Chad’s Morning Brief: Mitt Romney Campaigns with Marco Rubio, Texas Activists Can’t Agree on Conservatism, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of April 24, 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. Romney/Rubio Watch 2012 (link)

I am starting to feel uneasy about this whole Mitt Romney/Marco Rubio deal. Not because of either of the candidates, but because it seems as though the media is just in love with these two. The media is acting like a bunch of high school girls picking out who would be the cutest couple. It's very odd and very uncomfortable.

That said, my goodness it looks as though these two are campaigning as a ticket! According to Yahoo:

Romney was making a final campaign swing through the state to rally support. "We have some work to do," he said, as he urged Pennsylvanians to get out and vote on Tuesday.

Four other states also vote on Tuesday: Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island.

But he was clearly focused on a Romney-Obama showdown, and brought Rubio, a first-term senator from Florida who Romney described as "an extraordinary leader" in the party, with him an a final sweep through the Keystone State as he seeks to secure the delegates needed to be declared the nominee.

It had the looks of a running mate audition, with the two men striding together through the Mustang Expediting delivery company's warehouse, and Romney occasionally stepping back to let Rubio handle some questions.

"Glad to be here with the next president of the United States," Rubio said.

"I look forward to being a part of this effort, and help in any way I can to let the American people understand the choice they have between the way we're going now and the way we should be going."

When pressed about who might join him on the ticket, and whether a freshman senator such as Rubio might be underqualified for the role, Romney was again evasive.

"I don't think I have any comment on qualifications of individuals to serve in various positions in government at this stage," Romney said.

"That's something that we're going to be considering down the road as we consider various potential vice presidential nominees."

Rubio, who has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he won't be Romney's running mate, also shied away.

"I'm not talking about that process anymore," Rubio said.

Last week Rubio made a Freudian slip that may have hinted at his interest in the job.

"Three, four, five, six, seven years from now, if I do a good job as vice president -- I'm sorry, as senator -- I'll have the chance to do all sorts of things," Rubio said Thursday at a forum.

Given the way this GOP primary has gone, if I was putting money on the VP position it wouldn't be on Rubio. He's the obvious choice though.

2. Activists Disagree on Conservatism (link)

Can there be two types of conservatives? Two groups seem to be playing out that discussion in Texas right now. Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans has a scorecard that they use to evaluate elected officials in Texas. According to ABC-13 in Houston:

"The broad definitions of conservatism -- low taxes, limited government -- those things have not changed," Sullivan said. He said that government spending should grow no faster than the population plus inflation, and that Republican lawmakers who have hinted that Texas may need to raise more money to pay for state services cannot claim the conservative mantle.

Alright, sounds good. There is an organization in Texas though that Sullivan is at odds with that releases their own conservative scorecard. It's called the Texas Conservative Roundtable and takes a more business-centric approach to their scorecard. Sullivan says it's just another way of getting incumbents re-elected. The Roundtable disagrees. According to the report:

The scores provided by the round table are noticeably different from those given by Sullivan. One example is Rep. Barbara Nash, an Arlington Republican who received a C from Empower Texans and a 90 percent-to-99 percent score from the round table. Empower Texas endorsed the freshman lawmaker's challenger after she voted contrary to the group's views on 13 out of 41 issues, most of them minor, such as a program to help people fill out applications for benefits, restricting increases in electricity rates and establishing regulations on dog and cat breeders.

Neither Parsley nor Sullivan want to see the Republican party factionalized, but based on their differing scorecards, they have distinct views on whom voters should send to Austin next year. Two quotes may best sum up their differences.

"Politics is not about compromise, it's about governing," Sullivan declared.

While Parsley said: "'No' is not always the right answer, sometimes you have to say our roads are crumbling, we need a water plan, (and) our public schools need funding."

3. No White House Staff Involved in Prostitution Scandal (link)

So says the White House.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that White House legal counsel has concluded no White House staff engaged in any "misconduct" in Cartagena.

"The decision to conduct a review here, internally, was simply done out of due diligence," Carney said. "There is no indication of any misconduct by any member of the White House advance team or staff."

He added that "there have been no specific, credible allegations of misconduct by anyone on the White House advance team or White House staff."

Carney refused to give any details on the investigation, such as whether the investigation included checking hotel records in Colombia or interviewing the White House advance team that went to Cartagena.

"There's no point in getting into the details of this internal review except to say that it was conducted," he said.

For some reason, I just don't believe that liberals would by this from the Bush White House.

4. Lynch mob on Twitter (link)

Just take a look at some of the tweets sent out after George Zimmerman was released from jail. I don't see how this man can get a fair trial in Florida at all. This is just the beginning as well. There will be race riots in Florida and throughout the country. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton are also to blame for the sentiment we are seeing out there.

5. Dumb story of the morning (link)

Dumb passenger.

A 37-year-old Arizona man filed a police complaint against a flight attendant who tapped him on the knee with a magazine to wake him up.

Kevin Johnson told Indianapolis Airport police he was sleeping in the back row of a chartered Million Air flight that arrived at 8:53 a.m. Sunday when the incident happened.

Johnson said as he slept and the plane taxied to the gate, he was "rudely interrupted" by a flight attendant, according to a police report.

Johnson said the attendant struck him on his knee with a magazine but he could not identify which attendant it was.

Officer Ricky Seconds wrote that Johnson "had no physical signs of injury, no complaint of pain and no paralysis from the magazine."

6. Good Brews Good News of the Day (link)

Smart dog, lucky owner.

Police say an intruder attacked a blind woman inside her home before her guide dog alerted police.

Investigators say the 54-year-old woman is hospitalized in stable condition following the early morning attack Monday in the city's Wynnefield Heights neighborhood.

Authorities say the intruder came in through an open door, choked the woman and threw her down a flight of stairs. Investigators say the woman's seeing-eye dog then used a special device to contact police.

The woman's attacker fled the scene.

Everyday, Good Brews Coffee & Tea Lounge brings you the Good News of the Day! 

Other Top Stories:

City of Lubbock/AAG Settle

Number of Illegal Immigrants Drops

Texas Prom Queen Billboard

Anti-Defamation League Slams Urban Outfitters

$100 Cigarettes?

The New iPhone?

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 at kfyo.com.