McCain video

McCain's run in 2000 vs. 2008

It just struck me after skimming this and this.

In 2000 John McCain took some serious heat in South Carolina for calling Falwell and Robertson "agents of intolerance", but so much less well known is his take on Bob Jones University's ban on interracial dating (yeah, this stuff still goes on in this country). In opposition McCain refused to speak at the school. McCain raised a very important debate at Bob Jones and across the country. Within days, the school folded like wet cardboard. Tho unlikely, this side debate may have caused him the GOP nomination.

Now McCain claims to have received death threats. At least one protester, flanked with signs reading "traitor", follow him around. His "crime"? Immigration. It's not so much his immigration record, since Rudy, Romney, and even Thompson have been at least as loose in the past. His real crime is that he refuses to pander for the nomination. The right is falling head over heels for an immigration panderer -never mind what your record actually is.

Is this the new debate akin to the interracial ban in 2000? I think so.

Ames, what does it mean?

Not a whole lot. I suppose Romney had wished he'd deliver a mortal wound to Brownback, but looks like that's not gonna happen.

Results:
Romney - 31.5%
Huckabee - 18.1%
Brownback - 15.3%
Tancredo - 13.7%
Paul - 9.1%
T Thompson - 7.3%
F Thompson - 1.6%
Giuliani - 1.3%
Hunter - 1.2%
McCain - 0.7%
Cox - 0.2%

Mitt's sons serving the country Google News count

105 at present.

I don't think Caroline Giuliani supporting Obama had this many hits in the first few hours. But at present, there's 419.

First Rudy, now Colin Powell?

Yesterday Rudy said if he wasn't running for Pres, he'd be campaigning for McCain. Thanks for the quasi-endorsement! Today we learn of another quasi-endorsement. Colin Powell, perhaps the most popular political figure alive, has gone all in in financially supporting McCain. Meaning he has donated the maximum amount one can donate to a campaign -$2,300. What's more, the article goes on to say he hasn't donated a penny to anyone else. (Sorry Obama) Sweet!

Rudy's second pick for President: McCain

Good job rudy!

To all the people thinking Rudy is the non-McCain option, that's not true. Everywhere Rudy and McCain differ, McCain is to the right of Rudy. Sometimes FAR right to him. As with abortion and guns.

It was rough to see Giuliani flip-flop on McCain-Feingold, but the Right seems to want to be pandered to more than they want to be leveled with.

More tough breaks for Mitt

Mitt is now 4 for 4 in committing the worst gaffes during the debates.

Romney: We are the largest economy in the world. We’ve added – during the time Europe added 3 million jobs, we’ve added about 50 million jobs in this country.

That miraculous-sounding statistic is way off. It has taken since the end of 1978 for total employment in the U.S. to grow by 50 million jobs, according to official figures kept by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But total employment for the 15 core members of the European Union (those who joined before 2004) grew by well over 33 million between 1978 and 2005, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Europe has added even more jobs since. In fact, the 27 current EU nations added nearly 3 million new jobs last year alone, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat. That's well over the 2.3 million jobs created last year in the United States.

Oh, and Willard justified his attacks on Giuliani for being pro-choice by saying Giuliani hadn't declared yet. Fact is, Giuliani declared a good two weeks prior.

GOP gets crushed

This from pollingreports.com

The GOP is in bad shape fellas! Dems are outraising GOP candidates 2 to 1. And as this graph shows, they get crushed in the ever-important war of ideas. I get a kick out of people in message boards saying Hillary cannot win. That's simply not true and these numbers prove it. The GOP needs to nominate a candidate that polls strongly against Clinton (read McCain or Giuliani --not ready Romney or Thompson). Plus I see a very week pro-life turnout of it's Giuliani vs. Clinton in 08. I truly believe McCain is the only candidate who can beat Hillary.

Romney's Dirty Little Secret. He supports embryonic stem cell research

That's right. He is aligned with McCain and Giuliani. Why do I say this? Two reasons: A direct quote from Romney.

the united states house of representatives voted for a bill that was identical to what i proposed. what they voted for is what i proposed. They voted to provide for surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization processes being used for research and experimentation that's what i said i support. that's what they just supported. What said we should not do is get into embryo farming, cloning for experimentation and a redefinition of when life begins. that's what our legislature has done. What our legislature has done goes well beyond what's done in Washington. What's in Washington is consistent with what i said i support which is using surplus embryos for fertilization processes so it would be helpful if people pointed, as a matter of fact what the us house of representatives is doing is exactly what governor Romney proposed.

Nice use of the third person, Willard.

Most recently in July according to palmbeachpost.com

On embryonic stem cell research, Romney said the place where he draws a bright line and says no is when there is an embryo created solely for the purpose of research and destruction.

The only explanation here is that Romney supports EXCESS embryos that otherwise would have been discarded. This is exactly where McCain and the militantly pro-choice candidate Rudy Giuliani stand. And Romney lied (whatever, misspoke, told untruths) in the MSNBC debate on his stance on embryonic stem cell research.

Just read what Mitt wrote about stem cell research.

The reader comes away with VASTLY different interpretations if they 1) had never heard of Romney or 2) if they knew he supported federal funding for EXCESS embryos.

It's just like the Sixth Sense or The Usual Suspects. Quite a different move after you know the ending.

Romney flip-flops on Hezbollah

Today Romney flip-flopped on Hezbollah's health diplomacy.



Today he sent out surrogate Kevin Madden to do the damage control; presumably because Romney didn't feel it necessary to correct the record himself. This was clearly done because of Sunday's debate in which it will undoubtedly be brought up. I'm sure he will have "made it very clear Hezbollah is bad". Even with Romney's legendary use of poll-tested rhetoric, he's going to come off very badly on ABC.

No word yet on whether or not he's going to back away from his statement where he used Hitler as a source of inspiration for energy Independence.


If only we had a hi-res closeup of Willard. I'm almost convinced there was a sparkle in his eye when he said "Gosh! Hitler."

McCain actually IS popular

I've been thinking. McCain is popular, but no one seems to know it. Many seem to like him, but for whatever reason they think the next guy does not. Why do I say that? Take his general election matchups for example.

This from the Washington Post:

Nearly half of the Republicans polled said that Giuliani represents their party's best chance to win in November 2008; that is three or four times as high as the percentage who mentioned other candidates.

But wait. This table is from eyeon08.com


It shows McCain having a better chance of beating the almost certain Democratic Candidate in 08, Hillary.

And as I posted yesterday, McCain is tied with Giuliani on handling Iraq and does better among independant voters (which is vitally important). Giuliani has a very slight edge over McCain in handling terror.

By far the best thing Giuliani has going for him is being tough in terror, but if McCain is virtually tied with him on that front, why would the GOP not go with a MUCH more socially conservative McCain?

Cheney "throes" in with McCain

Cheney is pretty famous for saying in 2005 that the Iraq insurgency was in it's "last throes". A year later, he stood by his analysis in 2006. Asked about it two years later, he finally admits he was wrong. Finally. Big step in the right direction. When does McCain get the due credit?

McCain is trusted most to protest the country

McCain in tier 1 among democrats and republicans for the war in Iraq and in fighting terror.

i'm ashamed that we're ashamed

Ashamed. That's what i am. Democrats outraise Republicans 2 to 1 in this election. The frontrunner -Giuliani- is pro-choice (even in late term) for the first time ever. The second guy hasn't even declared and wont in august because august is dull or some crap like that. The guy in third (McCain) gets a daily flogging by the right wing 24/7 encouraging mainstream journalistic voltures cirlce him. The guy in 4th place -Romney- never held to a principle (other than that he'd be god when he died) in his life. Ron Paul and John McCain are the only ones to support the gen-x gen-y sect of the republican party by actually WANTING to join the CNN/youtube debate. Why is it that keeping your mouth shut and not running for president is the best way to garner support in one's quest for running for president?

And we wonder why our party's numbers are in the toilet...

save the debate!

First Name* Last Name* Email* Address City State select AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY ZIP Yes, I'd like to receive updates about staying involved. I'm a blogger and I'd like to help. Blog URL: I support: select Sam Brownback Rudy Giuliani Mike Huckabee Duncan Hunter John McCain Ron Paul Mitt Romney Tom Tancredo Fred Thompson Tommy Thompson

To: Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson

We've read the news reports that only two of your fellow candidates have agreed to attend the Republican Party of Florida/YouTube debate, and there are major candidates considering snubbing the event.

As Republicans, we believe this is a serious mistake. Every Democratic candidate eagerly accepted the opportunity to answer questions from the American people via YouTube, even Hillary Clinton, the most cautious and calculating of the bunch.

Attend the YouTube debate, and you may get a tough question or two. Don't attend, and millions of Americans will wonder if you were too afraid to answer questions from the Internet, just as Democrats were afraid to go on Fox News. None of you could have gotten to where you are now without showing real political courage. Is that really how you'd like to be known?

Republicans cannot write off the Internet. Thus far, the Democratic candidates have dramatically outperformed Republicans online, most alarmingly in online fundraising. We believe this is a direct result of failing to effectively engage the medium and seize the tremendous opportunity of bottom-up grassroots activism. If you approach the Internet from a position of paralyzing fear, you will be out-gunned, out-manned, and out-raised at every turn. It is fundamentally unacceptable to surrender to the Democrats on one of the most important battlefronts of this election.

And Republicans cannot write off the youth vote. A recent poll showed Democrats with a staggering 24-point advantage among 18 to 29 year old voters. Once a generation of voters is lost like this (just think of the New Deal or Reagan Generations) they are extremely difficult to get back. We are under no illusions that a YouTube debate alone can change that, but denigrating the way millions of young Americans live and communicate does not help.

We sincerely hope you will reconsider any decision to snub the critical January 29th primary state of Florida and 51 million unique YouTube users. The Republican Party is about freedom. A free and open debate that includes the American people could be just what the doctor ordered to break the stanglehold of the liberal media.

Embed this petition on your blog. Cut and paste below:
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Willard flip flops again!

April 2007:

"Why is it that the Democrats wouldn't even go on Fox, but we Republicans are happy to sit there and have Chris Matthews of the Carter administration, former chief of staff to (ex-House speaker) Tip O'Neill?" asked Romney

July 2007:

In an interview Wednesday with the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, Romney said he's not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of a snowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romney quipped, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman."

Grow a spine pal.

P.S. I did not know telling a citizen to "lighten up" in a town hall meeting was a subset of a "higher level".

McCain is awesome

McCain pwns General Pace and some other general on Iraq.

In other news McCain is 3 points off Giuliani nationally:

Rudy Giuliani 20%
Fred Thompson 19%
John McCain 17%
Mitt Romney 8%

McCain Hatchet job by CNN

I nice piece of fair an balanced journalism with an extremely flattering picture to boot.

"McCain loses key South Carolina supporter" the title reads.

Who is she? Cyndi Mosteller. Cyndia who? She doesn't even have an article on wikipedia. I'm not sure how "key" such a person is.

However, McCain did receive an endorsement from Buddy Roemer who fetches 14,000 Google hits. 20 times more than Cyndia. Click here for The Smackdown.

Bush aligns with McCain.

Bush continues to align himself with McCain.

On (possibly) closing Guantanamo Bay
On CIA interrigation methods
On the troop surge

Has Bush tipped his had for a McCain endorsement?

Rudy's Leadership

I ready Rudy's book Leadership back in 2002/2003. The book was ok, but I never forgot when he touted his mad attorney skills:

Banishing the squeegee operators was something I suspected we could accomplish fairly easily - and that would have an immediate and measurable impact. I called Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Denny Young, who played in important role in all equality-of-life-initiatives. Bratton, who shared my belief in treating small crimes as a way to establish lawful, civil behavior and a feeling of safety, came back in a couple of days and told me that the Police Department said that getting rid of the squeegee men couldn't be done. He wanted to do it, but had been told that so long as they were not physically threatening drivers or "demanding" money, we lacked a legal basis to move the operations along or arrest them if they refused.

This is an example of how being a lawyer and former prosecutor could be helpful. I said, "How about the fact that they're jaywalking?" I told him to forget about whether they were asking for money or not. When they stepped off the curb and walked out onto the street they had just violated the law. You could give every single one of them a ticket immediately. Then, in giving them a ticket, you could investigate who they were, whether there were outstanding warrants, and so on. If they became intimidating you could arrest them.

Get them on jaywalking? That's the secret to dismantling New York's world famous squeegee problem? I could have figured that one out on my own. However, I'm not disillusioned enough to think that's a platform from whence I can run for President.