Guadagno Certifies Obama’s Candidacy

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, in her capacity as Secretary of State and Chief Election Official of the State of New Jersey certified all  presidential primary candidates yesterday afternoon, including President Barack Obama.

Obama’s only Democratic opponent, Randall Terry’s petitions were successfully challenged.  Terry’s name will not appear on the Democratic primary ballot.

Guadagno’s certification was done without announcement or fanfare via posting on the Secretary of State web site yesterday afternoon.

• Tweet

Christie’s “Condesending” Message

“I’ve never seen a less optimistic time, in my lifetime, in this courtry.  And people wonder why. I think it’s really simple.  It’s because government’s telling them stop dreaming, stop striving, we’ll take care of you.  We are turning into a paternalistic entitlement society…”

“….more importantly, there will be more money, more hope, more aspirations, in the hearts of our children and grandchildren than there are today.  And that’s what will make the 21st century the second American century.  That more than anything else, will allow the United States to export hope, and liberty and freedom around the world.  Not by just saying but by living it everyday in the way we conduct ourselves and in the way we govern ourselves.”

~Governor Chris Christie

Chris Christie believes that unrestrained by oppressive and “paternalistic” government, that ordinary people can and will live lives of accomplishment.

Tom Moran, that sanctimonious polyhistor responsible for The Star Ledger’s editorial page, thinks that makes Christie conceded.

The Asbury Park Press editorial board,  the Nudniks of Neptune who have fewer orginal thoughts that Joe Biden, agrees with Moran.

Christie made his remarks at a George W. Bush Presidential Center gathering in New York on Tuesday, April 10.  Moran posted his rant calling the governor’s message “condescending” early yesterday morning, the 12th.  The Nudniks followed yesterday evening calling Christie’s message “hectoring,” “insulting” and “condescending.”

The editorialists of New Jersey’s two largest news outlets must be appalled by Christie’s soaring popularity. 

It was the content of Christie’s remarks in between the two phrases I quoted above that got to the liberal regressive pundits.  Without naming the president, Christie had the audacity to point out that the Obama agenda has not resulted in hope, but in pessimism.  That if it continues we will be financially and morally bankrupt, waiting for the check to show up rather than striving for bigger checks.

Here’s what Christie said, unfiltered by the bias of Moran, the Nudniks or MMM:

• Tweet

Kyrillos closing the gap with Mendendez

The Quinnipiac poll released this morning has some encouraging news for State Senator Joe Kyrillos and his supporters as they campaign to unseat U.S. Senator Bob Menendez in November.

Menendez’s lead over Monmouth County’s favorite son is down to single digits, 44%-35%, with 18% undecided or not saying.   A February poll by Quinnipiac had the race at 49%-34% .

Menendez’s favorability and familiarity ratings remain anemic for an incumbent.  35% of voters have a favorable opinion of Menendez, 27% have an unfavorable view and 37% haven’t heard enough about him.  In February, 38% approved of Menendez, 24% didn’t and 36% didn’t know enough.  If this trend holds, Menendez is in trouble.

Kyrillos remains largely unknown, but the trends are in his favor.  In today’s poll 14% view Kyrillos favorably, 6% don’t and 79% don’t know enough about him.  In February 82% didn’t know enough about Kyrillos to form an opinion, 11% approved of him and 6% didn’t. 

Perhaps more encouraging for Kyrillos than the head to head numbers against Menendez are the poll results of the presidential campaign.

Quinnipiac says that Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by 9 points in New Jersey, 49%-40%.   The presidential race in NJ tightens to 49%-42% if Governor Chris Christie is the VP nominee.

Obama won the popular vote in New Jersey by 15% in 2008.  NJ’s GOP leadership expects that he will take our electoral votes again.  However, they believe that if the race is within single digits, that Kyrillos can unseat Menendez.

• Tweet

Administrative Law Judge: Obama Eligible For NJ Ballot

Administrative Law Judge Jeff S. Masin ruled that Barack Obama is eligible to appear on the Democratic primary ballot, according to a report on Conservative News and Views.

Mario Apuzzo, Esq., argued for the objectors to Obama’s petitions yesterday at a hearing presided over by Masin.  Alexandra Hill of Genova, Burn and Giantomasi argued for Obama.

Apuzzo has a write up of the proceedings on his blog.

CNV reports that Masin informed Apuzzo of his decision on the telephone at 7PM last evening and gave him a two hour deadline to file an exception to the ruling.

Apuzzo took exception to the following:

1. Judge Masin ruled that Obama was born in Hawaii with no evidence on record, after acknowledging that fact during the hearing.
2. Judge Masin ruled that Obama need not comply with statute to show that he is eligible, solely because he need not “consent” to someone circulating a nominating petition for him.
3. The judge suggested that Obama might have to show eligibility later. He laid no basis for such a ruling.
4. The judge misread the precedents and gave short shrift to the historical evidence that the Framers of the Constitution defined “natural-born citizen” as one born in-country to two citizen parents. Apuzzo devoted half of his 30-page exception to this analysis alone.

Apuzzo plans to appeal to the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court.

• Tweet

What if Obama is declared ineligible?

What an unprecedented mess that would be.

In the unlikely event that any of the challenges to Barack Obama’s candidacy for a second term makes it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court and succeeds, then what?

Before the case even got that far, would Judges and Justices appointed by Obama be eligible to hear and rule on the issue?   Can you imagine Hannity or Limbaugh if they do rule?  Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann (if he gets a job) if they don’t?

If Obama is ruled ineligible to serve as President of the United States, is he immediately removed from office?  If so, who becomes President?  If Obama’s 2008 election was invalid, it seems that Joe Biden’s election as Vice President would also be invalid.   Next in line would be House Speaker John Boehner.

If John Boehner assumes the presidency, would the GOP nominate him as the 2012 candidate?  Boehner isn’t ready to retire.  Why would he want to give up the Speakership in order to be President for a few months.  Would Boehner appoint Mitt Romney as Vice President?  Would the Senate confirm Romney?  Would Romney accept the job?

Would Boehner pardon Obama?

Who do the Democrats nominate for President?  Biden?  The party never warmed to him as a presidential candidate in his multiple tries.  Hillary Clinton?  John Kerry?  Al Gore?  Jesse Jackson?  Al Sharpton?  Keith Ellison (a real American Muslim)? Cory Booker?  Dennis Kucinich?

What happens to all the laws, executive orders and appointments that Obama signed?  Is ObamaCare the law?  Are Sonya Sotomayor and Eleana Kagan Supreme Court Justices?  Did Sandra Fluke really need all of that birth control?

Obama hasn’t signed a budget sinced he’s been President, but is the debt ceiling valid?  Is all of that debt backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America?

Would Obama owe the U.S. Treasury his salary, rent on the White House?  Would he have to reimburse the Treasury for his security and vacations?   Does he has to reimburse all his donors from the 2008 and 2012 campaigns?

I can understand why Judges would look for procedural or jurisdictional grounds not to hear such a case.

What would be better for the country?  To pursue the issues raised by the Objectors or look the other way?

• Tweet

Obama’s Eligibility Challenged In New Jersey

Two New Jersey residents, a Republican from Monmouth County and a Democrat from Ocean County, have filed an objection to Barack Obama’s name being placed on the New Jersey Democratic primary ballot and the general election ballot for the office of President of the United States, according to a story first reported on Conservative News and Views.

Nicholas Purpura, the Republican, and Theodore Moran, the Democrat are represented by Attorney Mario Appuzzo of Jamesburg. They filed their objection to Obama’s candidacy with the New Jersey Division of Elections on April 5.  A copy of the objection can be downloaded here.

There is a plenary hearing is scheduled before an Administrative Judge at the Office of Administrative Law in Mercerville on Tuesday April 10, 10am, according to Appuzzo.

On his blog, Natural Born Citizen-A Place to Ask Questions and Get the Right Answers, Appuzzo said:

The Objection to Obama’s nominating petition is that he has not provided competent and sufficient evidence to the New Jersey Secretary of State showing his identity and that he was born in the United States, and that even if he were born in the United States, he is not and cannot be an Article II “natural born Citizen” because he was not born to two U.S. citizen parents. The Objection therefore demands that the Secretary of State not permit Obama’s name to be printed on the primary and general election ballot.

• Tweet

Star Ledger Editor Tom Moran Calls Conservatives Racist

The Star Ledger’s Tom Moran is back to his old tricks of using the race card while attempting to advance his political agenda.

In early 2010, shortly after Governor Chris Christie took office, Moran tried to derail the Christie administration by teaming up with Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver to call Christie and his team “…white men, most of them political neophytes…” who never rode a bus and couldn’t understand how their deeply their economic policies were impacting “working poor families.” 

Moran did that before he realized that Christie is a “force of nature who could probably make a dog sing if he put his mind to it.”

In a column posted on Tuesday that defends the President’s constitutional pronouncements about the Supreme Court’s right to overturn ObamaCare Moran employed Jeanane Garofalo’s tactic of accusing Obama’s critics of being racist.

Because Moran is smarter and prettier, his accusation is sublter than Garofalo’s crude remarks, yet it is no less offensive:

Obama went on to make an important point: That if the court overrules the health care law, it will be practicing judicial activism. Conservatives have been complaining about judicial activism since the Supreme Court struck down Jim Crow segregation laws in the South, and the heat rose considerably after Roe v. Wade.

Maybe fellow Star Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine can explain the difference between judicial activistism and constructionism to Moran.

Activistism is when a Court finds, invents or redefines a constitutional provision in order to make new law that is consistent with its political or ideological preference.  That is what the U.S. Supreme Court did in Roe v Wade and what the NJ Supreme Court did in the Abbott decisions.

Constructionism is what a court does when it decides that the legislative or executive branches exceeded the power granted to them in the Constitution, like mandating people buy something they don’t want.

Moran, like Obama, probably knows the difference.  Also like Obama, he probably just doesn’t think the Constitution is that important.  That’s OK for Moran who hasn’t sworn to protect and defend the Constitution.  It’s not OK for the President who has sworn that oath.

The race card worked well for liberals in 2008.  The invoked it successfully to mute Obama’s poltical opponents in the Democratic primary and during the general election.  They appealed to ‘white guilt” to get Obama elected.  It was a disgusting and effective strategy.

But the race card is played out. It didn’t work in the politicization of the Trayvon Martin tragedy.  It didn’t work when Garofalo played it.  It didn’t work in 2010.

Moran should stop playing the race card.  Conservative opposition to ObamaCare has nothing to do with the Jim Crow laws, just as Governor Christie’s economic policies have nothing to do with how many of his cabinet members and staffers have ever ridden a bus.

Moran’s job is the inform, educate and persuade.   He should leave the obfuscation to politicians, activists and B-rate entertainers looking for their next gig.

• Tweet

The New Justice

By James Fitzmaurice

I am hoping that the tragedy of the Trayvon Martin incident and all of the ensuing drama will become a teachable moment for all of us and also a call to reflect on our own reactions to the story.

On social media, thousands of people were posting the message, “Justice for Trayvon”, with an account of what allegedly happen on that night. The thing that struck me most about the ubiquitous postings was that in order to repost “Justice for Trayvon”, one must accept the premise that justice will NOT be served.

In my schools and at home we learned not to pre- judge anyone because of skin color, race or creed. The lesson was simple enough; but that was before a new language was introduced to deal with our differences and with it a philosophy that has undermined race relations and pitted all types of “groups” against others, despite the indisputable fact that the intention was to overcome our differences and to learn to get along. If you are under 40 years old you have never known any different.

My questions are: Why did so many people automatically jump to the conclusion that justice cannot be served? Why did the media use old pictures instead of more recent and accurate pictures? Why did the New York Times refer to Mr. Zimmerman as a “white” Hispanic? Why is it that the Attorney General has no interest in the New Black Panther party placing a bounty on the head of a private citizen? Why did the president think that his comments regarding the matter were appropriate? Why did Trayvon’s mom use the plural (they) instead of the singular (he) when speaking of her son’s shooting? Why did Spike Lee tweet the (wrong) address of the Zimmerman family? Please notice that I have not included the more incendiary comments and charges. Where does one learn this behavior? Could it be the same place they learn that Black children learn differently than White children, and that all “cultures”, instead of all “Individuals” are equal? Is it the same place where they learn about victimhood, institutional racism and group identity politics?

Multiculturalism is a philosophy that pretends to be a uniting system of tolerance and diversity. In actual practice it is exactly the opposite. The insidious genius of Multiculturalism is in placing some “groups” in a position where they are forced to accept the original sin of past deeds and prejudices’ of unrelated ancestors and similar “colored” people, while forgiving others from being personally responsible for their own actions due to injustices of the past. It also asks decent and fair minded people to defend themselves against unwarranted charges of racism by proving that they are not racist.

The philosophy of multiculturalism actually is a very divisive form of tribalism and collectivism. Multiculturalism separates us into opposing camps and it threatens to Balkanize our country. True diversity and tolerance comes from equal opportunity, economic freedom, and the rule of law.

We must wake up and realize that we are a country of “Individuals” (not groups) from many backgrounds, with certain inalienable rights that are protected by our laws and the Constitution.

It may be that the desire for instant retribution is responsible for the unseemly reactions by some to the slow process of obtaining the facts in the case, processing them and presenting them to a Grand Jury, but the behavior exhibited by far too many, looks a lot more like prejudice than “Justice”.

James Fitzmaurice is an artist living in Rumson, NJ

• Tweet

Obama’s numbers improve in NJ, decline nationally

President Obama’s attempt to convert his “war onto religious freedom” into a Republican “war on women” seems to be working in New Jersey, but is falling flat nationally according to two polls released this week.

The FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning shows that the President’s approval rating in New Jersey jumped to 51%.  In January, only 46% approved of Obama’s performance.  Women approve by a 24 point margin, 58%-34%, while men disapprove by 49% to 43%.

In a NYTimes/CBS poll national poll released on Monday, only 41% approved of Obama while 47% disapproved.  In February Obama scored a 50% approval rating in the NYTimes/CBS poll.  Obama’s support among women declined, “even as the debate raged over birth control insurance coverage.”

Both polls indicated that despite his weak numbers and the electorate’s discontent, that Obama would be relected if the election were today.  Voters, including Republicans, are not enthused by the Republican challengers.

• Tweet

Obama’s Effort To Build Support Among Women

The Obama campaign will intensify its efforts to boost the President’s standing with women this week with a mailing to over 1 million female voters in more than a dozen battleground states, according to The New York Times.

The campaign’s effort to rally women around the health care law had been long planned, to coincide with the second anniversary of Mr. Obama signing it on March 23, campaign officials said. But the effort has gained intensity, they added, because of recent controversies over contraception, abortion and education in Washington and in state capitals that have energized people in the campaign’s far-flung field offices who are essential to putting any national strategy into action.

Late last year, two and a half months ago, the chatter was that Obama was in trouble with his liberal base as well as the rest of the electorate.  The economy was the majority’s concern.

In the last two months, George Stephanopoulos introduced contraception into the GOP primary debate, Rick Santorum and the left stream media kept that chatter alive.  Obama announced that contraception will be covered under ObamaCare and Rush Limbaugh called a law student a slut and a prostitute.

Now, instead of focusing on the economy, energy prices and the emergent inflation that hasn’t caught the media’s attention yet, we are engaged in a culture war designed by the Obama campaign to shore up the President’s support with his base and scare women about the evil white men who run the Republican party.

How easily manipulated we are.

The general election campaign is well underway.  However the GOP is still fighting over minor differences between it’s potential candidates and is not yet engaged against Obama.

• Tweet