There is really only one person on the planet who can make Karl Rove seem a benign and likable character and that is Donald Trump. In every conceivable manner, Trump epitomizes the traits that so much of the world is beginning to mistake for the character of the rest of America. His ego, of course, is the most off putting. Trump believes lesser humans look at him as the embodiment of miraculous accomplishment and intellect and we are all fortunate to live during the time of his incarnation. Nothing was more enjoyable in recent TV viewing than watching Trump’s smug mug hover behind New Gingrich with a look that suggested Trump had created in his own image the slightly less self-involved Gingrich.

“He’s an American icon, in his own right,” Newt said.

He meant to add, “So am I, and I defeated Communism, invented the microchip and twist off beer caps, and have more convolutions in my gray matter than I do in my political ideology.”

A Pair to Draw To......

But he didn’t say that. Instead, Newt said he would participate in a GOP presidential debate moderated by Trump. More surprisingly, he admitted this without public embarrassment. Donald Trump has demonstrated he knows as much about presidential politics and issues as he does humility. But there are Republican candidates for the White House who intend to show up and let him ask them questions.

Not Ron Paul, though, or Jon Huntsman, the only two truly principled individuals in the GOP race. Huntsman said he refused to “kiss Trump’s” ring, and on her Twitter account, one of his daughter’s added the phrase, “or any other part of Trump’s anatomy.” Paul derided what he described as a “circus atmosphere” beginning to surround the GOP contest. Presumably, he didn’t just notice this and was using Trump’s involvement as an exclamation point on the situation.

In fact, Newt is right about Trump. The developer, reality show host,and walking human satire, is an American icon. So is the former speaker and the pizza king philanderer. They are icons of what is wrong with the Republican Party, and increasingly, America. Each has a degree of presumptuousness that is threatening to any hopes of solving what ails the United States. Herman Cain seemed to have never given any thought to an issue beyond selling books when he decided to run for president and operated under the premise, as do many candidates for high office, that if I can run a business I can sure as hell run a country, which is patent nonsense. His absolute ignorance of issues and geography was an insult to the democratic process and an embarrassment for his party. He may have jumped into the contest for no other reason than to sell books and raise his speaking fees.

Trump, though, is much worse. He thinks people care what he thinks. The egoist used the early part of the presidential selection process to promote himself and his silly TV show while suggesting he was going to be a candidate. Trump, though, is a coward. He will never run for president or any other high office because he realizes no one buys into his absurd view of himself as having anything valuable to contribute. He cannot win any type of election. Although he appears to have an innate skill for judging who can do the best job of selling trinkets or vendor food on the sidewalks of New York City, this does not qualify him to be more than a broadcast bully. The Republican candidates that would sit or stand before Trump and take his questions seriously will not be taken seriously by voters. When Donald Trump has influence over the future of America, the democracy is doomed. Everything that is unappealing about our country is manifested in his ego, personality, and arrogant countenance.

Kind of like Newt.

And unlike Huntsman.

Gingrich acted like he was willing to kiss whatever body part Trump thought needed affection. They met for more than an hour, which was certainly not enough time to talk about each other’s greatness, but TV cameras were waiting on the street. The Republican Party was swirling in a circle at the bottom of the toilet, given a quick flush by Newt’s hypocrisy and Trump’s unbridled greed.

“New York hasn’t ended up a dream world for the poor,” Gingrich pointed out in 1989. “It has become a place where Donald Trump manipulates the game.”

Which Newt clearly thinks is okay if it’s being manipulated for him. And not the poor. They need to take a shower.

And get a job.

“Don’t put off buying “Adios Mofo” because Rick Perry is going to have it banned. In fact, Guv’na Perry will likely hold a public book burning to deny America the blessing of reading this irreverent, funny and factual look at his life and world. Jason Stanford and James Moore have brought together years of tracking Texas politicians, what must be damn fine public school educations and their God-given, genetically pre-disposed, Southern birthright of storytelling to give us “Adios Mofo: Why Rick Perry will Make America Miss George Bush.” It’s a must read for every American, over 21, who wants to better understand the forces, be they reactionary or just a good tail wind of mediocrity, that inspire, mold and inform leaders like Perry. “Adios Mofo” tells it like it is, with gusto, humor and confidence. Read it. You’ll be glad you did.” – Burns Strider is founder of Eleison, LLC and The American Values Network

Click here to buy

Rick Perry appears politically doomed. But so did Newt Gingrich when all of his staff left in in the middle of last summer to head back down to Austin and work for the Texas governor. Regardless, there is no really believable scenario for Perry to recover that doesn’t include an intervention of some sort by the god to whom he so fervently and publicly prays. Perry is down to 4% support in Iowa, trailing the estimable Michelle Bachmann. He ranks fifth or sixth but still expects to get a BCS Bowl bid to New Hampshire.

American Hat Holder

The general thinking among analysts was that when Perry called his own party’s constituents heartless for not wanting to help educate the children of undocumented workers, his voters went to the ascendant Herman Cain. The voters that Cain didn’t sleep with began bailing out on him when stories of his infidelity went public and he began describing what appeared to be a large portion of the female population as liars. Unfortunately for Rick Perry, those Cainiacs didn’t reconsider Ricky; they went on over to Newt.

This must be painful to pretty boy Perry, if for no other reason than the aesthetic insult. The garrulous and rotund Newt, who has to look and sound like one of the college professors who gave the Texas A and M student his C and D grades, is apparently more politically fetching than Rick. But Iowa is a very, very strange place. They grow corn and presidents and the crops are inconsistent in terms of quality. And there are dynamics that can help Perry.

The most obvious is the conservative, evangelical nature of the GOP electorate. In the last presidential cycle, Mike Huckabee won Iowa with the help of a radical organization of Christians called the Family Leader. Run by a man who has been rejected by voters every time he has run for statewide office in Iowa, Bob Vander Plaats maintains an energetic core membership that will work to elect candidates that share similar philosophies, which tend toward ignorance. He has said publicly that children today would be better off under slavery than President Obama and thinks homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Vander Plaats’ influence, according to Iowa media, has fallen off since 2008 but success in the caucuses is about organization and his group has infrastructure and zealotry and it is considering endorsing either Perry or Bachmann or Santorum. (Romney and Huntsman are out because they are godless Mormons.)

Afraid of Gays

And Perry has other pals. They are heading to Iowa in numbers after Christmas to work the phones and try to get someone to speak for him at each of the caucuses. What a grand way to spend the holidays. These include the Texas attorney general and state comptroller and probably a ton of lobbyists who still have to do business down here in Texas when Rick gets kicked back down south of the Sabine River by the GOP. They are traveling to Iowa on their own dime to see if they can resurrect a candidacy that is intellectually gangrenous.

The worrisome thing is that Newt does not sustain as a man of mass appeal. His sundry hypocrisies on lobbying and marriage and his unfettered arrogance in the increasing light of TV cameras are all virtually certain to harm him. And when voters begin bailing on Newt, where do they go? No, not Perry. This may be Ron Paul’s time. Mitt Romney might be able to beat the president in a general election but he is too moderate and too Mormon to win his party’s nomination. Watch for Ron Paul to surge in Iowa as January approaches.

The Apostle Paul

But both parties ought to think about why they let Iowa have this kind of influence in the nominating process. Nobody paid any attention to their caucuses until 1976 when Jimmy Carter came along and thought, strategically, it might be a good way to gain momentum going into New Hampshire. He was right then. But letting Iowa play this role now is all wrong.

Texas Governor Rick Perry became the latest Republican Presidential candidate to unveil a flat tax plan. He also revealed why he likes keeping the issue of President Obama’s birth certificate in the news. Jim Moore and David Cay Johnston join Ed Schultz to examine Perry’s latest claims.

Al Sharpton explains why Rick Perry’s mentions of President Obama’s grades carries the subtext that the president wasn’t smart enough to get into Columbia or Harvardon his own. Sharpton is joined by author Jim Moore and Sirius XM radio’s Joe Madison.

After Perry implodes at the CNBC debate, he tries to save face by going on the morning talk shows and David Letterman. Jim Moore explains.

Ed Schultz recaps the latest GOP presidential debate with former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, MSNBC analyst and author Jim Moore, Democratic strategist Krystal Ball, and Sirius XM radio host Joe Madison.

(Houston) – The devout can be deceptive. But sometimes they are just blatantly hypocritical. And because the attendees of Rick Perry’s and the American Family Association’s (AFA) The Response event in Houston are human, there was an abundance of contradiction in Reliant Stadium. A lot of good comedy material, too. But too much sadness to ignore.

Waiting for Jesus on the Jumbotron

The AFA might call itself Christian but its intolerance has gotten the organization labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the nature of written and verbal comments from AFA leaders about gays and Jews. (Both are hell bound, apparently; Jews because, well, you know, and gays because they have “chosen” an alternative lifestyle). Of course, AFA says it loves gays and is praying for them to understand the sinful choices they have made. And Jews, well, you know. If AFA believes you can “pray away the gay,” can you get rid of your Jewishness, too?

Sounded like AFA founder James Dobson was also praying for President Obama. The prayers are needed since Dobson equated Obama’s policies and his administration with the Nazis, but in a kind of loving, forgiving, Christian sort of way. Anyone looking at the crowd in the stadium, though, might have recognized the borderline mass hysteria as something they had seen on The History Channel’s black and white films of the rising Reich, arms raised, chanting, stomping feet, tears.

Perry, who wants to replace the president (regardless of his lack of a campaign proclamation), also prayed for Mr. Obama. He quoted scripture and mentioned suffering but he didn’t mention all of the agony in Texas. As Hair Almighty took the stage with a nuclear smile and a red power tie, he had much to pray about, and most of it was in the state he has been running for more than a decade.

Perry's Prayerapalooza

According to researchers in the Texas Legislative Study Group, 17.3 percent of the state’s population lives in poverty, 4.26 million people. 66 percent of Latino children and 59 percent of black children live in low-income families, compared to 25 percent of white children. 28 percent or 6.1 million of the population of Texas is uninsured, the largest share of uninsured in the nation. And if you are a woman with a child and in financial straits, don’t come knocking on Uncle Tex’s door for a handout. In 2010, the average monthly benefit for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) recipients in Texas was $26.86, the lowest in the country. Yes, that’s for a month. You want more, you better pray. But so far that hasn’t worked in Texas.

Perry didn’t pray about any of that or the fact that Texas is 50^th in workers’ compensation, 50^th in percent of women receiving prenatal care, 50^th in percent of non-elderly women with health care, 50^th in per capita spending on mental health, 49^th in per capita state spending on Medicaid. Texas was sad before he became governor but Rick Perry has turned the state into a tragedy.

Maybe that’s because we aren’t all doing our share to help our neighbors or perhaps we aren’t praying enough to be heard. Perry, of course, wants to privatize much of government and believes that faith-based groups, individuals, and non-profits can help reduce the burden on government. This is what you’d expect of a conservative man of faith, and that he would do his personal part to help the less fortunate (since the government he is running clearly does not give a damn about “the least of these”). The evidence in Rick Perry’s tax returns, however, indicates he may have missed some Sunday school classes on giving.

In 2007, the governor of Texas earned $1,092,810. According to his IRS form, he gave $90 of that total to his church. He was a tad more generous in 2008 when the governor’s adjusted gross income was $277,667 and he donated $2,850 to his church. Perry was feeling less magnanimous in 2009 when he earned $200,370 but shows all zeroes as a line item for church donations. For the years 2000-2009, Governor Perry’s adjusted gross income on his tax returns adds up to $2,694,253 and church donations are $14,293. He did, however, manage to itemize each article of clothing and household items he donated to Goodwill, which amounted to a deduction of $30, 768 during those same nine years.

Perry isn’t exactly troubled by daily expenses, either. He lives in a $10,000 per month mansion, which the state is leasing for him since fire destroyed the historic residence of the governor. No fretting about making mortgage payments, and health care is provided, along with all transportation costs, and he does not pay for utilities, food, or property taxes. Maybe he could have edged up those church donations a bit without much personal suffering.

The information about Perry and the state he is destroying indicates he is both mean and stingy, and at The Response he proved that he hangs out with organizations that promote hatred against certain types of people. They all claim tolerance, of course, and inclusion, but take the folding chairs out of Reliant Stadium and roll out some prayer rugs for a Muslim Day of Prayer for America and see what happens. Perry has used his office, his tax paid time, state letterhead, and the Texas brand to promote a single religion. The man who would protect the Constitution as president begins his campaign with a gross violation of one of its most basic tenets.

Let’s hope he doesn’t have a prayer.

Mitt Romney is emerging as the grown up in the GOP primary process, which is too bad. He will not win the nomination. He would make the strongest candidate for the Republicans in 2012 but he cannot win the primaries. The primary process does not require sanity and moderation in the GOP race. The candidate must appeal to the Tea Party, evangelicals, fundamentalists, and right wing conservatives who vote on social issues.

And they rarely vote for Mormons.

Romney’s problems with the radical right go a bit beyond his religion. He has refused to sign an abortion pledge because the way it was worded meant that too many federally funded hospitals would be forced to close. He decided that everyone in his state ought to have health care and passed a bill his own party derisively calls Romneycare. He thinks that global warming is a real issue but he is not sure about human contribution to the problem. And he doesn’t seem afire with desire to stop gay people from getting married.

Romney makes too much sense to win this GOP nominating process.

And lucky Ricky Perry is the guy in the perfect position to win by default. The Texas governor is neither as smart or as poised as the former Massachusetts governor but he’s close enough to be the first choice of the primary voters who will take their anger against Obama into the polls this winter and into next spring. Romney’s repeated squishiness on social issues will give them pause and then his religion will help them make their decision to vote for Perry. He is consistently conservative on the social issues that matter to primary voters.

And he is not a Mormon.

Religion is the biggest issue in the GOP primary and it is being completely ignored in the debates and public discourse. The only way a Republican can win back the White House in 2012 is with a southern strategy that turns out huge numbers of conservative Christian voters. And conservative Christian voters do not view the Mormon faith as being a part of Christendom. If Romney is the nominee, they will stay home and President Obama will be easily reelected. Romney’s campaign keeps trying to suggest that a tiny percentage of evangelical voters will ignore him because of his faith, which is unfounded optimism.

James Gimpel, a GOP political scientist and consultant, argued in the Boston Globe that Romney is failing to recognize what could be an “insurmountable” problem with fundamentalist Christians. “The question is whether a church-going Christian is willing to set those differences aside as irrelevant to holding the office of president, or take them quite seriously as heretical and cultish. There are a great many evangelical Christians who would have a hard time justifying a vote for Romney under any circumstances.”

But they are enthusiastic about the wildly conservative Christian Rick Perry.

Republicans must carry the south, including Florida and Texas, to win the presidency because they will split the plains states and the Intermountain West. The president will win New York and California and the Northeast and the election will come down to the Midwest. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are the electoral votes that will pick the president. Romney can do well in that part of the country; his father was a popular governor of Michigan. But it is irrelevant unless he wins the south and that is impossible. A Mormon cannot win Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, the Carolinas, and, consequently, the White House.

A 2007 Pew poll reported that 43% of Christians do not believe Mormonism is a Christian religion and among Christian evangelicals that number jumps to 57%. The unanswered question until Election Day is how many of those evangelicals will cast a ballot for a Mormon, who has also been vague or contrarian on social issues that matter to religious conservatives. A significant number of these people view Mormonism as a cult. They will not vote for Mitt Romney.

Rick Perry will have to make a huge mistake to lose this GOP election. Christian conservatives in Iowa will make him a big winner. If he loses in New Hampshire, where Romney has a home and has been campaigning for four years, Perry will win handily in South Carolina as well as Florida. On Super Tuesday, which includes (under current GOP scheduling rules) states like Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia, Perry will win handily. Romney has the resources to stay at least through that March 6^th multi-state contest but the race will not last any longer and he will be forced to concede.

Romney and Jon Huntsman, both Mormons, are the best candidates for the GOP to have a chance against President Obama. But neither of them will survive the primaries because of their faith. Rick Perry will win.

And the GOP will lose.

Tiger Woods is getting more stupid advice.  Instead of easing the scrutiny he has been enduring, the athletic superstar is about to increase public antipathy for his situation.  Sympathy and forgiveness are not likely to be the outcome of his Friday “news conference.”

Man of the Moment

Tiger’s advisers have him convinced that he is different from other fallen public figures.  Maybe they know he doesn’t want to answer questions and because he pays them so well they aren’t going to force the issue.  Who wants to lose a gig working with Tiger Woods? Tiger has done things greater than most mortals and even other astounding athletes and his counselors appear to be testing a notion that he can play by different rules.  He can’t.  Just because he took golf away from the plaid pants and martini crowd and turned it into a disciplined endeavor doesn’t mean he’s going to get a pass on his behavior.

The idea that he only has to read a written statement to a solitary live camera, a room full of friends and colleagues, and a few wire service reporters that have agreed not to ask questions, is certain to anger journalists and the public that has adored Tiger but still wants answers.  Nobody wants to know how many women and how long this went on and whether his wife is considering taking him back into her life.  But Tiger has to respond to reasonable inquiries from practicing journalists before he can expect to get another clean start with the public.  He doesn’t have to provide details but he does need to deliver honesty.  He isn’t likely to be given a second chance unless he gives some answers.

The first question to be asked, however, is about journalism.  What kind of wire service goes to a “news conference” where no questions are allowed?  Are they present simply to write about Tiger’s facial expressions and how much he sweats?  There probably aren’t many reporters at Bloomberg, Reuters, or the Associated Press that want to attend this event and be ridiculed for sitting silently and playing by Tiger’s rules.  And if they don’t ask questions, they are likely to endure a bit of their own ridicule from peers.

This appearance has the potential for Tiger’s friends and colleagues gathered in the room to turn into a bit of a Greek chorus as he reads his statement.  Politicians often try this public relations scam when they are beleaguered.  Dealing with a controversy or a faux pas, the pol doesn’t want to face journalists alone so he or she invites supporters to encircle the podium and populate the audience and applaud at responses and hiss at questions.  It never works and only further angers reporters and they redouble their efforts to do critical reporting on the politician.  Tiger risks cranking up the tabloids and TMZs of the world to go out and find more of his paramours.

Tiger is likely to endure the same treatment as the evasive politician.  If he isn’t going to answer questions, why not just videotape his statement and stream it on his web site?  A cutaway camera could show all of the supporters in the room with him as he read and he wouldn’t risk angering sports reporters.  Regardless of how much contrition is in Tiger’s statement Friday, it will not be enough unless he takes a few questions and provides honest, difficult answers.  Someone ought to ask, first, why do this at the Accenture Match Play Tournament and distract from the golf?  Is it because they were the first major sponsor to drop you?  Are you being petty?  Isn’t there a better time and location?

The statement he will read, unfortunately, is fairly predictable.

“First, I want to apologize to the public and the fans and supporters of golf.  I’ve been dishonest with my fans, myself, and most importantly, my family.  I didn’t know I had an addiction.  I’ve entered treatment and believe I’m recovering.  I am also trying to work things out with my family.  I love my children and I am also working to save my marriage.   This has been, and continues to be, a difficult time for my family and me.  I realize I’ve dishonored all of the things I claimed were important.  But I want to try again.  I deserve a chance to try again.  I ask for your forgiveness and understanding.  But I am also a golfer.  Golf is my life.  It is who I am.  And I cannot fully regain my life unless I am playing golf.  So, I want to announce today that I am returning to the tour.  Thank you.”

Does that cover everything?  Does the public have a right to know more?  Should Tiger Woods answer the question of whether he was having extra-marital sex while his wife was pregnant?  How long has he behaved this way?  Where did he get the idea this way okay?  If he didn’t have that idea, why was he cheating when he knew he was one of the most high profile people on the planet?  Where in the hell does the fan’s right to know end and Tiger’s privacy begin?  He might need to denounce some of the stories about porn stars and having sex with someone other than his wife on the night his dad died. Don’t these issues go to the heart of a man’s character and help golf fans decide whether they can separate the man from his game, his life from his swing?  Who the hell knows?  But a five-minute statement in a completely controlled environment isn’t going to end Tiger’s woes.

And it may even make matters worse.