Trayvon Martin comments spur controversy

Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida a month ago by George Zimmerman, 26, who claims he was acting in self-defense. But the fact that Martin, 17,  was unarmed has led some to believe this was a case of racial profiling.

President Obama spoke about the issue, one which has started a movement across America. “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” the president said.

Republican primary candidate Newt Gingrich took those words to mean that Obama would not have cared as much if the victim had been of a different ethnicity.

“We should all be horrified, no matter what the ethnic background. Is the president suggesting that, if it had been a white who’d been shot, that would be OK, because it wouldn’t look like him? That’s just nonsense,” Gingrich said.

Rick Santorum said Obama should ”not use these types of horrible and tragic individual cases to try to drive a wedge in America.”

I don’t believe Obama was attempting to “drive a wedge” or suggesting the color of a person’s skin dictates how whether or not it is okay for them to be killed. It is a sad day when even the tragic death of a young teenager has politicians arguing, and when the wording of public statements is debated more than the issue of violence.

Romney and Paul have bromance

After Wednesday’s debate, it became clear that Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are pretty friendly. Maybe a little too friendly according to Rick Santorum.

Voters have noticed that Paul rarely attacks Romney, but instead tends to go after whichever candidate is putting up the best fight against the former governor of Massachusetts. Santorum has noticed too, and accused the two candidates of ganging up on him. While Romney’s senior campaign advisor called Santorum’s assumption “whiney silliness,” others speculate that Paul might be trying to pave the way for his son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, to become Romney’s running mate.

But even outside of politics, Romney and Paul seem to be pretty buddy-buddy. The Paul family challenged the Romney family to a softball game. Ann Romney offered to let Paul stay at the Romney’s summer home when his jet broke down, and then Romney, himself, offered Paul his jet. Paul graciously declined both offers.

And one time when Paul was about to call Romney, Romney called him. “Sometimes I’m never sure who issued a call,” Paul said, according to The New York Times.

I can only imagine what their phone conversations sound like… “You hang up first!” “No, you hang up first!”

How cute.