Chad’s Morning Brief: A Bad Night for Rick Santorum, City Council Meetings at Night, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of February 23rd, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.
1. Thoughts on Wednesday's GOP Debate
Rick Santorum had a huge opportunity to really knock out Newt Gingrich and even deal a huge blow to Mitt Romney by having a great performance in Wednesday's GOP debate. Instead, he fell flat and might have cost himself the GOP nomination.
It was a bad night for Santorum. Both Romney and Gingrich were at the top of their game while Santorum seemed overwhelmed. Santorum couldn't connect to the audience and couldn't connect any punches against Romney. On two occasions Santorum said that despite his principles he voted for legislation. He said that he voted for No Child Left Behind because he was just going along with the team. That doesn't exactly scream leader to anyone. Santorum's best answer was on foreign policy and Iran, but it was too little too late. My Twitter feed was blowing up with tweets from Santorum backers saying that last night was bad. I agree.
Newt Gingrich was back to his old self. The father figure of these candidates. Laughing, smart, and right. And while he has no chance of winning the nomination, he might just hurt Santorum. Ron Paul piled on the anti-Santorum rhetoric by pointing out when Santorum was a hypocrite, and it worked.
My rankings from last night? 1) Gingrich 2) Romney 3) Paul 4) Santorum. Santorum had the most to lose, and he did. I predict that you will see Newt rise in the polls, Santorum will fall, and Romney will be steady. In the end, Romney wins. Santorum needed to convince voters he could beat Obama. He failed.
2. Klein Wants Council Meetings at Night (link)
At least once a quarter, Councilman Todd Klein would like the Lubbock City Council to hold a night time meeting. He will propose the idea at today's council meeting.
Currently, Lubbock City Council meetings begin with a citizen comment session at 7:30 a.m. every other Thursday, but District 3 Councilman Todd Klein issued a release voicing his support for moving meetings to the evening hours.
“I truly believe the public wants to witness and play a role in the process of our community discussion and debate,” Klein said. “The general public at large works during the hours of the council meeting. Tomorrow, I will recommend that every quarter of the year the council should have at least one evening meeting.”
Councilman Paul Beane disagrees with the plan saying that if you start a meeting at 7pm, it could last until 3am. Mayor Tom Martin has previously stated that he is also against meetings at night.
I agree with Councilman Klein. Other cities in Texas hold evening meetings and they don't always go until the early morning hours. Even if they did, these people work for us. Who cares if they have to work late? I am sick of elected officials forgetting who they work for. It is common sense that more people would be able to attend City Council meetings at night, after they get off of work. What happened to serving the people?
3. Beane Announces Re-Election Campaign (link)
Councilman Paul R. Beane announced on Wednesday that he will seek re-election.
He talked about some of his goals for a second term.
“Goals for the next four years….of course the Lake Alan Henry pipeline has got to be brought on line. We have other water projects. We have street issues that are pressing us.”
I think his chances are pretty good.
4. Nearly Half Don't Pay Income Taxes (link)
Nearly half of all American's pay no income taxes.
Another eye-popping number was the percentage of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, which now accounts for nearly half of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, most of that population receives generous federal benefits.
“One of the most worrying trends in the Index is the coinciding growth in the non-taxpaying public,” wrote Heritage authors Bill Beach and Patrick Tyrrell. “The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.”
That means 151.7 million Americans paid nothing in 2009. By comparison, 34.8 million tax filers paid no taxes in 1984.
The rapid growth of Americans who don’t pay income taxes is particularly alarming for the fate of the American form of government, Beach and Tyrrell warned. Coupled with higher spending on government programs, it is already proving to be a major fiscal challenge.
Not good.
5. Dumb story of the morning (link)
Texas Dems launch "Truth Team".
Texas Democrats said Wednesday that they aren't just going to lie down and take Republicans' criticism of President Obama. They have created a "Texas Truth Team" to set the record straight, they said. It's one of 50 such teams around the country.
“We’re making sure that while the Republican attack machine is operating on full throttle that we not allow the lies and distortions and mischaracterizations to go unchallenged,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said at a press conference.
The Texas Truth Team includes state Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie, U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, state Sen. José Rodríguez and 17 state representatives. They said they are optimistic that Democrats have a chance this year to finally win statewide races.
"I think people are simply fed up," Richie said.
The Republican Party of Texas called the Democrats copycats. In 2010, Republicans launched a "Texas Truth Tour" with Chairman Steve Munisteri.
“Once again, imitation is the highest form of flattery,” Texas GOP spokesman Chris Elam said in an email.
Elam said the Republican Party looks forward to the opportunity “to stand up Texas Republican successes and leadership against the record of failed promises and aimless direction that President Obama's has handed down to Texans."
Just silly.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show atkfyo.com.
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