“The TJ Thompson Show”–  Nov. 12th, 2012

The day has arrived.  In about twenty-four hours, the stains of Barack Obama will be wiped clean and honor and dignity will be restored to The White House under President-elect Mitt Romney.  It hasn’t been an easy road.  Conservatives waged a brutal primary battle that left us with a scarred nominee – Romney – coming out of the gate to take on President Obama in the general.  However, he licked his wounds, redeployed his campaign assets, and was laser focused on Barack Obama’s miserable record of debt, deficits, and high unemployment.  As a result, he’s polling slightly ahead of the President on Election Eve, and I’m confident Governor Romney will be the next President of the United States.

Granted there were some bumps in the road.  The last week of August and the whole month of September were especially lackluster – but his resounding and decisive victory in the first, and most important, presidential debate altered the electoral map in a way liberals couldn’t imagine.  His surge in the polls with women decimated Obama’s double-digit lead amongst women, and Romney’s double-digit lead amongst independents will prove valuable in the generals, as well as the down ticket races in the House and Senate.  Right now, I have Gov. Romney winning the 2012 Election with 289 electoral votes to Obama’s 249.  Some pundits, like George Will, predict a 321 Electoral landslide for Mitt Romney, but I’m more reserved.

First, to even begin to contemplate such a mandate, Romney needs to win Pennsylvania – a state that hasn’t gone Republican since 1988.  While some polls show that the races is tied (Romney is shown trailing by 2-4 points on D+8 polls) – I’m just not ready to bet the mortgage on a state we have failed to lock up for almost a quarter century.  Granted, the 2011 county courthouse races were indicative that Democrats in the western part of the state – the bitter clingers who are mostly pro-life and pro-gun rights – were getting sick of liberal policies.  Republicans took Westmoreland County for the first time in fifty years.  Now, Republicans control 51 of the 67 counties in PA, with most of the inroads being in the western part of the state.  Republican media consultant Michael  Hudome wrote on The Daily Caller on Nov. 2 that “half of the NRA membership in the entire country is within a four-hour drive of Pittsburgh.”

Recent electoral results signal a Republican surge in the Commonwealth. Conservative Pat Toomey was elected to the Senate in 2010 despite the best efforts of the White House.

Republicans control 12 of Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional seats. In the crucial Philadelphia suburbs, Democrats were only able to offer token opposition to Congressmen Mike Fitzpatrick and Patrick Meehan this year. In those critical counties near Philly, Governor Romney is a perfect fit for Independent and Republican women. Polls suggest there is no gender gap.

This election, voter intensity favors Republicans. Senator Bob Casey (of the Potted Plant Party) has his hands full with a challenge from businessman Tom Smith. Recent polls show that race is a toss-up.Given all these factors, it’s no wonder Romney and his allies have started an air war. In fact, Republicans have spent enough money on ads in Pennsylvania in the past week to fund a solid, month-long ad campaign in the state.

Furthermore, “semi-defrocked” Republican strategist Mike Murphy recently tweeted that if Romney is trailing by two in the PA polls – he wins Ohio.

In the end, it’ll all be about turnout, but I’m cautiously pessimistic about the Keystone State.  I think Obama will eek out a win here.  However, I will bet that  Tom Smith, the Republican Senate candidate, will defeat incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, Jr.  He made up a deficit of almost twenty points in the polls, and flooded the state with ads to hammer at Casey.  It has worked.  The race is a virtual tie. With Casey’s nonexistent campaign and low enthusiasm from Democratic voters, I think Smith will win.

Now, concerning the Buckeye State, Obama is trying to over-perform in the auto/industrial areas of Toledo and Akron.  However, in an election where Democratic enthusiasm isn’t nearly as high as Republicans, it’ll be an uphill struggle.  Whereas Mitt Romney is taking a page from George W. Bush in ’04 centering on the southeast portion of the state – coal country – and the swing suburbs around Cincinnati.  As of now, the race is tied – but The American Spectator’s Robert Stacy McCain has been on the Romney campaign crawl and posted this on Election Eve.

[ Ali] Akbar [Republican operative] stayed up all night Saturday poring over Ohio early-voting totals, comparing them to previous elections, studying recent Buckeye State polls, and crunching the numbers before waking me up before 8 a.m. Sunday to declare, “We’ve got Ohio.” His analysis of the early-vote numbers and his interpretation of the latest Columbus Dispatch poll as bad news for Obama quickly inspired an online buzz among Republicans who have been worried sick over Ohio. Even at the mid-October apex of Romney’s surge, the Republican never led the Real Clear Politics average of polls in this crucial battleground state. Although Obama’s lead has never been large — as of Sunday, he led the RCP Ohio average by 2.8 points — it has been remarkably persistent, prompting much theorizing about the factors behind it. The economy in Ohio hasn’t been quite as hard-hit as some other states; unemployment is only 7 percent. Ads from the Obama campaign have hit Romney hard for his opposition to the GM and Chrysler bailout, a reasonably popular measure in Ohio, where auto manufacturing jobs are a vital part of the state’s economy.

However, it’s a false narrative considering that Mr. Romney’s plan would have also saved the auto industry, which was reaffirmed in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal by auto expert Edward Niedermeyer.  However, the trend with overall early voting doesn’t favor Obama.  Gallup stated that 15% of the electorate has already voted and they’re splitting 52%-46% in Romney’s favor.

Given the Obama administration’s ‘War on Coal,’ I will hedge my bets that there will be a high turnout from these counties adjacent to the Appalachian Trail, but if Hamilton County swings Republican, we can all breath a sigh of relief.

In Wisconsin, I didn’t give this to Romney because it’s Paul Ryan’s home state, and therefore, a safe win.  As George Will aptly noted back in April:

 …in the 16 elections since World War II, 10 presidential candidates have failed to carry the home state of their vice presidential running mates. Gov. Earl Warren could not carry California for Tom Dewey in 1948; Sen. Estes Kefauver could not carry Tennessee for Adlai Stevenson in 1956; former senator Henry Cabot Lodge could not carry Massachusetts for Richard Nixon in 1960; Rep. Bill Miller could not carry New York for Barry Goldwater in 1964; Gov. Spiro Agnew could not carry Maryland for Nixon in 1968; Sargent Shriver could not carry Maryland for George McGovern in 1972; Rep. Geraldine Ferraro could not carry New York (or women, or even her congressional district) for Walter Mondale in 1984; Sen. Lloyd Bentsen could not carry Texas for Michael Dukakis in 1988; Jack Kemp could not carry New York for Bob Dole in 1996; Sen. John Edwards could not carry North Carolina for John Kerry in 2004.

No, it’s because no state has swung more to the right in the Midwest than Wisconsin.  They booted incumbent Democratic Senator Russ Feingold for Ron Johnson, elected Gov. Scott Walker, and took tow formerly Democratic congressional districts that covers most of the northern part of the state in 2010. Additionally, Republicans took control of both chambers of the state legislature as well.  Furthermore, Gov. Scott Walker became the only governor in American history to survive a recall attempt last June receiving more votes than he did in the 2010 gubernatorial race.  Wisconsin State Senate Republicans also faced a recall of their own on two separate occasions.  The first salvo being fired in August of 2011, where Republicans maintained the majority. The second occurred in 2012, where Democrats gained control, but turned out to be a useless exercise since the the general session will not begin until after November 2012, when the seats will be contested again.

While the race is tied, given the reaffirmation of Walker’s policies, the infrastructure Walker has built to successfully maintain his residency in the Governor’s Mansion, and the conservative swing of the state’s electorate – suffice to say that a Romney victory here is likely. Disrupting the pattern where Wisconsin has gone Democratic in nine of the last ten presidential races.

In Indiana, Romney is ahead – on average – by 9.5 points.  Safe state.

In North Carolina, Romney is up by 3.  Given that the State Democratic Party of NC was distracted by a sex scandal and was saddled with an unpopular Democratic Governor, Bev Purdue, Romney should win the state. And Republicans will take the Governor’s mansion for Pat McCrory – the Mayor of Charlotte.  When he’s elected, McCrory will be the third Republican in the past thirty-nine years.

In Florida, it looks as if “Romney has pretty much nailed [it] down,” according to Guy Benson.  Ed Morrissey at Hot Air added to this sentiment noting a poll from the Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald showing Gov. Romney with a comfortable six point lead.

Florida continues to look good for Mitt Romney. The Republican holds a 6-point lead in the state essential to his hopes of defeating President Barack Obama, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/Miami Herald poll.

The poll shows slight tightening, with Romney’s 51-45 lead down 1 percentage point from the Times’ statewide poll a month ago. …

Still, nearly every key indicator in theTimes’ pre-Election Day poll reveals Romney’s advantage in a state Obama won four years ago.

Florida voters trust Romney more to fix the economy and give him an edge, 50 percent to 48 percent, on who will look out more for the middle class — a stark turn from past months when Obama and his allies unleashed a barrage of TV ads portraying Romney as an out-of-touch corporate raider.

Romney even has a slight advantage on foreign policy, with 2 percent more voters saying they trust him over Obama, who has faced criticism over the fatal attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.

The Herald has an interesting analysis, one that confounds the national media narrative.  Romney now gets more crossover votes than Obama, contra to the common assumption that independents are proto-Republicans and Romney has trouble with his base:

Romney’s strengths: independent voters and more crossover support from Democrats relative to the Republicans who back Obama, according to the survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

Real Clear Politics Average has Romney with a 1.5 point advantage over the president going into Election Day.

Virginia will be a squeaker, but given the coal counties to the far western parts of the state, especially around the town of Grundy, I think Mitt will have success.   Ed Morrissey, who along with Allahpundit and most of the full-time staff, have been doing an excellent job detailing the recent polls and debunking the liberal drivel.  He wrote that:

Mitt Romney still earns 50% support in Virginia just before Election Day.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Virginia Voters shows Romney with 50% of the vote to President Obama’s 48%. One percent (1%) likes another candidate, and another one percent (1%) is undecided.

This is unchanged from two weeks ago and the week before that when it was Romney 50%, Obama 47%.

This one’s tight enough to look at the internals, which are somewhat surprising given the closeness of the toplines.  Obama actually loses the overall gender gap by three points (-7 among men, +4 among women), but he’s also losing independents in Virginia by 21 points, 58/37.  In 2008, Obama had a +11 in the gender gap and won independents by one point, 49/48.  The D/R/I in this sample is D+2 at 38/36/25; in 2008 it was 39/33/27 but in 2009′s gubernatorial election it was 33/37/30.

Romney wins the economic argument by six points, 51/45 over Obama.  There’s a significant gender gap on this question as well, but it also favors Romney (+10 among men, +1 among women).  Romney has a 25-point lead among independents on this question, 58/33.  On the other hand, Obama does have a positive job-approval rating at 51/49, which is probably why the toplines look as close as they do.  I’d guess, though, that Virginia’s going to break significantly for Romney

Lastly, New Hampshire is a bet.  Obama is ahead of Romney by two points, but I will take a gamble, and say  that Romney will take the “Live Free or Die” state due to depressed turnout and a little luck.  It’s my wild card.  Either way, it doesn’t matter.  It’s for fun.

Right now, it’s all about turnout.  Republicans are more enthused to vote this cycle.The Huffington Post posted about Chuck Todd’s breakdown of  Republican voter enthusiasm.  Here’s what he said on Meet The Press on October 7, which was the Sunday after the first presidential debate.

CHUCK TODD: Well, it’s simply an enthusiasm gap. And we’re seeing it across the board. Look at here in this first one. 79% of Republicans call themselves extremely interested in this election. On a scale of one to ten, that means they said they’re a nine or a ten on interest in the election. 73% of Democrats.

Look at four years ago. It was a 13 point gap in favor of the Democrats. Let me go through some various voting groups. This is an important voting group. Seniors are an important voting group to Mitt Romney now. He leads them by about 10 points in our NBC Wall Street Journal poll. Look at this in engagement in the election. Four years ago was 81%, pretty higher. Even higher this time at 87%. And Romney’s doing better among seniors than McCain did.

Let me go to an important voting group for the president, young voters. Look at this engagement level: 52% now they call themselves, voters 18 to 34, call themselves extremely interested in this election. Four years ago it was 72%. That 20 gap. The president wins young voters by huge margins. He’s winning them by some 20-plus points. But if you don’t have this kind of enthusiasm, they’re not going to show up to the polls.

And then let me give you this last one here, because this is, I think, the most important one. And that’s Hispanics. The President’s winning Hispanics by 50 points. He hit the 70% mark. However, look at this in terms of interest in the election. 59% now, it was 77%. What does that mean? President got 65%, I believe, of Hispanics four years ago.

So even though he’s going to get more Hispanics, if less of them turn out, it’s a net zero. And yet, you look at Republican enthusiasm, up, senior enthusiasm, up. It’s a huge problem. And by the way, all of this, pre-debate.

Furthermore, liberals are citing polls based on 2008 turnout levels that oversample Democratic voters.  A D+13 poll isn’t an accurate gauge in this election.  We’ve had an unemployment rate above 8% for over forty consecutive months – with the rate being over 9% for twenty-six of those months.  We have $6 trillion in new debt, 23 million unemployed, and a litany of new regulations.  What has Obama shown for this investment in trickle down government?   

We have seen an anemic economic recovery, with our third quarter growth at an insipid 2%.  President Obama is the personification of the dependency agenda.  A pernicious crusade to establish a hyper-regulatory progressive state and break all institutions within our nation to the will of Washington.  More women have lost their jobs under the Obama administration, and with women more on the economic frontlines, they’ve seen that the president may not be the best choice for their checkbook.

Granted, tonight will be a LONG night. So, make sure those coffee mugs are filled, Red Bulls are plentiful, and champagne fully stocked – because Republicans should be optimistic that Gov. Romney will soon be called ‘President Romney’ fairly soon.

For those who are not familiar with history, here is a quick note from Wikipedia:

Characteristic of a cult of personality, it was adopted in the 1930s by the Nazi Party to signal obedience to the party’s leader Adolf Hitler and to glorify the German nation and later the war effort.

If Obama is re-elected, I wonder if history will repeat itself once again. In Germany, the salute eventually became mandatory for citizens. Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic appears to have learned from their history, as the salute a criminal offense in all four countries now.

FOX 35 News Orlando

H/T The Blaze

The video clearly exposes a paid employee of OFA in Texas helping an undercover journalist to vote twice.

In an email sent to supporters, O’Keefe asks for donations so his organization, The Project Veritas, is able to release the rest of the reports. O’Keefe claims to have evidence of election rules violations in five different states.

In his 2011 State of the Union address he said, “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment. … The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information — from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet.”

President Obama assured us that we would connect 80 percent of Americans to high-speed rail within 25 years.

Governors like Rick Scott of Florida and Scott Walker of Wisconsin saw this for the boondoggle it was and refused the government money for high speed rail.

California, however, never a state to pass up an opportunity to waste taxpayer dollars, signed on to the project right away, receiving 3.5 billion dollars from the federal government, and borrowing another 10 billion dollars in a bond issue. The money is to build a high speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The estimated cost for the project is 68 billion dollars. Since Congress cut off 2012 funds for such projects, California is the only U.S. state working to lay tracks for 220 mph trains. The project remains about $54 billion short of what is required for completion

Public support among Californians is waning, however. A recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found that 59 percent would now oppose the rail project given another chance to vote even though it was previously approved by a 53% majority.

Even with a budget deficit of 15.7 billion dollars, Governor Jerry Brown seems undeterred. He has allocated some of the 9.95 billion dollars in bond issues for the rail project in fiscal year 2012, while he asks voters to increase sales and income taxes and cut the school year by three weeks.

On video, Ornstein describes it this way: “Democrats have moved left, to probably their own 25 yard line. President Obama’s probably around the 40. The Republicans have moved behind their own goal post.” In an obvious swipe at Tea Party reps and senators, Orenstein said: “I wouldn’t say it’s all Republicans, it’s 80-20 at this point.”

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/blame-party-washington-problems-102604505.htm

Democrats have moved left to probably their own 25-yard line? obama’s probably around the 40? Republicans have moved behind their own goal post? Based on his personal opinion, perhaps. Historically, Orentein’s facing fourth and 99, trying to complete a Hail Mary pass with hurricane force winds in his face.

“progressives” have been moving America to the left for at least a century. Today’s totally partisan left wing extremists like obama, Pelosi and Reid have been driving America hard left since they took office. Pelosi and Reid began their latest push in 2007 when they took over “leadership” in the House and Senate. obama joined them in earnest after his 2009 inauguration.

Pelosi, who’s from an extreme leftist Congressional District in the San Francisco area, is as fringe “progressive” as is the district she represents: the birthplace and capitol of the anti-American hippie counter-culture. She responded: “Are you kidding? Are you kidding?” when asked to cite the Constitutional basis for a piece of her legislation.

Reid’s such a partisan hack that to create and support the false narrative of a “do nothing Congress” with his co-conspirator obama, the Senate under Reid’s “leadership” hasn’t passed a budget in over 1,000 days. Thanks to Reid, several dozen bills dealing with jobs, the economy, deficit reduction and reforms passed by the House have been completely ignored by the Senate.

obama’s as fringe left “progressive as” they come. To say that someone who’s 100% partisan, who sat in the pews of a black separatist (read Marxist) church for twenty years, who by his own admission (in writing) sought out the radicals and the Socialists while in school, who’s father was a Marxist, who’s mother and grandparents were Communists, who’s boyhood mentor was a card carrying member of the American Communist Party, who has appointed the most extreme, out of the American mainstream radicals to be his czars…to say that this individual is anything but an extremist is as intellectually dishonest as is humanly possible.

This is the trio who, after whining about obama’s predecessor having added $5 trillion to the national debt in eight years, increased that debt by over $5 trillion in under four. This is the bunch that passed their “stimulus” bill, which stole from taxpayers to pay off their political cronies on Wall Street, in unions, with “green energy” company fronts and former campaign donors/bundlers. obama openly joked about the “shovel ready” jobs the “stimulus” bill was “intended” to fund weren’t so “shovel ready” after all. Lest America forget, this is the gang who, despite loud public outcries against it by a majority of the people, used secret payoffs and backroom deals agreed to in the dead of the night behind closed doors to shove government controlled healthcare down America’s throat.

Orenstein calls what these people have done moving to their own 25-yard line, or in obama’s case, to the 40? He alleges that Republicans have moved behind their own goal post? Does Orenstein expect to be taken seriously? Under what form of delusion must one be suffering in order to plead such a case?

The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, the founding documents of the United States, are unsurpassed in the freedoms, rights, and opportunities they secure for the people. That there are elected Republicans who want to follow the recipe for successful governance bequeathed upon America by its founders means they either want to prevent America from being driven farther to the left, or return America to where it’s supposed to be. Following the Constitution. It’s really that simple.

Although it clearly wasn’t Orenstein’s intent, in a strange, almost perverse way it’s good to see a member of the institutionalized “progressive” left publicly acknowledges that some elected officials in the USA are still American. For Orenstein, his philosophical teammates and their march in lock-step “progressive” followers, that fact is seen as a negative.

Thanks to “progressives”, the most divisive, partisan, uncompromising group of politicians to exist in the past century, America is deeply divided. Either you’re an American or you’re a “progressive”. You cannot be both.

http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/are-republicans-to-blame-for-washingtons-problems/

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul endorsed Connie Mack today via conference call.  Paul said that he believes Mack is “not afraid to stand up to the establishment”, and cites the defeat of Indiana Senator Dick Lugar as evidence that the Tea Party is still a force – and that the Tea Party should back Mack.

“I think he’s one [representative] to stand up to the establishment. I think he’s one the Tea Party can get behind”

Mack is also making waves of his own today.

Mack co-authored a letter that was sent to the Transportation Bill Conference Committee urging it to include language that would build the Keystone XL pipeline immediately.

The letter said, in part:

“Supporting the Keystone XL pipeline will give Americans what they need – more jobs and increased security. The special interest blockade of the pipeline by President Obama and his liberal allies ends now. After multiple hearings and a new application, we stand ready to fast track the pipeline now.”

Given the momentum from ousting the 36-year Senator from Indiana, and the tough language from Mack, will the Tea Party rally behind the Paul endorsement in Florida?

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Audio of Paul’s endorsement:

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Number 10 on the oxymoron list comes to us via the group of 2012 GOP Presidential candidates, in the form of Rick Santorum. While Santorum is mainly running on the platform of being the non-Romney conservative alternative, an oxymoron has been used to better describe Mr. Santorum’s Senatorial voting record and when we look at that record, Mr. Santorum qualifies for the Number 10 oxymoron of the day: A Big Government Conservative.

Number 9 - Small Government Liberalism. This oxymoron is so outrageous that it surely sits right next to the “wise fool” oxymoron on the list of most contradictory statements ever written. Yet in California, ( the most Liberal state in the country) we see that a Mr. Matt Rozee  actually tries to pass himself off as a small government Liberal when running for Congress. He also claims to be an Executive Director at Fox in his bio. That should make those folks that criticize Fox News for appearing to veer left recently feel pretty good.

Number 8 - The Public Option becomes a ludicrous example of an oxymoron, when it is being used to promote the Liberal health-care “reforms” that basically forces everyone into a government-run health-care system where the only option people end up with is the government plan, simply because the government has put all the other health insurance companies out of business. A great example of another supposed “public option” is the option to pay taxes to support our current big government debt-spenders. The phrase, “no taxation without representation” comes to mind here.  In that case you have the option to pay your taxes and shut up.. or go to prison. Unless you are a member of Congress of course, such as Claire McCaskell (D-MO), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), or current Treasury Chief Timothy Geitner. We can now add Government Motors to the list of big government tyrants and crony-capitalists who do not have to pay taxes like the rest of America.

Number 7 -  Bureaucratic efficiency. This oxymoron is self-explanatory and would seem to be some kind of joke, if this country wasn’t $16 trillion dollars in debt and headed straight off the Greek-style debt cliff, like the plunge the once-great city of Detroit is currently undertaking. When it comes to big government  bureaucratic efficiency, today’s United States Post Office  serves up a heaping helping of reality as to how efficient a once-proud and stable organization becomes when the big government meddlers of Congress get involved.

Number 6 – Tolerant Liberal  becomes a great example of an oxymoron when we see this video of Rep Maxine Waters most recent expose’ of Congressional hate-speech and partisanship.

Number 5 - Secret Government Talks becomes an oxymoron when big government media manipulators use it to announce the secret meetings to the entire world, as we see in the article, ridiculously titled,  Afghanistan and US in secret talks with Taliban.  Everything qualifies as a big government secret that needs to be kept from the American taxpayers today, when we look at the recent refusal of the Obama administration to allow White House officials to  appear before Congress to explain how half a billion dollars were given to the bankrupt green energy  firm Solyndra.

Number 4 –  President Obama’s numerous campaign statements that he is working to reduce deficits and debt is a form of an oxymoron that is so far out of touch with reality that it is hard to understand just how he expects the American people to believe it. For the perfect example of this, please President Obama’s Budget Buffoonery. In that article, it shows how Obama’s latest budget proposal adds trillions of dollars of debt, and makes zero cuts to big government spending, all contrary to his thousands of recent [taxpayer-funded] campaign speeches about the need to cut the deficits and lower the national debt. Barack Obma has in fact piled more debt onto the backs of future generations of Americans in 3 1/2 years than G.W. Bush did in 8 full years in office. Obama’s debt chart can be seen in this article. Obama has piled on record debt in 3 straight years,’09, ’10, and ’11 and the 2012 deficit is now projected to once again be a whopping 1.32 trillion, and which the White House underestimated by 138%! Some folks could confuse Obama’s oxymoron about cutting deficits and debt with a blatant lie, designed to win reelection and hide his Liberal debt-spending of the past 3 1/2 years.

Number 3 – Accidentally on Purpose is a good example of an oxymoron that is mainly used as a form of sarcasm today. When looking at the debt-spending of Obama in number 4 above, while claiming that he is “reducing deficits and debt” a lot of Americans have now come to the conclusion that Obama is bankrupting America accidentally on purpose.

Number 2 -  Congressional Ethics has to be considered a flaming oxymoron today, when examining the current crop of corrupto-crats in Congress which include the following “honorable civil servants.”  Rep Alcee Hastings ( D-FL) who is the impeached federal judge who was found guilty of numerous corruption charges, yet has been re-elected to serve in Congress for 19 straight years! How about he above mentioned far left radical extremist and hate-speech generator, Maxine Waters (D-CA) who lobbied the White House for TARP money for her husbands bank illegally? When it comes to Congressional Ethics, the completely discredited former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and her profiting from insider trading certainly ranks among the top ten in hypocritical hyperbole when it comes to congressional ethics.

Number 1 and the political oxymoron of the century has to go to the statement that “Barack Hussein Obama is the most gifted speaker in the history of U.S. politics,” while the only speaking the current campaigner-in-chief does in public ever since he was elected. is to read words written by other’s and inserted into a teleprompter.  While Obama might qualify as a “gifted speech reader,” reading from a teleprompter hardly qualifies him for the most gifted speaker in U.S. history award. However, it does qualify him for the oxy-moron ( pun intended) of the century.

Number 10 on the oxymoron list comes to us via the group of 2012 GOP Presidential candidates, in the form of Rick Santorum. While Santorum is mainly running on the platform of being the non-Romney conservative alternative, an oxymoron has been used to better describe Mr. Santorum’s Senatorial voting record and when we look at that record, Mr. Santorum qualifies for the Number 10 oxymoron of the day: A Big Government Conservative.

Number 9 - Small Government Liberalism. This oxymoron is so outrageous that it surely sits right next to the “wise fool” oxymoron on the list of most contradictory statements ever written. Yet in California, ( the most Liberal state in the country) we see that a Mr. Matt Rozee  actually tries to pass himself off as a small government Liberal when running for Congress. He also claims to be an Executive Director at Fox in his bio. That should make those folks that criticize Fox News for appearing to veer left recently feel pretty good.

Number 8 - The Public Option becomes a ludicrous example of an oxymoron, when it is being used to promote the Liberal health-care “reforms” that basically forces everyone into a government-run health-care system where the only option people end up with is the government plan, simply because the government has put all the other health insurance companies out of business. A great example of another supposed “public option” is the option to pay taxes to support our current big government debt-spenders. The phrase, “no taxation without representation” comes to mind here.  In that case you have the option to pay your taxes and shut up.. or go to prison. Unless you are a member of Congress of course, such as Claire McCaskell (D-MO), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), or current Treasury Chief Timothy Geitner. We can now add Government Motors to the list of big government tyrants and crony-capitalists who do not have to pay taxes like the rest of America.

Number 7 -  Bureaucratic efficiency. This oxymoron is self-explanatory and would seem to be some kind of joke, if this country wasn’t $16 trillion dollars in debt and headed straight off the Greek-style debt cliff, like the plunge the once-great city of Detroit is currently undertaking. When it comes to big government  bureaucratic efficiency, today’s United States Post Office  serves up a heaping helping of reality as to how efficient a once-proud and stable organization becomes when the big government meddlers of Congress get involved.

Number 6 – Tolerant Liberal  becomes a great example of an oxymoron when we see this video of Rep Maxine Waters most recent expose’ of Congressional hate-speech and partisanship.

Number 5 - Secret Government Talks becomes an oxymoron when big government media manipulators use it to announce the secret meetings to the entire world, as we see in the article, ridiculously titled,  Afghanistan and US in secret talks with Taliban.  Everything qualifies as a big government secret that needs to be kept from the American taxpayers today, when we look at the recent refusal of the Obama administration to allow White House officials to  appear before Congress to explain how half a billion dollars were given to the bankrupt green energy  firm Solyndra.

Number 4 –  President Obama’s numerous campaign statements that he is working to reduce deficits and debt is a form of an oxymoron that is so far out of touch with reality that it is hard to understand just how he expects the American people to believe it. For the perfect example of this, please President Obama’s Budget Buffoonery. In that article, it shows how Obama’s latest budget proposal adds trillions of dollars of debt, and makes zero cuts to big government spending, all contrary to his thousands of recent [taxpayer-funded] campaign speeches about the need to cut the deficits and lower the national debt. Barack Obma has in fact piled more debt onto the backs of future generations of Americans in 3 1/2 years than G.W. Bush did in 8 full years in office. Obama’s debt chart can be seen in this article. Obama has piled on record debt in 3 straight years,’09, ’10, and ’11 and the 2012 deficit is now projected to once again be a whopping 1.32 trillion, and which the White House underestimated by 138%! Some folks could confuse Obama’s oxymoron about cutting deficits and debt with a blatant lie, designed to win reelection and hide his Liberal debt-spending of the past 3 1/2 years.

Number 3 – Accidentally on Purpose is a good example of an oxymoron that is mainly used as a form of sarcasm today. When looking at the debt-spending of Obama in number 4 above, while claiming that he is “reducing deficits and debt” a lot of Americans have now come to the conclusion that Obama is bankrupting America accidentally on purpose.

Number 2 -  Congressional Ethics has to be considered a flaming oxymoron today, when examining the current crop of corrupto-crats in Congress which include the following “honorable civil servants.”  Rep Alcee Hastings ( D-FL) who is the impeached federal judge who was found guilty of numerous corruption charges, yet has been re-elected to serve in Congress for 19 straight years! How about he above mentioned far left radical extremist and hate-speech generator, Maxine Waters (D-CA) who lobbied the White House for TARP money for her husbands bank illegally? When it comes to Congressional Ethics, the completely discredited former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and her profiting from insider trading certainly ranks among the top ten in hypocritical hyperbole when it comes to congressional ethics.

Number 1 and the political oxymoron of the century has to go to the statement that “Barack Hussein Obama is the most gifted speaker in the history of U.S. politics,” while the only speaking the current campaigner-in-chief does in public ever since he was elected. is to read words written by other’s and inserted into a teleprompter.  While Obama might qualify as a “gifted speech reader,” reading from a teleprompter hardly qualifies him for the most gifted speaker in U.S. history award. However, it does qualify him for the oxy-moron ( pun intended) of the century.

Governor Scott Announces Plan to Expand Port of Tampa Petroleum Facility

 This week, while at the Governor’s Luncheon at the Florida State Fair in Tampa, I announced a a bold new initiative aimed at upgrading and modernizing Tampa’s port system. This 50-50 partnership between the State of Florida and the Port of Tampa will allow the port to handle up to five million more tons of petroleum products a year after it’s completed in 2014. The port estimates the project will create over 641 construction jobs, as well as more than 8,200 direct and indirect jobs over the next 30 years.

By prioritizing vital transportation products, we can make Florida a better place for businesses to grow and expand and help get Floridians back to work. This project will enhance Florida’s infrastructure and get our state ready for a new generation of international trade with the Caribbean, South America and beyond.

I invite you to visit the links below to find out more about the expansion of the petroleum facility at the Port of Tampa, as well as other initiatives designed to create jobs in our state, ensure Florida’s children have access to a quality education, and keep the cost of living low in Florida.

Governor Scott’s pro-growth policies  have reduced unemployment in Florida by 2% in 2011, as he continues to work towards fulfilling his election campaign promises to create 700,000 new jobs in Florida in 7 years, produce balanced budgets and reduce the size and scope of big government in Florida.  He has installed new free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia, balanced he state budget in 2011 without raises taxes, and in fact he gave businesses and families a tax cut. Governor Scott  recently announced his 2012 Leglislative preview, in which stated that in 2011, “We began reviewing and eliminating hundreds of unnecessary rules and regulations that have hamstrung business owners in Florida. We scaled back the size of state government and created a business environment in Florida that has allowed us to create 87,200 private sector jobs since January.

And with the help of the Legislature, we also passed landmark education reforms that put students first, eliminated tenure, and laid out a path to pay effective teachers as professionals.  We’re off to a great start, but there’s a lot more work to be done. Starting tomorrow, and continuing over the next few weeks, I will be rolling out my legislative agenda for the 2012 session.

The proposals you will see reflect my three most important jobs as Governor— getting our residents back to work by growing quality jobs in the private sector; keeping the cost of living low for all Floridians; and building a world-class education system through continued improvements in our K-12 and higher education institutions”

Governor Scott’s first full year has been quite successful, considering the budget deficits he inherited, and the current recession America still struggles with. While the media and certain propagandists in Florida like to label Governor Scott as the most hated Governor in the country, his current pro-growth policies, coupled with streamlining state government agencies and reducing overbearing regulations has shown remarkable results in moving Florida forward. Thank you, Governor Scott.

Rick Perry, the John Edwards plastic hair of the race, left the Democrat Party when he saw the winds of change bringing a Republican ascendency during the Reagan/Bush ’41 years. Perry isn’t now and never has been a conservative. In-state tuition and a “path to citizenship (amnesty)” for illegal aliens are not conservative positions, despite what Perry might think.

Once Cain had been eliminated Romney and Gingrich turned on each other in a manner befitting true liberals, or “Republican moderates” as the establishment likes to say. Gingrich berates Romney for making money using capitalism as his method. How can he say he is a conservative when he spends day upon day berating someone using the very system conservatives espouse?

Romney’s chief operative in Florida is busy working with Democrats to re-district Allen West out of the House of Representatives; Romney has destroyed the health care system and the economy of Massachusetts with Romneycare, and believes in the individual mandate. Of course, he mitigates the Romneycare issue by saying it is okay for the state but not the federal government to force citizens into purchasing something they don’t want. Gingrich also believes, or says he does, that the individual mandate is acceptable, even preferable. How is either one of them going to run a general election on abolishing Obamacare with these records? Not much of a difference from Obama to me.

Neither Romney nor Gingrich will bring up the issues that matter to We the People. I wonder why not. Gingrich rails at Romney for being a part of Bain Capitol but mentions not one word about Barack Obama having a former Bain executive in his inner circle. Why is this off the radar screen for Gingrich when he makes such a big deal about Romney’s Bain connection? Any mention of the nearly $500,000 in back taxes owed by current White House staff members while Obama rails at the “rich” who “don’t pay their fair share of taxes”? Or how about Timothy Geithner, the king of tax cheats? Not a word from Romney or Gingrich on Geithner either.

Just last week a lawsuit was heard in Georgia, Gingrich’s home state, dealing with the eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as president due to his not being a “natural born citizen”, a strategy developed by Republican candidate John Albert Dummett Jr., of California. You haven’t heard of Dummett because the ruling elite, including their propaganda arm FOX News, won’t give him the time of day. Just another annoying conservative; keep moving folks, nothing to see here. A ruling is expected very soon and is expected to keep Obama off the Georgia ballot. I watched the hearing and it was an impressive array of evidence showing that Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject, making our current president ineligible to hold the seat. One of the most significant political stories since Richard Nixon resigned due to Watergate, yet not a word from the two Republican front runners about it. I wonder why.

I keep hearing that Republicans need someone who can oust Barack Obama in November. I don’t seem to ever hear them mention what We the people need, or want for that matter. I wrote a few months ago, when Romney and Perry were “our only hope”, that we need to be careful what we ask for. Replacing Barack Obama with a clone is not the answer to our nation’s problems but that is where we are headed with Romney and Gingrich.

It seems Republicans are running to lose once again. This happened in 2008 with John McCain at the helm. He had the best prospect for election in Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential candidate but his handlers told her to keep quiet about Obama’s connections to Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. Perceived weakness and a RINO candidate brought defeat and injected Barack Obama into office. I see today’s Republican Party playing the same losing game. They won’t touch Obama’s radical beginnings, the question of his eligibility, or his links to Wall Street money men.

Are the Republicans cowards or are they competing in this race to dissolve the United States of America into a Third World banana republic? I believe it is a combination of both. The party machine, elitist establishment is so afraid of being called “racist” or “extremist” that they refuse to take a stand on anything conservative. Even a dead fish can float downstream and today’s Republican Party is content to be a dead fish. Dead fish is what Romney and Gingrich offer us. Those of us who are willing to fight for freedom are a danger to their little dinghy capsizing in a tidal wave of conservatism and the establishment will do anything to prevent We the People from capsizing their boat. New World Order globalists own the Republican Party and conservatives are a danger to that ownership.

Right now the Republican Party sits back and criticizes Democrats but will not really jeopardize their seats in the back of the bus to stand with those of us who want true liberty to be restored in America. When the winds of change began to blow the way of conservatism during the Reagan years many Democrats wanted to jump on the bandwagon to continue their places of power in congress. Alan Specter is a classic example of this, as is Rick Perry.
Both, along with several others, changed over to the Republican Party and were welcomed with open arms by Gingrich and the Republican leaders in the Senate. I also remember them giving committee chairmanships to Democrats in the name of “civility” and “inclusiveness”. What happened? The Republican Party became almost as Marxist oriented as the Democrat Party. This compromising has led us to where we are now, a Republican Party dominated by “moderates” lacking either the courage or the desire to stand on conservative principles.

If voters compromise and “settle” for Romney or Gingrich our nation will lose our freedom, a freedom given by thousands who have died and suffered wounds in battle after battle against tyranny. If voters are willing to be dead fish and float downstream they will find a swamp of tyranny, despotism, and slavery at the end of that stream. It has happened many times in the past to other nations. France, Russia, Germany, Cuba, Venezuela, and many others have settled for the lesser of two evils only to find that evil is evil and the lesser of those evils sold them into slavery and despotism in the end.

As Neville Chamberlain found out in dealing with Adolph Hitler, appeasement and the compromise of values is always a losing proposition. People say that a third party candidate, or an out-of-the-establishment candidate like Dummett, cannot win so they won’t vote for one. The reason a third party or dark horse candidate can’t win is that too many people would rather take a chance on soft tyranny than stand up for total liberty; they would rather float downstream. We cannot preserve our freedom by floating downstream. Our founding fathers didn’t float downstream, the “Greatest Generation” didn’t float downstream and accept dictatorship from Hirohito and Hitler, and I won’t float downstream and accept dictatorship from Obama, Romney, or Gingrich. I will not accept tyranny from Democrats or Republicans.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell
Claremore, Oklahoma
February 2, 2012

1. According to NBC, the Romney super PAC , Restore Our Future had raised $17.9 million dollars as of the end of December, with millions more being pumped in during the month of January.

2. The big money donors who gave the Romney PAC over 1 million include billionaire Elliot Management hedge fund chief Pat Singer, along with other hedge fund heavyweights, Julian Robertson of Tiger Management and Robert Mercer of Rennaissance Technologies. Also handing out million-dollar donations to the Romney PAC were Florida Energy mogul Bill Koch of Oxbow Carbon, Miguel Fernandez of MBF Healthcare Partners, and Rooney Holdings of Tulsa Oklahoma. Three executives from Bain Capital also chipped in a total of $625 grand.

3. As of last week, CSM had the Romney PAC outspending all others by a 20-1 margin in Florida. The majority of that cash went towards attack ads against Newt Gingrich after he surprisingly stomped Mitt Romney in the S.C. Primary.

Next up, there is the fact that in a time where many people seeing a strong demand for a more conservative President in 2013, Mitt Romney doesn’t quite fit the bill:

     According to ABC News, “Yet, while the result pulled Romney back to his strong New Hampshire showing, there was enough in the results to give Newt Gingrich a continued source of ammunition. A substantial 41 percent of Florida voters described Romney’s positions on the issues as “not conservative enough”; among all non-Romney voters, 67 percent said so. Gingrich, indeed, won “very” conservative voters by 42-30 percent, won the strongest anti-abortion voters by 15 points and won strong supporters of the Tea Party political movement – more than a third of all Florida primary voters – by 12 points

    Finally there remains the fact that the overall “non-Romney vote,” which would factor into the overall results should certain failing candidates decide to drop out of the race, forcing people to choose between the moderate Romney or the conservative Gingrich is very high. Richard Miniter points this about the battle between Romney and the non-Romney vote: (emphasis added)

Any talk of election reforms must include stiffer, mandated criminal charges to dissuade vote fraud from corrupting our electoral system. Many States have in fact, enacted stiffer voting laws to prevent vote fraud and abuse, yet these new laws are being challenged across the land by Democratic activists and sympathetic judges, including the top partisan political hack at the DOJ, Mr. Eric Holder. To hear these Democrats tell it, it is also a terrible injustice for States to require proper voter registration that allows enough time to prevent election day registration fraud, and it is also supposed to be an attack on minorities to make them show an ID to vote. Those same minorities can show ID to drive , receive welfare benefits and open bank accounts, but somehow we are supposed to believe they can’t produce an ID to vote? Get real folks. The very same people who are promoting vote fraud through denying State’s rights to demand Voter ID, are in fact, none other than the Party of Liberal Democrats and their operatives. To witness, the following slideshow puts some faces to proven cases of Democratic Party vote fraud. Below the slideshow link, are the related proven cases of vote fraud explained and linked.

The Faces of Vote Fraud

Slide #1- Four Wade County, North Carolina Democrats admit to voting for Barack Obama twice in 2008. See this,  local news report.

Side #2 - 12 Democrats charged with absentee ballot voter fraud in Georgia. The defendants include people who worked in the voter registrar’s office and some school board members.

Slide #3 – 8 arrested for absentee ballot voter fraud in Madison County, Florida.

Slide #4 – Daytona Beach City Democrat Commissioner and his Campaign Manager arrested for absentee ballot vote fraud in his own election bid.

Slide #5 – Seven Democrats arrested for absentee ballot vote fraud in N.Y. 4 plead guilty and 3 are awaiting trial, according to this report , in which their method of operation is revealed: “So far seven elected or appointed officials and operatives have been charged in the two-tear probe into allegations that scores of absentee ballots were forged to benefit Democratic candidates in the 2009 Working Families Party primary. Most voters targeted lived in Troy Housing Authority apartments ( government subsidized housing) and rarely, if ever voted. They were allegedly targeted because they were unfamiliar with the process.” (emphasis added)

Slide #6 – Democrat Anthony DeFiglio ( with attny) plead guilty in his role in the above-mention NY absentee ballot vote fraud case. In Nov. 2009, he told N.Y State police investigators that “faking absentee ballots was commonplace and an accepted practice in political circles”. ( Make that “Democratic political circles” in N.Y. State)

Slide #7 – Prominent Democratic leader and former state Rep. Mike Marshall and son Chris ( shown attending Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009,) along with Democrat John Cook have been indicted on multiple counts of vote fraud. forgery, and perjury in Indiana. The state of Indiana is also embroiled in a “Right to work” battle against powerful Labor Union/Democratic party operatives, who we have now learned are quite adept at vote fraud. Preventing vote fraud in all forms is not only critical to our electoral system, it is also crucial to watch out for it in petition drives such as this one against Governor Walker in Wisconsin.

Slide #8 – The scary looking fellow lady in slide #8 is none other than NAACP executive Lessadolla Sowers, who now resides in prison after being convicted on 10 counts of absentee ballot vote fraud in Tunica County, Mississippi. As The Daily Caller explains: “While NAACP President Benjamin Jealous lashed out at new state laws requiring voter ID for voting, an NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.”  That would be the same President of the NAACP that says there is no vote fraud in America, therefor Voter ID laws are not needed today.

Slide #9 – Fox News has the scoop on Democratic party chairman, Butch Morgan resigning amid an investigation into hundreds of fake signatures on petitions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the Indiana state primary of 2008. Here is the method of operation the democrats used to sneak these fake signatures through the system: Among the fake signatures found was that of former Indiana Governor Mel Kernan. Mr. Kernan told the South bend tribune that neither version of his signatures that appears on the documents are anything like his own. The ST. Joseph Counter voter registration office had both a Democratic and a Republican member who sign off on petition changes submitted for review. Low and behold Republican Linda Silcott was out of the office on bereavement leave when the fake signatures passed through her office. Silcott’s signature was applied by rubber stamp, while the Democrat’s signature was hand written. Amazing coincidence there isn’t it?

This is just the tip of the iceberg into the vote fraud in America today. A simple browser search also shows us that 5000 non-U.S. Citizens voted in Colorado  in 2010, Democrats caught validating dead people voting in the NH primary,  and 953 dead people voting in S.C. , all of which are all well-documented cases of proven vote fraud. To add insult to injury, we see blatant leftist propaganda like this, saying once again, that there are no proven cases of voter fraud, that it is all being blown out of proportion, and that we do not need voter ID laws.

What will Americans believe, that there has been, in fact, proven vote fraud as outlined in this article for all to see, or Liberal Democratic propaganda that insists that there is no vote fraud, therefor there is no need for Voter ID laws? Demand that your state install and enforce Voter ID laws and make your vote count in 2012!

Update1- In the Troy N.Y. voter fraud trial, several witnesses have now come out and admitted that they were paid to commit vote fraud  by Democrats.

The “elite media”? What the heck is the “elite media”? Does that include CNN, who intentionally used subconscious visual and verbal propaganda, consistently and repeatedly trying to tie the GOP to the south? (Read: Forget American history, the GOP is the racist Party) However, I digress.

While its true that there was a very strong element of displeasure within the former Speaker’s replies to Juan Williams of FOX News and especially CNN’s John King, this observation misses the true, underlying reason for Gingrich’s sudden surge in popularity.

Consider South Carolina. They had a big Tea Party victory in 2010 with the election of Nikki Haley as Governor. Then, Governor Haley endorsed Mitt Romney, the GOP establishment’s candidate. Factor in Romney’s inexplicable failure to answer questions he should have seen coming years ago and you begin to get an idea of what happened.

The main reason Newt Gingrich surged in South Carolina, and is now surging in Florida is his ability to articulate the difference between the Conservative and “progressive” visions for America.

The American idea, the shot heard round the world, is that We The People can govern ourselves. By the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God we are entitled, by virtue of our humanity, to the maximum amount of Individual Liberties consistent with law and order, and to the Right of private ownership, not the least of which is the Right to own and decide for ourselves. These Liberties and Rights are to be equally protected by a Constitutionally limited, representative government that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. This is a distinctly exceptional American idea.

The “progressive” idea is that an all-powerful centrally planned government, with extreme hostility towards private ownership, forces redistribution of wealth through “progressive” policies in the name of social or economic “justice”. In order to ensure “fairness”, an oligarchy of self-imagined, self appointed ”intellectual elite” must be responsible for controlling businesses, industries and “the masses”, who’re incapable of governing themselves. This idea came to America from Britain’s Fabian Socialists and Germany’s Frankfurt School. This is a European idea, not an American one.

There’s a palpable hunger in America for a return to the original intent and First Principles of our Founding Fathers. Why else do you think the Tea Party exists? Or are you one of those unfortunate souls who swallowed the “because they’re racists and can’t stand having a black President” lie hook, line and sinker?

Republicans and Democrats who seek to maintain the status quo better respect the Tea Party. We surround you.

http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/angry-newt/

Quote for the originating editor: “[Note - It would seem that some sources for the relationship that Wasserman has are in conflict. Some say that Diana Wasserman is her mother and some do not.  This source has her mother's name as Ann. We are trying to get down to the bottom of this at this time -Editor].”

Correction: The Atlas Shrugs information apparently is incorrect as we see by this article from the Sun Sentinel:

The online encyclopedia’s penchant for posting inaccuracies isn’t helping U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, whose parents are listed on Wikipedia as being two fallen public figures in Broward.  The Cuban-born Wasserman-Rubin said she carries the “Wasserman” surname from her first husband, father of her two children (neither of which is in Congress). ”We are not related at all,” she said. “… Not related with any connection whatsoever.”

Here at CDN we strive to report the news and express our opinions in the most honest ways possible, and regret the incorrect information posted earlier due to the incorrect internet information shown below. This information will be left intact so that readers may see just how misleading and incorrect information can result in a terrible mistake.  We sincerely apologize to all of our readers and the Wasserman-Shultz family in particular.

 Atlas Shrugs tells us:  DNC Chair’s parents off to jail for corruption Political Arena

Of all of the most vile, bold face, shameless liars in politics, no one tops acting DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. We have videos of her and youtube is rife with them; bloggers have sliced and diced her lies with verifiable sources from one end of the country to the other.

Richard Rubin — husband of former Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin, who still faces seven felony charges of her own — was sentenced this morning to ten months in federal prison.

Rubin, 66, pleaded guilty in April to federal tax evasion after failing to report $100,000 in fees he received from the town of Davie for a land deal he brokered in 2004.

Then, the probable-cause affidavit released last year contended, the couple was living quite lavishly — including spending money on artwork, cruises, vacations to Europe, and a $150,000 home repair project.

Rubin wasn’t charged with tax evasion until April of this year.

The State Attorney’s Office, however, charged Wasserman-Rubin last year with seven counts of felony unlawful compensation related to her votes for her husband’s grant-writing. (emphasis added)