IOWA – Not long ago, Iowa’s Terry Branstad gained distinction as the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, pushing past the 20-year, 11-month mark with two years still remaining in his record-setting sixth term.

To call him an Iowa institution is a bit like saying they grow a lot of corn in the countryside, or that it gets cold in the winter.

Part of Branstad’s appeal is a studious anti-charisma. He is a dull speaker, conservative in a mainstream Republican manner and, while personally gracious, not the least bit dynamic. Think pressed turkey and mayonnaise on white bread. (more…)

Since 2013 we have specifically documented the legislative agenda of Tom Donohue, Wall Street, and their lobbying arm the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The CoC legislative agenda includes:

• Passage of the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal
• Retention of ObamaCare – Without repeal or modification
• Implementation of Federal Common Core Education Standards
• Comprehensive Immigration Reform to include Amnesty

All of the presidential candidates actively support this chamber agenda (some more openly than others), which is also supported by Club4Growth, Koch Brothers, Robert Mercer, and Wall Street.

ALL of the GOP Presidential candidates have taken tens of millions in lobbyist money to assist their campaigns.

All, except Donald J Trump.

Julia Hahn […]  Conservative populist thought-leader Jeff Sessions has explained that supporting amnesty and citizenship for illegal immigrants should be inherently disqualifying for any GOP nominee. Sessions said previously, “Supporting citizenship for illegal immigrants should be disqualifying. (more…)

We are in an era when many people are following politics a little more closely than usual, that’s a good thing.  However, for many a paradigm shift is needed:

Modern GOPe presidential politics are not dependent on winning your vote, we are in an era when presidential politics is focused on “winning the office” – there is a big difference.  The former is irrelevant when the latter is achieved.

Current political science classes are focused on teaching political theorem through the prism of history, but historical references are less accurate than ever before.  The new age of the Atwater/Rove approach is based on using the foundation of ‘Citizens United’ to protect the professional political class.

When you understand the goal of the professional candidate is to achieve the office, and not to necessarily win your vote, we can find increased clarity on campaign behavior.

A vote for a given candidate is valuable.   However, when you are inside the professional political class, a non-vote is just as valuable.  (more…)

Not Accidental: NOTE all the Republicans who voted for the Omnibus/Tax usurpation today are endorsing / supporting @JebBush or @marcorubio

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) December 19, 2015

Have you noticed Chris Christie being elevated by the same corporate media machine previously elevating Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio ?  This is not coincidental.

The problem for the GOPe Road Map has been the dominance of Donald Trump in disrupting their initial goals to nominate Jeb Bush with 10-20% of the primary vote.

Trump, as a populist “America First” frontrunner nominee was just never anticipated in their construct.

As soon as Trump eliminated the “splitter strategy” benefit – various GOPe approaches were deployed to overcome The Donald.   However, almost all of the subsequent maneuvers failed as Trump gained a more broad coalition of support.

The GOPe campaign road map has now evolved into a concerted effort to group a non-Trump coalition, this is why no “splitter” candidate is being urged to withdraw.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan takes the place of House Speaker John Boehner – filling the GOPe role of Lucy with the football.   They swear this time they mean it; they promise, they swear, this time for real.  Promise….   #ColdAnger

“The end product here is just cleaning the barn, it’s a disaster,” [Dave] Brat said of the spending and tax deal. “We’re breaking our pledge on the budget caps to the American people, we’ve lost fiscal discipline and we’re throwing it all on the next generation.”

FULL ARTICLE

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OANN has released a post debate poll of debate “Winners and Losers” (available here).  Overall the majority saw Donald Trump as the biggest winner followed by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.  Results below:

The same polling showed the biggest loser to be Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and John Kasich respectively.

Having sat through both the under card debate and the prime-time debate I would disagree a bit with the polling on the losers.  Lindsey Graham and George Pataki were the biggest losers of the first debate their unbridled, and often emotional, instability was on full display. (more…)

The latest Public Policy Poll (full pdf below) shows a divergent narrative from the DMR poll of Iowa released two days ago.  The PPP Poll shows Trump on top with Ted Cruz a close second – both double digits above third place Marco Rubio:

With Senator Rand Paul also in a race to keep his Kentucky Senate seat, he is in a precarious political position.  Many anticipate a coming decision to stay in the race or exit in favor of spending additional time in his home state. (more…)

We’re often asked why not just unmask candidate Ted Cruz and lay bare with all of the gathered research on his manipulative intents.  The simplest answer can be found in the following analogy some might be familiar with:

…”have you ever tried to convince a 17-year-old teenager their boyfriend is wrong for them”?…

There are some things you make a decision not to do, choosing instead to watch people awaken on their own, at their own pace.  Preferring to support them after the awakening.

Ted Cruz, as a known toxic entity, is one of those type of examples.

What Campaign Chief Jeff Roe describes in the recent Washington Post article is MK-Ultra type of psychological operations.

The objective goes hand-in-hand with the approach Senate Candidate Ted Cruz first deployed in his 2012 bid to become a U.S. Senator.

Many of us who supported Cruz at the time (2012) recognized the concerning aspect, but set it aside as an issue ‘for future reference’.

However, when you digest the approach, it accurately describes why “religion” is an essential element in his campaign.  It also explains why Cruz can turn against someone like Sarah Palin, once her usefulness was exhausted – now, collaboratively with Glenn Beck, calling Sarah Palin “a clown”. (more…)

So much for that “Trump Ceiling” the professionally political media pundits keep telling us about, eh?   Not only does Trump lead the field in a large sample CNN/ORC poll (full pdf below), but he’s EXTENDING his lead:

Washington (CNN) – Donald Trump’s support continues to grow among those who say they are likely to participate in February’s Iowa presidential caucuses and Ted Cruz is on the rise while Ben Carson loses ground in the state, a new CNN/ORC Poll finds.

Overall, Trump has 33% support among likely GOP caucusgoers, followed by Cruz at 20% with Carson at 16%, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 11% and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 4%. The new poll shows Trump up 8 points, Cruz up 9, while Carson has faded by 7 points, compared with the last CNN/ORC poll, conducted in late October and early November. (more…)

Anyone who is viewing the battle between Donald Trump and the media as a representative battle of thin-skinned ego is entirely missing the point.

Exceptional video presentation by Joe Dan of Intellectual Froglegs:

Joe Dan Media Site HERE – Twitter Follow HERE

Trump is not just taking on the construct of progressive ideology that has undermined the essence of American exceptionalism, he’s taking on the very selfish foundation they’ve used to sell out our country. Hell, he’s taking on all the “Decepticons” simultaneously.

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