German news reporter uses racial slur to describe grassroots Florida Republicans

From Eric Dondero:

Deutsche-Well is one of Germany's largest and most influential media outlets. Their American political correspondent joined the candidates on the Florida GOP primary campaign trail this weekend. He wanted to get Gingrich and Romney to comment on the record about Europe.

However, during his news report heard worldwide, at 1:20 minutes in, he uses a term that most Americans would find offensive:

[Gingrich] knows exactly what his audience wants to hear... Europe is a buzzword that pushes buttons with Gingrich's conservative followers. They're mainly whites, under-educated..."

Just imagine the outcry if some reporter had called African-Americans at an Obama rally "under-educated Blacks."

Did Rubio just compare Obama to Castro?

You decide...

Florida Senator Marco Rubio weekly GOP radio address Via Roll Call:

[Obama wants to make America] “like the countries people come here to get away from.”

“He tells all of us that the only way for some of us to climb up the economic ladder is for others to be pulled down. This divisive rhetoric, this effort to gain political support by convincing some that they will be better off if we punish others, this stuff has never worked anywhere it’s been tried. People end up fleeing countries who adopt economic policies based on these flawed principles. And more often than not, they come here.”

“They come here because this is not who we are...”

Editor's comment - Of course, the distinguished Senator from Florida would not be the first person ever to make such a comparison.

LR Florida Poll Watch: Romney opens up 14 point lead in Fla. according to NBC

At least one noted libertarian political prognosticator may have called it wrong

From Eric Dondero:

Two days out, and Mitt Romney is growing his lead over main rival Newt Gingrich. MSNBC reports, "NBC/Marist poll: Romney up 15 over Gingrich in Florida"

Mitt Romney may be on his way to a decisive victory in the Florida GOP primary Tuesday, according to a new NBC/Marist poll.

Romney leads Newt Gingrich by 15 points, 42 percent to 27 percent in the crucial state. Rick Santorum is third with 16 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 11 percent. Just 4 percent said they were undecided.

MSNBC analyst Domenico Montanaro posits:

If Romney pulls off a victory of that magnitude, he could be on a glide path to the nomination.

Editor's comment - We know at least one regular LR reader/commenter who has been predicting a wipeout of Romney by Gingrich in Florida. The news from this just released poll doesn't quite fit that prognostication.

Breaking... Rasmussen has Romney up by 16 in Fla.

"These figures reflect a significant turnaround over the past week"

From RasmussenReports.com:

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has opened a double-digit lead in Florida as the perception grows among Republican primary voters that he is the strongest general election candidate against President Obama. The state's GOP Primary is on Tuesday.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Republican Primary Voters, conducted Saturday, shows Romney up by 16 points with 44% support. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a distant second at 28%.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum earns 12% support, while Texas Congressman Ron Paul picks up 10%.

Romney picks up a major celebrity endorsement

Mitt Romney wants to take the country back away from President Obama's "socialism"

From Eric Dondero:

ABC News and various other media are reporting this morning on a surprise visit to a Mitt Romney campaign event in Pensacola, by a well known libertairan/conservative actor.

From ABC Politics, "Actor Jon Voight Endorses Romney, Says Newt Gingrich ‘Falls Short’":

Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight threw his support behind Mitt Romney today, telling a crowd of hundreds at a local restaurant that Newt Gingrich “falls short” of having the characteristics needed to run the White House.

“Governor Romney is a man of faith, honor, love, and truth,” said Voight. “These are the first very important qualities a president must have. He is strong, honest, and wants to bring the country back to its exceptional place, where we have been for hundreds and hundreds of years, until President Obama decided to follow his father’s footsteps and take us to socialism.”

“I’m sorry to say Speaker Gingrich may fall short in many ways,” said Voight. “Please join me to bring in Gov. Mitt Romney as the next President of the United States.”

Romney joked around with Voigt about family matters. Continuing:

“I started talking about my five boys,” said Romney of his conversation with Voight. “I said, you know, it’s easier to raise boys than girls. Well, after a long pause, he says, ‘Tell me about it.’”

Voight is the father of actress and one-time Hollywood bad girl Angelina Jolie.

Note - Voigt was a backer of Rudy Giuliani for president in 2008. He went on to make a number of campaign appearances for McCain/Palin. Jolie has yet to endorse a candidate for 2012, but has noticeably backed away from Obama in recent celebrity media interviews.

Photo credit - Warnerbros.tv.com

Rick Santorum's daughter admitted to Hospital: Libertarian Republican extends hopes and prayers to the Santorum family

From Cliff & Eric:

We like to have fun on this site. And we can be sardonic, biting and even downright nasty, at times. But we pause from our regular programming to make a comment on a very serious subject.

Rick and Karen Santorum's daughter Isabella was admitted to the hospital late yesterday. From all reports, the situation appears to be quite serious.

The very latest from CNN:

Rick Santorum's three-year-old daughter Isabella, who suffers from a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18, was admitted to a Philadelphia hospital Saturday.

Rick and his wife Karen are admitting their daughter Bella to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia this evening," Gidley said. "The campaign will cancel Rick's upcoming Sunday morning Florida campaign schedule. However, Rick intends to return to Florida and resume the campaign schedule as soon as is possible."

Trisomy 18 is caused by extra material from chromosome 18, and is three times more common in girls than boys. Half of patients born with the condition do not survive past the first week of life, according to the National Institutes of Health. Patients who do survive past the first week experience serious medical and developmental problems.

The editors and associates of Libertarian Republican would like to wish the Santorum family all the best, and hope for a speedy recovery for Isabella.

"Do the Burka" video producer gets death threats

From Eric Dondero:

In the last two weeks its gone viral. over 160,000 views on YouTube. But also, the video producer, a Dutch comedian/satyrist has received numerous death threats.

From Radio Netherlands, Jan. 28, "Death threats for singer of Do the Burka":

The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy's Do the Hustle, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa, be it one that does not cover the breasts.

RN continues:

Mr Vlemmix said he had expected some commotion over his song: "I'm not exactly dumb." But he had failed to anticipate the virulence of the reactions: "I really meant it as a joke. Because the burqa is banned in the Netherlands I thought it was fun to offer a carnival alternative for it: the burqa shirt."

Carnival, a colourful, musical and noisy feast celebrated annually in the southern half of the Netherlands, is often used to mock authorities and make fun of social issues by people dressed up or disguised in humorous creations.

While it's all in fun, there's a cautionary warning. Continuing:

such threats [did]lead to an actual murder. Film director and columnist Theo van Gogh was killed in 2004 by a Dutch Muslim extremist, who was later arrested and jailed. Van Gogh had made a movie entitled Submission together with Somali-born MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which was highly critical of the oppression of women in the Islamic world.

Another Islam-criticising film, Fitna by populist (sic) MP Geert Wilders caused violent protests in Islamic countries. Mr Wilders, whose party provides key support to the governing rightwing minority coalition, is under permanent police protection.

Editor's note - Curiously, a quick check of a couple libertarian sites on cultural issues - Radley Balko's TheAgitator, and "free minds, free markets" Reason.com, shows no coverage of "Do the Burka" or the death threats.

Beautiful topless Ukranian women protesting something in Davos, Switzerland

by Clifford F. Thies

Nine beautiful topless Ukranians young women are protesting something in Davos, Switzerland. What exactly they're protesting, I don't know. But, whatever they're protesting, it reinforces my support for the Freedom of Speech. The head of the Davos forum volunteered to meet the protestors.

From Boston.com, "IMF chief presses for more cash to fight crisis":

The activists are from the group Femen, which has have become popular in Ukraine for staging small, half-naked protests against a range of issues including oppression of political opposition.

What we want to know is when will Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko (photo) be released from prison? Our beloved sister has been sent to a prison camp. 300 miles east of Kiev, and according to her defense attorney isolated and denied medical care. The current President of the Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych who replaced Tymoshenko, is in Davos, Switzerland, in search of loans in private meeting with the international bankers who gather at the forum.

Photo from previous protest (credit - tresugar.com). See current - explicit - photos at timeslive.com.za

Newt's Moon Colony proposal big fail with Florida voters

From Eric Dondero:

Newt's made a great many mistakes in the last few days, but this one may be his biggest miscalculation. Shamelessly pandering for Florida voters by proposing a massive increase in the NASA budget and a greatly expensive space project to colonize the moon, is proving to be a failure.
From PPP:

Newt's most publicized proposal of the week is getting panned by Florida voters- only22% support a colony on the Moon while 52% are opposed. Even among Gingrich's own supporters only 34% favor it.

Editor's comment - thankfully, this will probably keep him from proposing an Eco II environmental capsule for the Nevada desert before that key state primary.

Canada Burka controversy: Muslim woman crashes Anti-Burka press conference in Ottawa

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE!!!

From Eric Dondero:

The Conservative led Canadian parliament recently passed legislation banning the wearing of face coverings at citizenship ceremonies.

Watch as a lone "protester" unexpectedly shows up. Things get kind of heated. We won't spoil it for you. But the outcome is not what you would expect.

H/t our friends at BNI