Jeffrey A. Setaro

Political & Cultural Commentary from a Constitutional Conservative.

Jeff

Allen West: Ron Paul ‘Not the Kind of Guy You Need to Be Sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave’

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I’m going to get hate mail for posting this, but what hell. Ron Paul, makes a lot of sense when he talks about monetary policy, or the need for greater transparency at the Federal Reserve, but Allen West is right… His foreign policy ideas are dangerously isolationist, and frankly, naive. And for that reason I […]

Sunday Afternoon Musical Interlude: Josh Thompson – Way Out Here

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I mentioned on twitter not long ago that if you didn’t understand the philosophical meaning of this song then we have nothing to talk about… It isn’t about living out in the sticks, it’s about an attitude, about a way life. It’s about being self-reliant, working hard, and making your own way world instead of […]

2012 Presidential Straw Poll — Round 4

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It’s time for round four of our 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll. For this round are (in no particular order): Herman Cain, John Bolton, Thaddeus McCotter, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and John Huntsman Changes from round three: I’ve removed anyone who isn’t […]

Rep. Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

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Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won the 2011 Iowa straw poll with 28.55 percent of the vote, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) finished second with 27.65 percent and former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third 13.57 percent. From the Wall Street Journal: None of the 16,892 votes filed at Iowa State University in Ames will […]

The fallacy of the 10:1 Mix of Spending Cuts and Tax Hikes Question

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I suspect most of you have seen or heard about this exchange during the Republican Presidential Debate in Iowa last Thursday night: It was a bullshit question, first of all unless those spending cuts are immediate they’ll never materialize… particularly when the baseline for negotiations is that the taxes increase are made in the first […]

Unconstitutional: 11th Circuit strikes down Obamacare mandate

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled today that Congress exceeded its Constitutional authority by requiring Americans to buy health insurance coverage. The 2-1 ruling also found that the rest of the law could stand. I’m still reviewing the 200 plus page majority opinion from Judges Joel Dubina and […]

Video: Newt Gingrich BLASTS Chris Wallace for his “Gotcha” Questions at Iowa Debate

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This is just pure golden goodness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxQTp07KS_k&feature=player_embedded Ouch, I love it! It’s about time Republican candidates started calling the sound bite media on the carpet for wasting everyone’s with time trivial, tabloid gotcha questions instead of asking substantial policy questions. Newt was absolutely right to go after Chris Wallace the way he did tonight… and judging […]

Not Again: Sexting Scandal Claims New Jersey Politician

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What the hell is wrong with middle-aged male politicians: New Jersey democrat Louis Magazzu, 53, admitted sending the photos to the woman he said he had been corresponding with online for several years. He claims she requested the pictures but was working with an ‘avowed political enemy’ at the time and that he did not […]

Thoughts on the Debt Limit Debate — Updated

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What we’ve seeing playing out in Washington during the debt limit debate is in many ways akin to an addict facing an intervention. Washington’s policy makers, both Democrats and Republicans, are hopelessly addicted to spending and they don’t want to admit it or to change their behavior. As a result they’re lashing out ordinary Americans […]

About Mark Halperin’s Comments…

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Ok, so the the interwebs and talk radio are buzzing about MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin’s surprisingly blunt assessment of President Barack Obama’s performance at yesterday’s press conference… From the video it’s pretty clear Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski thought Mr. Halperin was joking when he asked if the seven-second delay […]