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2012 Presidential Primary

GrokTV Special Interviews at yesterday’s Ron Paul campaign event

Given that it is the day before the NH First in the Nation Primary, that the ‘Grok is NH based, and the number of my recent Ron Paul posts, most of you are probably thinking that I am going to vote for Ron Paul.  No, I am not (much to the dismay of my friends that are Ron Paul supporters).

In fact, I still don’t know who I am vote for – given that I originally was backing Herman Cain, I have not yet decided on a candidate (it still surprises me and a lot of my friends – WHAT? You?).  I will admit that it will be either Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich – but every time I think my thinking has settled down, it shakes again. Regardless of which it is, I am proud of the fact that in addition to the commentary, punditry, and all out bloggish snark we serve up here, we also do straight “citizen journalism” with the use of either recorded or live stream video.  All I can hope for is that the hours and hours of time putting up entire events (vs the 30 second sound bite you get from most MSMers) helped you, our readers, to make your decisions based on what you thought of the candidates’ actual words vs the ‘filter’ inserted into the process by the MSM .

Here are some “after event” interviews right after Ron Paul finished his event.  Sorry for the poor audio quality of my questions, but it was loud!  Most of the interviews went like this: Ron supporter or undecided, domestic policy that attracts you to him, foreign policy item that attracts you.  And yes, two of the folks there were undecided (and one from LA)!

First, Barbara (who lives in my home town, as you will see):

Next up, friends Seth and Jim:

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2012 Presidential Primary – NH First in the Nation Primary – Live Chat!

Shane Vander Hart of Iowa’s Caffeinated Thoughts and the Groksters will be chatting live as the poll returns start coming in here in NH starting at about 7pm (at least, that’s the estimated time). Newer posts will be posted after this one during our CHAT – then this will be rolled downward.

GrokTV Event – 2012 Presidential Primary – Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX); intro ceremonies & Question 1

This afternoon, the 2012 Presidential Primary campaign came to Church Landing in Meredith, NH where a 500-600 strong contigent of Ron Paul supporters from all over (4 gentlemen standing next to me had come from Holland).  TMEW and I arrived about 40 minutes before the start of the event and even at that, we were relegated to the back of the room, so good thing I had brought the “tall” tripod.  It is a good thing that the Fire Marshall didn’t come strolling by -he would have shut down the event for overcapacity and when I realized that folks were still trying to come in, I was glad that the “back of the room” also meant “in the corner next to the double exit doors”.

The intensity level: high (is there anything other than that at a Ron Paul event)?  The event was a bit different from the normal stump speech in that there was no stump speech from Dr. Paul – only introductions by NH State Senator Jim Forsythe (my state senator and the Ron Paul State Director) and Ron Paul’s son, US Senator Dr. Rand Paul (R-KY).  Right after that, Jim started off with asking questions of Dr. Paul followed by questions from the crowd.

This clip is the intro ceremonies and the video of Question 1 is after the jump:

Q1: How has medical practice changed since you started, and how has that change affected your view of Government?

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GrokTV Event: Ron Paul – Q2 & Q3: Why is cutting Federal spending so important? Military spending and how the Pres. Paul’s Military look?

Jim Forsythe’s next two questions at the Ron Paul Presidential Primary event in Meredith, NH this afternoon:

Question 2: You have proposed cutting $1 Trillion from the Federal budget right off – why is it so important to cut Federal spending?

Question 3:Military vs defense spending – and how will the military look like under President Ron Paul?

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GrokTV Event: Prez Candidates at the Hillsborough County Republicans 1/6/2012

In addition to Newt, there were plenty more speakers at the event last night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua, NH held by the Hillborough County Republicans:

  • former LA Congressman and Governor Buddy Roemer
  • Mark Callahan
  • Fred Karger
  • Congressman Charlie Bass (R-NH, CD2, and no, he is not running for Prez, merely spoke quickly)

Here is the video clip of former LA Congressman and Governor Buddy Roemer:

The rest are after the jump:

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GrokTV Event: Rick Santorum at the Hillsborough County Republicans 1/6/2012

Former US Senator Rick Santorum was also present at the Hillsborough Republican event.  Although the Press surrounding Newt slowed the beginning of the event, they literally SWARMED him afterwards, making it all but impossible for Chair Chadwick to continue with the proceedings.  Through the ministrations of Stacy “the Other McCain” and my long term friendship … Read more

Guest Post from Shane Vander Hart: Why the Iowa Caucus Results Should Matter

I met Shane for the first time this past fall at the American for Prosperity event back in May, 2011 where Ovide Lamontagne was honored as their 2011 Conservative of the Year and a “Presidential Summit on Spending and Job Creation” featuring the Republicans vying to be the Republican nominee for President.  We had the chance to chat with him then – listen to the fifth audio snippet on the page.  Well, he asked if I would be willing to write a post on how I thought the Iowa Caucus results would play here in NH at his site of Caffeinated Thoughts – so I asked him to do the same:

Why the Iowa Caucus Results Should Matter

The tired cliche heard around the world rang hollow just days before the Iowa Caucus.  Jon Huntsman, desperate for attention, for the second time said, “Iowa picks corn, but New Hampshire picks Presidents.”  Pretty desperate, but he is three-fourths right.  I have to agree that Iowa does pick corn (and soybeans).  I will also acknowledge New Hampshire’s prominent role in presidential nomination politics.  You play a very key role!  All one has to do is ask John McCain how important New Hampshire is.  Ask Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and now Rick Santorum how important the Iowa Caucus is and they would likely say – extremely.

I want to share with you three reasons why I believe Tuesday’s Iowa Caucus results should matter to those planning on voting in next Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary:

  1. We weed out the weak.  You always have fewer candidates after the Iowa Caucus than what we have before.  We take the time to vet candidates, ask questions

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Southern NH 912 Project event: Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) in Windham

Contact: Ken Eyring FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ph: 603-434-4836 Email: ken@SouthernNH912.com SENATOR RAND PAUL IN WINDHAM NH Senator Rand Paul, the son of Presidential candidate Ron Paul, is scheduled to appear on behalf of his father at a special Southern NH 9.12 event in Windham, NH. The modified Town Hall event will take place on Saturday, … Read more

Two days before NH’s First in the Nation Primary, here’s why I think the Iowa Caucus matters

I totally forgot to post this – my guest post scribblings that Shane requested and posted over at Caffeinated Thoughts on why I thought that the Iowa Caucus mattered here in NH right after it was over.  I will tell you, based on the Press reaction last night to Rick Santorum (uploading the video now, will post shortly), Iowa’s results do matter here in NH:

Well, we’ve now been through the warm up where the players assembled, a few that were desired by the fans declined to come out and play, and some of the would be players stayed home when the prelim lineup matchups didn’t play out as they wanted. We saw a wide range of nuances within a fairly narrow band stances which brought in either hoots or jeers from the stands with some flag waving, some huzzahs, and not a few raspberries thrown about. A couple more left after the general shoot around before the the Big Show started; a few of the lessors kept circling the court waiting to be asked to play (but never got the nod – and one finally went to another game).

Tuesday night, the opening buzzer to that Big Show sounded and it was a dash to the hoop – politicians looking to score big. Layups, gimmes, hooks, jump shots and three pointers. And yes, a couple of players got stuffed as they went for what they thought would have been a slam dunk on their home court. And like what happens in hockey, a game broke out during the fight. And when it was over, two winners, a tie, and a couple also rans. And one self-ejection.

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Southern NH 912 Project – Town Hall with Rick Santorum tomorrow at 7pm

Contact: Ken Eyring FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ph: 603-434-4836 Email: ken@SouthernNH912.com RICK SANTORUM TOWN HALL EVENT MOVED TO WINDHAM HIGH SCHOOL The modified Town Hall style event that is being hosted by the Southern NH 9.12 Project for presidential candidate Senator Rick Santorum is being moved to a larger venue due to overwhelming demand. The event … Read more

A Presidential Primary tool from the Southern NH 912 Project

Bumped and updated – an alert from the Southern NH 9.12 team:  Skip, we’ve got a brand new, updated and cleansed version of the matrix online.  We also have a condensed version, that focuses on just 19 issues, to make it easier for people to work with the document.

The last update was 01/01/12 at 8:30pm. There are two versions of the Presidential Matrix to choose from:       Condensed (19 issues)   Full Version (64 issues)

On the jump.

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Obama apologist Dick Gregory of “Meet The Press” gets schooled by Rick Santorum

I have, over and over, had one major complaint about the MSM – I have no problem in them asking hard questions of Republicans.  In fact, the harder the better; I only wish that they’d do the same to Democrats on a consistent basis.  In that, I guess I’d be better off wishing to win Powerball – it happens occasionally but only in the little things, so it seems.  And it seems less often still, that someone seen as a Conservative is allowed to best them, especially on TV (which is a reason why I tell people to always record any interview they get involved in, so as to “keep the record straight”).

Well, it happened yesterday as candidate for the Republican nomination for President, Rick Santorum, decided “not to be subservient to get face time”; he decided that when Gregory got in his face, he was going to return the dis-favor:

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GrokTALK! Special Interview – Stacy “The Other” McCain reporting from Iowa

Yesterday, Grokster Mike and I had the opportunity to interview Stacy McCain (aka “the Other McCain”), an independent investigative reporter who travels the country reporting on the political issues of the day.  While his main site is here, he also writes over at The American Spectator (and we discussed one of his posts located here). … Read more

2012 Presidential Primary – Mitt Romney, again, but a -20

Instead of the +1 he got here, this is a -20 for a bad attempt at doing what Liberals do – redefining language for merely scoring political points.  The Hill has a quote from Mitt Romney that I’ve been hearing for a while now, and I frankly think it’s a crock:

“I’m happy to stand by the things that I believe. I’m not going to change my positions by virtue of being in a presidential campaign,” Romney said. “What we did was right for the people of Massachusetts, the plan is still favored there by 3 to 1 and it is fundamentally a conservative principle to insist that people take personal responsibility as opposed to turning to government for giving out free care.”

Such a silver tongue.  He’s been hit so hard on RomneyCare being the progenesis of ObamaCare he’s punch drunk.  No one believes him when he said that just because he created an individual mandate at the State level, it doesn’t matter as it is different than the one in ObamaCare since the Constitution covers ObamaCare (a Federal action) but not Obamneycare (at the State level).  Rubbish!  While indeed Obamacare will (or should) be judged unconstitutional, philosophically, there is not a whit of difference with what Obama signed into law vs what Mitt signed into law.  Philosophically, we have the State (be it at the Federal or State level) forcing people to buy something they otherwise would not.  If these stand, we no longer have the limited government that the Founders wanted.  And Mitt’s answer is a dodge, and a lame one at that.

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2012 Presidential Primary – So, Mitt said he was a Progressive?

A gem.  Or rather, a gaffe (albeit, from the past)?  Or evidence of pandering?

Once again, we see the disruptive technology that is the Internet on politics.  What you say now will be known in the future.  What you said in the past will generally be available now.  And you have no control over it.

No, sir, no amount of verbiage or “flackage” is going to convince authentic Conservatives otherwise. Video of this after the jump

(H/T: Townhall)

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As a Conservative, I have no problem in “kicking up the dust” on candidates…

This past week, I’ve heard a number of people complaining about Republicans and Conservatives criticizing Republican candidates (did you notice that I separated “Republicans” and “Conservatives”?). I am guilty as charged as one of those Conservatives who has been “kicking up the dust” against a few candidates.

After the disaster that is Barack Obama, America has a chance to reset, start over, change direction, and work towards recovering its greatness, which is clearly at self-imposed risk. Yet some of the Republican choices we are presented with are just rehashed versions of candidate’s we’ve seen before, fitting the mold of Republicans who helped us to this distressed place. My concern with these candidates is that if one of them were to win, they would quickly fall back into old GOP habits, failing to exploit the opportunity to make real change when we need it the most.

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