Enter Brian Tewes, who happened to be granted the special privilege of flaunting the inaugural Stewie head in the student section of last Wednesday’s UCF men’s basketball game against Memphis. The UCF Athletics section has been handing out various “big head” posters of Knights basketball players, as well as cartoon characters and celebrities during basketball games.

The only problem was Tewes and the Stewie head poster were nowhere to be found after the postgame madness.

“I stormed the court like everyone else and took the cut out with me similar to how the other students who were given them did,” said Tewes.  “Afterwards, I didn’t see who gave it to me so I went home with It and hung it on my wall.”

UCF premiered five cut out heads, featuring Stewie, Darth Vader, Justin Bieber, The Most Interesting Man in the World, and Daniel Tosh.  During the circus that followed, collecting the heads was not easy.

“We went through the crowd to collect them and realized that Stewie was missing,” said Assistant Director of Fan Development Samantha Nemeroff.  “We thought it wasn’t going to be found, but by chance, our intern’s friend was taking pictures for Valencia’s newspaper and had taken enough of the crowd for us to spot him.”

Nemeroff and the UCF marketing team decided to make the search for the Stewie head fun by making a themed wanted poster of Tewes with a Wild West flair.  It featured several shots of him throughout the game with the Stewie head and offered a reward for its safe return.

Not even 15 minutes after the pictures were posted, with the help of UCF Nation, the culprit was found.  Dan Antonino, or “Knight Fan Dan”, is a friend of Tewes and spotted the picture of him as soon as it was posted on Facebook.

“I called him as soon as I saw it and posted a link to his Facebook of the picture,” said Antonino.  “Seeking the prize, I went with Brian to return the head and was awarded three t-shirts.”

The cut out heads of celebrities and cartoon characters was inspired by an Indiana Hoosiers basketball game that the UCF marketing team had watched.  The cut out heads are traditionally used to distract the opposing team during free throws and are a way of making the crowd even more raucous.

“Our goal is to have those five heads showcased at every game, but we encourage students to make their own as well,” said Nemeroff.

The marketing team is calling for even more crowd participation with the cut out heads and will look to collect them prior to the games completion to ensure this mishap does not happen again.  As for Tewes, he is happy things have returned to normal as his time as a UCF outlaw was short, but exciting.

“I couldn’t believe they went to such an extent,” said Tewes.  “It was very creative getting the poster out there, and this was definitely one of my best college moments so far.”

UCF will play their first home game since the Memphis thriller Saturday against Southern Miss at 7 p.m., where Stewie and the gang will make their triumphant return.  Hopefully this time he’ll make it home without any trouble.

Those three super fans are all household names in their respective fan bases, known as being the primary cheerleader and motivator for their team every game, season after season.

Like Us For UCF News Updates on Facebook:

While the Gators, Jets and Dolphins all have a rich history and tradition, the University of Central Florida hasn’t quite reached the level of tradition and prestige that the more known schools and teams have from being around for a very long period of time.

Still, that hasn’t stopped Brian Stanley, also known as “Knight Fan Stan.”

In case you haven’t attended a UCF sporting event in the last three years, Knight Fan Stan is UCF’s version of Mr. Two Bits. He attends UCF athletic events and spends a large portion of each game running around the stadium or arena pumping up the crowd with his various sign, Black and Gold chants and popular phrase- “Every day is a great day to be a UCF Knight!”

While his Knight Fan Stan gig has just recently taken off, Stanley has been a Knights fan for nearly 30 years after he moved to Orlando in the early ‘70s. Interestingly enough, Knight Fan Stan didn’t attend UCF as a student, but his wife and sister are both UCF alumni.

The Beginning

The origination of the “KFS” idea started in the 1980’s when he had UCF football season tickets and attended many of the games at the Citrus Bowl, the Knights previous venue before Bright House Networks Stadium opened on campus in 2007.

“It all started back through my business. I purchased season tickets before Daunte Culpepper was here,” Knight Fan Stan said. “I did a little cheering in the old Citrus Bowl, but I kind of modeled myself after Dolphin Denny from the Miami Dolphins- he was a super fan.”

After attending numerous UCF football games, Stanley became upset with the lack of fans that went to games and realized that the Knights didn’t have an avid fan, or “super fan,” to pump up the crowd and increase school spirit at the UCF games.

“I thought UCF really doesn’t have someone like this (Mr. Two Bits). What really got me was people weren’t attending the games back in the Citrus Bowl,” KFS said. “You had a stadium with 70,000 people, but only 18,000 were attending, so it looked empty. It was a little upsetting for me because there was no school spirit.”

However, Stanley didn’t really take the Knight Fan Stan persona to the next level until 2007 when UCF brought the football stadium on campus. Bright House Networks Stadium gave him inspiration to further develop the KFS persona, and he fully implemented the idea in 2009.

Gaining the Trust of the UCF Community

For the first two years as the concept was maturing, Knight Fan Stan didn’t get a huge reception, and the UCF Athletics staff and event staff was skeptical of the role. But as time went on, his feedback became increasingly positive.

“I’ve gained the trust of UCF Athletics. At first, it was like who is this guy; is he going to be here for the short term and not the long term?” KFS said. “UCF Athletics has been very open now in the regard of letting me walk around the stadium. I have clearance from UCF Athletics to do what I do.”

Now, Knight Fan Stan is fully recognized by the UCF Athletics Association staff, the UCF athletes and the UCF fan base after three years of attending games, putting in hard work and consistently supporting the UCF sports teams.

“I’m a huge UCF fan- I have season tickets for football, basketball and baseball,” KFS said. “I bleed black and gold, and I’m very passionate about UCF; I don’t go half ass- I go all into it.”

Taking on the Knight Fan Stan role has been no easy task for Stanley, who owns his own printing business, has a weekly radio show and is a father of two kids- ages 13 and 10.  He has to juggle all his responsibilities, while still making sure he goes to every game to keep increasing UCF’s school spirit.

“I’m at the game. I’m a family man. I’m a father, and I’m Knight Fan Stan- I have to be everywhere,” Stanley said.

The Inspiration Behind the “KFS” Persona

While as much as the Knight Fan Stan character is a fun way to promote himself and the UCF program, Stanley says the primary inspiration behind the whole gig is giving back to the community and advancing the UCF brand.

“The motivation is giving back to the community, meeting people, networking and getting the UCF brand out there in a positive way,” Stanley said. “Someone might not know about UCF athletics – it’s a college first and foremost, but there are a lot of community people out there that need to support the local college. The reason the big schools have such a following is because they have community involvement.”

The Knights have been criticized largely at times for not generating tons of fan support at football and basketball games. However, Knight Fan Stan sees that as a product of growing pains of being a relatively young program and thinks things will change in the future.

“For a school this size, it’s concerning. But, schools like Penn State, Florida and Florida State have had a 100-year head start. Ask me that question (fan attendance) in 2040 or 2050 when we’re in the Big East, or if we’ve moved past that, and we’re Top 10 contenders,” KFS said.

With the Knights recently getting a bid into the Big East, as well as having an established football stadium on campus, Stanley sees the tradition brewing for the future.

“I think the tradition will come- it’s just slow. The stadium has only been around five years,” KFS said. “You need it to be around for 10-20 years. Now, when you’re an alumni, you’re going to have something to come back to.”

With Knight Fan Stan being a much more recognizable face these days as the UCF Athletic program continues to make progress and with all the success its had over the past few years, KFS is just hoping his role will get people excited about UCF sports and bring people back to the games.

“It’s just about the students, alumni and fans- to get the crowd energized, to care, to have someone to get people to come back to the games. I’m not trying to be Knightro or Coach O’Leary- it’s just another character in the UCF gang,” KFS said. “I like getting the kids involved at the games. When I go around, I thank people for supporting the school. I’m like an investor- I like to invest so people come back to the games.”

Just like building tradition at UCF is a continuing process, so is the Knight Fan Stan character. In just three years, KFS has matured his character and built his reputation to the point where he receives great feedback from the UCF students and fan base not only on campus, but off campus.

KFS said he constantly gets noticed in the Orlando area by the numerous people in the UCF community when he does volunteer work or is simply running errands.

It appears that people understand that Stanley is serious about his KFS persona, and that he is here for the long haul.

Between his consistent attendance at UCF sporting events, his various signs, popular sayings and social media handles that promote the Knights and his character, Knight Fan Stan is doing his part in building tradition at UCF. It may only be a matter of time before the Knights have the tradition that other big-time programs like Florida and FSU have- and we have Knight Fan Stan to thank for helping the UCF community move towards that direction.

“I consider myself a big part of it. I’m still contributing, but it is trial and error,” Knight Fan Stan said. “Really, we’ll sit down 10-15 years from now, and ask me that question again because the KFS persona is still in the infancy stage. I’m really motivated to take it as far as I can take it.”

You can find out more information or reach Knight Fan Stan at his website- www.knightfanstan.com, as well as on Twitter @KnightFanStan. If you want to listen to his radio show, the Knight Fan Stan Show, check it out on weekends from 6 p.m.-12 a.m. on Rock100DIZ.com.

Doors open at 10pm. Come dressed to boogy-woogy–things are going to get wild. See ya there!

For the American Conservative Union (ACU), their yearly Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is one of the most hyped events for Republicans and conservatives across the country. For the first time, this past weekend, the ACU put together its first regional CPAC here in Orlando, Florida. With speakers, and workshops lined up throughout the day on Friday attendees couldn’t be happier and more engaged.

For the speakers, the attendees were afforded the privilege to hear from the top Presidential Candidates including Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and the star of the weekend Herman Cain. Other candidates were there as well, but they are considered to be a lower tier by many.

Herman Cain talks with KnightNews.com

The event began at 8:30 with the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. We were then introduced to the chairman of the ACU, Al Cardenas, whom used to be the Florida Republican Chair. He called on Floridians to make sure we help elect the next President of the United States.

After the chairman spoke, we had the opportunity to hear from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who has gone from almost front runner status to bringing up the behind. Her message was clear, she wants to make Barack Obama a “one term president.” This is something that she has been using on the campaign trail since the beginning, and it always seems to resonate well with voters, however, she is not so much anymore.

Next we got to hear from Mitt Romney, who has always had trouble playing to the conservative base of the Republican Party. His message seemed to resonate well with voters, especially since he is portraying himself as the candidate that can beat Obama right now. As former Governor to Massachusetts, he alienated the Republican base by passing a universal style health care law in Massachusetts. He tries to assure voters that it was the best thing to do for his state at the time, and on his first day in office he would sign an executive order issuing waivers to all 50 states that would allow them to opt out of the President’s health care law.

One of the candidates who spoke got a real nice welcome, as he always does, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He has put himself forward as the candidate that has the most experience, and also the policy knowledge to be able to effectively debate President Obama. This Thursday, Gingrich is planning a reintroduction of his Contract with America, which he has cleverly named the 21st century Contract with America. Gingrich is trailing in the polls, most of the time coming in below ten percent.

One of the most hyped speeches of the day came from Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who had quite a lack luster performance in the debate the night before. Perry who has had very strong poll numbers since entering the race about six weeks ago, has been criticized recently for his lack of fireworks in debates, as well as his stances on immigration and his mandate that required all girls in the state of Texas to receive the Gardisil Vaccine, which is known to prevent various forms of HPV. Perry had one of the largest following coming into the weekend, and it seemed to be a different story when the weekend ended on Saturday with the Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll.

The man who stole the show was former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain. Polling in single digits, he has been the sweetheart of the race. He has consistently had the highest intensity rating amongst all GOP candidates in the Race. Every time he speaks, he seems to gain a new passenger on the “Cain Train.” During his speech, by my count, he had the most standing ovations as well as the longest one after he finished. The buzz around the convention center was unreal.

One attendee, A.J. Trommello, said that he felt “overwhelmed, and privileged being able to see all of the candidates in one place, basically one right after the other. Although A.J. hasn’t quite decided who he is supporting in the upcoming election, he knows that his opinion changed on two of the candidates: Mitt Romney and Herman Cain.

While talking to A.J., he also pointed out how great it was to see (what seemed like a lot of Tea Party members) be so welcoming to an African American candidate. He noted how discouraging it is hearing politicians on the left, as well as the liberal media “brand” the Tea Party as a bunch of racists. However, A.J. noted that two of the loudest cheers he heard from the crowd was for two African American’s: Herman Cain, and Congressman Allen West (R-FL).

Mr. Cain continued his strong performances from Thursday’s debate, and Friday’s conference with another one at the Presidency 5 straw poll on Saturday. Cain won with thirty-seven percent of the votes casted, just about 3,000. Following Cain in the straw poll was Perry and Romney within one point of each other. Former Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and Congresswoman Bachmann rounded out the results with two and one percent respectively.

With just about 4 months until the Iowa Caucuses, the race is really going to begin to heat up. There are still a couple of big names out there who still might decide to the throw their name into the fray, Sarah Palin and Chris Christie. While most pundits have said their time has come and gone, some disagree and say they could really turn things upside down in the race.

It will be quite interesting to see how the candidates round out their fall debate schedule with the October 11th debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. The debate will be sponsored by CNN.

As for the ACU, they say they want to continue the regional CPAC idea. They considered the Orlando event to be a major success and look back to bring it back to Washington D.C. in February. However, they hope to hold the next regional conference in Chicago, the President’s hometown.

——————————–

‘No.’

That’s what the editors over at the Central Florida Future told me when I applied to be a writer for their entertainment section five years ago.

‘No.’

That’s what the ‘who’s who’ of the university told me when I said I wanted to start an online newspaper at UCF.

Fortunately, I don’t respond favorably to people telling me what I can’t do. Here we are, two years later, and I can grab the attention of nearly 60,000 students with the click of a ‘submit’ button. KnightNews.com, the ‘little campus blog’ I shouldn’t and couldn’t have started with my friend Max Friedman* in July of 2009, has become a household name.

Although I was mostly known as “the guy who makes people look stupid on camera,” everything was very serious behind the scenes. I’ve become fluent in First Amendment law, video editing, news field production and business and non-profit management — sort of makes me wonder why I ever paid for college courses.

I have a lot of favorite moments at UCF, but here are a few that meant the most to me:

1.) The El Corral Music Video

Yes, I wrote the song. No, I did not get paid to do it. Yes, I was given a lot of free El Corral afterward. No, the Porsche in the video does not belong to me — yet.

2.) Exposing corruption in SGA – “The Mike Kilbride Administration $8,000 Triple Crown,” as I like to call it, was an $8,000 retreat at a luxury resort near Disney, an $8,000 desk for the office, and another nearly $8,000 retreat just months later — all on students’ dime. We broke these major stories and they got picked up on every major network, including CNN. The message was simple: stop wasting students’ money and we will stop exposing you. He didn’t. We continued.

3.) The People – From dealing with student organizations to reporting on campus events, I’ve shaken more hands and kissed more babies (proverbially) than I can count on a porcupine with split ends. This has really been the most incredible experience of my life (::hitting play on Greenday CD::). I loved every moment, but certainly need to delete a few Facebook friends. I’m tired of getting poked by strangers and receiving endless Vampire invitations, although I am flattered.

I’ve created a few enemies along the way, which is my only regret. But you know, it’s difficult not to. You know how they say there are two sides to every story? That’s a load of crap. At UCF, there are 56,000 sides to every story and they won’t all line up with yours. I’ve learned to deal with it, and my skin has become thicker than Wendy’s Frosty — unfortunately I don’t taste as good when you dip French fries in me.

We’ve won major awards for outstanding reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists. We’ve defended students when their rights were being violated; we’ve battled the UCF administration when it was treating students unfairly; we’ve brought high definition and live video recordings to all major campus events; the list goes on. KnightNews.com has completely revolutionized news at UCF.

In my early days at UCF, I had been told ‘no’ so many times I was beginning to feel like the wrinkled dollar bill that no vending machine would accept. But it’s that wrinkled dollar that proves to be the most clutch in a time of need because it’s the one that was holding out in your wallet to be used for something better than a diet Coke. I was glad to be UCF’s wrinkled dollar bill; I feel like I accomplished something greater than I ever set out to do.

Now as I leave, I have passed the reigns onto Kevin Wolkenfeld, our Editor-in-Chief, who I know will continue to do an amazing job. Kevin — if I have any advice at all for you, it’s to write what you want to write. If you listen to everyone who tells you ‘no,’ you’ll end up like everyone. And from looking around, I can tell you that’s a scary thought.

I recently applied to work for Tribune Company, one of the largest and most respected news publishing corporations in the world. I met with them and showed them what I did with KnightNews.com and the impact it’s made, and they loved it. As for the job I applied for with them, they went on to tell me one thing:

‘Yes.’

Proud UCF Alum,
Andrew Stein

*After leaving KnightNews.com, Max Friedman has gone on to start a successful, South-Florida based, full-service marketing and design agency. Check it out at FriedmanCreative.com. Without Max, KnightNews.com would never have gotten off the ground. He was my only ‘yes man.’

Boxing Match With Words – And the Fight Continues

On the day of the most important witness for the UCFAA’s testimony, the Courtroom seemed more like a boxing ring than a court of law.  It’s no wonder Plancher family attorney Steven Yerrid told the Judge he couldn’t take a doctor’s deposition on Saturday because he was being inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame.

Throughout the day, the two parties were slinging objections and accusations at each other and a mistrial was requested multiple times. In one corner, we had Plaintiff’s counsel at one point ask the Judge for permission to temporarily practice law (via Motion Pro Hac Vice) in Colorado so he can go take up a matter with the Courts and Bar regarding complaints of attorney misconduct against the Defendant’s out of state attorney.  In the other corner, we had UCFAA’s attorney throwing some serious jabs when he accused Plancher family attorney as intentionally committing a fraud on the Court and saying that the Judge is allowing it to happen.  This constant bickering back and forth had the judge questioning the attorneys’ professionalism and testing his patience.  In fact, the Judge said his golf game suffers due to his lack of patience, but after sitting as the Judge in this case, no doubt his golf game is going to improve.

O’Leary made it a point to highlight how he treated or felt about individual players and the team.  That they were treated like a family and that there was nothing out of the “norm” than what you’d expect to see at this level when it came to football.  He talked about how Ereck was a smart young man, that he was one of the ones that if told to do something, he would be the one to follow through and get it done.

Coach O’Leary admitted that he knew Ereck suffered of sickle cell trait, as well as 3 other people, though it turned out one of those 3 (ex-assistant trainer Robert Jackson) did not.  His testimony was basically he was out on the field and as Head Coach he had “a lot of eyes” out on the field, but no one saw Ereck in any kind of distress.  He admits seeing Ereck stumble and finish further behind than normal in one of their runs, but he didn’t think much of it.  He also singled Ereck out and told him he expected or wanted to see more from him.  He did, however, say in hindsight how bad that makes him feel to have said that, since basically he had no idea that this would end so tragically.

The final kicker was when ex-trainer Robert Jackson’s testimony was presented via video since he could not be physically available in Florida for the trial.  With this video came to be the most damaging testimony of the day for the defense.  Basically, Jackson was allowed to talk about the current protocol or standard for dealing with athletes with sickle cell trait there at the new university where he is currently working.  Essentially, they screen ALL athletes for the trait, they sit down with each one that tests positive, they have them sign a form acknowledging they’ve been advised of the trait and what it means, they explain to them what it means, and they explain the life-threatening nature of it and what signs to look for to avoid the serious risks associated with the trait.

The jury is hearing all of this and basically being told how important it is for these things to be done.  It is undisputed that at the time of Ereck Plancher’s death, or even his joining the team, there was no such formal protocol, nor were those specific things done.  What juror wouldn’t think, well it should have been!?  The problem is, that testimony was totally “legally” irrelevant and extremely prejudicial.

So why didn’t UCFAA object?  Well, they did during the trial since it was clearly damaging testimony, so much so they asked for a mistrial!  The problem for them was that during the actual taping of the video testimony they had one of their lawyers present and she simply did not ask ANY questions.  UCFAA attorneys allege the reason they didn’t was because they had an issue related to that witness on appeal (waiting for a decision from appeals court), and so they wanted to “preserve the issue”, meaning make sure they didn’t ruin their chance or waive their rights on the appeal.  However, the judge basically said too bad so sad.  You had an attorney there, they don’t get to sit there and sit back and say nothing, then come in today in the middle of the testimony –- not before, not just before trial — but in the middle of the testimony, and cry “Foul!”.  The Judge said sorry, but it’s coming in.  Best he offered was to give an instruction to the jury to attempt to “cure” the damage.

But it’s anybody’s guess as to how this will play out because even the Judge said he reserves the right to reverse himself.  So there is no telling what he’ll decide or if he’ll change his mind once the case gets back underway.  O’Leary’s testimony was cut short but will be back to testify for the Defense’s case, and the Plaintiff’s attorney made it clear he wasn’t excused from his subpoena and is subject to recall.

The Plaintiff’s attorney made much of O’Leary’s contract, where he highlighted the importance of winning and how winning equals dollar signs.  On top of the $650,000 contract, O’Leary gets paid or bonuses for radio and media attention, speaking engagements, and based on the number of folks in the stands.  While again, he stressed this is contract isn’t anything different (I guess compared to other college football coaches), the Plaintiffs were trying to highlight how a coach is going to push for wins, no matter what the cost, because of the cost to him.  This is going to be a running theme in a time where many question the perceived exploitation of these young athletes who aren’t really being paid, yet the colleges, the coaches, and these “private” organizations like UCFAA, are making hundreds of thousands of dollars.  No matter what the outcome of this case, more care will clearly be given to avoid incidents and lawsuits like this.

Remembering UCF's Ereck Plancher: 1988-2008

So as this exciting legal battle continues, we continue to watch the “drama”, though one can only hope the reality is not lost.  Among all the bickering, there was even a lot of joking and laughter intermixed in the courtroom.  Many times it seemed as if this was basically a game to the “players”, the attorneys fighting this out.  But let’s not forget, accident or not, regardless of whose fault this ends up falling on, a young man died tragically and his parents sit in that courtroom while the lawyers banter back in forth with many times what seems to be a wholly insensitive approach in light of this family’s loss.

On Monday night, seven (official) Presidential candidates took the stage at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. The debate, which aired on CNN, was a good chance for Republican Primary voters to see what the current field looks like. It was a night that focused on the failed Presidency of Barack Obama. The candidates were reluctant to take jabs at one another, and I believe it was the right move.

The biggest headline coming out of tonight’s debate was that of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann announcing that she has officially filed paperwork to run for President. With that announcement, Bachmann had to live up to the expectations of someone running for the White House and she did.

On a night where the economy was the main focus, she was calm, cool and collected. When it came to criticizing the President, she did not hold back. When the issue of healthcare was brought us, she pointed out that as a Representative from Minnesota she was the first member of Congress to “introduce the full-scale repeal of Obamacare.” Since this is going to be a major focus point in 2012, she has the background as a member of congress to say she fought to repeal the massive healthcare legislation.

For other candidates on the stage, they also decided that it was more important to attack the President as opposed to each other, at least for now.

The frontrunner going into tonight’s debate was clearly Mitt Romney. He is leading in the national polls, as well as in most of early primary states. Romney did not have to “win” tonight to continue to be the front runner in this race. He needed to make sure he did enough on addressing policy issues, and he did.

Herman Cain at Previous Debate

For the rest of the field, it was pretty cut and dry. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich did enough to stay alive after his campaign staff quite en masse last week. He was strong on policy issues, and was strong in his dismay for the President.

Herman Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO continued to show that his title as a non-politician will continue to allow him to gain a following amongst the Tea Party voters. The only thing standing in his way with that group of voters is the fact that Michelle Bachmann is also a Tea Party sweetheart.

Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, in my opinion, started out strong but tapered towards the middle and finished weak as well. He missed an opportunity to show that he is willing to go toe to toe with Romney in regards to his healthcare law in Massachusetts. On Sunday, he dubbed the healthcare situation as “Obamneycare.” John King tried to get him to bite the bait and he didn’t. I think it is still too early for these candidates to attack each other, and I am okay with Pawlenty tiptoeing the issue.

Former Senator Rick Santorum continued to show that he will be a darling of social conservatives across the country. During most of the debate, he looked quite tense and I think it is going to severely hurt him. New Hampshire is not his state, and he will continue to have his sight set on the Iowa Caucuses. If he doesn’t lighten up a bit, it will be a short ran campaign for him.

For the final candidate, we all know him, and that is Congressman Ron Paul. He continued to show why he is a headline maker. He continued to call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. At one point, he went as far as to say that he would not listen to what his generals had to say about the withdrawal.

Ultimately, the winner tonight is Michelle Bachmann. It was a nice introduction for her to the country, and it should that she could handle being on stage with the heavyweights. Romney will continue to lead in the polls for the foreseeable future, however, with fall slowly approaching and the number of debates rising he will soon have to defend his healthcare legislation against his Republican rivals, and they will show no mercy.

On Thursday, President Obama gave what was dubbed a “major” speech on the Middle East. However, the big focus towards the second half of the speech was the peace situation between Israel and the Palestinians. Some pundits are calling the speech a “major change” in U.S. policy.

I am calling it a disgrace.

President Obama today called for the Palestinians and Israelis to come back to the table and start moving rapidly towards a peace deal. Unfortunately for the Israelis, the President is calling for them to move their borders back to what is called the 1967 borders, with minor swaps.

Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, who is scheduled to visit the White House on Friday, came out with a statement against that idea right after the Speech. The Prime Minister called the 1967 borders “indefensible.”

He also said, it would “leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines.”
Throughout its history, Israel has had to defend itself against neighbors who have said that the Israelis have no right to exist. Netanyahu also said today that peace will never come until all claims against Israel have been resolved.

If Israel were to go back to the 1967 borders there would be major changes. First, Israel would be forced to give up the strategic region located in the north, the Golan Heights. This region is considered vital to Israel’s security. Israelis say that if they were to lose the region, there would be a significant increase in the potential for attacks from Syria and Lebanon.

The second region would be Jerusalem. Back before 1967 when the Palestinians controlled Jerusalem, there were restrictions on Jews even being able to visit the Western Wall. As the holiest site in the world to members of the Jewish Faith, it would be morally heartbreaking, and emotionally painstaking. However, Obama did mention that he would like to see land swaps, without going into detail on those plans.

As a Jewish person who recently visited Israel, I cannot imagine the country without them.
With this major shift in policy, Obama is putting an additional speed bump to a dialogue that is already in a stalemate. It is unthinkable to me that a sitting American President would call on our biggest ally in the Middle East to give up such strategically, and religiously important areas.

President Obama should be ashamed of himself. And the Jews, who voted for him, should seriously reconsider their views on this President when he comes up for reelection next year.

What you need to realize is that what the President did today was not just talk; he physically changed the U.S. approach to the entire situation. It will be interesting to see if there is a statement made tomorrow by either leader, after they meet at the White House.

The President today also called on Syria to cease all action being taken on demonstrators in their country. He also praised the additional uprisings around the region. He also questioned how the Iranian regime could congratulate the demonstrators of other countries while at the same time denouncing and firing on its own demonstrators.

The race for the White House in 2012 has begun. With a few questions left to answer, I think the biggest one is Mike Huckabee and it looks like that answer will be made shortly before 9 p.m. tonight. Former Governor Mike Huckabee is someone we need to run for president, especially against President Obama.

Tonight, the former Governor turned television host will make an important message on his Fox News Channel Show “Huckabee.” People who are closest to Huckabee don’t even know his decision. Ed Rollins who is considered one of his closest advisors has said that it would seem that Huckabee is going to take a pass on 2012. However, Governor Huckabee has been quite tight lipped up to this moment.

It would seem that Huckabee, and more than likely members of his family are the only ones that know his true intentions. Officials at Fox News are even out of the loop, with Huckabee saying that his own Executive producer has no idea what the announcement is going to be.

Tonight is definitely the biggest in the very young 2012 campaign.

Either way, Huckabee’s decision is going to set the tone for the rest of the election. On one hand, if Huckabee decides that he is going to throw his hat into the ring for the White House he will probably be getting into a race where he is the presumed front runner. His poll numbers are consistently first or second with Mitt Romney usually being up there with him.

From my point-of-view, Mike Huckabee needs to run in 2012. He is one of the perfect people to run in the GOP primary. He is charismatic, and will bring some life into the campaign. As a member of the Republican Party, I am going to be watching Huckabee very closely. I believe that along with Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels these are the ones that would be worth watching.

Now, if Huckabee decides that 2012 just is not for him things would also turn out to be very interesting. Who would receive the highly coveted social conservative vote? Huckabee who is an ordained Baptist Minister is assumed to be the person who social conservatives would flock to at this time. However, even on Bill O’Reilly’s show last night, Huckabee mentioned that the economy would be the central part to anyone’s campaign at this time.

Ultimately, I believe that Huckabee will decide to run tonight. I believe that the factors surrounding his decision tonight are just too strong for him to pass up on this possible run. While although I feel as if it is too early to make an endorsement, I feel tonight’s decision one way or another will make things begin to move much faster. All I can say is folks, tonight is the real beginning of 2012 one way or another. But like I said, I think he is in!

The other day, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had announced that he will be seeking the Presidency of the United States. Speaker Gingrich is one of the people credited with the 1994 Republican Revolution, announced his decision to seek the Republican Nomination via his official Twitter Account. Gingrich called for American’s to stand up with him, because this is something that not “one person in the Oval Office,” can do on his own.

Speaker Gingrich is an interesting candidate moving forward. He is the first major candidate to officially declare that he will be seeking the nation’s highest office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSz21Vedxc

To me, Gingrich is someone to really watch in the republican primaries. If social conservatives across the country can get past the fact that he has been married three times, then he could be just who the Republicans need going up against President Obama.

Gingrich is what some would call a policy heavyweight. He is well versed in Foreign Policy, as well as the country’s domestic problems. Gingrich takes a lot of credit when discussing the Clinton era Welfare reforms.

Gingrich going head to head against Obama would make conservatives salivate. Obama, who dare I say is not the best speaker without a teleprompter, would have a really tough time discussing policy on a lectern against the former Speaker.

While I am not ready to endorse a candidate for President, what I will say is that I am very much looking forward to how Republicans across the country receive Gingrich in his second go around in Politics. However, I will say that he better become a little more exciting, because if his candidacy is going to be anything like his announcement today, it could be a short run for him.