Once Labor Day has passed, there will be five debates, in quick succession, on the GOP presidential candidates’ calendars.  These will be important tests for Perry.  If at the end of two or three, it’s clear that he’s every bit the equal of Mitt Romney on matters of policy and politics, then the Perry juggernaut becomes all but unstoppable.  Romney’s “I’m the only electable one” argument will vanish and the party’s base will nominate one of their own.  If Perry stumbles badly in the debates, Romney’s campaign gets a second wind.

Knowing that the only things standing between Perry and the GOP nomination are a couple of “good enough” debate performances, the GOP “establishment” faces a choice: they can cross their fingers and hope for the best or mount a sustained negative campaign to destroy Perry with the party’s base.  It is likely that, after Labor Day, a sustained negative campaign against Perry will be launched.

The real question is how far does the GOP establishment go to stop Perry? Are they willing to torpedo their nominee? It’s also unlikely there’s anything in Perry’s past that could come back to haunt him. He’s faced a few bitter elections already. President Obama’s administration is coming unraveled. Does the GOP really want to weaken Perry if his nomination looks inevitable? Maybe it doesn’t matter.

Unless there’s a major shift or a Perry stumble in the September debates this race might already be over. I’m not even sure Palin jumping in the race would accomplish much at this point. Perry looks like the more electable Tea Party option. It’s all so hilarious. The Tea Party’s embrace of Perry came at the perfect time to save his reelection chances for Governor of Texas and now it has him in position to reach the White House. Maybe he really is lucky.

I have no clue whether she’ll run. With all the Palin activity it looks like a campaign. One week she has a bus tour. Next week she has a big event in Iowa. One thing is for certain, Palin always draws a big crowd. Her biggest problem is that many GOP voters are suffering from Palin fatigue. The other problem is that she’s unelectable. Four years of political commentary and vicious attacks have reduced Palin to a polarizing figure.

Why is she waiting? If Palin decides not to run it makes perfect sense to draw out the anticipation for as long as possible. Once Palin is out of the way she will lose a bit of her draw. As it stands Mitt Romney would benefit the most from a Palin run. Palin would draw votes from Perry/Bachmann and would make Romney’s path to the nomination easier.

Palin will likely make her final decision soon. When that happens the field will be set. There might be a couple of additional names, but George Pataki isn’t going to shake up the race.

Today it's okay to bomb Libya, but a few years ago it wasn't cool to be at war.

Earlier this week I wrote an open letter to Kathryn Scaglione after stumbling unto her deranged tweets on Twitter. Scaglione’s sprawling response to my open letter actually made my point. Nothing she wrote countered anything in my letter. Instead she called me names and and made odd claims. However, there was one particular thing she wrote that has been cracking me up all week:

So son, I advise ONE thing to do, I dare you to show anything I have ever said, in any of my blogs, to be a lie. I dare you. And I mean something that is stated as a fact, not my opinion. My opinions are based on FACTS, I don’t pass them off as facts, like you’ve done here. If there is one thing I take pride in, is that I am extremely factual. Opinionated, but based on facts. Find ONE thing that is not a FACT. Just one.

Now I’m going to break my one rule here. It’s impossible to have a reasonable debate with someone as unreasonable as Scaglione. However, this is a special case. Plus, it only took a couple of minutes to find a nonsensical opinion on her blog.

Back in January, Scaglione was fixated on the whole Sarah Palin target non-controversy. I pick this topic just because The Daily Plunge wrote about it extensively. Here is Scaglione’s non-factual opinion:

I think the point people are missing is that WE know Sarah Palin did not pull the trigger. We meaning, liberals. We know she didn’t actually kill these innocent people in Tucson. WHY we are so angry with her, and lashing out at her, is because Republicans/Conservatives have been spewing all this hate rhetoric since McCain rolled her out in 2008.

………………

And don’t you DARE say this is on both sides. It most certainly is NOT. No, THAT statement should not be tolerated by any Democrat/Liberal. That type of hate speech does NOT come from the left. It is not the same.IT IS NOT THE SAME.

The hate rhetoric Scaglione is referencing is the target map that was circulated within minutes of the shooting. I first saw the target map posted on Facebook by my progressive leaning friends within an hour of the shooting. Of course, Palin wasn’t the first  politician to use a target map. The list of target maps coming from the left is seemingly endless: Harry Mitchell, the Democratic Leadership Committee, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee just to name a few. It’s been a standard practice for decades and it was only deemed extreme when progressives saw Palin use it.

What about hate rhetoric? Joseph Welch has a nice round-up of various statements by Paul Krugman, Ezra Klein, and Markos Moulitsas. Plus, let’s not forget the President of the United States…

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said in Philadelphia last night. “Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.” – Barack Obama

Liberals who pretend hate rhetoric doesn’t exist on the left are crazy. It’s like the Bush administration didn’t happen. We had eight years of insane rhetoric, protests, and kill Bush video games. Obviously, Scaglione’s opinion isn’t fact; however, she believes it’s true. It all goes back to President Reagan’s fantastic quote about liberals.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.” – Ronald Reagan

Kathryn Scaglione isn’t a liar. She’s just willfully ignorant.

A great place to start is the last 24 hours. Let’s just look at some of the tweets she’s written.

@RickSantorum's wife had a 2nd trimester abortion. And I'm sure he's made her feel like shit ever since. Douche. http://tinyurl.com/6h6lh69

June 14, 2011 1:54 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

@MicheleBachmann: The liar. Nothing new. She thinks the Forefathers tried to end slavery. So dumb. http://t.co/EmUsUvM via @politifact

June 14, 2011 12:14 pm via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

I wonder if @MicheleBachmann thinks she actually has a chance to even win in any GOP primary. What a delusional bitch

June 14, 2011 7:17 am via txtReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

"A third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion." - @RockSantorum. What a douchebag.

June 14, 2011 6:46 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

Wow, she’s about a purple horseshoe marshmallow short of being a box of Lucky Charms. You can cut the white guilt with a knife. This is what happens when you watch too much of MSNBC and The Daily Show. I can hear her now. “This guy gets his news from FOX News!! That facist, racist, asshole!” I mean this his how people like this think. Just read what she wrote about the birther nonsense.

Donald Trump is now a birther. Meaning, he’s a racist. Again, if you’re a birther, YOU ARE A RACIST. There is NO reason to demand a President to show his birth certificate, other than the color of his skin. Does anyone else remember past Presidents being ORDERED to show their birth certificates?

How many past presidents had fathers who weren’t American citizens? Is it really strange that our society of conspiracy theorists wouldn’t have a field day with Obama’s history? The Daily Plunge always thought the birther movement was dumb. However, what about truthers, the JFK assassination, and Bigfoot? Do all conspiracy theories that involve black people automatically equal racism, or those that involve Big Foot, Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster equal Mythical Creature Phobia? When the press was creating “fake but accurate” stories about President Bush’s National Guard service was that racist? In another post from last November Scaglione opines…

Even as crazy and psychotic as the Tea Party is, in a political climate, the ones who DO scream the loudest seem to be heard the most and win the ‘argument.’ The Democrats and liberals don’t know how to scream at all. The Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to restore sanity WAS in essence, true … but it felt like I was in 3rd grade and the teacher was giving the whole class a lecture, even though everyone knew who the culprits were

Let’s not forget the crowd at that fake rally, or celebration of Stuff White People Like. It was a rally for morons that was held by liberal comedians. This wasn’t a political event. It was a snarky event that had no impact on the election. Liberals aren’t loud enough? Really? Eight years of Bush Derangement Syndrome, war protests, and speaking truth to power wasn’t enough? I’m supposed to take this person seriously as an intellectual, fact-based follower of politics? Really? Reality is not your friend. Scaglione goes on to cite Bill Maher. Yes, that Bill Maher. Is it any wonder Scaglione is politically deranged when she gets her “facts” from people like Maher?

With the epidemic of fake lesbian bloggers I almost wonder if Scaglione’s blog is a parody of the left. When someone becomes this deranged about politics what are facts? There’s no such thing has objective, fact-based analysis, just childish rants. It’s just worn out talking points such as “Sarah Palin said ObamaCare would create Death Panels, it’s a lie and she’s a bitch.” Ah, I see. Although, a very logical argument can be made that rationed health care will lead to some pesky end-of-life decisions made by the state. The state will choose “panels” to make those decisions. Rationed care isn’t wild speculation. Every nation who has implemented socialized medicine eventually rations care. Don’t tell Kathryn Scaglione, she won’t listen anyway.

The most interesting thing about people like Kathryn Scaglione is that they drape themselves in faux tolerance and enlightenment. What you really see is a person full of hate.  She can’t comment on anything without vile language. She lashes out aggressively toward anyone who doesn’t agree with her worldview. Who does this woman really hate? Conservatives? God? It’s nearly impossible to agree on everything with people. Some of my best friends have completely different points of view. I don’t pretend to believe that liberals have sole possession of the crazies like Scaglione, but when only 38% of Democrats claim to have excellent mental health there’s a problem.

What else can explain the hypocrisy of the anti-war movement? What are the facts? Well, the United States is unleashing predator drones all over the place, the War Powers Act is being ignored, and we’re bombing Libya for no other reason than to protect Europe’s oil interests. Where are the angry war protesters? C’mon Kathryn Scaglione, where’s your fact based rage? Apparently you’re either too obsessed with Sarah Palin or you’re too busy watching MSNBC, The Daily Show, or the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Update: First off, I corrected Scaglione’s name. I had the Twitter handle as the last name. Dumb mistake. In the spirit of open dialog you will find Scaglione’s response to my post is below. I didn’t make any of this up. This is what she really actually wrote. Scaglione can have the last word.

FYI: I watch ALL the Housewives, and if you’re ‘too good’ to understand the unbelievable entertainment in those shows, then you can’t be helped. Reading your piece makes me so honored. Although it’s Ann Coulterish. Everything you’re accusing me of, YOU are doing the exact same thing to me. Hmmm. The fact that you think I don’t get to have a political opinion because I watch the Housewives is a little shallow & petty, which is what the GOP does when they don’t have anything of substance to add. The second thing is that you assume I am full of hate. Because I blog & tweet about the GOP & their lies? You don’t see racism because most racists don’t. You don’t see bigotry because most bigots don’t.

I am a perfectionist so the urge to take this apart, sentence by sentence is huge. However, this blog does the one thing I hate the most. States opinions as facts. You keep stating your opinion of me as a fact.

Wait. Stop. I just noticed the subtitle on your blog … Plunging Towards Gomorrah … If that is exactly what you mean, I’m done here, that’s a homophobic thing to have as a title to a blog. And again, a homophobe could never actually recognize a homophobic statement.

So son, I advise ONE thing to do, I dare you to show anything I have ever said, in any of my blogs, to be a lie. I dare you. And I mean something that is stated as a fact, not my opinion. My opinions are based on FACTS, I don’t pass them off as facts, like you’ve done here. If there is one thing I take pride in, is that I am extremely factual. Opinionated, but based on facts. Find ONE thing that is not a FACT. Just one.

Will he or won't he?

If you want to seriously run for President, time is running out. Last night CNN held a presidential debate in New Hampshire. There are about a million things more entertaining than watching a faux debate 17 months before election day. Read Club Soda’s post and check out Hot Air’s winners and losers for a recap.

I won’t go into a candidate analysis until the field is set. However, things are getting closer to having a complete field. It’s possible that someone could jump in late, but it’s not likely to change the race. The campaign infrastructure is being built right now. Plus, the Romney, Pawlenty and Bachmann campaigns will be raising money over the next six months to gear up for Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s a difficult head start to overcome.

There are four top tier candidates who could declare right now: Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, and Paul Ryan. I don’t think Palin will run this time around; however, she might have a tremendous influence on who gets the nomination if she chooses to endorse a candidate. Paul Ryan and Chris Christie are adamant that they’re not running and it doesn’t appear that they will change their minds. Ryan could still potentially be a great running mate for the eventually nominee. That leaves Texas governor Rick Perry.

Supposedly Rick Perry is “thinking” about running for president. Great, so am I. So is Donald Trump. If Perry is serious he’ll have to make a decision soon for all the reasons I listed above. Perry isn’t a friend of the GOP establishment. Normally that would be a huge problem, but this would likely a huge plus for his potential candidacy. People don’t want Bush 3.0. The fact that Karl Rove and George Bush aren’t on board the Perry Train is a plus. However, Perry can’t wait three months to get in the race.

The country is need of real leadership. A half-hearted attempt at running for president isn’t going to cut it.

Here are a few deranged tweets about Rick Perry. Enjoy!

@ABC if Rick Perry runs then all his speeches will come to bite his ass for many of them proved reads not much or care not much

June 14, 2011 8:16 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@pray4words

Diane C

Rick Perry that fucking ass

June 13, 2011 5:36 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ElisaMinneci

Elisa Minneci

@BET kisses Chris Brow's ass all day everyday. AND i hate Rick Perry and his racist ass. Beyonce4

June 13, 2011 6:39 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@josecarreon_

Jose Carreon Knowles

Who are you morons in Texas who voted for Rick @GovernorPerry? Do you not care about character? Rick Perry is pure evil

June 11, 2011 1:34 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

There you have it. Rick Perry is “pure evil.” Is it really surprising that the Associated Press is still floating this picture around? Kathryn Scags’ Twitter profile says that she’s an Atheist, and a recovering Catholic. Apparently Atheists are experts on what is evil. Who knew?

With the White House approaching $1 billion to spend on the 2012 election, who would want to go through that? The press spends considerable time obsessing about Sarah Palin or any other Republican deemed to be a threat to the left. Any potential candidate has to recognize that running against Obama is going to be difficult. John Podhoretz has more:

So why is this happening? Simple. You’ve probably heard that the president and his team are looking to raise $1 billion to run on in 2012. They may make it; they may not. But what is that money to be spent on? He won’t have to spend it in a primary, it looks like. So that means the Obama team will have hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars to spend with one object and one object only: Destroy the eventual Republican nominee. Go after him. Drag his name through the mud. Run commercials every 15 seconds in six battleground states in which he removes wheelchairs from Medicare patients and grabs checks from Social Security recipients.

This isn’t speculation. It is a certainty. President Obama doesn’t have a popular legislative record to run an issues-based campaign. Whatever goodwill was left about killing Osama Bin Laden was burned up after Obama’s nationwide victory tour. Think I’m wrong? Why is the Obama campaign digging for dirt on Chris Christie? Christie probably isn’t even going to run for president. Is it really surprising that Mitch Daniels’ wife is apprehensive about her husband running for president?

Please Don’t Panic:

A new national alert system is set to begin in New York City that will alert the public to emergencies via cell phones. It’s called the Personal Localized Alert Network or PLAN. Presidential and local emergency messages as well as Amber Alerts would appear on cell phones equipped with special chips and software.

Ah yes, I can see it now. Can you just image the chaos if the government sends a mass text to everyone riding the subway in New York? It would be a huge panic scene. I’m very interested to see how this works. Right now it seems like a good way to start a stampede. Why not just send a mass text to the entire nation that says “FIRE! RUN LIKE HELL!!” This clip below from Seinfeld is how I imagine the system working

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueh_1PeJhaQ

Allies? It’s bad enough that Pakistan has nukes and that the nation is full of Islamic fundamentalists. Now they’re thinking about cooperating with the Chinese on the downed helicopter we left after the Osama Bin Laden raid. Apparently the United States’ helicopters are equipped with some kind  of anti-detection technology. Obviously China is interested in getting their hands on the technology.

I’m confused as to what the United States policy is on Pakistan. They didn’t help us find Osama Bin Laden after 10 years and we had to invade their nation to take him out without authorization. The U.S. was afraid that someone in the Pakistan government would tip Osama before we got there. It’s been a bad PR week for Pakistan. Handing over this helicopter to the Chinese isn’t going to help things.

RomneyCare/ObamaCare 2012: Mitt Romney is set to give a speech tomorrow on the issue of health care. Romney hasn’t backed down from the health care reform he passed in Massachusetts while he was governor. Going into 2012 this is a huge problem for Romney because RomneyCare looks a lot like ObamaCare. Plus, RomneyCare is having all kind of problems in Massachusetts (shocking).

It doesn’t appear as though Romney is going to back away from his legislative failure. In other words, his candidacy is dead on arrival. President Obama’s most significant legislative achievement is a dismal failure and a dramatic overreach by the federal government. If it’s not overturned by the courts voters are going to going to have it abolished. I’m not sure how Romney can dance around this problem.

Religion of Peace News: Mark Steyn over at The Corner points out the absurdity of the mainstream press when it comes to covering crimes by Islamic extremists.

A 28-year old Yemeni man boards a flight to San Francisco in Chicago, and shortly before landing charges the cockpit while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” Authorities say they “do not yet have a motive.”

By the way, this is from the evil FOX News network. It should be pointed out that when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was tragically shot a few months ago the press had no problem attaching Sarah Palin to the story. When Jared Lee Loughner started shooting he didn’t yell “you betcha” or “for Palin.” Over the last twenty years the list of attacks that started with “Allahu Akbar!” are too numerous to mention, but the press can’t speculate on a motive unless it’s Sarah Palin.

Obama killed osama. Haha fuck you bush :)

May 2, 2011 11:58 am via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@grindytweet101

landen Roberts

I'll give bush credit for fucking up the economy,bleeding jobs, and not giving a fuck if he caught osama or not #tcot

May 2, 2011 11:42 am via Plume  ReplyRetweetFavorite

@blackdragon8486

RepublicanHawk

Why the fuck they thanking bush for what ?what the fuck he did???..I honestly think he was working with Osama

May 2, 2011 10:35 am via TwitBirdReplyRetweetFavorite

@Ballerina_Heart

Stacey Crowley

No event is complete without someone bringing up Sarah Palin. If the first person you think of when an evil person is killed abroad is Sarah Palin you might have a problem.

Sarah Palin: I have international diplomacy experience, I can see Russia from my house.Obama: I killed Osama Bin Laden

May 2, 2011 11:30 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Gerry_Dizon

Gerry Dizon

Idiots aren’t just on the left…  Why can’t we just celebrate a great day for the United States?

sucks we got osama while bitch ass obama is pres. now some of you dumb fucks think he actually did somethin

May 2, 2011 11:58 am via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@highAF

lil nicky

This event does not change fact our economy sucks! Obama has no credibility in foreign & national affairs. His presidency still a failure.

May 2, 2011 10:59 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@rhomarti

Rhonda Martin

Anyone catch Fox news last night?? Gerlado Rivera stated Obama was dead and they spelled Osama as Usama. Really!! Fox sucks.

May 2, 2011 10:48 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@HRgirl78664

Doris Alsop

Like Sarah Palin, liberals are obsessed with FOX news. Get over it.

Not to be outdone, HBO is casting for movie about the 2008 election called Game Change. It’s based on the book by the same title that was written by two McCain campaign insiders: A writer for Time and a former staff writer for the New Yorker. I can’t wait to see what insights these two guys have about the election. HBO has a strong record of unbiased political films. Yes, that was a lot of sarcasm.

Here are some random tweets about Sarah Palin from deranged liberals who for whatever reason hate her. As always, liberal tweets are rated R.

I know people are more than their opinions, but I just can't see how Sarah Palin can love anyone when she spends so much time being a bitch.

March 24, 2011 7:11 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@therealcarew

Seamus O' Carew

Alaskan women...well Sarah Palin fucked it up for dem lol...but send me one, she might be a cold bitch

March 24, 2011 12:59 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Q_D_

Q_Ballin™

Sarah Palin is a dumb ass bitch!! Plain & simple. She's been on Fox News for 3min flappin her lips and she ain't sayin a damn thing. STFU!

March 23, 2011 10:13 pm via twidroydReplyRetweetFavorite

@13zengirl

13ZG

"President Obama Was Inappropriate To Intervene In A Zoning Issue" Well that settles the issue Palin is a cunt http://goo.gl/BRlYi #p2 #tcot

March 24, 2011 12:23 am via ChrowetyReplyRetweetFavorite

@JulieMcDaniels

Julie McDaniels

Congratulations Julie McDaniels! According to your profile your from Australia, but you’ll fit in well at Columbia.

Today I’m singling out David Banks. Who is that you may ask? No one, but today he fired off this tweet to Andrew Breitbart.

DA_Banks: @andrewbreitbart I had a bad morning, and hating on you is sort of like praying: nothing’ll happen but it makes me feel better. F*** you. [Edited]

I’m not sure what it is that makes people so deranged about politics. There are many people in this world with whom I disagree, but I won’t feel anything telling Whoopi Goldberg she’s crazy for her laissez-faire view of rape. In Mr. Banks’ defense most of his tweets are fairly harmless; however, on January 7 he wrote this gem:

DA_Banks: Today we can say that @sarahpalinusa killed a woman in Arizona in 2011.

The left’s deranged attacks on Palin are common knowledge, but it’s still fascinating that minutes after the tragedy many people on the left’s first thought was, “How is Sarah Palin involved?” The infamous crosshair nonsense was being circulated right after the shooting was broadcast on the news. That means the moment that some leftie found out that a Democrat had been shot they found any way possible to tie it to Sarah Palin.

Mr. Banks never followed his Palin tweet with any remorse. In fact, the next day he tried to give Palin some advice. The truth is how can you take someone like Mr. Banks seriously? Here’s a person telling a prominent politician to  refrain from “glorifying violence” while at the same time blaming said politician for a murder. I’m sorry Mr. Banks. You might eventually get a Ph.D, but you have a lot to learn before anyone takes your views on politics seriously.

Update: As you can imagine when David Banks had his tweet retweeted by Andrew Breitbart he received a lot of messages. Mr. Banks was able to put it all in perspective.

DA_Banks: I said that to @andrewbreitbart b/c he uses his whole feed as a frame to make leftists look crazy. And you all just eat it up.

What?! Breitbart makes leftists look crazy? I’m sorry Mr. Banks, you’re doing a fantastic job all by yourself.