Red Barron

I am writing this post on a plane headed back to DC after a long weekend in Florida with my dad and brother at Spring Training.  From the time my plane landed in Fort Myers on Friday morning until the time I arrived at the airport to fly home today, I took a 100% break from politics.  I didn’t watch FOX News, or surf the Daily Caller, or respond to work emails, or tweet about politics or even think about politics at all:  and I am a better person because of it.

My dad and brother and I spent all weekend talking sports, watching baseball, drinking beer and laughing. I know that politics is important and I get discouraged at how many people just don’t CARE enough what is happening in this country, but politics isn’t everything – nor should it be.

No matter what your political views – left, right or center – you should take a break from politics every once and while.  Just completely divorce yourself from it for a few days.  Take it from me, it is good for the soul.

And now that my soul is re-charged, I am ready to get back to fighting like hell for what I believe in!

So here are my Super Tuesday predictions:

Romney wins in Ohio, Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Idaho

Gingrich wins in Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma

Paul wins in Alaska

Santorum is shut out – narrowly loses in Ohio (to Romney), in TN (to Gingrich) and in OK (to Gingrich).

As the air comes out of the Rick Santorum balloon (largely thanks to Rick Santorum reminding voters just how nuts he actually is), one has to wonder if the anyone but Mitt crowd will finally throw in the towel and settle on Romney.  If Romney has a big day tomorrow, that may very well happen.  I can certainly see a scenario where the coalescing around the nominee finally happens for Republicans if Romney were to win in MA, VT, ID, ND, VA, OH, and TN.

There is, of course, another scenario.  Newt Gingrich could once again emerge as the candidate of the anti-Romney crowd.  It looks like Gingrich will win handily in GA tomorrow and if he could couple that win with wins in possibly TN, AK, and maybe even OK, Gingrich could once again grab the mantle of the Not Mitt candidate.

For another Gingrich surge to occur, Romney needs to beat Santorum in OH (but narrowly).  The polls show the race is tight in Ohio, but the momentum is certainly with Romney.  Santorum losing another big lead in a critical mid-west state could end the Santorum campaign.

Gingrich has always been better equipped to run a long, bruising, national primary campaign.  Unlike Santorum, Newt doesn’t alienate huge swaths of the GOP base and – thanks to Sheldon Adelson – Gingrich (and his Super PAC) will have the money to keep going.

The calendar after Super Tuesday helps a potential Newt surge:  with contests in Alabama, Mississippi and Kansas.  Indeed, Gingrich himself has said he expects to two out of three of those contests.

Tomorrow night will be interesting to watch…

In the wake of the Rush Limbaugh “slut gate” incident there has been a lot of talk about the need for “civility” in politics.  I think “civility” can kiss my ass.  Indeed, there is not a single goal less worthwhile today than “civility.”

Usually when the other side calls for “civility” what they really are asking for is unconditional surrender.  Well count me as uninterested in either.

We face big problems:  out of control spending, a federal debt that leaves us on the brink of fiscal ruin, programs like social security and Medicare headed to bankruptcy, and a federal government that has grown well-beyond its Constitutional limits.

I believe strongly that our country is on the wrong track and I will fight like hell for what I believe is right, if I offend the delicate sensibilities of folks along the way – so be it.

New piece I co-authored with my friend – and former head of the Maine Tea Party Patriots – Andrew Ian Dodge, up at the Daily Caller.

Let’s be honest, the marriage between the Republican Party and the tea party has always been a marriage of convenience — and an uncomfortable marriage of convenience at best. Unfortunately, this marriage is no longer working and it is time for both sides to move on. Call it irreconcilable differences.

The split doesn’t have to be a contentious one. The two can part as friends: certainly plenty of establishment Republicans would be happy to be free of the tea party, free to go back to doing business the way they have always done business; and there are growing numbers inside the tea party movement who would be happy to see the movement reassert its political independence.

To be fair, this marriage had little chance of succeeding long-term from the very beginning. The tea party was as much a reaction to the big-government excesses of the Republican Party as it was a reaction to the big-government excesses of the Democratic Party.

Many in the tea party movement believed that the Republican Party could be changed, could be saved from its big-government ways. It was certainly fair to surmise that changing the Republican Party into a truly limited-government party would be easier than changing the party of FDR, LBJ and Barack Obama.

READ THE REST HERE

Just a heads up, I will be on FOX News Red Eye at 3 am on the morning of March 16th!

Just confirmed that I will be speaking at the Libertarian Party of Maine’s 2012 Convention on March 31st.  More details as I get them or you can check the Maine LP site for details as they become available.  

For most of my life in politics I was constantly told “you can’t say that,” “you can’t do that,” “you might offend someone,” “what will people think,” “that’s not the way we do things,” etc.  Then along came Andrew Breitbart.  Breitbart did it his way – loud, fearless, and in your face.  He inspired people like me to forget all of the old rules in politics – speak your mind, fight like hell and don’t waste one second worrying about what other people think about you.

Rest in peace Andrew.

If Rick Santorum wins tonight, Michigan may forever be known as the place the Republican Party went to die – a political Waterloo.

A Santorum win, in a *must* win state for Romney, would be the clearest sign to date that the conservative coalition within the Republican Party is coming apart at the seams.  Rick Santorum is openly antagonistic to libertarians, first wave Tea Partiers, and those who believe in the 10th Amendment.  Further, Santorum’s economic policy looks like it could have been borrowed from John Edwards – chock full of faux populism and empty promises about “made in America.”  Finally, Santorum’s record in the Senate – as part of the George W Bush big government “team” – speaks for itself (and what it says ain’t good).

Much has been made about the proverbial three-legged stool of the GOP:  social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and foreign policy conservatives.  A Santorum nomination effectively turns the party into a one-legged stool.  Make no mistake about it, if Santorum is the nominee, something that was unthinkable just a few weeks ago, this election will become a referendum on the least popular and most-outdated parts of the conservative movement:  opposition to birth control, hostility to gay people, etc.

Santorum in the general election will make Walter Mondale look down right electable.

So a non-political post for once – my Oscars picks!

Best Actor – George Clooney (The Descendants)

Best Supporting Actor – Jonah Hill (Moneyball)

Best Actress – Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Best Supporting Actress – Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

Best Picture – The Help

Best Director – Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Best Foreign Film – Footnote (Israel)

Best Animated Film – Rango

Art Direction – Harry Potter

Cinematography – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Costume Design – The Artist

Best Documentary – Hell and Back Again

Best Documentary Short – Saving Face

Film Editing – Moneyball

Makeup – Harry Potter

Best Original Score – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Best Original Song – “Man or Muppet” (The Muppets)

Best Animated Short – Fantastic Flying Books

Best Live Action Short – Pentecost

Sound Editing – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Visual Effects – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Adapted Screenplay – Ides of March

Best Original Screenplay – Bridesmaids