The Republic of T.

Four Republican Senators — Thune, Toomey, Hutchison, and Brown — held a press conference today, to remind Americans about their job creation legislation. Wait. Republicans have jobs bills? Oh! That’s why they had to remind us. Sen. John Thune, in the YouTube video below call on Sen. Harry Reid to stop blocking what he called bills “that deal with capital the issue of capital formation for our job creators.” Huh?

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In this morning’s Progressive Breakfast, I referred to Mitt Romney’s Michigan TV spot as “Romney’s Auto Bailout Spin-Out.” Well, as it happens, things are worse than I thought. Just to recap, Santorum is pounding Romney in Michigan. This is a little embarrassing, because Michigan is supposed to be Romney’s home turf. His dad, George Romney, was Michigan’s governor for six years. Plus, Mitt needs to win Michigan. (more…)

When I got my first iPhone, they were only available trough AT&T. Easy enough, since AT&T was already my cellular carrier. That was back when AT&T offered an unlimited data plan for $30 per month. Some time after that, as smartphone use exploded, AT&T offered a tiered data plan — 3GB of data per month, for $30 per month. Folks like me, with unlimited plans, were grandfathered in.

Then I began to notice that with every new feature AT&T rolled out for the iPhone — from tethering to hotspot capability — there was one catch involved: in order to sign up for the new services, I’d have to give up my unlimited data plan. I was tempted, I admit. The idea of being able to use my iPhone to connect my laptop to the internet, during times when wifi was out of unavailable, appealed to me. But those times were so rare (and are even rarer now) that I couldn’t see giving up my unlimited plan.

I understood what AT&T was trying to do, of course. It’s just business. More people using smartphones, plus more and more data-hungry apps (Netflix, for example), meant that mobile carriers had greater costs and network issues to consider. The more customers like me could be coaxed away from our unlimited data plans, the better for AT&T and its network.

Coaxing is one thing. Throttling, is another.

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When I got my first iPhone, they were only available trough AT&T. Easy enough, since AT&T was already my cellular carrier. That was back when AT&T offered an unlimited data plan for $30 per month. Some time after that, as smartphone use exploded, AT&T offered a tiered data plan — 3GB of data per month, for $30 per month. Folks like me, with unlimited plans, were grandfathered in.

Then I began to notice that with every new feature AT&T rolled out for the iPhone — from tethering to hotspot capability — there was one catch involved: in order to sign up for the new services, I’d have to give up my unlimited data plan. I was tempted, I admit. The idea of being able to use my iPhone to connect my laptop to the internet, during times when wifi was out of unavailable, appealed to me. But those times were so rare (and are even rarer now) that I couldn’t see giving up my unlimited plan.

I understood what AT&T was trying to do, of course. It’s just business. More people using smartphones, plus more and more data-hungry apps (Netflix, for example), meant that mobile carriers had greater costs and network issues to consider. The more customers like me could be coaxed away from our unlimited data plans, the better for AT&T and its network.

Coaxing is one thing. Throttling, is another.

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The Republican coalition, and indeed American conservatism itself over the past 30 years, has been characterized as an odd, almost unnatural pairing of “culture warrior” social conservatives and Ayn-Rand-fixated fiscal conservative, held together by little more that intellectually inconsistent rhetoric and the willingness of both parties to contort themselves beyond recognition to keep this doomed-looking political marriage alive. But after my two-day sojourn at this years Conservative Political Action Conference, I’m beginning to agree with Digby: not only do they belong together, but they may even deserve one another.

Still, whatever political shotgun wedding joined the two factions together, the cracks in this union have begun to show and grow. At CPAC, the two sides reminded me of two insufferable individuals stuck in a loveless marriage, who think they’d be so much better of without the other, but are really two sides of the same bad penny. Repulsed by one, and not seduced by the other, I realized that CPAC’s cultural and fiscal conservatives represented the worst of both conservative worlds.

Small wonder, then, that the two candidates most feted at CPAC embody that dichotomy — and with no discernible conginitive dissonance. No surprise, there. After all, cognitive disonnance first requires cognition.

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I have to admit, for a progressive being at CPAC can feel like being a “stranger in a strange land.” For a black, gay progressive it’s a bit like being dropped on another planet, with almost no breathable atmosphere; a very lonely, claustrophobic place. It’s hard to feel otherwise, when you’re surrounded by people extolling a vision of American with no place for you in it. (I never thought I’d say this, but I actually miss GOProud. On the plus side, I got a party invite from gay, Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger.) The lack of oxygen makes you lightheaded. The isolation, in the midst of the crowd, plays tricks with the mind.

Maybe that’s why, before I left for lunch, I thought Rick Santorum was CPAC’s rock star this year. Obviously I need air. I returned from lunch with a clear head. As I fought my way to the media room, through the capacity-crowd lined up for Romney’s speech, past those being directed to the overflow rooms, to watch Romney speak via closed-circuit-television, I realized who the CPAC 2012 rock star really is. The fresh air not only cleared my head, but reminded me of what I already knew about conservatives and the Republican party.

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Rick Santorum arrived at CPAC today, but he was everywhere at CPAC yesterday. As David Frum noted, there were no Romney stickers to be seen at CPAC yesterday, but Santorum stickers were everywhere. (With Gingrich stickers running a close second.) As he walked onto the stage, it was evident that he has a lot of support here. This is a religious, conservative crowd, and they loved him.

Santorum walked onto the stage with most of his family in tow, and was received with enthusiastic applause. As his family formed a tableau behind him, Santorum joked. “This is not the Von Trapp family,” he said. “We are not going to sing,” he added a beat later after waiting for the laughter to die down. That was a relief. But then, Rick Santorum started talking.

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OK. I’ll admit it. Newt Gingrich got me on this one. I walked into the CPAC conference this morning with my guard down (first mistake), and picked up what I thought was up updated schedule of events for the main ballroom.

Then I read it.

Ouch. “Rick Santorum (PA) ‘In Defense of Big Labor’”? “Ann Coulter, ‘Three Cheers for Romneycare?” “Mitt Romney, Author of Obamneycare?”

Newt is a bitter, bitter man. And if he saw the welcome Santorum got when he stepped out on stage, or saw the number of Santorum stickers on the lapels of CPACers, he’s may be beyond bitter.

If this has all gotten under Newt’s notoriously thin skin (think Air Force One, 1995), then Newt’s speech this afternoon is really going to be fun. After all, there’s nothing more entertaining than a ticked-off Newt Gingrich. He doesn’t just go off-script. He rips up the script and starts making spitballs.

I’ll be sure get a good seat. Just not in the first few rows

I caught most of Sen. Marco Rubio’s speech at CPAC this morning, and it was very well received. Based on that alone, I’d be tempted to agree with his categorization as a “CPAC darling.” He’s rumored to be on the short list for VP, though he says he’s not interested. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that Rubio appeared at CPAC the same day he introduced legislation that could cut off contraceptive coverage for millions. That seemed to the issue that roused conservatives the most at CPAC. (I actually, I heard more about contraception from speakers than I did about gay marriage — or job creation.)

But apparently Rubio’s contraceptive bill wasn’t enough to endear him to everyone at CPAC.

As I was tossing out the remains of my lunch, I noticed a stack of flyers sitting on an end table. Covering a conference like CPAC includes picking up literature, since one never knows what might yield content. I read it, and quickly realized it wasn’t like the other literature available at CPAC.

“>

There’s logo and no organization’s name or individual’s name on it. So who it came from is anybody’s guess.

My guess is that someone who was still miffed with Rubio for his speech at the Hispanic Leadership Network conference, where he took the GOP to task for the tone of the immigration debate, opened up a laptop, copied and pasted the quotes into a Word document, created this flyer, printed it up at the hotel business center, and spread it around.

Michele Bachmann’s speech at CPAC 2012 wasn’t quite the start turn that her appearance in 2011 — when Americas Bachmannia infection started spreading. I guess that’s the difference between being a newly-announced presidential candidate and being a newly-dropped-out presidential candidate. (She was asked to leave. Twice. So, did she drop out or was she dismissed? A little from Column A, and a little from Column B?)

Bachman scored some laughs about the three things she learned as a presidential candidate

Then she launched into a foreign policy speech that revealed how much she has yet to learn.

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I knew it was going to be a good day when the first thing I saw at CPAC was Herman Cain's bus.

I'm going to give Herman the benefit of the doubt that he sat in the front of the bus this time.

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In my previous post, I wrote that I’m likely to hear an old favorite conservative talking point repeated over and over again while I’m at CPAC: Married cures poverty, economic inequality, and just about any other economic complaint you can name — especially for black folks. The 9th circuit court’s ruling that California’s Proposition 8 — which prohibited same-sex marriage in the state — is unconstitutional guarantees I’ll hear a lot about same-sex marriage while I’m at CPAC.

What I won’t hear at CPAC, besides any specific plans for job creation, is how declining marriage rates are not to blame for economic decline, but economic decline is really to blame for declining marriage rates. I won’t hear that the best way to increase marriage rates is improve Americans’ economic prospects by growing the economy and putting people back to work. I probably also won’t hear about the economics of that marriage would actually improve the economic standings of one group of Americans: gay couples.

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At media check-in:

Didn’t have the heart to tell the guy that I don’t normally sleep in a suit.

I’m off to cover CPAC tomorrow, where — in light of a federal court ruling California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional — I’m likely to hear a favorite conservative talking point repeated: Marriage cures poverty, unemployment, and another economic problem. Ask any conservative, and they’ll tell you as much — even though that particular talking point has no basis in reality.

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Funny how things change. When Herman Cain and Rick Perry imploded in one week last November, Jon Stewart called Mitt Romney “the luckiest motherfudger on Earth.” That was before last night’s “shellacking,” when Rick Santorum trounced Romney in Minnessota, Missouri, and Colorado — three states that Romney won in 2008. Whupped by the same guy who snatched away his Iowa caucus victory, it safe to say Romney is no longer “the luckiest motherfudger on Earth.” That title may pass to another 2012 presidential candidate.

To his credit, Romney isn’t taking this latest humiliation lying down. He’s hitting Santorum with the “Washington Insider” label — and it’s likely to stick.

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Via HuffPo. Video below the fold.

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I wish I had more time to write about this — and by the time I do have time to write about it, others will have already said what I would have — but this is easily the best news I’ve heard in a long time.

Freedom To Marry’s Evan Wolfson wraps it up nicely in this statement.

I wrote earlier that Newt Gingrich’s campaign is one of mutually assured destruction for the GOP. No one, I wrote, has to lift a finger to destroy Newt Gingrich. Just stand back, give him room, and he’ll do it himself. The thing is, you want to stand way, way back — otherwise Newt’s liable to try and take you with him. The problem for the GOP is that they can’t put enough daylight between themselves and Newt. And even if they manage to do that, they’re still stuck with Mitt.

The latest self-destruction of Newt Gingrich will be televised. If he’s able to carry on after losing the Nevada Primary to Mitt Romney, and make good on his promise to campaign all the way to the convention in Tampa, we can look forward to more performances like his post-Iowa temper tantrum, his post-Florida flame-out, and his bizarre concession-speech-cum-press-conference after Nevada. (more…)

MItt Romney is taking a lot of heat for saying that he’s “not concerned about the very poor.” To be fair, he also said he’s not concerned about the very rich either. Lucky for him the feeling isn’t mutual that that side of the economic divide. According to recent FEC filings, the very rich are very concerned with Mitt Romney’s campaign for his party’s presidential nomination. And why shouldn’t they be concerned? After all, some of them are Mitt’s friends and former colleagues.

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