Merry Christmas!

Joe Lieberman endorses McCain

Some righties can't understand this. Wouldn't Joe endorse the much more liberal third-trimester pro-choice Mr. 9-11 Rudy Giuliani?

Nope. No one running for president knows more about how to fight this war on terror than McCain. That's why he has the most endorsements from the Republicans who headed the 9-11 commission. That's why McCain has more endorsements from foreign policy gurus than anyone.

Leiberman endorsed McCain because the two have an infamous propensity to put country over party.

Quote of the day (month?) (winter?)

"This guy didn't even support Ronald Reagan."

Ouch... and it passes the truth test. AKA 'and one'.

Mitt Romney the worst of the worst

What we already know about Willard Romney:

He's as phony as John Edwards.

We’ve always prided ourselves on our ability to spot a fake, whether it’s bogus Louis Vitton, Gucci or Fendi bags or 2008 presidential candidates like Mitt Romney or John Edwards (pictured above), both of whom would probably change gender if they thought it would score them a majority of voters in their respective primaries.

Is more flip-flop happy than John Kerry.

Romney has done to himself what the Bush campaign did to John Kerry. The Bush team made it so that every time Kerry opened his mouth, he hurt himself, thanks to the perception that he was talking out of both sides of his mouth. Kerry couldn’t help himself by saying the right things because nobody believed what he was saying.

And now, Romney is the first GOP indicated in the Washington Post's 'Most Revealing Fibs' segment. Who was the first Democrat? That would be Hillary Clinton. Congrats Mitt, you're as fake as Edwards, more spineless than Kerry, and as dishonest as Hillary.

McCain will win.

Retstate breaks it down for us...

Dems fear the J-Mac

THE SURGE IS WORKING!

In the two months AFTER general David Petraeus hearing where he convinced some democratic pinheads that the surge had been successful, 75 U.S. troops have died in combat. That's 75 too many. However, that is the fewest number of casualties in Iraq in nearly 4 years. The US suffered 72 casualties in Iraq from Jan thru Feb of 04.

data.

New Hampshire Union Leader endorses McCain

Oh Happy Day...

What is most compelling about McCain, however, is that his record, his character, and his courage show him to be the most trustworthy, competent, and conservative of all those seeking the nomination. Simply put, McCain can be trusted to make informed decisions based on the best interests of his country, come hell or high water....


John McCain is the man to lead America.

Jmak sweeps in New Mexico

Like virtually every other state John McCain is the strongest Republican candidate. In this case he's the only one winning in New Mexico.

McCain 48%, Clinton 45%
Clinton 48%, Giuliani 44%
Clinton 52%, Romney 40%
Clinton 53%, Huckabee 39%

McCain 50%, Obama 40%
Giuliani 49%, Obama 41%
Obama 49%, Romney 41%
Obama 50%, Huckabee 38%

link

Mitt's new don't-ask-don't-tell

"On the other hand if we're running for president, I think it's important for us not to go into details about the weaknesses and our own failings as young people for the concern that we open kids thinking that it's ok for them."

-Mitt
etc.

Yeah, Mitt. Quick followup: What about young adults who have already partaken in these such 'indiscretions'? What about forgiveness? What about openness? What about redemption?

My My Was Romney One Unpopular Guy!

Mitt Romney:


Mike Huckabee:

And the new Mr. September 11 is....

John McCain.

McCain Leading Among GOP 9/11 Commission Members, 60 percent to 20 percent

Nice work by the JMac.

PushPollGate

In the wake of allll this confusion surrounding Mitt Romney and his campaign's reaction to this push polling going on I have decided to take action. I've done the only sensible thing I can do: Create a virtual tombstone.

Is McCain the GOP's last hope on Iraq?

You cant get more anti-Iraq war than Andrew Sullivan. So when he says "Only one Republican [McCain] can end this war with honour" you gotta pay attention.

This would be a good question for John McCain. He was one of the very few Republicans to pull off a national security hat-trick: he supported the war in Iraq, he subsequently became a ferocious critic of the feckless occupation, and then full-throatedly backed the “surge”. There aren’t many people on the national scene who did all three.

more...

Well spoken. Is the implication that some Democrats pull off this hat-trick? General Anthony Zinni?

McCain's integrity strikes again

Notice anything different from the screenshot I luckily took last night?

Before:

Sad... you would expect better from him.

After:

Sad... you would expect better from those who support him.

McCain's character yet again comes through in spades. McCain is asking the NH attorney general to investigate this matter and you lecture McCain about his need to distance himself from this?

Romney deserves people like you and Paul Weyrich.

UPDATE 1:
Mitt Romney himself blames McCain (albeit indirectly) for this push polling!

What a disingenuous hypocrite to pretend this stuff didn't go on before McCain-Feingold.

UPDATE 2:
Politico's quote from the McCain camp sums it up nicely:

McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker responds to Romney's charge:

"It is appalling, but not surprising, that Mitt Romney would seek to take advantage of this disturbing incident to launch yet another hypocritical attack. It’s the hallmark of his campaign."

"Back when Romney was calling for taxing campaign contributions and banning PACs, and before McCain-Feingold was passed, push polling was, regrettably, alive and well in American politics. Anyone who spent a day in South Carolina in 2000 knows that."

Update 3:
Now I've heard just about everything. Hotair.com is now saying the polling agency that made these calls has donated thousands to Romney's campaign?

Update 4:
I'm glad I sunk my teeth into this one. Everyone knows a blogger's signature moment came over 3 years ago with Dan Rather's memogate, which it so turns out I addressed. GraniteGrok.com is having a field day with this too.

Townhall lies for Romney

McCain detractors are very displeased that he'd call for due process for prisoners in Gitmo. Is it any coincidence they also double as judge, jury, and executioner? Let's mozzy on over to that link this Kevin McCullough character provided shall we? We already know the Romney camp has attracted one character assassin in Paul Weyrich who Anita Hilled John Tower and trafficked in allocations that McCain committed treason while a P.O.W. in Vietnam. Could Kevin be another such character assassin? Time will tell...

But I digress, let's dissect Kev's 'proof', of McCain's religious bigotry shall we?

McCain's campaign, which has fielded calls into their Iowa headquarters complaining of similar such calls, emphatically denies responsibility.

"Senator McCain strongly rejects this style of campaigning and we have absolutely no involvement whatsover," said Jon Seaton, McCain's top aide in Iowa.

Nice Proof Kev!

We all know the dirty tactics the Romney camp employs.

Hugh Hewitt and Mitt Romney

Pop Quiz: You're Hugh Hewitt. You stay up late at night struggling to answer the question "Can Mitt Romney make a rock so big that he cannot move it?" You dismantle opponents by saying Romney's new-found love affair with the conservative right is so much more appealing than the conservative records that Thompson and McCain bring to the table. Then Mike Huckabee becomes the new darling of the conservative right. What do you do? Why you attack him from the left of course.

But wait! Huckabee is a committed conservative righty. He didn't need to administer any blatant flip-flops to get there. People actually *ghasp* trust him. What do you do? Panic? No! You're Hugh Hewitt. The answer is easy: You attack Huckabee by telling voters that voting for Huckabee is the most liberal vote a Republican can ever think to make without actually crossing party lines.

Way to go Hugh. Now you can go back to contemplating another question: How many Mitt Romney's can dance on the head of a pin.

Endorsements Galore

So McCain didn't nab the most headlines with his religious conservative endorsement, but at least he got a public servant.

Fox News and Rudy Giuliani

If there was ever any doubt that Fox News was serving their country by trying to get Giuliani elected, there should not be any now.

Shameless guys. Really shameless.

Romney and Religion

So Romney promises us Mormon leaders won't influence his administration.

Really?!

He's campaigned tirelessly to wheel out Evangelical leaders to influence his campaign.

The following rhetoric is more and more common:
But I’m not voting for a preacher. I’m voting for a president. It boils down to who can best represent conservative American beliefs, not religious beliefs.

Remembering the Jmak of yesteryear

You gotta love it:Watch at 1:50 as McCain is able to settle the huge rowdy crowd in 3 seconds flat.

McCain's Latest Ad

One man opposed a flawed strategy in Iraq. One man had the courage to call for change. One man didn't play politics with the truth.

Passing the truth test with flying colors.

Witch Hunters

With pitch forks in one hand and flaming torches in the other, the press is trying once again to lynch mob McCain's campaign. But here's a word of advice, when you want to play pin-the-bullseye-on-the-bigot, try for a little more unity in your headlines:

Headline 1: McCain says 'NO' to a Muslim president
Headline 2: McCain: I would vote for Muslim president
Headline 3: McCain Casts Muslims as Less Fit to Lead

Or better yet! Maybe one could be directed straight to the source and come up with your own conclusions.

McCain begins to take off the gloves

Look at the smile on his face. This is beginning to get very interesting.

Why Rudy? Why?

Is this for real?


This is becoming routine? D'oh!


New York City's biggest tough guy doesn't even wear the pants?

Mitt flip flops on Houston?

So I see that Mitt goes to Houston to panhandle. Oh, even trust fund babies worth a quarter billion are permitted to do that. What Makes this so different?



Well for starters, there's this:

This is what happens when you don't have zoning.

-Mitt Romney after a visit to Houston, Texas

Romney attack site on Thompson update

The Google news count has doubled in the past 24 hours 327.

Slick Willard Passes The Buck

google news has 129 posts of romney passing the buck on his gutter sniping attack site on thompson. lots have weighed in, but where the heck is matt drudge?!: (update: the count is now at 176. Romney's gonna have a rough day tomorrow)

redstate
msnbc
cbs
cbn
realclearpolitics
foxnews
abc
cnn
new york times
the guardian
reuters
forbes
San Francisco Chronicle
washington post
townhall
newsmax
newsday
usatoday
boston globe

McCain lays the smackdown in NH

Raise your hand if you think John McCain won the NH debate:




GO JOHN!

Romney's Third Stool Problem

So Mitt Romney's final stool problem regards the third leg of his stool: strong families. We all know Mitt wheeled out his wife to cozy up to Planned Parenthood so he'd have pro-choice cred when running for office in Massachusetts. But what kind of husband when pressed about such a donation says this:

"Her positions are not terribly relevant to my campaign."

I just had my three year anniversary last month. Guess what? In these 37 months, I've learned that's about the dumbest thing a husband can say about his wife. And Mitt said this while speaking face to face with a New York Times reporter.

Romney's stool has some major problems. Could it be he's not Reagan after all?

Mitt Romney's Second Stool Problem

Romney's second leg in his three legged stool is a strong economy. So why on earth did he say the EU added 3 million jobs in the same amount of time it took the United States to add 30 million jobs?

Romney's Economic Miracle

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney erred when he claimed U.S. job growth had been nearly 17 times faster than that of Europe:

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.

Romney was misquoting an outdated and highly dubious figure, which was used by an author who no longer stands behind it. Romney cited a 2005 article in The American Enterprise magazine, published by the pro-business American Enterprise Institute. In the article, titled "America Still Beckons," author Joel Kotkin wrote: "Since the 1970s America has created some 57 million new jobs, compared to just 4 million in Europe (with most of those in government)." Kotkin told FactCheck.org he wouldn’t use the figure today.

We concur. The 4 million figure is a somewhat garbled version of what another author, Karl Zinsmeister, had written in another American Enterprise article from 2002, “Old And In The Way (Decline and Fall of Europe).” Zinsmeister put the figure at 5 million – not 4 million or 3 million – and the time period as "since 1970," rather than Kotkin's "since the 1970s," which implies a somewhat more recent time. “I don't know how it got changed," Kotkin said. In any case Kotkin told us it was his sense that Zinsmeister's 5 million figure referred mainly to Germany and France, not to all 15 pre-2004 European Union members, let alone the 27 current EU members. In any case, it refers to statistics covering years prior to 2002. “This was an old number,” Kotkin said. His advice: “I would not use that.”

Mitt Romney's Stool Sample Problem

Hugh Hewitt traded his credibility as a right-wing pundit for a pair of Mitt Romney pom poms. For the latest blatant example, look no further than this exchange with Hugh and Willard:

Hugh Hewitt: What is…do you have a target for GDP expenditure on defense matters?

Mitt Romney: For me, the target is we’re going to reach about 4%, and I think you’re going to see us hit the 4% level. I think we need to hit that level. I don’t think we have to sustain that level forever, but we’ve dropped below that. It used to be as high as 6% during the time when Ronald Reagan was president. Of course, Bill Clinton pulled back the scale of the military, pulled back the spending on our equipment. We have been underinvesting in equipment and maintenance now for a long, long time, and we’re going to have to rebuild our capacity.

In Hugh's warped mind, this actually makes sense. oof.

Now we all know Romney touts his stool, or to be more precise, his three legged stool. One of the three legs: strong military.

"GREAT," the passive conservative passerby may say. "I too want a strong military"

What's wrong with that? ROMNEY... HAS... A... STOOL... SAMPLE (which he pegged at 4%)... PROBLEM (see page 140)...

For me, the target is we’re going to reach about 4%

Read a book Willard. Spending for 2007 is projected to be 4.1%! And the country has been at 4% for the previous two years. What's more, spending is projected to increase in 2008. Perhaps even more baffling is that Romney considers spending 3% of the GDP on the military to be dismantl[ing] it. So in conclusion, 3%=dismantling; and a cut from 4.1% to 4=making the military strong.

No wonder McCain took you to task on your legendary parsing of words in the latest Foxnews debate:


Romney waffling on Iraq (specifically the surge) puts the Waffle House to shame:

Ouch...

Fred announces

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:
'>

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.

McCain and the media

Why did McCain's relation with the media turn south?

McCain is at odds with the mainstream media for because of his stance on the war. Plain and simple. While he once enjoyed Jon Stewart/Daily show cred, it is now all but gone.

Compare "Sen. John McCain Pt. 2" from April 2007 to "Senator John McCain" from July 2006. Also Marty McFl... er. George Stephanopoulos' headline poaching provocation where he bounced the question, "are you a dead man walking?" Not exactly your finest moment George.

Then there's the immigration. There are a handful of pundits who are stuck in 2000 somewhere between New Hampshire and South Carolina and are still hellbent on a McCain defeat. These talking heads had enough influence to convince enough people to crash Washington's swithboard. Polls however show they only made up 15% of the population who thought the bill didn't go far enough. Then they patted these calling zombies on the back telling them anything Ted Kennedy was involved with was the spawn of Satan. They coveniently left out several parts:
1) Kennedy was involved with the no child left behind which most of the GOP supports
2) In voting against Kennedy, they were also voting WITH Barbara Boxer.
3) They wanted debate while the bill was on the floor, but became enraged when they voted to reopen debate. (Why didn't these guys just honestly call for a fillibuster of the bill. I'm talking to Sean Hannity.)
4) In killing the bill, any serious legislation on immigration will have been delayed thru the election year of 2008. Our immigration system has been broken for over 3 decades. Why would our current laws spontaneously heal itself now? That's directed to your Laura Ingraham.
EDIT: and 5) Every tier 1 GOP candidate has historically been just as soft on immigration as McCain, but McCain was the only one to stick to his guns. All the hawkish immigration candidates haven't got a prayer of being elected. (Hunter, Tancredo).

Anyway that's what happened to McCain. He got flogged by the mainstream media by supporting the war and the far right had a war flashback to the 2000 Republican primaries. It's pretty hard to listen to an entire segment on right wing radio and now hear McCain bashing. McCain seemed to be a pretty popular guy when he bashed Donald Rumsfeld for being the worst Secretary of Defense's of all time. But when he was replaced with Gates and David Petraeus replaced George Casey with new stratagies to boot, the mainstream wanted nothing to do. Here's a tip: McCain was calling for a new strategy. Bashing Rumsfeld for the sake of bashing Rumsfeld gets us nowhere pretty frekin fast. Now the mainstream media has accused McCain for aligning himself with Bush. Wise up dimwitts. McCain called for a new strategy within months of Bush's so called mission accomplished speech. There was an alligning BUSH ALIGNED HIMSELF WITH MCCAIN.

McCain the strongest round 2

According to the latest Foxnews poll, McCain is still the strongest GOPer vs the Dems. Also, he's tied for second with Fred Thompson.

McCain fares best against the Dems

After getting crushed by the main stream media and getting flogged by the Right Wing media. McCain fares BEST against all the Dems.

Rudy vs IAFF

Everyone+Dog knows the IAFF has a scathing video attacking Rudy Giuliani. What I want to know is why Rudy's rebuttal merely attacked the organization for being left-leaning. Who cares? The most partisan hacks can have valid points. Take, for example, Larry Flint's smack down on Senator David Vitter. How much sympathy would Vitter get from voters if he merely said Flint was liberal? If these allogations are unfounded prove it!

BTW, Vitter just so happens to be Giuliani's sole endorsement from the Senate for President. Ouch.

Also noteworthy is that McCain leads all Republicans and Democrats with 9. And as a Colorado resident I'm desparately trying to get Allard to reconsider on Romney. I wrote him an email and instantly got an automated email said I'd get information in the mail on Allard's position on the war in Iraq (WTF?). That was about two months ago, and not a single letter from my Senator. Figures.

The latest (?) Romney Flip-Flop

Far be it from me to conclude that this is Romney's latest flip-flop as the flop in question is at least 72 hours old. That's more than enough time for old Willard to stick his finger in the air and have a new conviction. But here it is:

Romney said in a June 5 Republican debate that "we ought to double Guantanamo" but didn't mean it literally, spokesman Kevin Madden says.

Not literally, hu? I wonder if we should take your pro-life stance literally Mitt. What say you?

Tough break Willard

White House to close Gitmo. If you feel so strongly about your crusade to "double Guantanamo Bay" now is the time to actually DO something about it. Of course by now if you don't know that Romney is all talk, chances are you'll never know. In the mean time, here's some advice: Don't comment on things you know nothing about.

P.S. I cannot wait to hear this charlatan on Meet the Press. I may actially pitty him.

McCain a RINO?

Hardly. He's not on the top 10 list. Opportunist Mitt makes a strong showing however at number 8. Way to go Willard!

On earmarks and pork spending, McCain is among the most tax payer friendly Senators. Show me a person that's surprised, and I'll show someone who's sold out on right wing talk radio. Clever Rush, really clever.

Romney supporter defects to the McCain Camp

Utah Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble defects to McCain. Defectors from Romney's own back yard. Nice.

Question of the Day for Mitt Romney 6-11-07

Willard,
Judges rule that enemy combatant cant be held without trial. This flies in the face of your call to double Guantanamo. Will you issue a sylable or rebuke or will you simply fold (agian) like wet cardboard?

Romney losing fundraising momentum?

That's what this site says:

Rebublican strategist Holly Robichaud said the ploy gives reason to believe that the dapper candidate is battling a financing slump.

“It kind of confirms what I’ve been hearing, that they’re getting a little desperate on the fund raising,” she said. “They’re spending faster than anyone because everyone’s holding on to it until the end.”

In April, the Romney campaign announced it had raised $21 million in the first quarter of 2007, far surpassing GOP opponents. But the cash flow slowed amid the rumblings that actor and former Republican Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson would announce his candidacy, Robichaud said.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera offered criticism with as much bite as a Curt Schilling splitter.

“Mitt Romney can swing for the fences to meet his fund-raising targets, but a guy from left field with nine positions on every issue will keep striking out on the campaign trail unless he starts offering the American people clear plans and ideas for the America’s future.”
Romney’s campaign did not step up to the plate yesterday despite repeated requests for comment.

I'd just like to point out that Curt Schilling endorsed McCain for 2008.

Debate 3 Recap

This Michael Goodwin fellow posted a very positive review on the third debate.

Exerpts:

McCain won the night with a show-stopping performance that was straight from
the heart....

The big loser of the night was Mitt Romney...Asked about his opposition to
the immigration bill while he was simultaneously running ads in Spanish, Romney
came off as too slick by half. He ducked the question and launched into a series
of platitudes about American values and ended by saying we have to sell more
things to Asia.

Well put. Well put indeed.

Rudy, why must you cozy up with Bernard Kerik?

This blog by Kirsten Powers highlights some pretty poor judgement on the part of America's Mayor.

link

Question of the Day for Mitt Romney 6-9-07

Willard,
Do you claim any responsibility for judges legalizing gay marriage when you were governor of the state?

Amnesty or Banana?

Call it amnesty, call it a banana if you want to, but it’s earned
citizenship.
-John McCain

How is this amnesty? It includes that the borders be secured before a guest worker program or legalization process begins. And I especially like the part about having to "acknowledge that they broke the law" when illegals begin the legalization process.

Amnesty summary.

Time to throw in with McCain for 2008

Lots of garbage is being said about McCain. Must start pro-McCain blog!

Lets start by linking to the impartial, non-partison factcheck.com for the first three GOP debates:

Debate 1

Romney’s praise, [on Massachusetts healthcare] however, is a bit premature
— and while the plan is not government-administered health insurance, it
includes mandates for individuals and employers, minimum coverage requirements, subsidized insurance and government-enforced fines for noncompliance.... [b]ut the total estimate of uninsured Massachusetts residents is 372,000. The state has a long way to go.

If only someone asked Romney why the Big Dig wasn't on his website.

Debate 2

Romney: I want to make it very clear that I'm not going to raise taxes. As
governor of Massachusetts, I made it very clear there, and I did not raise
taxes.

Technically, this is true, but it's also misleading. Romney did not
raise anything called a tax during his tenure as governor, but he did increase
state revenues by raising various types of fees. In 2003, Romney doubled fees for court filings (which include marriage licensing fees), professional registrations and firearm licenses. Romney also quintupled the per gallon delivery fee for gasoline (money that is supposed to be for cleaning up any leaks from underground fuel tanks). All told, the fees raised more than $400 million in their first year.

Debate 3

"..Mitt Romney committed the biggest factual fouls... Romney Rewrites
History..."

"The Massachusetts plan is clearly not a complete government
takeover; it builds on the private insurance industry – as do
the proposals of Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, and the health
care initiative spearheaded by Hillary Clinton in the early
’90s."

Did that get much press? Hardly. Of the top 3 candidates (McCain, Romney, and Giuliani), by far the most truthful content of the 3 debates came from McCain.