LEE RODGERS
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SLIPPERY POLL? ...
REPUBLICANS MIGHT GO FOR BROKE(red) CONVENTION
 ... MORMON CONVERSION CONTROVERSY

A poll sponsored by CBS and the New York Times finds -- surprise! -- Obama's approval rating suddenly up to 50%.
     Cynical old me, I can't help but wonder if the poll-takers posed the question something like this: "Do you dislike Obama so much you'd like to pee on his shoes? No? Okay, then ... I'll put you down in the 'approve' column."

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After the Newt Gingrich roller-coaster campaign, which now does appear finally to be dead, I am reluctant to pronounce on the Republican race. Nevertheless, if Mitt Romney can't win the Michigan primary with all the money he is spending there, he falls to long-shot status. Then the question would become, "Can Rick Santorum beat Obama?"
     Unless the voting public undergoes a much larger end even more hostile awakening to what Obama is doing to the country, I wouldn't bet on it.
     If that skeptical view of Santorum's chances  is widely shared by delegates at convention time, the unlikely prospect of a brokered convention then becomes a real possibility. If it comes to that point,  the name of the other Bush brother, Jeb, will loom large and delegates will have to weigh a widespread distaste for the idea of a third Bush presidency against the recognized reality that Jeb was always regarded as the brighter brother and -- even within the family -- as the Bush family political star of the future.

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Although Romney had nothing to do with the posthumous (and uninvited) conversion of dead Jews to Mormonism, including the parents of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, the attention to this widely-criticized event may have been a factor in the further decline of Romney's poll numbers. It has certainly brought scrutiny of Romney's religion among people might otherwise have no particular interest in it, one way or the other.

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As you watch Michigan primary results, keep in mind that it is an open primary, i.e., you can vote in the presidential primary by choosing either a Republican or Democrat ballot. Democrats therefore have an incentive to vote for whichever Republican they think could be more easily beaten.

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How often it comes down to the car a politician drives.  During his failed attempt at the Republican nomination, Pat Buchanan suffered when voters learned that the "Buy American" candidate drove a Mercedes. Rick Santorum may face similar difficulties now that it's public knowledge that his vehicle of choice is an Audi.
     Why not a vehicle made in America? -- Like, say, a Toyota or Honda or BMW? Or even one made in neighboring Canada, like a Chevrolet? Or a car from just across the border in Mexico, like a Ford? Or Chrysler product from the company owned by Fiat of Italy?

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Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have both sent word to CNN that they will not participate in the next debate organized by the left-leaning (and viewer-losing) cable network.
     Good.

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How transparent -- even criminal -- does a political action have to get before the Big Media stop their metaphorical beard-stroking and call it what it is? I refer to the "debate" over Democrat objections to state laws requiring voters to provide identification before casting a ballot.
     The reason Democrats object is crystal-clear. Getting votes from people not legally qualified -- even dead -- is the hallmark of Democrat politics. They're crooks, and they don't want anybody impeding the practice.

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John Stossel cuts to the chase about Obama's "cuts" ...
     "President Obama said in his State of the Union speech, 'We've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings.'
     "But what the president was talking about is not even a cut. The politicians just agreed that over the next 10 years, instead of increasing spending by $9.48 trillion, they'd increase it by 'just' $7.3 trillion. Calling that a 'cut' is nonsense."

But all that matters to Obama and the Democrats is that the stupid suckers buy it. It was Franklin D. Roosevelt's advisor, Harry Hopkins, who created the mantra by which Democrat politicians have lived ever since: "We will spend and spend, and tax and tax, and elect and elect."
     Thus are the sheeple led happily to their slaughter.

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Today's must reading: REASON.com ... "Warren Buffett: Baptist and Bootlegger" ... by Peter Schweizer.
How Saint Warren and his Democrat friends get rich off the taxpayers.

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The San Diego Union-Tribune looks at reality head-on
      "...at some point we wish everyone – the political class, the media, taxpayers of all ideologies – would just accept this as a given: As a nation, we can’t continue spending vastly more than we take in. The Obama plan, if enacted, would add $901 billion to the national debt. This is less than in recent years but still enormous on a historical scale – the U.S. spending 31 percent more than it receives in revenue."

What kind of lunatic voter -- or president -- believes this can go on indefinitely?

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If we have an unprincipled government, it reflects an unprincipled electorate. From Rasmussen Reports ...
     "A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters now feel that, looking to the future, it’s more important for the Republican Party to work with the president rather than stand for what it believes in. Forty-four percent (44%) disagree and think standing for what the party believes in is more important."

To put it in street language, it appears we are becoming a nation of whores. Thank you, Democrats.

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With riots flaring anew in Greece and many Greeks angry at Western Europe in general and Germany in particular for being foolish enough to loan money to Athens then having the gall to actually expect it to be repaid, perhaps a personal observation will help in understanding the situation.
     The error begins with the assumption that Greeks are European. They are not. They are far more like their middle-east neighbors in character, absent Islam.
     I came to this conclusion years ago as a result of being a longtime (25 years) partner with a fine ethnic Greek  in the travel industry. His own family roots were deep there, originating on the island of Samos. We did a lot of business in Greece because of the large population of ethnic Greeks in Chicago, the second-largest Greek city after Athens. (We operated a chain of travel agencies there.)
     I've spent time in many foreign countries -- about eighty -- but more in Greece than anywhere. Mine is a subjective judgment, but my late partner totally concurred. Stamatis Tsalikis, you were totally correct.

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The unluckiest pilot in America has to be the guy who inadvertently flew a Cessna 182 into Southern California airspace that was to be kept clear for Air Force One to take off from LAX on a flight to haul Obama to a money-mooching political dinner in San Francisco.
     Radar picked up the intruder and the Air Force forced him to land ... whereupon authorities found he was carrying a cargo of marijuana.

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Dan Sorkin recalls Dana Perino (FOX News) and an interview she recently had with a Navy SEAL.
After discussing all the countries that  he had been sent to, she asked if they had to learn several  languages?
He answered, "No ma'am, we don't go there to  talk."

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Craig Ferguson --
     "The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue came out on Valentine's Day. That doesn't seem appropriate. Photographs of busty young women. It's like handing out free bacon on Passover."

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Jimmy Fallon --
     "President Obama visited a factory in Wisconsin that brought back 100 jobs from China. It’s got to be tough for the workers in China who lost those jobs — but kids always bounce back."
Lee Rodgers"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."
radiorodgers1@yahoo.com