media finally loses its grip on most of Americans most of the time.

If so, this would be good for America, for freedom -- and for journalism.

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Paul Joseph Watson writes at Infowars:

Despite numerous media outlets attempting to downplay the issue, Twitter exploded last night following the debate with new threats from Obama supporters to assassinate Mitt Romney if he defeats Obama in the presidential race.

As we reported yesterday, in addition to threats by Obama supporters to riot if Romney wins, innumerable Twitter users are also making direct death threats against Romney.

The primary reason given for Obama supporters wanting to see Romney dead is the fear that he will take away food stamps. . . .

Twitchy has compiled a laundry list of assassination threats by Obama supporters made during and after the debate, and more continued to flood in this morning.

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Paul Joseph Watson writes at Infowars:

Despite the issue receiving national media attention, Obama supporters continue to threaten to riot if Mitt Romney wins the presidential election, raising the prospect of civil unrest if Obama fails to secure a second term.

"In addition to rhetoric about starting riots if Obama loses, Twitter users have also targeted Mitt Romney with death threats," reports Infowars.

Erica Ritz writes at The Blaze:

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reported Sunday that Arthur Allen, the founder, president, and CEO of ASG Software Solutions, recently emailed his employees asking them to vote for Mitt Romney for the sake of the company -- and their jobs.

The subject line for the September 30 email was, “Will the US Presidential election directly impact your future jobs at ASG? Please read below.”

Just last week, founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts Davd Siegel made a similar move, telling employees he’d have “no choice” but to reduce the size of the company if Obama wins.

On Twitter and Facebook during the Biden-Ryan VP Debate last Thursday, I offered running commentary. All but the first comment below occurred during the debate:

Grinning, gesticulating Biden was doing his best to look energetic vis-a-vis the younger Ryan; but having grin is different from having game. . . . 

Joe cracks up when Ryan states we're watching the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy. . . .

Disagree with Joe, and he answers with a "You Idiot!" tone. . . .

I think Joe thinks he's on a roll. . . .

A panicky Joe tells everyone to calm down. . . .

Biden's body and mouth are engaged -- am not sure about his mind. . . .

Can you imagine Biden in charge of GM? He's far too pushy and not interested in listening to other people. . . .

Biden argues like a blowhard, Ryan responds with reason and consideration. . . .

Ryan comes across as much more considered and judicious in his approach to issues and decision-making.

Style is one thing, substance another. But in this case, a catastrophe in style well reflects a breakdown in substance, a crisis of vision. 

Thus, a concluding comment: "Biden is utterly pompous. He perfectly represents the Washington-centric establishment that is bankrupting the country. . . . Obama-Biden's gaping, smiling cavernous mouths would swallow up kids, family, jobs, freedom, dignity, America -- All in the belly of the beast.”

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Virginia Prodan experienced socialism first-hand in Communist Romania and now rings a bell of warning for us here. She writes:

Twenty-four years ago, I was a political refugee exiled from communist Romania to freedom in America. But today, America is in need of freedom.

Socialism is spreading in America like a horrible sickness. 

It is time for those of us who experienced socialism to speak up.

To read Prodan's description of existence in Ceausescu's Romania is to realize that elements of that system of oppression and control are already in place in Obama's "fundamentally" transformed America.

Obama and his cadres in media, Hollywood, and the academy will do all in their power to maintain an outward shell of constitutionality. But this is propaganda. It is a language and veneer of freedom to manipulate the impression that all is well.

But inside the shell of "equality," "tolerance," and "fairness" is much darkness indeed. Inside is an establishment in extreme alienation and aggression against the Delcaration and Constitutional thoughtforms the yielded America as a "shining city on a hill" in the first place.

History show us that conditions can only get worse, far worse, if America is subjected to further oppression in a part 2 of the Obama regime.

Come November, in less than four weeks, we can rise up and throw the invader into the sea.

If Obama really wants to rule a fundamentally transformed country, maybe he should try moving his community organizing schtick to Red China. They don't have as many distractions there.

"If Mr. Obama is re-elected and appoints just one more Ruth Bader Ginsburg, forget it. America, as our founders envisioned her, is gone," writes Matt Barber.

Becket Adams writes at The Blaze:

Following Thursday night’s vice presidential debate between Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Joe Biden, the Republican Nation Committee released an ad blasting Biden for his numerous outbursts, interruptions, and constant laughing.

Watch the ad.

"If Obama is re-elected, he'll finish the job he started," says David Limbaugh. Yes, that's scarier.

In my view, people with views like those of Barack Obama augur the end of the American republic -- and I if were to hold Obama's worldview, I would probably go about "fundamentally transforming" America in ways and methods similar to those embraced by Obama.

That method is to maintain an outward shell of constitutionality, echo the language of freedom, and to appear as friendly and personal in public as is possible.

But then to simultaneously push a radical extremist agenda that rejects the foundations of the American republic, all the while counting on the formerly mainstream media (plus Hollywood, the academy, corrupt businessmen, deceptive preachers, etc.) to provide social and pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-spiritual cover. 

Something called "America" would, of course, continue to exist. And many absorbed by bread and circuses may not notice the slippage from freedom to unfreedom.

But the slippage would be real and the results most unhappy. For where the foundations of freedom are eroded, the house of freedom cannot stand.

Make no mistake. We would be under the heel of governance by the rules of extremists, the rules of radicals, and not liberated by the rules of freedom -- set forth in those documents, for example, that Obama & Co. undermine day in and day out -- the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

We already witness the gross inhumanity of such a regime -- the attack on the individual, the hatred of the family, the imposition of authoritarian control and command from DC, cowering and uncertainty (inviting more terror) in the Middle East and around the world.

Millions unemployed. An economy that staggers. A government that operates in bad faith. Millions murdered via abortion. Decisions pushed on the basis of skin color, money, raw power, and humanistic pride. Terror in the shadows waits to spring from within and from without.

What is needed is a return to the liberating and humane foundations of freedom, of which the Founders knew -- which is why the currently double-minded Republican Party may, at best, be a log to throw in the way of the regressive Obama regime.

The GOP needs to realign itself principially, root and branch, with the rules of freedom, if it wishes to be on the right side of history, humanity, and of the "laws of Nature and Nature's God."  

Obama cannot be allowed to finish the job, lest the U.S. as a republic is well-high finished as well. A Romney-Ryan administration can buy time to mobilize a citizenry of freedom who will insist on refounding the American republic. No perfection, but the continuance of steps in the right direction. 

But that's up to us, under God -- that is, in community with a verifiable, knowable, publicly actionable Creator who is the source of unalienable rights.

That's how a people can turn away from disaster and begin to win back a "shining city on a hill." It'll take work. It'll take prayer. And it's all about loving your neighbor.

From the Associated Press:

The made-in-Michigan rock musician introduced [Paul] Ryan during a rally Monday night in the Detroit suburb of Rochester.

The rapper, born Robert Ritchie, told the raucous crowd gathered at Oakland University that he believes "you have to stand for something" even if it may alienate a few fans.

"He quieted the crowd a bit when he shared his pride over the election of Barack Obama as the first black president," AP reports.

"I am very proud to say that we had elected our first black president; I’m sorry -- I’m sorry he didn’t do a better job, I really wish he would have -- I do, but the facts are the facts," the rapper said.

Having recently moved to Texas, we've "darn near" completed all those transitional things -- new tags, drivers licenses, change of address, finding the cheapest gas stations.

Yesterday, I dropped in the mail our registration to vote in the upcoming elections. Here's hint on how we'll vote: As sometimes happens here in Texas, we will fight a) to hold back the invader and b) buy time for the good guys to prepare to repeal and replace.

We are registering through our state government. And, of course, photo ID is the way to go.

By the way, anyone running for office who thinks photo ID is an innappropriate requirement should stop placing their own photos on campaign literature and websites. In addition, all campaign and media appearances should be done in cognito.

On the other hand, if voters need to know who candidates are and what they look like, perhaps it follows that  freedom and accountability require that the body politic knows who voters are and what they look like.

Warning: In checking options out on the internet I came across what may be a scam called Registertovote.org. 

Here's a report on them and why you may want to avoid this group when registering to vote.

"At least two economists at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have contributed to President Barack Obama’s campaign," reports the Washington Free Beacon.

That would be Harley Frazis of Bethesda, MD, and Stephen Phillips of Washington, D.C.

Hat tip: Drudge

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Al Gore said the following on Current TV (watch the video here):  

I'm going to say something controversial here.

Uh, Obama arrived in Denver at 2 p.m. today, just a few hours before the debate started.

Romney did his debate prep in Denver.

When you go to 5,000 feet, uh, and you only have a few hours to adjust . . . .

Big Al may be on to something. Not necessarily the altitude, but something clearly related.

Maybe Obama was just too close to the sun. After all, everybody already knows about the "settled science" of global warming and its impact upon the planet and upon earthlings thereupon. 

This is not yet confirmed by MSNBC, but rich guy Romney may have used a special hair cream, unavailable to hardworking Americans, that counters the negative altitudinous impact upon blood flow and thinking upon one's feet that can afflict mental and verbal performance while in insufficently adjusted solar proximity.

Robert Stacy McCain at American Spectator offers a terrific overview of last night's debate between Mitt Romney and the chair (Obama supporters may be calling the debate a debacle). McCain must have watched the action on my Facebook and Twitter pages as well (now, where's that smiley thingy?).

Here are the opening two paragraphs of McCain's article:

How decisively did Mitt Romney win Wednesday night's debate? All you had to do was watch the most pro-Obama network to see it. "I personally do not know who won this debate," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said as soon as the debate ended. She was obviously the only one who didn't know.

When Maddow brought on her colleague Ed Schultz, he moaned that President Obama "created a problem for himself tonight on Social Security. He agreed with Mitt Romney. . . . I thought he was off his game."

Nor did the president's performance send a thrill up the leg of Chris Matthews. "I don't know what he was doing out there,"Matthews complained. "He had his head down. He was enduring the debate rather than fighting it."

"Of all the turnarounds Romney accomplished in his career at Bain Capital," McCain writes, "perhaps none was so significant as the one he pulled off in 90 minutes last night."

And what's Chris Matthews' new theme song? "The Thrill Is Gone." 

P.S. -- This version of "The Thrill Is Gone" is on my MP3 player for workouts.

Billy Hallowell reports at The Blaze:

The Bishop E.W. Jackson, founder of the Chesapeake, Virginia-based Exodus Faith Ministries, recently released a controversial video calling for African Americans to make a mass exodus from the Democratic Party.

Throughout the clip, Jackson delivers stinging blows to both liberals and the African Americans who continue to support them, while decrying what he sees as a “slavish devotion to the Democrat Party.”

The Exodus Faith Ministries website states that Rev. Jackson "served in the United States Marine Corps, graduated from Harvard Law School and studied at Harvard Divinity School."

To view video of E.W. Jackson's stirring "Message to Black Christians," go here.

Arnold Ahlert writes at Frontpage.com:

Last night, on the eve of the first and perhaps most important debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, the Daily Caller released the first “October surprise” of the 2012 election in the form of an unedited 2007 video of Obama speaking at Hampton University.

Dubbed by the Drudge Report and the Daily Caller as "Obama's Other Race Speech," the video promised to show the President describing America, in the Daily Caller’s words, “as a racist, zero-sum society, in which the white majority profits by exploiting black America.”

Indeed, the raw footage of Obama exposes odious racial hatred and demagoguery more befitting Rev. Jeremiah Wrigth than a mainstream political candidate.

Moreover, far from conforming to the persona the President has marketed to the public over the last several years, the ideology put forth in the video more closely parallels what we know of Obama’s radical pre-presidential life.

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Jeffrey Lord writes at American Spectator:

The presidential race exploded last night on Sean Hannity's television show.

The explosion came with the revelation by Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller of a stunning 2007, exclusively obtained unedited video tape of then-Senator Barack Obama making blatantly racial appeals to an audience of black ministers. And doing it in a southern accent that by now all of America knows the man who was famously raised in Hawaii and Indonesia and migrated to California, Massachusetts, and Chicago -- simply doesn't have.

The audience at Virginia's historically black Hampton University included Obama's own pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Whom Obama glowingly praised during the talk -- and later famously disowned. In the recent bestseller The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House by formerNew York Times journalist Edward Klein, the Reverend Wright, in a lengthy taped interview, said Obama considered Wright's "problem" to be one of having "to tell the truth." Essentially accusing his famous ex-parishioner of being a habitual liar.

"Particularly interesting, as Carlson pointed out last night," Lord writes, "was that the speech was mostly ignored by reporters present for the then-candidate's speech. While a transcript was in fact provided, what was not noted were Obama's off-script riffs. No complete video of the speech was widely released until the Daily Callerobtained this one -- with Hannity airing the controversial remarks last night."

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Josh Gerstein writes at Politico:

In May, the pollster for Al Gore's presidential bid in 2000 and John Edwards's in 2004 and 2008, Harrison Hickman, took the stand in the federal criminal case against Edwards over alleged campaign finance violations stemming from payments to support Edwards's mistress.

Under oath, Hickman admitted that in the final weeks of Edwards's 2008 bid, Hickman cherry-picked public polls to make the candidate seem viable, promoted surveys that Hickman considered unreliable, and sent e-mails to campaign aides, Edwards supporters and reporters which argued that the former senator was still in the hunt -- even though Hickman had already told Edwards privately that he had no real chance of winning the Democratic nomination.

"Hickman testified that when circulating the polls, he didn't much care if they were accurate," Gerstein writes. 

"I didn't necessarily take any of these as for -- as you would say, for the truth of the matter," Gerstein quotes Hickman as saying. "I took them more as something that could be used as propaganda for the campaign."

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At International Business Times:

Greek police have been accused of directing the victims of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants to seek retribution from the violent neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party. . . .

Support for the Neo-Nazi party is soaring in the near-bankrupt state, as are racially motivated attacks on immigrants. . . .

[I]n September, a dozen flag-waving Golden Dawn supporters raided a street market in northeast Athens, asking migrants to show their passports and overturning their stalls to leave space for Greek vendors.

The reporting regarding the Neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn echos what we know of the critical events of 1930s Germany.

What is crucial is to learn from the past -- and the present. That is, to realize that similar events, with all-too-similar outcomes, can occur in any nation that lacks the cultural foundations to sustain human freedom and dignity.

Barack Obama and the Democrat Party, and not a few squishy secularized Republicans, have operated for years in alienation to those foundations. 

The language and outward trappings of freedom are maintained, but the machinery, practice, and thoughtforms energizing the nuts and bolts of governance are in the opposite direction.

It can be argued, therefore, that both parties equally risk disaster, the Democrats at full speed, the Republicans at a jog. Or better, a stumble.

Societies built on shifting sand, and the freedoms of societies build on shifting sand, will not stand against the winds and rains of life in a broken world.

It matters not whether you call yourself Greece or the USA. It matters not whether you call yourself Democrat or Republican. When the foundations finally erode, the house of freedom will fall.

Far better to build the house upon the rock. Wind and rain will still come. Crisis is unavoidable in a broken world.

Let us, therefore, counsel realism, not despair. For a house built upon the rules of freedom, rooted in a real and verifiable Creator who endows humanity with unalienable rights, will stand.

This is the secret of a "shining city upon a hill." Available to all.

Ancient Greece did not have this message, and neither does Athens today. But the American Founders did, and they expressed that vision-for-freedom in the Delcaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

America today hangs in the balance: Will she go the way of ignorance, liberated from freedom and encouraged to accept totalistic state control over lunch rooms, patients, toilets, media, churches, filmmaking, energy, and more?

Or will she advance on the sure foundations of life secured in knowledge and freedom and community liberated -- with our humanity intact -- by a Creator who is objectively and knowably there?

The November election is crucial.

It is a moment to stand in the gap and push back the invader. But it is also an opportunity to educate the wobbly. And to expand the beachhead of freedom in America again.

That's right. Sometimes "Love Thy Neighbor" means hitting the beach.

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Howard Stern staffers Sal and Richard went to Harlem to ask individuals why they are supporting Obama. As of this morning, the audio has been listened to more than 1.4 million times.

Questions include:

Do you hope he will eventually find and kill Bin Laden?

What is it about Mitt Romney that you don't like? Is it that he's pro-choice?

Because he's a Muslim?

Do you think Obama made the right choice by choosing Paul Ryan as his vice president?

Do you think he picked Paul Ryan because he's African-American or because he's qualified?

Do you think McCain has a shot this time out to beat Obama for this election?

what percentage of the vote do you think Obama will get over McCain this time?

Do you think Bin Laden should just go to jail?

How long of a jail term do you think Bin Laden should get when we find him?

Are you happy with Obama's vice president pick Paul Ryan?

Do you like Obama because he's pro-life?

Do you like that he's anti-gay marriage?

Do you support Mitt Romney because he's black?

Are you upset that Romney is for gay marriage? Does that bother you?

Do you think people are upset that Sarah Palin's running again this time?

Does it bother you that Obama is a Mormon?

And does it bother you that Mitt Romney is black?

How do you think Sarah Palin's going to do as McCain's running mate in 2012?

There's been talk that he'll drop Sarah Palin in this election. Will you vote for him then?

And you're going to vote for Obama as well?

"Nobody seems to know that Osama bin Laden is dead," comments The Daily Caller, "but the good news for Obama is that they think he can get it done in his second term." 

Listen here.  

At WND:

Former president Jimmy Carter’s grandson helped leak video of Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser to Mother Jones Magazine, New York Magazine’s Daily Intel blog reports.

James Carter IV helped connect Mother Jones reporter David Corn with video of Romney at a fundraiser saying, among other things, that it is not his “job” to win over the 47 percent of voters committed to President Obama, because they are “dependent on government” and he will “never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

Here's a report from The Blaze. Watch the ad here.

Maggie Haberman reports at Politico:

A poll commissioned by Citizens United's political arm shows [Republican] Todd Akin leading [Democrat] Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

The poll by the CU political victory fund and conducted by Wenzel Strategies, shows Akin ahead by almost 5 points. Mitt Romney leads President Barack Obama by 20 points.

Paul Miller reports at The Carmel Pine Cone:

After a week as topic No. 1 in American politics, former Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood said the outpouring of criticism from left-wing reporters and liberal politicians after his appearance at the Republican National Convention last Thursday night, followed by an avalanche of support on Twitter and in the blogosphere, is all the proof anybody needs that his 12-minute discourse achieved exactly what he intended it to.

“President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” Eastwood told The Pine Cone this week. “Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that’s what everybody needs to know. I may have irritated a lot of the lefties, but I was aiming for people in the middle.” . . .

And while the Hollywood superstar has plenty of experience being adored by crowds, he said he hasn’t given a lot of speeches and admitted that, “I really don’t know how to.” He also hates using a teleprompter, so it was settled in his mind that when he spoke to the 10,000 people in the convention hall, and the millions more watching on television, he would do it extemporaneously.

"It was only after a quick nap in his hotel room a few blocks from the convention site, Eastwood said, that he mapped out his remarks -- starting with his observation about politics in Hollywood, then challenging the president about the failure of his economic policies, and wrapping up by telling the public 'they don’t have to worship politicians, like they were royalty or something,'" Miller reports.

"But even then," Miller writes, "with just an hour before he appeared on stage, it still hadn’t occurred to Eastwood to use an empty chair as a stand-in for the president."

Review
Video: Clint Eastwood at Republican National Convention 
Empty Chair Watch: Obama Says Fatherhood Trumps Politics
Did Clint Eastwood Really Make Mitt Romney's Day?

Pat Buchanan writes:

The authors of the Democratic platform have inadvertently revealed to the world the sea change that has taken place in that party we once knew.

For the first time — and in the longest Democratic platform in history, 26,000 words — there was not a single mention of God, the Creator, whom Thomas Jefferson himself, father of the party, proclaimed to be the author of our right to life and liberty.

The convention had approved the new platform, but when a firestorm erupted, a panicked Barack Obama hastily ordered "God" reinstated.

"But when the amendment was offered to the convention by its chairman, Antonio Villaraigosa, the idea of restoring the name of God to the platform was hooted, jeered and booed by half the delegates on the floor, who three times howled, 'No!'," Buchanan recounts.

"The omission of God is being called an oversight," Buchanan writes. "But the viral reaction to returning God, even when Obama asked that it be done, testifies that this was no accident. God was deleted deliberately."

"Perhaps they got the two concepts mixed up," suggests David N. Bass at American Spectator.

What an offensive, demeaning proposition spouted in this video: Belonging to "the government."

This is additional evidence that the Democrat Party stands outside and even against the enduring mainstream of what defines America.

As the U.S. mainstream is defined in the Declaration and Constitution, it's "We the People," under God -- that is, in liberating community with the Creator by whom we are endowed with unalienable rights.

The Creator, and not the state, is the center of gravity of human freedom. Washington-centrism is an offense to the human spirit.

Memo to Democrat Party: "The government" belongs to us. As free-thinkers we can decide, under God, how to arrange our lives -- as individuals, as families, as neighborhoods, as communities, as towns, as counties, as states, and as a nation.

The federal government is merely one of the many governments in the United States. And again, it belongs to us. We do not belong to it.

Hat tip: Shannon Bream

How do I know? Because I watch MSNBC.

Constitution-clinging, Declaration-loving Michelle Malkin claims to have a trove of video data demonstrating RNC speeches by Marco Rubio, Mia Love, Nikki Haley, Condoleezza Rice, Susana Martinez, Sher Valenzuela, and Rey Fernandez.

That's a distraction. And only rich racists would waste their time viewing that stuff.

Look. Once and for all. When it comes to RNC "diversity," MSNBC didn't broadcast it, they don't believe it, and that settles it.

Now can we get back to fundamentally transforming America?

So says the prez to CNN. But does fatherhood trump politics when it comes to abortion politics, Mr. Obama?

You see, according to Barack, if he weren't such a family man, why, he'd spend more time schmoozing and "backslapping" with D.C. bigwigs. He'd have more buddies on the Hill. His agenda would be getting through, and Obamacare would be loved in Fly-Over Land.   

However, it may be that Obama and Co. have been talking, politicking, social networking, etc., etc., nonstop for well-nigh 4 years (OK, he's played more rounds of golf than Arnold Palmer). 

And it may be that Americans are rejecting the Obama regime because he is aggressively seeking to impose his private, secularized ideology upon a people who still cling all-too-much to their Declaration and Constitution.

They prefer the rules of freedom, not the rule of Obama. Success, not failure.

Yep. He loves the kids. Just like it says in the Bible.

Except for "the least of these" who need to be aborted. Except for those who have the audacity to survive an abortion and are actually breathing outside of the womb.

Probably a bunch a young racists, anyway. Or uppity race traitors in the making. Besides, who could object except an angry mob of anti-Planned Parenthood extremists? They shouldn't be having kids anyway.

The policies of nice-guy Christian Obama would let abortionists knock "the least of these" upside the head with a 9 iron.

And then 6:30 comes, when Obama can be with his kids at the dinner table, help with the homework, and create a halo for the DNC convention this week. With final victory and ultimate transformation waiting in November.

So, you see, when Clint Eastwood talked to empty chair Obama the other day at the RNC, the point isn't really that Obama's an empty suit.

It is true that Obama is a mouthpiece for regressive politics and inhumane interests.

And he is a man who hides behind his girls as his regime is being rejected and when his campaign needs a lift.

But don't miss the larger point: What Obama preaches and practices is empty and vain. Those who follow the empty chair will be left with nothing.

"The National Organization for Women, a liberal women’s advocacy group, declared Tuesday night that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running-mate Paul Ryan are 'The most dangerous men in America,” reports Caroline May at The Daily Caller.

"According to NOW president Terry O’Neill," The DC continues, "the Republican ticket’s opposition to federal funding for Planned Parenthood, support for the personhood of unborn children, and opposition to the Obamacare contraception mandate make Romney and Ryan a serious threat to American women."

Really?

Saving in utero human beings from heartless abortionists is serious business.

The impositions of feminists' bloody laws upon babies bodies' is serious business.

And forcing American taxpayers to fund this submission to state-sponsored bloodshed and utter selfishness is serious business. 

Now, as if on cue, the stand-behind-their-man Obama womyn of NOW have delcared Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to be the "most dangerous men in America."

Neanderthalettes may deem this serious. But it is silliness.

And just in case anyone but whipped male Democrats are listening to the shrieking of the liberal girlie club: NOW and its grim and grimey supporters are a reactionary, unthinking utterly reliable laughingstock of delusion.

A woman's mind, not to mention a female's life, is a terrible thing to waste.

Jeffrey Lord over at American Specator uses three names to explain why "Paul Ryan terrifies the American Left," a reaction "which explains the tones of hysteria coming from the Obama White House": Reagan, Kemp, and Mark Levin.

The radio talk-meister just said so on his radio show. Rush said that when it comes to expressing a positive, conservative message, Paul Ryan "breathes it," has "lived it," and "it's in his soul."

Rush said the Ryan pick also shows Romney isn't just interested in winning but also in governing.

There were elements supportive of Rush's optimism in Ryan's speech Saturday, the most important of which being his statement that our rights come from nature and God, not from government. This echoes the Declaration's "laws of nature and of nature's God."

But even if Rush is right about Ryan, the VP nominee will face very much an uphill battle -- not just against Democrats but also against a GOP establishment that itself is tainted by secular, liberal Democrat habits and assumptions.

There is no doubt, however, that such a battle must be waged. And won.

This morning in Norfolk, Va., GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice-presidential running mate. 

Here is a video of Ryan's remarks, delivered aboard the USS Wisconsin. Below is a transcript of Ryan's speech, as spoken:

Governor Romney, Ann, thank you.

I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate.

I want to tell you about Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background, and the character that our country needs at this crucial time in its history.

Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim. They need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment.

And he and I share one commitment. We will restore the greatness of this country.

I want you to meet my family. This is my wife, Janna. Our daughter Liza and our sons Charlie and Sam. I'm surrounded by the people I love.

I love you, too. And I've been asked by governor Romney to serve the country that I love.

Janesville, Wisconsin, is where I was born and raised, and I never really left it. It's our home now.

For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in Congress. There -- There I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, turning ideas into action and action into solutions.

I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney administration.

This is a crucial moment in the life of our nation, and it is absolutely vital that we select the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness.

That man -- that man is standing right next to me. His name is Mitt Romney, and he will be the next President of the United States of America.

My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. There are a few things he would say that have just always stuck with me.

He would say, son, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. Well, regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem, and Mitt Romney is the solution.

The other thing my dad would always say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off.

That's the American legacy. Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy.

That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution, new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs.

It is our duty to save the American dream for our children and theirs.

I believe -- I believe there is no person in America who is better prepared because of his experience, because of the principles he holds, and because of his achievements in excellence in so many different arenas to lead America at this point in our history.

Let me say a word about the man Mitt Romney is about to replace.

No one disputes that President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And in his first two years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda, but that didn't make things better.

In fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt, and despair.

This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years, the longest run since the Great Depression.

Families are hurting. We had the largest deficits and biggest federal government since World War II.

Nearly one out of six Americans are in poverty, the worst rate in a generation. Moms and dads are struggling to make ends meet. Household incomes have dropped more than $4,000 over the past four years.

Whatever the explanations, whatever the excuses, this is a record of failure.

President Obama and too many like him in Washington have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation.

We might have been able to get away with that before, but not now. We're in a different and dangerous moment. We're running out of time. And we can't afford four more years of this.

Politicians from both parties have made empty promises, which will soon become broken promises with painful consequences if we fail to act now.

I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs, and factory towns. Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot of families, from a lot of those who are running small businesses and from people who are in need.

But what I've heard lately, that's what troubles me the most. There's something different in their voice, in their words.

What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures. I hear some people say that this is just the new normal.

Higher unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal.

It is the result of misguided policies. And next January, our economy will begin a comeback with the Romney plan for a stronger middle class that will lead to more jobs and more take-home pay for working Americans.

America is on the wrong track, but Mitt Romney and I will take the right steps, in the right time, to get us back on the right track. I believe that my record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful compliment to Governor Romney'sexecutive and private sector success outside of Washington.

I've worked closely with Republicans as well as Democrats to advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal discipline, and job creation.

I'm proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience that if you have a small business, you did build that.

Right.

At Bain Capital, he launched new businesses and he turned around failing ones, companies like Staples, Bright Horizons, Sports Authority, just to name a few.

Mitt Romney created jobs, and he showed he knows how a free economy works.

At the Olympics, he took a failing enterprise and made it the pride of our entire nation.

As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with Democrats and Republicans to balance [the] budget without increasing taxes, lower unemployment, increase income, and improve people's lives.

In all these things, Mitt Romney has shown himself to be a man of achievement, excellence, and integrity.

Janna and I tell Liza, Charlie, and Sam that America is a place where, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead.

We -- we look at one another's success with pride, not resentment, because we know -- we know that as more Americans work hard, take risks, succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be uplifted and improved.

America -- America is more than just a place, though. America is an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea.

Our rights come from nature and God, not from government.

That's right. That's who we are. That's how we built this country. That's who we are.

That's what made us great. That's our founding.

We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.

And this idea was founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination, and government by consent of the governed.

This idea -- this idea is under assault. So we have a critical decision to make as a nation. We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this: We won't duck the tough issues, we will lead. We won't blame others, we will take responsibility.

And we won't replace our founding principles, we will reapply them.

That's what we will do.

We will honor you, our fellow citizens, by giving you the right and opportunity to make the choice.

What kind of country do we want to have? What kind of people do we want to be?

We can turn this thing around. We can. We can turn this thing around. Real solutions can be delivered, but it will take leadership and the courage to tell you the truth.

Mitt Romney is this kind of leader. I'm excited for what lies ahead. I'm thrilled to be a part of America's comeback team. And together we will unite America and get this done.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Thank you.

Ben Johnson reports at LifeSiteNews.com:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Romney introduced the pro-life Catholic as his vice presidential choice at a campaign stop in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday morning.

In his acceptance speech Ryan said, “America is more than a place; it’s an idea. It’s the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government.”

“We won’t replace our founding principles,” Ryan promised. “We will reapply them!”

“America is founded on the essential belief that every person has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Americans United for Life President Dr. Charmaine Yoest said in an e-mail sent to LifeSiteNews.com. “Paul Ryan has been an eloquent defender of life.”

Johnson also reports, however, that Ryan "distanced himself from social issues at one point, saying of the same-sex “marriage” debate, “I don’t know why were are spending all this time talking about this.”

At FoxNation:

Mitt Romney's campaign kept up the drumbeat of criticism Thursday over President Obama's "you didn't build that" gaffe, releasing a scathing web ad in which a New Hampshire business owner says: "President Obama, you're killing us out here."

Alex Pappas writes at The Daily Caller:

President Barack Obama‘s re-election campaign has been on a mission to vilify Bain Capital, the venture capital firm co-founded by Mitt Romney.

But before Romney was the Republican nominee for president, first lady Michelle Obama praised a child care company Bain Capital helped get off the ground.

In 2011, the first lady said she was “excited” about the role of Bright Horizons, a corporate day care company founded in the 1980s backed by Bain Capital, in her “Let’s Move! Child Care” campaign, according to a video viewed by The Daily Caller.

From Conservative HQ:

It appears presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it -- conservatives, and many independents, are not going to vote for the third term of George W. Bush.

Yet that seems to be exactly where Romney is headed by floating the name of former Secretary of State and Bush national security advisor Condoleeza Rice as topping the short list of his choices for Vice President.

Or maybe Condoleeza Rice is just a stalking horse to make some other establishment Republican, like Ohio Senator Rob Portman or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, look better to conservatives.

Richard Viguerie Action Point: "Floating these names is a wake-up call to conservatives, who should pick-up the phone and call Governor Romney at 857-288-3500 to let him know that we demand he choose a real conservative as his running mate."

Matt Barber is an attorney who serves as vice president of Liberty Action Counsel. The following is his latest column:  

It's no secret that I have been and remain a vocal critic of Mitt Romney. To say that his conservative bona fides are suspect is an understatement.

I have tremendous respect for a number of fellow evangelical Christians who say that they will not support his presidential candidacy. I expect I will anger some of them, and may even lose a few friends. Still, in November, I am voting for Mr. Romney and suggest that any Christian --Republican, Democrat or independent -- should do the same.

Jesus admonished: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). It is through this biblical prism that I shine my multicolored analysis.

President Obama is a wolf. Though he purports to be Christian, his policies are decidedly un-Christian. This man eagerly advances a culture of death. He is the most radically pro-abortion president in American history. He has dutifully signed off on -- and implemented at each opportunity --every extremist demand of the radical pro-abortion and homosexual activist lobbies.

Mr. Obama has shown utter disregard -- if not total
disdain -- for the U.S. Constitution. Not the least of his indefensible infringements is his recent Health and Human Services mandate requiring, under penalty of law, that all Christian and Catholic organizations violate fundamental church tenets by providing abortifacients, sterilization and contraceptive services to employees.

This may be the single most egregious breach of First Amendment freedom in our lifetimes. Thankfully, the church isn't backing down, has refused to comply and is fighting tooth and nail in court to reinstate constitutional liberty. 

Scripture says that Christians are known by their fruit. Mr. Obama's fruit is rotten to the core. He talks like a Christian while his actions scream secular-socialist. I intend to work with every fiber of my being to see that Mr. Obama is not re-elected. To the extent this benefits Mr. Romney, so be it.

It took one word to convince me: judges.

The next president likely will fill at least two Supreme Court vacancies in the next four to eight years. Appointing Supreme Court justices may be the single most significant thing any president can do. For better or for worse, it profoundly steers law, public policy and culture at large in perpetuity.

This is our most crucial point of focus: ensuring an originalist, strict constructionist majority on the high court. If Mr. Obama is re-elected and appoints one, two or even three more Ruth Bader Ginsburgs, forget it. America, as our founders envisioned her, is dead. 

 

Though Mr. Romney's judicial appointment record while governor of Massachusetts was erratic at best, he has pledged during this election cycle, "I will appoint conservative, strict constructionists to the judiciary."

 

Flip-flop? Perhaps. Still, Mr. Romney has proved that he cares about and understands political self-preservation. If Mr. Romney wins the White House and expects a second term, there is a strong chance, I believe, that conservatives can hold him accountable to his word.

 

Indeed, political self-preservation will provide Mr. Romney a strong incentive to honor his pro-life, pro-family conservative rhetoric. Most important, it significantly increases the chances that he will appoint originalist judges to the Supreme Court as promised.

 

With Mr. Obama, we know what we will get -- we've already gotten it. You need only consider his Supreme Court appointments of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. If he is re-elected, why would we expect anything less? We're guaranteed additional counter-constitutionalist radicals. 

 

Some might say I'm putting pragmatism over principle, but I disagree. In this case, the two are not mutually exclusive. Remember Christ's counsel: Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

 

My friend and colleague Cynthia Dunbar, a law professor at Liberty University School of Law, recently wrote: "In this election year, we find ourselves with only three realistic courses of action: 1) Don't vote; 2) vote for Obama; or 3) vote for Romney." 

 

It's simple: A Christian nonvote is a vote for Mr. Obama in that it fails to affirmatively cancel out an Obama vote. Furthermore, any Christian who votes for Mr. Obama will get to take that up with God.

 

This leaves us with our third and final choice: Christians must vote for Mitt Romney. A second Obama term is simply unacceptable. We won't survive it.

Ben Johnson reports at LifeSiteNews:"

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney scheduled a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser at the home of Phil Frost, the executive of the company that makes the Morning After Pill, on Wednesday night. Plan B One-Step is produced by Teva Pharmaceuticals, Frost’s company.

AP reports:

An insurgent Republican lawmaker in Nebraska will square off against former Sen. Bob Kerrey this fall in the state’s U.S. Senate race, as Democrats look to hold onto the Senate seat and control of one part of Capitol Hill.

In Tuesday’s Republican primary, state Sen. Deb Fischer rode a wave of discontent with the GOP establishment to best Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, the preferred candidate of Washington, D.C.-based Republicans, and Treasurer Don Stenberg in a race that drew national attention from outside groups in its final, unpredictable weeks.

Among those who endorsed Fischer: Sarah Palin and Herman Cain.

OneNewsNow reports:

Voters in Anchorage, Alaska, have handily defeated a proposed ordinance that would have provided special rights for homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals.

Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver says passage of Proposition 5, a measure placed on the ballot and supported by a collection of LGBT groups called "One Anchorage," would have put homosexuality on a par with race. But Anchorage residents turned it down, in spite of the fact that homosexual activists outspent those with traditional views 4-1.

The radical agenda animating the LGBT syndrome is profoundly uncharitable and inhumane. Bravo, Anchorage!

Martin Gould reports at Newsmax:

Tuesday’s two Deep South primaries -- seen by many as Newt Gingrich’s last chance -- are too close to call, according to an election-eve survey by Public Policy Polling.

“About all we know is that Ron Paul won't win any of these states on Tuesday . . . the other three candidates all have a shot in both of them,” the Democratic-leaning polling company’s president, Dean Debnam, said.

On the line today: 419 delegates, 10 states, 4 candidates.

Mark J. Fitzgibbons writes at American Thinker:

Rick Santorum's speech to the Chattanooga Tea Party's Liberty Forum is uplifting and convincing that he is the constitutional conservative we need as President of the United States.

The speech is brilliant in its scope and sincerity. It shows that he has a clear grasp of the constitutional conservative movement. It shows that he is one of us.

Neither John McCain nor George W. Bush could have delivered such a speech. Ronald Reagan could have.

Santorum is convincing in showing that he understands the purpose of the Constitution, why it is an extension of the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and why following the Constitution is critical to restoring America's exceptionalism.

Robert Stacy McCain writes:

Rick Santorum had been speaking for nearly an hour Sunday night in Davison. He had laid out his policies on economics, on energy, on social issues and national security. He had defended his record against attacks from his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, and expressed strong criticism of President Obama's policies.

He took questions from the audience of about 400 people who packed Crystal Hall and gave lengthy, detailed answers. When it came time for the final question, a man mentioned the "kid gloves" treatment that many conservatives felt Obama received from 2008 GOP nominee John McCain. Would Santorum go after Obama?

"Well, what do you think?" Santorum answered, getting a huge cheer from the crowd.

Santorum said that he has tried to avoid personal attacks in the long Republican primary campaign and preferred to "keep it on the issues."

The former Pennsylvania senator then said, "I'm not going to go out and personally attack Barack Obama. . . . I'm going to talk about what he's done to this country. I'm going to talk about his policies. . . . I'm going to hold him accountable for every decision he's made. . . . Let me assure you, we will draw a contrast. We will talk about what's at stake in this country. We will not let you down. We will fight for your principles and we'll fight for this country. Just help us, here in Michigan, on Tuesday."

Billy Hallowell writes at The Blaze:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin isn’t one for divulging the tactical details of her (potential) future political plans.

In fact, the 2008 vice-presidential contender is known for leaving much to the imagination when it comes to future electoral prospects.

Last year, she made fans wait quite a while before announcing that she wouldn’t be seeking the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

On Wednesday, on FOX Business’ "Follow the Money," Palin told Eric Bolling she "would do whatever [she] could to help," leaving the door open to any and all possibilities should a brokered convention take form later this year.

The embedded video of Palin's interview with Bolling is well worth viewing.

Newsmax reports: "Rick Santorum's campaign confirmed Wednesday that the former Senator had raised $1 million in 24 hours after winning three contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado."

Yesterday, Rick Santorum swept Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, handing Mitt Romney a sound thrashing in the race to win the GOP nomination to run for president.

This morning, radio talk show host Mark Levin has sent a Facbeook message to Romney: "Conservatives have had enough of your sleazy campaign tactics."

"Run on your record," says the author of Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America. "Explain your conservative credentials. Tell us how you'll save this country."

Levin concludes: "If you have a core, it is time to reveal it. But stop your poisonous attack dogs and ads."

That's what the talkmeister said on today's show.

AP reports:

Real estate mogul and reality show star Donald Trump intends to endorse Gingrich's GOP presidential bid, according to a source close to Gingrich's campaign.

Trump is set to announce his support Thursday in Las Vegas, where Gingrich is campaigning in advance of Nevada's Republican caucuses on Saturday.

At Newsmax:

The Republican establishment, which is backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in his presidential bid, also is trying to erase the tea party, Rush Limbaugh said [yesterday] on his radio show.

“The establishment Republicans are trying to take the tea party out,” Limbaugh declared. “And this is another reason why, in the Republican primary, there is such fevered opposition to Romney and people who despise
. . . the campaign that Romney is running.”

David Corn wites at Mother Jones:

It's no secret that Mitt Romney has an albatross around his neck: Romneycare, the Massachusetts health care overhaul he enacted while governor of the Bay State.

The plan, which included a mandate compelling state residents to obtain health insurance, was a model in part for President Barack Obama's health care reform, which is much-despised by conservatives and Republican voters.

This video of the Romney-Kennedy healthcare bill signing, in which Romney introduces "my collaborator and friend Sen. Edward Kennedy," will make defense of Romney as a constitutional "conservative" that much more difficult. And it should.

Hat tip: David Limbaugh

AP reports:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been reaching out to evangelicals and tea party advocates as the Florida primary approaches, touting an endorsement from campaign dropout Herman Cain, as well as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's accusation that the establishment is trying to "crucify" him.

Standing outside the First Jacksonville Baptist church as dusk fell, Kurt Kelly, chairman of Florida Faith Leaders for Newt Gingrich, said the candidate held a midweek conference call with an estimated 1,000 evangelical pastors around the state.

Palin writes on her Facebook page:

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

Read the entire statement. 

The debate starts at 8 pm Eastern time. Watch online here.

Get the lastest 2012 South Carolina GOP Primary results here.

Track the race in real time here. Gingrich tweets thanks to South Carolina.

Newsmax reports:

An American Research Group survey released Saturday and reported by CNN indicates that 40% of people likely to vote in South Carolina's GOP contest say they are backing the former House speaker, with 26% supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In other findings: 18% are backing Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and 13% support former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Newsmax continues, "The poll, conducted half before and half after Thursday night's debate in Charleston, South Carolina was all good news for Gingrich."