In addition to Jim Gilmore and Carly Fiorina, some local NH folks acted as stand-ins (or “surrogates”) for other Presidential campaigns:

• Zack Carrier for the Ted Cruz campaign
• NH State Rep Victoria Sullivan for the Rand Paul campaign
• Taylor Baxter, also for the Rand Paul campaign
• Tom Mulkeen for the Jeb Bush campaign
• Tom Colantuono for the Chris Christie campaign
• Chris “Woody” for the Dr. Ben Carson campaign

Zack Carrier                              Victoria Sullivan

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A couple of points / thoughts from Thursday’s Donald Trump event now that I have seen him in person – the attitude of the crowd  and the mainstream Republican Class in a stream of conscienceness (re: not necessarily well organized):

• I had heard most of his talking points before – TV, YouTube.  Nothing really new so a bit disappointing.  To me, being a political and news junkie, it was a bit “surface levelly” – nothing deep, no fine details.  Nor could I, if really pressed, attach deep philosophical foundations to his speech / talking points.  Thus, to me, it left a lacking and I think this is why a lot of folks who look at this “sport” like me, especially with Establishment GOP pundits, are disdainful of The Donald.
• This is extremely wrong headed and they totally miss the most important part of what is going on here and in my estimation, The Donald is actually the lesser part of that whole.
• Even being that lesser part, he has picked up on what the Republican base is aching for – and has found pretty much lacking in most of the field.  Ted Cruz gets it from a Constitutional standpoint, Carly Fiorina gets it from a results standpoint, and I think Bobby Jindal gets it from the Liberty standpoint (re: Religious Liberty, he is standing tall where Mike Pence dropped like a wet cheap suit).
• Aching – what unites Trump’s base is an unabashed pride in America and that it IS the best Country ever in history.  They realize that it has flaws and it will continue to have them but that it has been and can be a moral good for the world.

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This ought to end the debate from the left on when life begins because, let’s face it–there is no 20 weeks, nor 40 weeks, nor 2,080 weeks, nor any weeks at all without conception. We are all a product of conception.

With that…from today’s Union Leader...

An outside spokesperson hired by Planned Parenthood said last week that the group was merely disposing of the “products of conception.” 

How long did it take (or will it take) for you to realize that the Left’s entire political and cultural agenda is based on managing, manipulating, directing, controlling, and “disposing of” the products of conception? It is their “life’s work.”

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I am no fan of John McCain.  Yes, GraniteGrok “fought” for him back in 2008 but it was more against Obama (who we knew back then that he’d eventually start acting like he has the last few years – his Communist / Muslim background demanded it just as much as a leopard cannot change its spots). He has, however, supported policies that are definitively not conservative but he has tried to play one in his Senatorial campaigns – just long enough to be elected.  Too many times, “Maverick” has double crossed Party principles in his “crossing the aisle”.  That said, one has to give him his due for his service during Viet Nam and his incarceration as a P.O.W. when his jet was shot down.

I’ve done a fair amount of writing about Trump lately (the last and longest one here).  No, not that he is my guy but to try to show that the people who have been flocking to his rallies have had their internal mindsets and political worldview (i.e., the general Republican candidates, officials, and elected office holders have failed them in failing to live up to their promises with looked for actions).  That said, and their angst that strong, the attack on McCain will have the effect, even if McCain blew the first spitball by calling out Trump for “activating the ‘crazies'”.

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On life:

Next, remember that life is not easy for any of us. It will probably not be fair, and it certainly is not all about you. The gray hair and wrinkles you see on older people have been earned the hard way, by living and dealing with the challenges of life. When I was a young adult and labored under the delusion of my own omniscience, I thought I knew more than I actually did. That is a function of youth.

With the wisdom that only comes with the passage of years, the older folks warned me presciently and ominously, “Son, you just live long enough and you’ll see.” They were right; oh, so right. Life is humbling and can be hard, very hard. It is a series of decisions, some harder than others, some good and, unfortunately, too many of them bad. It will be up to each of you to make as many good decisions as possible and to limit the bad ones, then to learn from all of them. But I will urge you to resist when those around you insist on making the bad decisions. Being accepted or popular with those doing wrong is an awful Faustian bargain and, as with all Faustian bargains, not worth it. It is never wrong to do the right thing. It may be hard, but never wrong. . . .

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I am behind on processing video so today, with the threat of scattered thundershowers (one just past and looks like another one soon), I’m trying to get caught up with that work needed to put the videos from the Coalition of NH Taxpayers (CNHT) annual picnic last week (otherwise known as Old Home Day for NH Conservatives).  We did have some problems – streaming (and its recording) was spotty with cell phone saturation from all the folks in the area, our recording camera’s AC brick died, and my ancient FlipCam is feeling its age too,  so not everyone that spoke will show up later (and apologies for that.

First up is former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore (or as TMEW said “Who?”):

And he did sat down for an interview with us – as you will hear, he really didn’t want to answer our question of “what balance” between Religious Liberty as enshrined in the Constitution and lesser laws / regulations / ordinances dealing with gay marriage discrimination:

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From our ABOUT page:  “Anything that amuses us is game!”.  Yes, I can get amused.

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Steve had a post up back last week: Is Belknap County GOP Chair Alan Glassman Out of Line? It concerned a “meet and greet” that had been set up for NJ Gov. Chris Christie.  I thought it innocuous when I first glanced at it (hey, only a question was asked) but seeing that I was outbound, I didn’t study it.  However, someone decided it was a big deal and that GraniteGrok was SO WRONG in putting up such a post.  So as to open the door to The Streisand Effect Room, let me quote the part that got me an email version of an earful:

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Lots of video to put up today – not just the show (below) but our recording of Donald Trump’s rally at the Weirs in Laconia, NH this past Thursday AND as much of the video from last Saturday’s CNHT Picnic (or as we call it, Old Home Day for NH Conservatives).

GrokTALK! today:

• Segment 1: Micro-WTF of the Day and Max Abramson talking about some of NH’s silliest laws
• Segment 2:  Dan Hynes comes on to talk about pushing back on Government trying to say that a church is not a church (and therefore, no property tax abatement will be given).
• Segment 3: Mike Farris comes on to talk more about Religious Freedom and, again, how Government is not obeying that limiting governance philosophy known as the Constitution.
• Segment 4: Lawrence McQuillan comes on to talk about the financial time bomb that has started to explode at the municipal and state levels; NH is in the same deep sneakers on this and our Smartest Elected People can’t make the hard decisions to make it right (always kicking it down the road)

Segment 1                                                    Segment 2

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Certainly the latest undercover video where Planned Parenthoods’ Deborah Nucatola () spilled the beans over lunch about Planned Parenthood’s profiting over harvesting body parts / organs from aborted babies has made a huge impact in the blogosphere where the Right is properly outraged and the Left is “meh!”.  The former because we see each unborn as a human being with a life just important as #BlackLivesMatter while the Left is reduced to dehumanizing babies to be mere clumps of cells.  We’ve been writing up a storm about this (here, here, here, here, and here).

Well, Doug Scamman, social issues DO matter and Republicans seeking office best be mindful that your stance of “drop the social issues, focus on the fiscal issues” is wrong because

• Social issues ALL have fiscal costs
• Dems run on social issues hard and ALWAYS put Republicans on the defensive (not a good place to be in a political race)
• Conservatives are tired of Republican Establishment elites abandoning them and their issues.

So, to that point, I received an email from Chris Sununu, who is rumored of thinking about the NH Gov office. Yes, social issues have fiscal costs:

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