Newsmax's Kessler Goes Back to Trump-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler has yet to say a peep about his prediction of a Mitt Romney landslide since the election results proved him wildly wrong. He will, however, turn back time and engage in some old-school Trump-fluffing, like he did when he was trying to get Donald Trump to run for president.
In his Nov. 26 Newsmax column, Kessler writes: "The Republican Party will continue to lose presidential elections if it comes across as mean-spirited and unwelcoming toward people of color, Donald Trump tells Newsmax."
No, Kessler is not interested in such things. Instead, it's time for some full metal Trump-fluffing:
Looking ahead, Trump says his top-rated NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice” is now shooting its 13th season.
Trump says his Trump National Golf Course on 600 rolling acres along the Potomac River is “by far, the best golf course in the tri-state area.” He bought the historic Old Post Office on prestigious Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to remake it as a luxury hotel, and it doesn’t stop there.
“I just bought the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Spa in Jupiter, Fla., which is a phenomenal area,” Trump says.
Regardless of who is president, it will be a good year for Trump. This New Year’s Eve, Donald will be celebrating at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach home and club, which admits Jews and blacks despite the exclusionary policies of some other Palm Beach clubs, as outlined in my book “The Season: Inside Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society.”
Last New Year’s Eve, some 750 guests put on formal wear and sipped Louis Roederer champagne. Hors d’oeuvres included fois gras seared to order, caviar dished lovingly onto blinis, risotto with white truffles, colossal-size cocktail shrimp, and oysters on the half shell.
The band Party on the Moon kept the Mar-a-Lago pavilion rocking as guests donned party hats they found at their tables. Even Trump’s usually reserved wife Melania, a stunning former model, sported a black paper top hat.
Kessler's not big on getting his facts straight either. Trump did not buy the Old Post Office; the federal government continues to own it, but it selected the Trump Organization to redevelop it in a manner that provides a "consistent stream of revenue for the Federal Government."
Kessler also quotes Trump's top aide in order to portray "the private Donald Trump" as "the dearest, most thoughtful, most loyal, most caring man."
But nobody cares about "the private Donald Trump" -- they want to know about the bitter, hateful Trump we saw in the presidential campaign. But Kessler cares too much about his access to Trump to tell his readers the truth.
NEW ARTICLE: Almost (But Not Quite) Independent Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax's Christopher Ruddy was willing to be critical of Mitt Romney's campaign before and after the election -- but he turned into a Romney shill in the month before Election Day. Read more >>
Newsmax's Walsh: Most Mexican Immigrants Are From 'Lower Economic and Uneducated Class' Topic: Newsmax
James Walsh just doesn't get Hispanics.
Fresh off advocating a return to migrant-worker programs once called "legalized slavery" as a way for Republicans to attract Hispanic votes, immigrant-basher Walsh is back at it in a Nov. 21 Newsmax column in which he continues to not understand why Hispanics didn't support the Republican for president:
Hispanics voters, particularly the Mexican majority, proved to be a paradox in the 2012 election. The image of Hispanics as family and faith oriented, hard-working, entrepreneurial, conservative economically, supporters of education, and opponents of legalizing drugs was debunked at the polls.
Pre-election surveys showed Hispanic voters more concerned about jobs, the weak economy, education for their children, and healthcare than they were about immigration; yet they voted for four more years of President Barack Obama.
Republicans need principled politicians such as former Gov. Jeb Bush (left) and Sen. Marco Rubio to sell U.S. values to Hispanic voters.
By doing so, they found themselves supporting attacks on religion and promoting gay marriage, abortion, legalized marijuana, fiscal irresponsibility, and “revenge” voting.
Of course, a vote for President Obama's re-election does not equal "revenge voting" -- outside of Walsh's head, that is.
Walsh then purports to offer this explanation of Hispanics in America, in which he notes that the majority of them are "the lower economic and uneducated class" from Mexico:
To understand the Mexican voter, Republicans need to look at Mexico’s history. Mexico was “discovered” by the Spaniards in 1519 and conquered by 1521. After three centuries of Spanish dominance, the Mexican people were led in an 1812-13 revolt by a Catholic priest who was later executed by the Spanish authorities.
For the next 120 years, Mexico suffered political revolutions, assassinations, internecine fighting, and turmoil. In 1857, a radical liberal Constitution was pushed through by President Benito Juarez, a Mestizo (of the uneducated class).
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, nihilistic leaders like Juarez, Villa, and Zapata led the Mestizos in attacks on business, military, and “rich” communities as part of class warfare that included attacks on religion, especially the Catholic Church.
Historically, Mexico has had three economic and social classes, Mestizos — Indians or indigenous people, and the lower economic and uneducated class; Criollos — those of mixed Indian and Spanish/European blood and the middle class; and Peninsulares — pure Spanish/ European blood (white) and the business and land-owning class. The majority of illegal aliens entering the United States are Mestizos.
As members of the lower economic class, they favor the Democrats who offer welfare programs, strong government intervention in economic affairs, and progressive taxation of the “rich.” These immigrants see Republicans as elitists (like the Peninsulares) who favor the “rich” over the “poor”— a viewpoint influenced by Mexican history.
In contrast, Mexican-Americans who have lived in the United States for decades and centuries favor the Republican political model.
Walsh goes on to write, "One Hispanic said, 'We vote with our hearts,' and another proclaimed, 'We own America. They owe us.'" Who is this "one Hispanic," where did Walsh find this purpoted quote, and how did Walsh decide that he speaks for all Hispanics in America? Walsh doesn't explain.
NEW ARTICLE -- Ronald Kessler: A Return to Romney-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Following his dalliance with Donald Trump, The Newsmax writer goes back to his first presidential love, Mitt Romney. Read more >>
Wayne Allyn Root Still Can't Believe His Prediction Of A Romney Landslide Failed Topic: Newsmax
When last we saw Wayne Allyn Root, he was predicting a "Reagan-like landslide" for Mitt Romney and assailing the New York Times' Nate Silver for insisting that President Obama would win, insising that the election results would mean that "liberals should give delusional and clueless pollster Nate Silver of The New York Times a gold watch and a retirement dinner."
Well, not so much. And Root is still a little stunned that his prognistication skills failed him. From his Nov. 15 Newsmax column:
My prediction was based on a combination of scientific evidence and common sense. First, it was based on common sense that no president could possibly be re-elected with the worst economy of our lifetimes — with an economy that has produced more months above 8 percent unemployment (43) than produced by all the presidents between Harry Truman and George W. Bush combined (39).
People just don't vote for the guy that brings you misery, malaise, foreclosures, and bankruptcies, record unemployment, and inflation at the gas pump and grocery store. This election should have been, 100 out of 100 times, a repeat of Reagan’s landslide over Carter.
Secondly, my prediction was based on common sense that turnout, enthusiasm, and the makeup of the electorate would be far different than 2008. Obama's coalition of single women, minorities, and young people were the groups most hurt by his economy. They are the ones without jobs. They are the ones suffering, with 14.3 percent black unemployment and 53 percent under-unemployment for college grads. Logic dictated these groups would not come out in record numbers again.
No one is such a glutton for punishment they'd return and ask for a second helping of misery, malaise and despair, right?
Well, I was wrong. The 2012 electorate looked almost identical to 2008. Obama's supporters didn’t just come for a second helping of misery — they came out enthusiastically and cheered for more.
Lastly, my prediction was based on SCIENCE — the University of Colorado's predictive model had never failed. It worked to perfection in the presidential elections of 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. It predicted a Romney landslide based on scientific facts and historical precedent.
[...]
Obama’s re-election proves that bribery as a campaign tactic is validated. Promise enough "free stuff” and you win votes, even if the end result is no jobs, no hope, and a lifetime dependent on government. You wouldn't believe this could be true. Not in America. That's why my prediction went wrong.
Since he was apparently reluctant to do so before the election, Root launched into a list of reasons why Romney lost, which largely centered around him playing it too safe and, thus, screwing up his prediction. Indeed, he ends his column by writing:
If Romney had been aggressive and not played it safe, would we be talking about President Romney, and celebrating my brilliant prediction? We'll never know. But if Romney had picked Rubio as his VP, and GOP Senate candidates Akins and Mourdock had never tried to tackle abortion and rape, I have no doubt my prediction would have been "on the money."
Presumably Root knew all of this before the election. He could have adjusted his prediction to better reflect reality, which he apparently did not, choosing instead to put being a Romney shill ahead of smart analysis.
Root also owes Silver an apology, but none was forthcoming in this column.
Newsmax's Kessler Gives American Crossroads A Pass on Election Failures Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler uses a Nov. 15 Newsmax article to allow Stephen Law, head of the American Crossroads super PAC, to spin away the election results by insisting that they "do not represent a seismic shift but show Republicans need to work harder at wooing certain population groups."
Curiously, Kessler doesn't bring Crossroads' own dismal election record, other than to note that "Between American Crossroads and its affiliate American Crossroads GPS, Law put nearly $200 million into beating Obama."
In fact, Crossroads failed across the board. According to the Sunlight Foundation, only 1.29 percent of the $104 million American Crossroads spent ended in the desired result, while about 41 percent of the $70 million Crossroads GPS ended in the desired result. None of that money, by the way, resulted in winning candidates.
Rather than holding Law's organization accountable, Kessler let him spin away and blame Romney's loss in part on demographic changes, the failure to defend Romney against the Obama campaign's early depiction of him, and failure to breach Obama's "likability firewall."
Needless to say, Kessler remains silent on his pre-election prediction of a Romney landslide.
Newsmax's Walsh Peddles A Failed Solution To Endear Hispanics to GOP Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler is not the only Newsmax writer to have issued a wildly inaccurate prediction of how the presidential election would go.
Immigrant-basher James Walsh devoted an Oct. 26 column to insisting that President Obama "has never made any attempt to keep his six years of promises to the Hispanic community of Comprehensive Immigration Reform" and as a result, "President Obama may have a November surprise."
Well, not so much. Despite Walsh's insistence that "the myth that the news media and politicians have created about a monolithic Hispanic voting bloc is just a myth" and that "about 57 percent of the Hispanic voters are favoring Obama, down from his 2008 number of 76 percent," Obama received 71 percent of the Hispanic vote and Mitt Romney only 27 percent, the lowest total for a Republican candidate since Bob Dole in 1996.
Thus, Walsh's Nov. 12 column in which he acknowledged this, though not his erroneous prediction. Instead, Walsh examined "Romney’s problem with Hispanic voters," which he immediately blames on the Obama campaign,which along with the media "described GOP failures in detail to the Hispanic community — descriptions that went unchallenged by Romney." Walsh continued:
Where do Republican leaders go from here? Realizing that, with a divided Congress, a comprehensive immigration reform package will not pass both House and Senate, House Republicans need to pass targeted pieces of immigration reform legislation.
They can start with an improved version of the Bracero program (1942-1964), a flawed guest-worker program terminated by President John Kennedy. An updated Bracero program could relieve the illegal-alien problem perplexing the president and Congress.
A 21st century Bracero program could provide guest workers with good housing, safe working conditions, income guarantees, and legal entry and exit papers. Such a program could protect national security concerns while providing the nation with a valued workforce, who would no longer need to pay “coyotes” (illegal alien smugglers) for high-risk entry to the United States.
Why would anyone want an "improved" version of a flawed, decades-old program? Walsh doesn't explain that, nor does he explain why it was flawed in the first place.
The bracero program mostly covered migrant farm workers from Mexico, who tended to be exploited by farmers. One federal official called the program "legalized slavery."
Nevertheless, Walsh insists that "Immigration advocates, farm labor unions, and agricultural interests would welcome such legislation as a new beginning and a 21st Century legislative accomplishment." We're not sure how.
Now That Election's Over, Newsmax's Ruddy Can Criticize Romney Again Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax's main article on President Obama's re-election seemed to sum up the overall mood at the website: "Obama Hands Romney Bitter Defeat." It seems that author David Patten is projecting a bit.
Newsmax took a couple stabs at trying to downplay the significance of Obama's win -- one article declared, "Networks Victory-for-Obama Reports Echo the 2000 Bush-Gore Debacle." Actually, not so much.
Another article tried to link declines in the stock market to Obama's re-election.
In the end, though, even Newsmax couldn't deny reality, and CEO Christopher Ruddy -- who had jumped on Ronald Kessler's Romney-fluffing train a few weeks prior to the election -- penned a Nov. 7 column seeking to lay blame for Mitt Romney's defeat.
After noting that "Perhaps the easy explanation is that two hurricanes and two betrayals by Chris Christie killed Mitt Romney's chances" -- and labeling Christie as "Iago" -- Ruddy lays out a point-by-point explanation of "why our pilot Mitt Romney and his plan were so flawed."
That gets Ruddy back to where he was several weeks before the election, prior to his endorsement of Romney, when he was praising Obama's foreign policy and criticizing the way Romney's campaign was being run.
Kessler Isn't Talking About His Wildly Wrong Prediction Of A Romney Landslide Topic: Newsmax
Dick Morris isn't the only right-wing writer to stake his professional reputation on a Mitt Romney landslide.
On Sept. 4, Newsmax's Ronald Kessler wrote an article called "Why Mitt Romney Will Win Decisively," in which he declared, "My prediction is that Romney will win by 10 to 12 percentage points." On Nov. 6, Kessler reiterated his prediction:
The shift to Republicans in the last congressional and gubernatorial elections, the intensity favoring Romney, and the early voting results on his side — not to mention the state of the economy — are all signs that point to the landslide I have been predicting.
Needless to say, Kessler got it wrong -- President Obama won re-election. But while Morris has issued a something of a mea culpa by admitting he got the election's demographics wrong, Kessler has yet to do so.
Instead, Kessler's first post-election column is dedicated to bucking up Republicans by embracing John Boehner's position on refusing to raise taxes to avoid the end-of-year fiscal cliff. "According to my sources, you can count on this: When Boehner says the Republican-dominated House will not raise taxes on the wealthy, he means it," Kessler wrote.
The question of Morris' sincerity aside, at least he did the walk of shame on Fox News. When will Kessler admit he wrong about a Romney landslide?
Doug Wead has spent much of the 2012 campaign season being Newsmax's biggest Ron Paul fan. He eventually transferred that enthusiasm to Mitt Romney, which resulted in Wead's Nov. 5 column, in which he suggested that Romney was the fulfillment of a Mormon prophecy.
After highlighting a statement by Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith -- “The time will come when the Constitution and government will hang by a brittle thread and will be ready to fall into other hands but this people, the latter-day saints will step forth and save it" -- Wead declared that "If history is any indicator Mitt Romney will win Tuesday's election." He continued:
Only America's guilt over racism and it infatuation with Barack Obama's personality can save the incumbent.
The grand spectacle of inaugurating a Mormon president in 2013 after inaugurating an African-American in 2009 would make this another seminal moment in our history. The long suffering and persecution of a gracious, hardworking and honorable people would finally come to an end.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir would sing at the inauguration and there would be chills up our spines and tears in our eyes. The Mormon journey would finally be over. All of America would now be their home. It would be another true healing.
But whether Mitt Romney can fulfill the prophet's words and save us is another question altogether. Can Romney, the wounded animal, still carrying his grudges, deserved as they may be, now heal the land? Can the man who will change his opinion on any issue to add a few numbers to his popularity have the strength of character to lead us?
And finally, what exactly did Joseph Smith's prophecy mean? He didn't say that the Constitution would be restored just that it would be "saved" and in another paragraph, that it would be "born away" by its savior.
If the historic trend continues and Mitt Romney wins, as I suspect, where will Mitt Romney decide to take it?
Well, that prophecy didn't quite hold up as well as Wead hoped, did it?
Ronald Kessler's Last-Minute Romney-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax's Ronald Kessler wraps up his season of Romney-fluffing with a pair of articles designed to boost Mitt Romney and attack President Obama.
On Nov. 2, he featured Richard Grenell -- whom he identifies only as "the former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations," -- bashing Obama over Libya and asserting that "Obama should have immediately denounced the failure of Libya and Egypt to protect the American embassies there." Kessler failed to mention that Grenell is an adviser to Romney and was his foreign-policy spokesman until forced out of that position by conservatives (like the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor) who didn't like the fact that Grenell is gay.
Today, Kessler once again touted the prospect of a landslide win for Romney, declaring that "President Obama’s admonition to supporters booing the mention of Mitt Romney’s name that 'voting is the best revenge' spotlights his character and his motivation" and that it's "the same nasty attitude of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., his longtime preacher, sounding board, and mentor.
Kessler also declares "Obama is an elitist with a chip on his shoulder." Pretty funny coming from a guy who pals around with Donald Trump.
Chick-fil-A was the not-so-subtle hint of what’s coming on November 6. I guess New York Times pollster Nate Silver didn’t notice. He's the darling of the left. He keeps touting magical polls that show Obama as unbeatable. His polls are perfect to amuse and entertain the delusional left.
These are the same New York Times-reading, latte drinking, hypocritical limousine liberals who didn't notice the big development of the past few days — Reverend Billy Graham endorsing Mitt Romney and supporting him with full page ads in newspapers across America. Just another monumental development completely misunderstood or purposely ignored by the mainstream media.
[...]
By Election Day, with the momentum in favor of Romney, I believe deep-blue Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will go red for Romney. Obama is still the favorite in states like Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey, but Romney could pick off 1 or 2 of these if things break right.
A Reagan-like landslide is now a very real possibility.
And liberals should give delusional and clueless pollster Nate Silver of The New York Times a gold watch and a retirement dinner.
Newsmax is trying for a last -minute pre-election smear of President Obama with an article headlined "Obama Campaigns with Celebs as Sandy Devastation Continues":
As President Obama closes out his presidential campaign on Monday with stops featuring A-List celebrities like rapper Jay-Z and rocker Bruce Springsteen, many of the victims of Hurricane Sandy are still waiting for federal, state and local assistance.
Almost a week after Superstorm Sandy pummeled New York and New Jersey, scenes of increased desperation — residents wielding bows and arrows against possible looters, tempers flaring in long gasoline lines, and impassioned pleas to officials for help — are highlighting what has become an uneven recovery from the storm.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, President Obama flew to assess the situation with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
But with over 2 million New Jerseyans and New Yorkers still without power, gas lines snaking for miles and as many as 40,000 people displaced from their homes -- some are seeing Obama's visit as nothing more than a photo op.
Newsmax pushed this article by splashing it across the top of its home page on Monday morning:
Funny thing, though: The above are the only references to Obama in the entire article, credited only to "Newsmax Wires" -- the rest is dedicated to the Sandy aftermath. That just shows what a deliberate cheap shot this article is.
It's not even election day, but Newsmax is already screaming about "voter fraud."
A Nov. 4 article by Stephen Feller declares, "Possible fraudulent voter registrations are being discovered in Ohio and officials fear that this may be a groundswell of thousands more to come." Of course, made-up names on voter registrations -- it's extremely unlikely that the person who registered as "John Adolf Hitler," the fraudulent name Feller cited, would actually have shown up to vote -- is not voter fraud since obviously fake names would be weeded out by election officials. before they become logged into the system.
Feller highlights "FieldWorks, a Washington, D.C., based third-party registration firm," as being the source of "many -- if not all" of the suspect voter registrations, but third-party firms are typically required to turn in all filled-out registration forms even though they are obviously fake.
In short, Feller has proved no "voter fraud," it's dealt with under the existing system, and it's nothing that wouldn't have been prevented by new voter ID laws.
This is a regular ritual by Newsmax -- elections in 2004, 2008, and 2010 were similarly preceded by pre-emptive allegations of voter fraud, presumably designed to undermine a Democratic victory.
Dick Morris Uses Newsmax to Shill for Romney (And, Of Course, Beg For Money) Topic: Newsmax
Dick Morris has a long history of taking part of Newsmax's financial schemes. Now morris is using Newsmax to forward a fund-raising scheme of his own.
Media Matters reports that on Nov. 2, Newsmax hosted a "critical election teleconference" conducted by Morris, Michael Reagan -- which whom Morris runs the anti-Obama Super PAC For America -- and Robert Wiedemer, co-author of the book "Aftershock," which Newsmax built a previous financial scheme around. The teleconference cost $4.95 for the privilege of listening in.
Morris declared that he was "very concerned" about the state of the presidential race because Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy has helped him in the polls, a conclusion that directly contradicts the fundraising pitch Morris made right before the hurricane struck. According to Media Matters, Morris smoothly segued into soliciting donations to Super PAC for America.
Media Matters concludes: "To sum up Morris' pitch: the race is close and also not close, and there are danger signs but Romney is also going to win almost every swing state. But to be extra sure, you should give money to Super PAC for America."
When last we saw Wayne Allyn Root, he was 
