Twinkie Defense:  A phrase meaning to circumvent responsibility for one’s own actions and instead blame the results of those actions on something illogical and external to oneself.

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number One: “First of all, my investments are not made by me. My investments for the last 10 years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee.”  - Mitt Romney, Florida Republican Debate

• Two problems: One, it can be argued (i.e. former Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist) that blind trusts are not always as blind as they appear to be; two, it is not a valid excuse to say, “we’ve learned about this as we made our financial disclosure.”
•  Governor Romney is contending that until he was pressured into financial disclosure, he did not deem it important to know which companies he was investing in and ultimately making money from. Blaming platform conflicting investment decisions on anyone other than himself is disingenuous. If elected president, “it was someone else’s fault” will not pass with the American people.

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Two: “Actually, Newt, we got the idea of an individual mandate from you.” – Mitt Romney, CNN Debate

• Really? The responsibility for a huge Republican no-no in RomneyCare is attributed, not to Governor Romney who created and passed into law, but to Newt Gingrich?

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Three: “If illegal immigrants are getting access to additional healthcare in Massachusetts, its liberal Gov. Deval Patrick that has made it easier for them to do so. All of the regulatory activities involving the Health Safety Net Fund, including who could get care, were made long after Mitt Romney left office.” – Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul

• Here Governor Romney blames the illegal immigrant loopholes in his healthcare bill as well as it’s blowing a hole in the state’s budget on his successor. My question is, if assuming it is true that his successor’s implementation of the bill caused these catastrophic problems, isn’t it equally true that responsibility for crafting a bill explicitly denying illegal immigrants care other than emergency (the federal mandate) and ensuring that the new program could be fiscally sustained lies with Governor Romney?
• Passing a fatally flawed law is Governor Romney’s blunder. If he will take credit for the program’s successes, he must also take responsibility for its failures.

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Four: “I did not have a super PAC run an ad against you (Rick Santorum). That’s, as you know, that’s something which is completely out of the control of candidates.”  “Mr. Speaker, the super PACs that are out there running ads with Ron Paul’s, mine, yours, as you know, that is not my ad. I didn’t write that ad. I can’t tell them how to.” – Mitt Romney in GOP debate

• Mitt Romney’s responding repeatedly that he has no control over the content of a super PAC’s ads have been unending fodder for the media, left leaning and right. Romney’s a Harvard Law graduate; he’s a smart guy. Did he really believe laying responsibility on a surrogate would satisfy the American people? Own up to your attacks, Governor.

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Five: Wolf Blitzer (CNN debate, January 26):” You had an ad running saying that Speaker Gingrich called Spanish ‘the language of the ghetto.’ What do you mean by that?”   Mitt Romney: “I haven’t seen the ad, so I’m sorry. I don’t get to see all the TV ads.”

• Ok, so let me get this straight, Governor Romney. It’s not your fault if a super PAC running ads promoting your campaign misleads the American people; and, it is not your fault if your very own campaign runs misleading ads even when they end with “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message”  Does he seriously think that we’re all daft? How does that work in Romney-land?

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Six: Fox News Debate, 2012, Gerald Seib: “America Pad and Paper is a company that Bain Capital bought with $5 million, took on more debt to expand, couldn’t pay back the loans, went bankrupt and several hundred people lost their jobs. Bain Capital though, took $100 million in profits and fees. Does that show a flaw in the Bain Capital model? Or is that just the rough and tumble of America capitalism?”  Mitt Romney: “At the time I was at Bain Capital, the business was still going and didn’t go bankrupt.” “Ultimately, do I believe that free enterprise works?  Absolutely.”

• “The job losses are not my fault,” I imagine Romney saying, “I wasn’t around when the company went belly up.” Question: For every job gained, how many thousands of jobs were lost? And where jobs were lost, how many of those companies stayed in business because of the job cuts?
• Jobs gained? Proof Romney is job creator. Jobs lost? Blame American Capitalism.

Absurd Mitt Romney Defense Number Seven? Coming soon from a Mitt Romney campaign event near you!

The words “establishment” and “outsider” are wield pretty fast and loose in presidential elections. This election is hardly unique. Not so sure we’re all on the same page though, so I thought I would clarify, at least, from my vantage point.

I’ll start with defining “outsider” by using myself as the example. I am someone who has never held public office, never worked for someone in public office, never had a friend in public office and except for noting a county councilwoman’s presence in a parking lot of the local grocers, I’ve never met someone in public office.

Then, there is the “establishment.” Not the dirty word “establishment,” but you know, the Republican establishment, Democratic establishment, Mass Media “establishment” (just go with it) which can be defined, from where I sit as voter, as a group of people with the same or similar ideological opinions (not using a dictionary here, just telling it like I see it). For example, I would group Rick Perry, Karl Rove and Ronald Reagan in to the Republican establishment. Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama and Rahm Emanuel in to the Democratic establishment.

But, there is another “establishment” which is not defined by political party (although, some may be defined as subjective opinion-makers masquerading as journalists). It is defined by actions or, more often than not, as the word establishment connotes, reaction (such as, adding earmarks to a bill because everyone else is doing it: “it’s ok because they’re mine”…think Rick Santorum or “I’m pro choice, no wait, who am I talking to? I mean, I’m pro family.” Or, 2008: “Mexicans? They should all be deported.” 2012:  ”My grandfather is Mexican.”  (whisper) “Do you think that’ll get me the Hispanic vote?” Or, in a recent debate, “I’ve never seen that ad” and seconds later naming 5 things that were wrong in the ad…think Mitt Romney) and sometimes inaction (as in having self-proclaimed big ideas, but never accomplishing a thing…think Ron Paul). I believe the media-types call it, the “status quo?” They should talk, right?

This establishment type, we’ll call establishment type “B,” is someone who is only defined by the group with which they identify themselves and choose to be liked opposed to be effective. They choose to get in line with all the other establishment type B people, instead of exploring the road less traveled.

There is one Republican candidate who is a bona fide, faithful conservative. One who has worked in government, true, Rick Perry has 20 plus years of experience working his way up to leading the 13th largest economy in the world, but he is not defined by his office or swayed to drop his ideals because some “one” may not like him.

I read a great definition of Rick Perry the other day: one whose magnetic personality galvanizes people for some great cause. He can influence others not solely by his words but by his actions. He does what he preaches. He acts as a catalyst and his presence is enough to motivate people.

Rick Perry is an outlier of “establishment B.” Not quite an outsider, but definitely an outlier. He’s assimilated enough to work the establishment without the establishment working him. He is guided by social and economic conservative principles, not Party principles. Although no one in or around government can claim complete autonomic outsider status, Rick Perry is eons ahead of the current crop of Republican and Democratic candidates, from my vantage point.

Here is a list of some of the news sites that are widely read in the Kansas City area, along with information about how they rank in terms of readership.

I will show the results from one site measurement system, through Alexa.com (owned by Amazon.com).  I will emphasize that you should consider these to be unscientific estimates.

If you’re interested, you can also check out one Quantcast.com.  On Quantcast.com where one sees the label “Quantified” can it be considered scientific (“Quantified” merely means that the news site’s owners have voluntarily installed a tracking code from Quantcast).

For both tracking systems, a #1 is the best rank, and the ranking includes all Web sites around the world (Web sites of all kinds and not limited to the topic of news).

Alexa ranking

1. DrudgeReport.com                                                 423
2. TheOnion.com                                                      1,733
3. KansasCity.com (Kansas City Star)                 3,479
4. RedState.com                                                       9,417
5. KMBC.com                                                           36,046
6. Pitch.com                                                             36,169
7. Inkkc.com                                                             81,861
8. Fox4kc.com                                                          82,682
9. RedCounty.com (all nation-wide sections)   82,984
10. Watchdog.org (all nation-wide sections)     246,729
11. KansasCityKansan.com                                 251,540
12. Kansan.com (Wichita Eagle)                         280,242
13. Clubforgrowth.org                                            347,475
14. GardnerEdge.com                                           405,899
15. TonysKansasCity.com                                    506,827
16. Cashill.com (Jack Cashill)                             916,965
17. KCFreePress.com                                        1,032,242
18. SunPublications.com                                   1,283,439
19. Wolffiles.blogspot.com (Milton Wolf)         1,719,636
20. IngramsOnline.com                                      3,031,853
21. KansasMeadowlark.com                             5,605,025

If you’d like to check the ranking of your favorite site, it’s as easy as typing in the Web address at Alexa.com and hitting “Enter.”

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