Santorum drops out of GOP presidential primary, endorses RUBIO

CNN has the story here.

That tells you what kind of president Santorum would have made: A president who, like Rubio, would have settled for the Gang of Eight amnesty bill because it was all he could get at the time.

Rush Limbaugh can protest all he wants about Rubio giving up his Senate seat as a sign he's not committed to time-serving the establishment. The truth is as president Rubio would disappoint on illegal immigration to the point of destroying the Republican Party and the country as we have known it.

Establishment support for Rubio will now accelerate. The conservative vote will be split between Cruz and Trump.

Rubio will win the nomination like Romney did, through attrition on the right as neither Trump nor Cruz wins enough delegates to secure the nomination just as Santorum and Gingrich and Paul did not.

In this election, Ted Cruz, the illegal immigration flip-flopper, will be Donald Trump's spoiler.

In the immortal words of Mickey Kaus, Cruz is just in it for Cruz.

Sarah Palin accuses Rep. Steve King of being Ted Cruz' dirty little trickster

Here:

'Cruz's campaign chairman, U.S. Representative Steve King, is lying, and good for Dr. Ben Carson for calling this out. King, who's previously asked for and received my endorsement, time and resources to support his own election, is still lying about my altruistic support of Mr. Trump, and he's refused to provide any evidence to the contrary. And, this U.S. Congressman actually lied to his own constituents on behalf of Cruz, regarding a good man, Dr. Carson. He told voters Carson was dropping out of the Presidential race immediately before the Iowa caucus, causing a relative uproar inside the process, so the word would spread and he could rack up more votes for his candidate, Cruz. That's a dirty trick. Dr. Carson deserved better. The voters deserved better!'

Trump says skipping the last debate was a mistake, and that he should have had a ground game in Iowa

Statements here.

It was the ground game, that's all. He didn't have one, and others did. The massive turnout proves that.

Taking the battle to FOX remains important, especially when they insult you. Skipping the debate was the right thing to do.

Media remains the enemy.

The howler of the day comes from Pamela Anderson: Intellectuals were at the Playboy Mansion, you know, like politicians

What a train wreck this woman is.

Here:

"I loved being at the Playboy Mansion. Intellectuals were at the Playboy Mansion. You were talking to the best artists and musicians and actors and politicians." ... I ask Anderson about rumors she might want to segue into politics one day. “No, I don’t!” she laughs. “Politicians are evil. No, no, no, no, no. Just look at some of Vivienne Westwood’s blogs. Politicians are criminals."... She previously threw her support behind President Obama, but hints at her frustrations as she looks toward November’s election. “I think politicians’ hands are tied a lot of the time,” she says. “I’m a Democrat. You have to vote. I love Bernie, but I don’t think he’ll get the nomination. I still think Hillary has a better shot. I think she’s going to be the President. A female President would be pretty awesome. We need that kind of energy in the world.”

Intellectuals? Politicians? Evil? Criminals? Obama? Bernie Sanders? Hillary? Energy?

Awesome.

Well, at least we know Pamela can read:

Rand Paul drops out of the presidential race to concentrate on reelection to the Senate

Story here.

And so dies his dream of uniting libertarians from all parties, which Donald Trump seems to be doing in spades but people like Rand Paul still don't get.

Override of Obama's veto of Obamacare repeal fails in the US House along party lines

"The result was expected, given that an override would have required Democratic support to succeed, but Republicans praised the vote as showing what could happen next year if their party wins back the White House. The veto override failed by a vote of 241 to 186."

More here. 

Trump live right now from New Hampshire promoting Ann Coulter

Here. Coulter spoke here for about nine minutes.

Stupid white liberals: Our insane leaders are preparing to require women to register for the draft

The Military Times reports here:

The Army and Marine Corps' top uniformed leaders both backed making women register for the draft as all combat roles are opened to them in coming months, a sweeping social change that could complicate the military’s gender integration plans. ...

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Jr. said there needs to be “a national debate” over what the changes mean, balancing social concerns over the idea of drafting women with the reality of national security and military readiness. ...

“It's my personal view in light of integration that every American physically qualified should register for the draft,” Neller said. Milley echoed those remarks, saying “all eligible men and women” should be required to register.

The faces of the insane:

Sec. Ray Mabus

Gen. Robert Neller

Gen. Mark Milley

The dirty tweeter: Republican US Rep. Steve King (IA-4) was Ted Cruz' dirty trickster last night

King spread a rumor in a tweet that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race, even though he wasn't, in order to queer the vote.

Story here:

"The tweet was sent at 8:20pm EST, when the caucuses were ongoing."

That's right. Real Clear Politics did not call the race until 10:30pm EST.

Up on average by 7.5 points in four poll reversals, Trump loses to Cruz by 3.4 points in Iowa after atypical 50% higher turnout

Before Trump reversed them, Cruz had been ahead in 4 polls by an average of 5.8 points per Real Clear Politics

The Cruz campaign made a liar of the polls which showed his lead reversed by Trump in the weeks leading up to the Iowa Caucus last night. His superior ground game helped spur a massive turnout in excess of 185,000 when closer to 120,000 typically show. Trump had nothing similar on the ground and narrowly came in second ahead of the surging Marco Rubio. Look for more establishment money to get behind Rubio in coming days in an effort to stop Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. It's gut check time for Trump.

Meanwhile Bernie Sanders is making life very difficult for Hillary Clinton.

Trump is speaking right now on The Savage Nation

He's thanking Savage for his support from the beginning.

Grand Rapids, MI begins 2016 with January 1.6 degrees F above normal on average at 26.0

Precipitation was 0.06 inches above normal, coming in at 2.15 inches.

Snowfall was 20.8 inches, 2.3 inches above the mean average of 18.5 for the month calculated going back to the beginning of the record. January is typically the snowiest month, followed by December at 15.9 and then February at 13.1.

Heating degree days were nearly normal for January at 1200 but cumulatively for the season are running 652 below normal, about 17.6% to date, thanks to the El Nino.

Trump adviser Sam Clovis lost to Joni Ernst in the Iowa US Senate Republican Primary election in 2014

For more see here.

The Trump Doctrine: not neoconservative meddling like Bush, but Realpolitik like Reagan instead

From the story by Josh Rogin, here:

“This is a long game; it’s not a short game,” [Sam] Clovis said. He faulted neoconservatives who "think you can go out there and in three weeks after Iraq collapses you can create a constitutional democracy over there." ... 

Sam Nunberg, who advised Trump on foreign policy early in the campaign before having a falling out with [Corey] Lewandowski, told me that Trump’s foreign policy was “Reagan-esque realpolitik,” a stance designed to be able to make policies based on circumstances without being burdened by ideology.

Sam Clovis, chief policy adviser to Donald Trump, calls himself a Russell Kirk conservative

Just now on the Laura Ingraham show.

Sam Clovis said as much on Anderson Cooper on January 22nd here, defending Trump against National Review's anti-Trump issue.

WaPo editorial board half-truths about Trump illustrate why circulation continues to decline

Here's just one:

'Early on, he touted his unprincipled past as a demanding financial supporter of both parties — “I give to everybody; they do whatever I want” — as if acknowledging participation in corruption qualified him to fix it.'

I'd call it a hopeful sign if the editorial board of The Washington Post painted every contribution to a political candidate as participation in corruption if it meant especially to Hillary Clinton, but it didn't. 

R. Emmett Tyrell of The American Spectator comes out . . . for Trump

Here:

'I am for the candidate with a sense of humor, of showmanship, and a proven record for getting things done. Now on the “Today Show” this week Donald Rumsfeld, a veteran conservative, has come forward and said that Trump has “caused people to respond in a way that most politicians have not been able to do.” Rumsfeld is no vulgarian.

'I agree with him. Trump is a new and promising participant in American politics, and he is on the conservatives’ side. Here is history in the making.'

In Iowa Quinnipiac poll Trump's lead goes from +2 to +7 on the eve of the caucus

Former editor of National Review thinks Ted Cruz is the leader of the Tea Party: Sarah Palin would beg to differ

Here:

'Mr. Obama’s conservative opponents, on the other hand, have responded to his bold assertion of executive prerogative in two quite different ways. Some cite it as an argument for stronger checks on presidential power; others plainly believe that this unchecked power would be a fine thing if only it were exercised in pursuit of their interests.

'The first of those reactions produced the Tea Party movement, which advocated fiscal discipline, limited government and fidelity to the Constitution. Half of it joined the conservative wing of the GOP and fought elections with mixed success; the other half became an independent conservative faction out of frustration with a Republican leadership they believe has betrayed them. Many Tea Partiers now tell pollsters that they are “independents.” But the obvious leader of the entire movement is Sen. Ted Cruz.'

The Hegelian dialectic was never so useful for so little.

Ted Cruz adopts Obama voter intimidation tactics in Iowa

From the story here:

'In 2008, academics at Yale published an influential paper showing that one of the most effective ways to get voters to the polls was “social pressure.” Researchers found that registered voters in a 2006 primary election in Michigan voted at a higher rate if they received mailers indicating that their participation in the election would be publicized. The mailer that had the biggest impact included information about the two previous elections and whether the recipient and his or her neighbors participated or not. “We intend to mail an updated chart,” the mailer warned. “You and your neighbors will all know who voted and who did not.”

'Insights from the Yale study have since been adopted by several campaigns, including MoveOn, which also faced criticism when it used the tactic to turn out voters for Barack Obama’s reëlection, in 2012. Given its obsession with political science, it’s no surprise that the Cruz campaign decided to adopt the “social pressure” techniques to turn out voters in Iowa for Monday night’s caucuses.'

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated . . .."