Sarah Palin: We Must Vet These Candidates

By Gary P Jackson

Sarah Palin talks to Sean Hannity.

They start out with Herman Cain, and all of the issues surrounding the “broads” coming out of the woodwork claiming to have been harassed or a had affairs with him.

After giving her point of view, she gets to what is important: The need for sudden and relentless reform.

Sean asks her about an endorsement, none is given, and she goes to some length to downplay the value of her endorsement. Hard to know what she’s thinking, but her endorsement was the gold standard in 2010. She was the major force behind the retaking of the House.

My only conclusion is she isn’t going to endorse anyone.

Sarah went on to say we need someone who has been a consistent Conservative, someone who has not strayed. That pretty much leaves Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney on the outside looking in.

It’s also interesting that she mentions those at the state and federal level [Congress] claiming to have cut spending. She points out that we haven’t actually cut spending on the federal level since 1952! We sometimes forget, that in Washington, a budget “cut” is actually just a reduction of the amount of increase originally planned. This was her way of calling out supposed budget hawks like the former Speaker of the House.

Interestingly, she mentions Rick Santorum as someone who has ideological consistently. And likes the fact he’s taken up her call to end the corporate tax in order to stimulate the economy.

Hannity keeps pressing her on Newt and Mitt, and she goes right back to talking about the rest of the field.

She mentions she likes Ron Paul’s stance on the economy, but also mentions his foreign policy, which is completely unacceptable.

Sean also asks Sarah again if she has any regrets not entering the race, she again says no, but nearly as emphatically as she has in the past. Don’t read to much into this though.

After the interview Sarah sent out a couple of tweets to clarify what she was saying:

Dang – spoke too rapidly on @hannityshow; should have clarified I’m for eliminating “fed corporate income tax.”

…

Glad Santorum wants to re-industrialize USA w/ eliminating the corp income tax on manufactures.

…

We should eliminate it for everyone & also cut corp welfare to fight crony capitalism while letting the private sector create American jobs.

Sarah also tweeted that she had talked about her tax plan, and included a link to her incredible speech in Iowa. Frankly it’s hard to watch without thinking she needs to be in this race, because the person she keeps describing as the ideal candidate most certainly is not.

See our thoughts on the Iowa event here. There’s also video of Sarah talking about her business plan, and the corporate income tax, at the Liberty and Freedom Foundation in San Jose, California …. October 2010.

One of the main points to takeaway from her interview, regarding the GOP race, is the need to do your own research and vet these candidates fully. Don’t just listen to their flowery speeches and admire their ability to debate. Debating is a fine skill to have, but means little when evaluating a candidate. And anyone can give a speech, even if they don’t mean a word of it.

Readers know where I stand on certain candidates. Though I’m not supporting anyone at this time, there are several that are totally unacceptable under any circumstance.

I was pondering why so many have flocked to a certain candidate that is the absolute poster boy for everything Sarah has fought against her entire life. A career Washington insider who, after being forced out of his position, has made a fortune influence peddling, taking in 10s of millions shilling mostly for “progressive” causes. A Big Government Statist, he’s still perceived as a “conservative”

My only thought as to why this is happening is the fact Sarah Palin, herself, brought so many people into the political process for the first time, they are simply unaware of his, or other candidates’, long and storied past.

Looking into a candidate’s past, using every source available is important. All candidates will have some sort of “mythbusters” type of website to “set the record straight” but those aren’t always completely truthful. For example, few companies pay close to $2 million for “history lessons!” So one has to weigh them against the candidate’s own words, and deeds. This goes for every candidate, not any one in particular.

I came to support Sarah Palin through very positive coverage of her earliest days as Governor of Alaska. I continued to keep up with what she was doing, and came to admire her as the sort of person we need as a leader. A position I still hold today. But I’m a political junkie, so ….

2012 will be the most important election in our lifetime, so we gotta get it right. We simply cannot choose another lifelong political hack, who is part of the problem, not the solution. There are several who fit this description.

Video courtesy SarahNet

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Tammy Bruce: Has The GOP Doomed Us To Four More Years of Obama?

Will this “sexual harassment” controversy be the beginning of the end of the Cain campaign? Perhaps, but the more pressing question for the GOP machine is whether or not their arrogance, faux conservatism, and general disconnect with the American public has doomed us all to a second term of Barack Obama, and consequently the end of this nation as we know it.

~ Tammy Bruce

By Gary P Jackson

Tammy Bruce’s latest Newsmax column talks about the woes of Herman Cain. She talks about his inability to think on his feet, and how he has bungled the sexual harassment hit job that he had to know was coming.

For the record, I’m sympathetic to Cain on this deal, but politics at this level are brutal, and once in office, being President isn’t exactly a breeze either! When we look at candidates how they react to situations are critical in determining what kind of president they would be. Herman Cain isn’t doing so well in the confidence inspiring part of the contest.

Tammy talks about the media and her experience on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s transition team. She also talks a bit about Sarah Palin and the character she’s shown in the face of some of the worst attacks we’ve ever seen.

Read Tammy’s article at Newsmax here.

Evidently Herman Cain Doesn’t Understand How the Constitution Works

By Gary P Jackson

A prime example of why Herman Cain is not ready to be president. Cain has been under fire for his series of statements and clarifications concerning his stance on abortion that left many wondering if Cain is really pro-life, or the typical politician claiming to be “personally” pro-life while supporting “choice” on the issue. As Jazz Shaw, who evidently doesn’t understand the Constitution either, pointed out: A frustrated Cain finally said he would sign an amendment banning abortion.

In an interview with CBN’s David Brody, Cain talks about amendments not only banning abortion, but gay marriage as well.

From the interview:

Brody: Are you for some sort of pro-life amendment to the Constitution that in essence would trump Roe v. Wade?

Cain: Yes. Yes I feel that strongly about it. If we can get the necessary support and it comes to my desk I’ll sign it. That’s all I can do. I will sign it.

Read more here.

This is incredible. Herman Cain is running for president and has no idea what the job is, or how the Constitution works when it comes to constitutional amendments. Fact is, the president has absolutely no role at all to play in the process, other than being a cheerleader for [or possibly against] a certain amendment. There’s nothing for him to sign.

Most of us learned this in grade school, but as a refresher: [emphasis mine]

The authority to amend the Constitution of the United States is derived from Article V of the Constitution. After Congress proposes an amendment, the Archivist of the United States, who heads the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is charged with responsibility for administering the ratification process under the provisions of 1 U.S.C. 106b. The Archivist has delegated many of the ministerial duties associated with this function to the Director of the Federal Register. Neither Article V of the Constitution nor section 106b describe the ratification process in detail. The Archivist and the Director of the Federal Register follow procedures and customs established by the Secretary of State, who performed these duties until 1950, and the Administrator of General Services, who served in this capacity until NARA assumed responsibility as an independent agency in 1985.

The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional convention. The Congress proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution. Since the President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution does not go to the White House for signature or approval. The original document is forwarded directly to NARA’s Office of the Federal Register (OFR) for processing and publication. The OFR adds legislative history notes to the joint resolution and publishes it in slip law format. The OFR also assembles an information package for the States which includes formal “red-line” copies of the joint resolution, copies of the joint resolution in slip law format, and the statutory procedure for ratification under 1 U.S.C. 106b.

The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration by sending a letter of notification to each Governor along with the informational material prepared by the OFR. The Governors then formally submit the amendment to their State legislatures. In the past, some State legislatures have not waited to receive official notice before taking action on a proposed amendment. When a State ratifies a proposed amendment, it sends the Archivist an original or certified copy of the State action, which is immediately conveyed to the Director of the Federal Register. The OFR examines ratification documents for facial legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature. If the documents are found to be in good order, the Director acknowledges receipt and maintains custody of them. The OFR retains these documents until an amendment is adopted or fails, and then transfers the records to the National Archives for preservation.

A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the States (38 of 50 States). When the OFR verifies that it has received the required number of authenticated ratification documents, it drafts a formal proclamation for the Archivist to certify that the amendment is valid and has become part of the Constitution. This certification is published in the Federal Register and U.S. Statutes at Large and serves as official notice to the Congress and to the Nation that the amendment process has been completed.

I know many will say Mr Cain just made a mistake and it’s no big deal. But it is a big deal. We’re not talking about electing a city council member, we’re talking about electing someone to the most powerful position in the world. We’re talking about serious issues that will effect the lives of tens of millions of Americans. You’d think one of the parties to the discussion would at least know and understand the process for which his desired goals would be obtained.

I like Herman Cain, the man. I think he’s good at what he’s done, and capable of doing more. That said, his lack of knowledge, lack of planning, and lack of experience continues to trouble me greatly. I’m a Conservative and see these problems crystal clear, what do you think the media and the Obama regime will do to the man if he becomes our nominee?

There’s a reason why we generally elect governors to the presidency. The skills required to successfully govern a state are the same skills needed to govern the nation.

I know why Herman Cain appeals to so many people. For one, none of the governors running for president are acceptable, and Cain enjoys that “outsider” status. What Cain doesn’t have is the basic skill set needed, and an understanding of the position he’s applying for.

Conservatives need to think long and hard before electing Herman Cain.

Personally, I feel both of these issues, abortion and gay rights, are states rights issues, and the federal government has no standing in either, but Roe v Wade made that position moot on abortion. The Court overreached big time and “found” a right that had never before existed.

As for some sort of marriage amendment, if there was to be one, I’d want it to strengthen state’s rights and stop judicial interference. Though some states have voted to allow gay marriage, others have had the courts impose it on them, even though the people were against. Mitt Romney imposed it in Massachusetts by Executive Order. I believe in the right of the people to vote one way or the other. I do not think the courts should be able to override the will of the people, as long as everything is done legally.

I also doubt either issue is going to be solved anytime soon. On abortion, I’d love to see it banned, but for now, our best bet is to continue to educate people of the horrors of abortion, and continue to de-fund the multi-billion dollar slaughter houses run by Planned Parenthood. Public opinion is changing and more people now are pro-life than at any time in recent memory. This is a fight we are winning.

Herman Cain Doubles Down on Stupid with His “Revised” 9-9-9 Plan

By Gary P Jackson

I wrote about the very troubling issues with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan a couple days ago. The idea of combining a national sales tax with an income tax is one of the most ludicrous things I’ve seen from a supposed Conservative in many moons.

Cain doesn’t want a constitutional amendment that would set rates in stone, and only “suggests” that it take a two-thirds margin to raise rates. That’s quite dangerous.

After Cain has achieved “front runner” status, and people, really started paying attention to his plan, many questions have come up. As I pointed out, a national sales tax would hurt the very poorest among us, and Cain has said no exemptions to this tax. In other words, those who are barely living paycheck to paycheck would have to pay an extra 9% for food, because even food and medicine would be subject to Cain’s 9% national sales tax. Cain does suggest that the poor could get by with used clothes and used cars. No word on “used food” though.

Thursday night on the Sean Hannity Show Sarah Palin also hit Cain’s plan from a corporate tax angle.

It’s been her plan all along to completely eliminate corporate taxes. This has many benefits, including cutting off one more way for lobbyists to corrupt law makers. [who create tax law] Ridding our government of corruption is job one. As long as we have the level of corruption that now exists, our economy will never recover.

That was then, this is now. On Friday Cain released a “revised” plan, saying those at the poverty level would pay no income tax. Well good. They don’t pay taxes now. They’ll still be forced to pay his sales tax, and still have to find 9% more money to meet their essential needs.

From CNN:

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain clarified his much talked-about “9-9-9” tax plan Friday, saying those who fall at or beneath the poverty level would have a different plan: “9-9-9.”

Cain took heat over his proposal, which replaces the current tax code with a 9% corporate tax, a 9% income tax and a new 9% national sales tax. Opponents have argued the middle part of the plan would increase taxes on the poor, who currently pay little to no taxes.

But Cain fired back Friday, saying in a Detroit speech that those paying no taxes now would continue to pay zero taxes under his plan.

“If you are at or below the poverty level, your plan isn’t 9-9-9 it is 9-0-9,” Cain said. “Say amen y’all. 9-0-9.“

Sounds like a used car salesman who’s about to lose a deal, and will say damned near anything to keep his customer from walking!

This just proves to me how clueless Cain truly is.

I could get behind a national sales tax, under certain conditions, but the very thought of taxing essentials like food, medicine, and medical services goes against everything I believe in.

We have no income tax in Texas, just a sales tax, but many items, like food, medicine, and medical services are exempt from taxation. That Cain still doesn’t understand how his tax will effect real people is yet another sign of his inexperience.

Oh, and Cain revealed more of his original plan that includes so-called “opportunity zones“:

The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO also laid out his “opportunity zone” proposal. Under his current plan, businesses would be allowed to deduct purchases from the 9% corporate tax provision. But in cities facing high unemployment–the so-called “opportunity zones“–businesses could also deduct a certain amount of payroll expenses from their corporate taxes.

“One of the things that I believe in is empowering cities to help themselves,” Cain said to his audience in Detroit–a city with one of the country’s highest unemployment rates. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Detroit faced a 14.4% jobless rate, not seasonally adjusted, at the end of September.

More here.

One of the reasons for a more simplified tax code is to get government OUT of our lives, and stop politicians from picking winners and losers. To take away the opportunity for corruption. To take away the situations that allow politicians to reward supporters with money, favors, what-have-you. A solid tax plan would go along way toward ending cronyism. Cain’s plan would achieve none of this.

Using the tax code to social engineer is just plain wrong. Detroit and cities like it are in trouble because of decades of poor leadership, and unions sucking businesses dry. You want to help Detroit and other cities? Stop worrying about tax breaks and opportunity zones and pass a national right to work law. Then we’ll see job growth like this nation has never before experienced.

Cain’s plan has sparked debate, which is a good thing, and now it looks like Rick Perry is going to revive Steve Forbes’ decades old flat tax plan in hopes of reviving his moribund campaign. But that’s the only thing Cain’s plan has done.

We gotta do better than this folks.

Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan is Troubling

By Gary P Jackson

I want to like Herman Cain, I really do, but the man makes it hard.

I have a lot of concerns about Cain, not the least of which is his complete lack of experience as an elected official, and a total lack of any record of accoplishment as an elected official. Oh sure, Cain has a solid record as a CEO, but that’s not the same as having a record as an elected executive, who has experience in successfully dealing with a legislature, and actually putting all of the happy talking into action.

Herman Cain has zero foreign policy experience, and his answers to tough questions always seems to be that he’ll simply sublet that out to his advisors. This is scary on many levels. What if he picks morons for advisors? [we’ve seen how well that works with the Obama regime] Also, as the President always takes the lead in foreign policy, not Congress, it would be nice to have a chief executive that actually has a coherent thought on the matter. Foreign policy is at least AS important as domestic issues.

Cain’s supposed strong suit is the economy. After all, he’s a businessman. And yet, he supported idiotic ideas such as TARP, and actually said THIS in 2008:

Wake up people! Owning a part of the major banks in America is not a bad thing. We could make a profit while solving a problem.

Cain also said:

Far from nationalization, purchase of bank stocks is a win-win for taxpayers

You can read his entire column here.

Cain’s thinking falls right in line with President George W. Bush’s “I had to abandon free market principles to save the free market.”

Looking back, TARP and owning bank shares have been an absolute disaster. Far from Cain’s “win-win” naiveté.

Cain’s poor judgment back in 2008 is just the beginning. What worries me today is his so-called 9-9-9 plan. Herman Cain is a salesman at heart, and he’s come up with a catchy idea that a lot of people are sold on, but his plan is even more dangerous than the “Fair Tax” that is being pushed by the criminally insane.

Look, no one disputes the need for serious reform of the current tax code. We need to take away government control. By that I mean we need to reform the system so lawmakers can’t use the tax code to encourage or discourage certain behavior.

Tax credits are often give to people who do things like purchase and install solar panels, or buy hybrid or all electric cars. This is nothing more than a form of cronyism, where-in the lawmakers reward those who support them. I’m using the “green” tax breaks as an example, but government has used the tax code as a form of social engineering, and to reward cronies, for decades.

The United States has always taxed income, not retail sales. One can debate the wisdom of that from now until the end of time. Point is, other than the few times Congress sought to punish the successful by imposing a “luxury tax” on high end items, [which always hurt the makers of said items] the income tax has been the main way of funding government.

The income tax, when originally implemented, was supposed to be temporary, and only a few percentage points. Well, as Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, there is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program. It wasn’t long before the top tax rate was a staggering 90%!

Cain’s plan calls for a 9% sales tax, a 9% personal income tax, and a 9% corporate tax.

Now Cain isn’t suggesting a constitutional amendment here, so what he is really doing is simply adding a sales tax to go along side something we already have, an income tax. This isn’t a whole lot different than the United Kingdom’s value added tax. [VAT] Oh and rather than having the rates set in stone, Cain would only “suggest” a two-thirds majority to raise the rates. We already know that among the permanent political class raising taxes is no big deal. There would be nothing to stop future congresses and presidents from raising the rates at will.

This isn’t even the worst part.

Last week Tammy Bruce posted a video of Cain and some must read commentary about his remarks here.

In the video Cain is asked how his plan would effect the poorest among us, and whether there would be tax exemptions for life’s most basic needs, like food. Without batting an eye, Cain said there would be no exemptions, and then went off on a tangent about buying used clothes and used cars.

Cain also goes on to explain how his tax would actually be better, because of the elimination of payroll taxes and withholding. Now it sounds good when said by a slick salesman, but there is little reality here.

Texas, for example has a state sales tax. [we have no income tax] Cities and counties also have a sales tax that is collected at the same time. The current state tax rate is 6.25%, where I live, the city and county add another 2%. In Texas goods and some services, like auto repair, are taxed. Food, medicine, and medical services are among the things that are tax exempt. Though there are some, in their lust to further the growth of government, who would love to end those exemptions, Texans wouldn’t stand for it.

The problem with Herman Cain is he can talk the talk, but has forgotten what it’s like to walk the walk.

You see, the poorest among us, many who are living on Social Security and disability checks [fixed incomes] don’t pay payroll taxes and won’t see the alleged benefits Cain cites. They will only see the cost of everything they buy go up by 9% at the check-out counter. This will only limit their buying power further.

Cain’s answer seems to say the poor don’t deserve new stuff and should be happy to wear other people’s discarded clothes. I’ve worn hand-me-downs before myself, but I’ll be damned if I buy used underwear! Also, if you’ve ever shopped at Wal-Mart, you’ll know you can often buy new clothes for the same price [or less] than at the thrift store. Of course, if someone is buying from a thrift store, one would think they’d be subject to Cain’s 9%. So now what, you got the poor chasing all over town looking at garage sales for clothes? That’s all I can figure.

I wonder if there is such a thing as “used food” the poor can buy?

What gets me is how cavalier Herman Cain is about all of it. How matter-of-factly he says no to exempting basic items like food. No thought to how this will effect those who can least stand to have another expense.

Cain’s 9-9-9 plan sounds more like a good offer on a pizza than a coherent tax plan. In fact, if you live near a CiCi’s Pizza restaurant, you can go pick up three loaded medium pizzas for, you guessed it, $9.99!

The idea of adding a sales tax at all, while still having an income tax, is insane. We’ve seen this movie before, and that 9% will turn to 19% sooner rather than later.

The only way to reform the tax code is by constitutional amendment. Something that sets rates in stone. Then it would take another amendment to change the rates. Anything less is unacceptable.

I’m sure Cain means well, but under his plan there is nothing to stop future presidents and future congresses from raising rates, and harming those who can least afford it, even more.

I’m not totally opposed to a national sales tax, as long as it replaces the current system of taxing income completely, and as long as basic items like food, medicine, and medical services are not taxed.

This is the problem with the equally silly “Fair Tax.” It taxes everything as well, and at a much higher rate, though it does replace the income tax in it’s entirety. Now proponents of this Rube Goldberg device proclaim that taxpayers would get a “pre-bate” check to cover the taxes paid of food and the like.

Huh?

Under the “ Fair Tax” government would control the amount of the “pre-bate” one would receive monthly. Past experience tells me that check would never be enough to cover the actual taxes paid in. Why the authors of this fiasco waiting to happen didn’t just think to exempt some things, like food, and eliminating the need for government controlled “pre-bate” checks, is beyond me. The cost to process these “pre-bates” alone would be staggering.

Back to Herman Cain, just today economist Steve Moore, one of the architects of the 9-9-9 plan, says he would drop the sales tax portion of the plan. Of course I’m not so sure his newest idea is any better, which is to replace the sales tax with a 9% payroll tax. [in addition to the 9% income tax]

Oddly enough, just today, well respected economist Peter Schiff says there is already a hidden 9% payroll tax built into Cain’s 9-9-9 plan!

I like simple. Rather than all of these “plans” that are as just so much smoke and mirrors, how about a reformed income tax code instead?

My plan would be simple. Tax personal income only. No deductions, except for the first, say $20,000 in income. [adjusted for inflation] This would allow the truly poor some breathing room. You would tax every individual earning a paycheck. There would be no more distinctions between single and married. The tax form would be simple: “How much did you earn? [minus the first $20,000] Send in X percent of that. No hassle, no social engineering, nothing. The economy would explode. [in a good way]

Herman Cain is someone to admire and respect, but having watched him as a candidate I am convinced that he’s not ready, or even remotely qualified, to be president. We already have an on-the-job trainee as president. Don’t need another one.

Our options for 2012 are very poor, to say the least. We must continue to vet all of the candidates and their ideas. We can’t afford to go easy on any of them. This election is just too important to screw up.

Unless Herman Cain starts to show me more than he has, I simply cannot get behind him.

October Hot Air Straw Poll: Support For Rick Perry Collapses

By Gary P Jackson

If you’ve kept up with the Hot Air straw polling since November 2010, you’ll know Sarah Palin has won ever single poll by a wide margin, until last month. In September the “anybody but Sarah Palin, who isn’t Mitt Romney” contingent glommed onto Rick Perry as their latest “flavor of the month” giving him the win. Sarah came in second.

After watching Perry’s hapless performances in the debates, and finding out more about Perry’s record, the “anybody but Sarah Palin, who isn’t Mitt Romney” crowd has run en masse to Herman Cain, this month’s winner. Again Sarah comes in second.

The results:

Herman Cain 39%, Sarah Palin 32%, Rick Perry 12%, Mitt Romney 5%. The rest, including Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, and Mike Huckabee are below 5%.

The overwhelming choice for Vice President is Marco Rubio with 40% of the vote. Herman Cain comes in second with 14%. Allen West, who has been everyone’s favorite from the start, comes in tied for third with Newt Gingrich with 8% of the vote.

I’m not seeing the Rubio thing. As the U.S. Senate has so few actual Conservatives serving, I can’t follow the wisdom in wanting to remove one of them from office.

Hot Air also asks who would win a Palin vs Perry contest and a Palin vs Bachmann contest. The results are devastating to both Perry and Bachmann: Palin 62% Perry 38% and Palin 79% Bachmann 21%.

Read the full results here.

Having followed this series of straw polling for a year now, watching “flavor of the months” come and go, we are seeing self described conservative voters move completely away from undesirables like Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and now Rick Perry. That leaves Herman Cain at the top.

Herman Cain has been a favorite before, though this is his first win. He was hot early in these monthly straw polls, then a series of gaffes and policy statements caught up with him. This polling will be interesting moving forward.

It’s notable that Sarah Palin’s support has steady and consistent throughout.

UPDATE:

Welcome Readers From Stacy McCain’s blog.

Total Dominance! Red State Straw Poll: Sarah Palin 52.4% Herman Cain 21.4% Ron Paul 10.2% Rick Perry 7.3%

By Gary P Jackson.

I find this truly and absolutely delicious.

There have been a lot of presidential straw polls since silly season started, some going all the way back to a year ago this month. I’ve seen all kinds of results, but I’ve never seen such a blow-out victory for any candidate.

The website Red State ran an interesting poll in September. They asked readers who their first choice was for the Republican nomination for President, then ask who would be second choice through fifth choice. The results for first choice:

Sarah Palin 52.4% Herman Cain 21.4% Ron Paul 10.2% Rick Perry 7.3% Mitt Romney 2.4% Newt Gingrich 2.0% Michele Bachmann 1.1%. None of the other candidates were able to garner as much as 1% of the vote.

Red State did something different, telling voters they could only vote for a person once. In other words, you couldn’t vote for your candidate for first choice, then go on to vote for them as second choice and so on. They told voters that ballots with multiple votes for the same person would be voided.

It’s no surprise then, that Herman Cain was the overwhelming second choice candidate, with 33.7% of the vote. Newt Gingrich was third choice with 19.9% of the vote. Page four sees Newt again with 16.8%. Page five has Newt once more winning with 13.2%.

Out of the five chances for his fans, Rick Perry never gets more than 9.3% of the vote.

As a Palin supporter, this poll is very gratifying. Red State has been little more than Rick Perry Central since the Texas Governor entered the race. Red State and it’s editor Erick Erickson have been notoriously anti-Palin since day one. In fact, Erickson totally flipped out on Friday as the end of the month, and the media hyped “drop dead date” for Sarah Palin to announce her candidacy came and went. You can read about what Sarah Palin really said here.

On Friday Erickson took to Twitter and used his website to attack Sarah Palin and her supporters on an almost hourly basis. It was rather childish, and as William A. Jacobson pointed out, wasn’t doing his candidate Rick Perry any good. Having dealt with Perry fans, Erickson’s behavior is pretty typical though. In another post Jacobson warned Perry that throwing in with the likes of Erick Erickson will do you more harm than good.

Run, don’t walk, away from people who put their own self-aggrandizement and ego ahead of your campaign’s best interests.

Good advice.

A lot of bloggers wrote about Erickson’s meltdown, but we enjoyed HillBuzz’s Kevin DuJan’s a lot!

Wow. Erik Erikson at Redstate is having a complete mental breakdown on his site today, consumed with his obsessive hatred of Sarah Palin

Read it all here.

Red State and the editor’s obsessions have certainly not helped their candidate Rick Perry, but Perry hasn’t helped his own cause either, and new national polls show him fading fast.

The Red State poll, like all straw polling, is not scientific, but is a good indicator of support. Although not a fan of Red State in any way shape or form, we feel they put in the proper safeguards to make sure this vote is legit.

In these sort of polls, it’s the trends that matter. We’ve watched these straw polls for a year now, and the one take-away is Sarah Palin wins these more often than not, and has a solid base of support that never wavers. We see other candidates get hot and then come crashing down. Sarah Palin stays strong and steady. Her support is real and stable.

Herman Cain DOMINATES Florida Straw GOP Poll

By Gary P Jackson

Morgan Freeman hardest hit.

With 37 percent of the vote, this wasn’t even close! Herman Cain got more votes than Rick Perry and Mitt Romney COMBINED!

From the Orlando Sentinel:

In a stunner, Atlanta businessman Herman Cain – who campaigned hard in Orlando the past three days with a fiery message of tough decisions for tough times – has won the Florida Presidency 5 straw poll.

Cain, who has never been elected to any office, took 37.4 percent of the vote from Republican delegates gathered at the Orange County Convention Center for the Presidency 5 weekend. He blew away the field. Texas Gov. Rick Perry finished second with 15.4 percent and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney finished third with 14 percent.

There were 2,657 ballots cast, from among 3,500 candidate.

Cain, who pushed his plan to throw out the national tax systems and replace it with three flat taxes of 9 percent on individual income, corporate income and a sales tax, appeared aggressive in Thursday night’s P5 debate, gave a rousing speech Friday in Orlando at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and another rousing speech Saturday before P5 delegates.

He was one of only three candidates to stay for Saturday’s speeches. The other two were former Pennsylvania governor Rick Santorum, who finished fourth with 10.9 percent, and former U.S. speaker of the house Newt Gingrich, who finished sixth, with 8.4 percent.

This is a serious stunner, especially since both Rick Perry and Ron Paul actively organized to win this thing.

Some thoughts:

It certainly didn’t help Rick Perry to call Conservatives a bunch of heartless racists at the last debate. This also shows true conservatism, spoken from the heart, as Herman Cain does, will always win out.

We’ve already seen Rick Perry’s brand of “compassionate conservatism” in action. It was called the Bush presidency. And while there are a lot of things to admire about President Bush, we don’t want a re-run of those 8 years. And Rick Perry just has too much baggage.

I’ve always liked Herman Cain and most of his positions. I don’t think he’s qualified to be President because of his lack of executive experience, in government. Cain was a sharp businessman, for sure, and I think he gets it on economic issues, but the President needs more. Frankly, some of Cain’s thoughts on foreign policy scare me as much as Ron Paul’s, but for different reasons. Cain is simply too inexperienced.

There’s a reason why we generally elect governors to the presidency. A good president needs to have proven skills in getting things done, while working with a legislative body. It’s very different than walking in as a company CEO and just telling everyone how it’s going to be.

These results tell me there is still plenty of room for new blood in the Republican presidential sweepstakes. Someone who can combine experience as a governor, with a proven record of accomplishments, someone who is an actual Conservative.

That said, once again Herman Cain proves he deserves to be up on that stage, and has some solid ideas that must be heard. He is good for the conservative movement. Cain has a great message and his personal story is amazing. He’s putting the rest in the current field of GOP hopefuls to shame.