It would be almost fitting it Obama’s first term lived under the threat of terrorist actions from Iran; it would cement the final piece in the puzzle that patterns his failed presidency after Jimmy Carter’s.

“In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,” Khamenei said recently. Although similarly named, he is not to be confused with Carter Administration nemesis, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, who died in 1989. Khamenei was his successor.

One doesn’t hear from Khamenei often as he frequently prefers to speak through Iranian President Achmadinijad, who faithfully delivers such death-threats against the West. With the raising of his profile, one has to wonder if a future attack is imminent.

Unless you’re US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which case you just throw up your hands and say, fatalistically, “You can’t overthrow them all.” Great attitude, St. Hillary! Next you’ll declare cd replication a bigger threat to western society than a nuclear Iran. Nice job.

Of course, next to Utah, Nevada boasts one of the most robust Mormon populations in America, so the victory should not come as a surprise. Romney is Mormon.

That said, if Romney ends up owing his victory to western-state conservatives and Mormons, it may bode well for a potential Romney presidency, pulling him to campaign and govern more to the right than he was able to as governor of Massachusetts. And that would be a good thing.

Only five states have spoken so far, and there are no signs that Gingrich, Ron Paul, or Rick Santorum plan to drop out any time soon. However, that’s healthy for the process; politics is not pro wrestling and does down operate under tap and die rules.

Why? Because although he has at times looked more conservative than other leading candidates, look who he was up against in the past: John McCain, Rudy Guiliani, Jon Huntsman, Mike Huckabee, and more. Against folks like that, even Barak Obama would seem like the more conservative choice.

The trouble is, when you contrast him against a real conservative like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, and more, he just doesn’t measure up.

But the people who decided to sit out are out, and the people who decided to run are running, and with Mitt Romney looking like he’ll win New Hampshire in a landslide, and leading in South Carolina, well… I hope for some upsets to extend the media attention on conservative solutions, but it’s pretty clear the Romney train is gonna run on time.

Newt Gingrich has been exposed for his limitations, the best candidate of them all – Herman Cain – has been driven out of the race, Rick Santorum has only been a Senator, Ron Paul is both insane and a liberal on foreign policy and 2012 Macys coupons have more value in a general election, and Rick Perry simply isn’t ready. No one else is viable.

So now comes the time where I’m gonna stop wishing for a late entry by Sarah Palin or some other dream candidate and get real: Mitt Romney’s not a perfect conservative, but so long as he doesn’t run to the left for the general election, there are things I can appreciate about him.

First, he’s been a governor. Second, he’s spent a good portion of his career in the private sector. And third, he’s not Barak Obama.

Okay. I think it’ll be an improvement. Now if only we can see him choose a genuine conservative as a running mate, rather than a RINO.

But here’s the details.

Back in 2009, before Measure 66 took effect, the top individual income tax rate in Oregon was an already-hefty nine percent. Measure 66 allowed a “temporary” rate hike to 10.8 and eleven percent on individuals with incomes over $125,000, and married couples filing jointly with incomes over $250,000.

Occupy Portland would call those families “the top 1 percent.”

People who know better call them, “small business owners” and “employers.”

On January first, that “temporary” tax rate hike gets rolled back… to 9.9 percent. That’s still nearly a full percent higher than the original top marginal rate of nine percent. So, in essence, Oregon’s top income earners aren’t getting a tax cut, so much as a reduction in the amount of the tax hike enacted upon them under Measure 66.

Already, Salem politicians are scheming to invent ways to get those 10.8 and 11 percent rates back, failing to acknowledge that 9.9 is still more than the original rate.

Yet this punitive tax-rate attack on employers and job creators comes at a poor moment. The unemployment rate (as currently calculated) has dropped to 9.1 percent, the lowest rate since the Obama Administration came to power, but that rate fails to take into account those workers who have been out of work so long, they no longer qualify for unemployment benefits, or who have given up looking for jobs entirely because there are so few to be found.

According to some sources, the “actual” unemployment rate could be as high as 14 percent or more, and even higher among recent college graduates.

Following flirtations with Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain, the anti-Romney forces of the Iowa GOP have latched onto Newt Gingrich and refuse to be thrown off. The most recent Gallup Poll has him up by four percent over Romney, who can’t break past a 25-percent ceiling in his support.

Rick Santorum is looking better and better.

For ages, Democrats claimed the GOP was racist for being “too white.” Then they were racist for not supporting their own black candidates like the moderate General Colin Powell. And now that an genuine conservative black candidate is emerging in the form of Herman Cain, who is the apparent front runner in most areas nationwide for the GOP presidential nomination, have Dems backed off their racism claims against the GOP?

Perish the thought.

Now, we’re racist because we do support a black candidate for president.

Dem strategist Karen Finney blathered on like so recently on MSNBC:

One of the things about Herman Cain is, I think that he makes that white Republican base of the party feel okay, feel like they are not racist because they can like this guy. I think he giving that base a free pass. And I think they like him because they think he’s a black man who knows his place. I know that’s harsh, but that’s how it sure seems to me.

She’s joined in similar sentiment by Democratic Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, who uttered this hate-speech recently:

I think when [members of the Tea Party] can vote for a Herman Cain and hear him say the things that he says they feel like, ‘Well, you know, I can, I support this guy and…so it shows that I’m not racist and I’m supportive.

Wow… and here I thought Herman Cain was garnering support because of his specific policy solutions, such as his 9-9-9 plan on simplifying the tax code as a first step toward a Fair Tax system. Or that he’s a red-blooded conservative with solid ideas on what he’s do if elected to change the course of this country’s economy. Or maybe even that he is a guy who’s well-qualified for his leadership in the private sector as well as the public sector, even though he’s never run for elective office and can therefore run as a Washington outsider ready to reform government.

Nah, none of that counts. It’s just our racism again. I should have known. Thanks, liberals.

Perry, who drew frequent boos from the Las Vegas audience earlier this week, managed only 4 percent. Even Ron Paul won 10 percent there.

The debate victory, which most observers gave to Cain or Romney, was reflected in the poll results. As Perry continues to struggle, and Gingrich is far less popular nationwide than the Nevada result indicates, it appears that the conservative and Tea Party factions have finally found a candidate they can agree on; Cain is appearing to solidify himself as the “anyone but Romney” candidate.

Will that be enough to win the nomination? That depends on who supporters of former conservative and Tea Party darlings like Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, migrate to after those candidates drop out of the race. Cain would seem the most natural choice.

Can Cain beat Obama? You know what? I bet a Cuban cigar he can. I think he’s the candidate Obama is least eager to face.

On recent broadcasts, Schultz has bloviated about how black Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is pandering to “white Republicans out there who don’t like black folks.” That would be quite a trick, if that were even possible.

Schultz’ comment exposes the left’s overconfidence in their foothold among black voters. Even with the nation’s first black president in the White House, Schultz apparently believes it’s okay to play the race card and accuse a party that currently favors Cain over Mitt Romney, of racism.

If the GOP actually were as racist as Schultz suggests, Cain would’t be surging right now, regardless of the fact that he has presented what is consistently the most solid and conservative political message of any candidate running.

Schultz also railed against Senator Jim DeMint, whom Cain has mentioned as a potential running mate if he wins the nomination. Yet those comments aren’t even worth wasting virtual space on. Maybe Schultz simply needs to be sent a bunch of Christmas Cards to cheer him up.

While appearing on Fox News, country-singer Hank Williams Jr. compared Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner’s “bipartisan golf outing” with President Barak Obama as a huge mistake. Here, specifically, is what he said:

“It’s like Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” the country singer said of the bipartisan golf game.

That’s it. An offensive image? Sure. But an analogy, not a direct comparison of Obama to Hitler, necessarily. It’s open to interpretation. Williams clarified himself later by issuing this in a statement:

“Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme — but it was to make a point.”

And that’s the extent of what he said.

For that, ESPN, owned by the libs at ABC/Disney, had pulled Williams’ signature Monday Night Football theme, “Are You Ready For Some Football?,” based on his country hit, “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” from Monday’s football broadcast. And if it weren’t for public outcry, he’d have already had the theme permanently removed … which ABC/Disney/ESPN hasn’t ruled out just yet. They’re just testing the waters to see if they can get away with it.

Williams Jr.’s theme was first released in 1984 and adopted as the Monday Night Football theme song in the late 1980s. So it’s been the theme of the show for close to a quarter-century, and only the second theme in the show’s history, save for a brief period in the 1990s when ABC experimented with having artists other than Hank Williams Jr. cover the song, including Amy Grant, of all people! I can’t find the list anymore.

Anyway, whatever happened to freedom of speech? Or at least being consistent about what’s off-limits?

Because Democrats are comparing Republican politicians to Hitler. All the time. And they never get called on it. Not like this.

Doubt me? Here’s a video where Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker is compared to Hitler because of his budget proposal that included limiting collective bargain rights for public employees paid by the taxpayer.

And when Republican President George W. Bush was in office, if you listened to liberals, you would have thought his middle name was Hitler. Here’s a not-even-close-to-comprehensive list that does offer close to 75 celebrities, politicians and other organizations who have compared Bush to Germany’s WWII dictator.

Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has also been compared to the mastermind of the Jewish Holocaust. For cutting taxes.

The list is much, much longer. Basically, if you’re a Republican, there’s a Democrat waiting in the wings to compare you to Hitler.

But none of them lose their jobs over it. Real consistent there, libs!

South Carolina, the fourth state to vote, looks set to be a pivotal state once again. A Perry-Bachmann or Perry-Cain ticket would certainly be intriguing.

Of course, irate teachers like Shelley Moore, who lost in a landslide favoring incumbent Republican Sheila Harsdorf, simply don’t understand that lines like, “we breathe union” turns voters off, as does demanding no change in their quality of life, salary and benefits when the taxpayers footing the bill for it are suffering from high unemployment and the worst economy in eighty years.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is one of the few Republicans serious about making real, difference-making cuts to spending, and an example for every GOP presidential hopeful to take note of going forward.

Taking a bunch of zeros out of the mix, the situation is equivalent to this: the US government is like a family making, say, around $21,000. They have a debt of close to, say, $250,000 to $500,000. And the recent budget cuts are like that family decided to spend about $450 less next year. See how pointless the measly cuts agreed to are yet?

That’s why Standard and Poor’s downgraded the US credit rating, and even in that they were generous. And real family operating like this would have been downgraded long ago, and given a far worse downgrade to boot.

It’s time to stop joking around with budget cuts, whining when a “projected increase” is mildly reduced, but is still an increase. It’s time for real budget cuts, before our national credit rating erodes even further.