GOP Debate Open Thread

Mike Huckabee stood out like he was standing five feet higher and forward than the rest of the GOP candidates. He seemed less antagonistic than the rest of the religious right candidates. Duncan Hunter's response that the military is a Judeo-Christian institution is just plain insulting to any non-Christian, non-Jewish, and/or liberal thinking soldier, plus I don't think that's what Colin Powell meant, but nice job hiding behind one of the few popular Republicans nowadays. I would normally say he should apologize, but there is too much calling for politicians to apologize. Politicians need to stand by their comments and people need to either not vote for them or deal with it. Mitt Romney's response to the question was even more stupid.

The two candidates who stood out were Huckabee and McCain who seemed to reclaim his maverick streak when talking about torture and the fair tax.

The one thing that surprised me was the audience's response to the retired gay general; the booing. It's embarassing. It reminded me a little of the 2002 Georgia Senate race, when instead of respectfully disagreeing with a man who lost half his body in Vietnam, they labelled him a traitor and dragged him through the mud. That seems to be the GOP way nowadays, standing behind the soliders when it's convienent, but if they disagree with us, throw them off a cliff.

Nice

Monday Afternoon Amusement

-Ok, now everyone in Georgia can stop worrying, the Governor is praying, that should solve everything.

-The Pope is coming to America to stop priests from touching little children...and say a mass or two.

-Conservatives like Fox News, country music and movies where things blow up, Liberals like everything else.

-Max out your credit card at the Woodfield Mall or Sherman Oaks Galleria, put yourself into thousands of dollars in debt, or the terrorists win.

-McCain's mom tells us Mormons bribe people, even know the Mayor of Salt Lake City who was accused of doing it, was a Catholic.

-I'm the King of Spain BITCH! Don't make us colonize your sorry ass again!

-Gordon Brown, haven't you learned from your predecessor, the British Prime Minister is supposed to obey his lord and master in Washington, D.C. C'Mon, man, even the French are taking orders from us now.

The Liberals Won't Take It Anymore

The right wing of America enjoys winning their victories by attacking those on the left. You've heard their talking points; The lefties want America to be defeated because they hate it. They want soldiers to die because they hate them, and so on. It's the simplistic way the right wing wins, inspire fear and hatred in their base. Those who aren't educated enough about the world to understand it's not so simple after all.

The left does not wish to see America "defeated," and they defenintely don't want to see Islamic fundamentalists win. We're the party who opposes religious fantaticism, Christian, Islam, any religion, we certaintly don't want to see a world governed by Islamic fundamentalism.

Those on the right see the world in black and white. The was made apparent in President Bush's "you're either with us or with the terrorists" speech back in 2002. If you don't see eye to eye with the way our leadership is fighting Islamic fundamentalists, they you obviously want Al-Qaeda and their lackeys to win.

The genius of the left (and some on the right like Ron Paul) is that we know the world isn't black and white. The world isn't that simplistic. It's not our way or their way. Those on the left still believe that our leadership isn't perfect and are not right all the time just because they make decisions to oppose our enemies. We are not required to stand by our President, even when he's wrong because we don't want him to look "weak" to the world. Just because our leadership acts against terrorists or "enemies of America" does not make him infalliable. Our leadership made a blatantly wrong decision on Iraq, a decision that the left (and some on the right) would argue was counterproductive toward our fight against Al-Qaeda. Perhaps there is more to this "war on terror" than military might. Perhaps dropping bombs from planes or rolling tanks through the desert aren't the only ways to fight terrorism.

Those on the left see little difference between the Islamic world and the world the right wing wants America to live in. Both are authoritarian to totalitarian where there would be little dissent or criticism of our leaders. Both inject religious doctrine in our society. Both force their populations to live under the microscope of their governments, who track every move you make and word you say. The right wants to bring "freedom and democracy" to the Middle East, but want to sanction warantless wiretapping, elimination of habeus corpus and oppression of dissenters in the United States. They want to free these countries from the hardline Islamic sharia law that allows them to oppress women, execute homosexuals, and force Islam into every aspect of society, but the same people want to force prayer in public schools and legislate archiac biblical laws oppressing homosexuals and women's rights.

The right likes to think they're strong because they act like warriors. They think supporting military action against anyone who disagrees with us is warrior-like. They see weakness as wanting dialogue and not war. They see the American military as a means to scare Islamic populations into supporting our side. They see the American military as a means to show strength and bravery, The truth is, it was the right that has inspired the cowardly insecurity that has enveloped our nation since 9/11. We cower at the first threat of an attack. We live in a world where a panic ensures in ourselves if we see an Arab-looking man get on the subway with a backpack. We live in a society where we have to get molested before we get on an airplane. We live in a nation where we're ready to give up basic rights that we had for over 220 years because of a bunch of cave dwellers. We survived more dangerous threats; Fascism, Communism, Anarchism, a Civil war, without having to give up our basic freedoms. The right uses the military and war as a cover to hide their fear.

No matter who the Republican nominee is next year, whether it's Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson, or John McCain, expect their campaign strategy to focus around the slogan "Vote Democrat and Die." Expect them to paint the Democrats as Anti-American, cowardly, and "against us" because they're not "with the President." Expect it to work.

New Jersey Not In Play?

Debunking the theory that a Giuliani candidacy puts blue states like New Jersey in play, Rasmussen releases a new poll showing Hillary Clinton way up on Giuliani 51%-40%.

Clinton had been tied with Giuliani in other polls from the Garden State. She's way up on the other GOP candidates, leading Fred Thompson by 18%; 53%-35%, John McCain by 16%; 52%-36% and crushes Mitt Rombey by 24%; 55%-31%.

Interesting fact; Giuliani's positive ratings are the same as Clintons. He can't carry New Jersey with numbers like that.

Ron Paul's Fundraising Surprise

Texas Congressman Ron Paul's campaign for the GOP Presidential nomination scored a huge success when they announced they raised $5 million this quarter.

Paul raised five times more money than former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who was considered a serious contender, and raised nearly the same as top-tiered candidate Senator John McCain.

Still, Paul's $5 million is much lower than the top two Democrats; Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who raised $23 million and $20 million respectively.

Paging Katherine Harris

"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,"

But that doesn't mean Muslims can't be President, McCain later said, retracting his earlier bigoted statement

It is important, says McCain, that belief in Christian principles is present, otherwise you're missing a key factor in your ability to lead.

After all, we live in the country where anybody can grow up to be President...

so long as you accept Jesus Christ as your personal saviour...or put on a good act that you do.

Romney Wins Iowa Poll

Helps when the top three frontrunners choose not to take part.

Romney won decisively, followed by Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson finished a disappointing sixth, followed by no-shows Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Even Duncan Hunter beat John McCain.

McCain: Bridge Collapse Congress' Fault

Leave it to John McCain to try to rejuvenate his failing campaign by blaming the Minnesota bridge collapse on Congressional pet projects.

He's half right, but many of these "pet projects," on both the Republican and Democratic side ARE for things like fixing highway overpasses or airport runways and he STILL criticizes them.

Sunset On McCain

He may never be President...

will he even win reelection to the Senate in 2010 if he runs?

Maybe, but if Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano decides to try for this seat, many once GOP-leaning Arizonans may have the response of one GOP-leaning Arizonan:

"Ooooh … Napolitano," his eyes widening and his confidence in McCain
narrowing. "Maybe."

2008: It's The Dems To loose

Clinton and Obama beat everybody, even the Lord Almighty Rudy Giuliani and especially the Second Coming Fred Thompson. Mitt Romney, who I still believe will get the GOP nod, gets killed by Clinton.

More grim news for the GOP from the latest NYT/CBS poll;

If the 2008 election for President were being held today, would you probably vote for the Republican candidate or would you probably vote for the Democratic candidate?

Democratic: 47%
Republican: 32%

In general, is your opinion of the Republican party favorable or not favorable?

Favorable: 38%
Unfavorable: 56%

In general, is your opinion of the Democratic party favorable or not favorable?

Favorable: 52%
Unfavorable: 41%

Bush's approval rating is 29%, his approval on Iraq; 25%.

Presidential Race: All Over The Place

The common consensus seems to point to a Clinton vs. Giuliani race as they are the frontrunners, right?

wrong?

When you look at the race state by state...It's all over the map...literally.

On the Democratic side, John Edwards has consistently held a small lead in the first caucus state of Iowa, Hillary Clinton is comfortably ahead in New Hampshire, Barack Obama has opened out in front in South Carolina and Bill Richardson is looking to pull off an upset in Nevada.

On the GOP side, John McCain appears to be doing well in Iowa...and only Iowa, Mitt Romney has staged a surge in New Hampshire, Fred Thompson, assuming he's running, is out in front in South Carolina, while Giuliani still holds a lead in Florida.

Although Iowa, New Hampshire, and the rest are early, they don't mean everything in this race. In 1992, Tom Harkin won Iowa and Paul Tsongas won New Hampshire and Bill Clinton ended up winning. Steve Forbes came in second in Iowa in the GOP race in 2000.

However, with the primary season altered completely this year, there is little chance for a candidate blown away in the early states to resurge as a certain former Arkansas Governor did in 1992.

Still, it's far from a certain Hillary vs. Rudy race.

McCain Is Back

John McCain blew everyone else out of the water. I disagree with him on most of what he says, I won't vote for him, but he stood his ground when attacked and kept to his positions, even if it (and it will) costs him the Presidency.

McCain's one laughable moment was on Don't Ask, Don't Tell . He said the policy was working, but obviously it's not. We are short on linguists and it is mostly because of the policy. That's the reason it even came up. McCain has an issue; he thinks policies are working when clearly they are not. This is why I wouldn't vote for him.

I want to quote Rudy Giuliani for a moment, because I thought what he said here was fantastically idiotic;

The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose. It's a
typical Washington mess. It's everybody compromises -- four or five compromises.

Giuliani has conveniently forgot that politics is about compromises. Do we really want a President who will not compromise? More and More Giuliani, despite being a social liberal, is becoming the Bush neocon candidate.

Giuliani also completely turned me off when he called Libby's sentence "excessive." Here's a man who supports torture, warantless wiretapping, and the suspension of habeus corpus, and he thinks serving 30 months for three counts of perjury and obstruction of justice is excessive?!

Romney remains a flip-flopper. Is there something about Massachusetts?

The rest of the yutz parade still does not stand out to me.

Should McCain Resign?

Sen John McCain (R-Arizona) has been so busy campaigning for President that he's just plum forgotten that he is....still a Senator.

McCain has missed the last 43 roll call votes in the Senate, nearly half of all the votes cast this year.

By comparison, Hillary Clinton has only missed 2% of votes, while Barack Obama has missed only 6%. Sam Brownback, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, while missing more, have missed far less than McCain.

Now an Arizona state legislator, and a Republican to boot, is calling for McCain to resign from the Senate if he wishes to continue his campaign for President. State Rep. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) has asked McCain to resign, which would force Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano to appoint a replacement. Democrats shouldn't swoon though, as Napolitano would be forced to replace McCain with a Republican.

McCain's campaign said this as a defense;

"Although he has missed a few votes, he works really hard to ensure that he has not missed any votes in which his vote would have been the determining one,"

Is that was the people of Arizona elected? A man who only votes when it matters? I, for one, was quite critical of John Kerry's and John Edwards' decisions not to resign from the Senate in 2004. Although Mitt Romney would have had to appoint Kerry's replacement, (I suggested the Massachusetts State Legislature pass a law which would've overriden Romney's veto forcing the Governor to appoint a replacement from the same party, a la Arizona,) Massachusetts and North Carolina would've been better served by a Senator, even a conservative Democrat, who represented their respective states. However, even when running for President, Kerry and Edwards only missed most of their votes AFTER they had received their nominations. They still did their jobs when running in the primary. McCain hasn't even gotten the nomination yet. Are the people of Arizona now forced to only have one Senator until next summer?

If McCain looses the nomination, which I can't see how he wins right now, his Senate seat is next up in 2010. With the possibility of Governor Janet Napolitano running for it, McCain may even have a hard time KEEPING his seat, assuming he decides to run again. If McCain truly believes he can be president and truly wants to run a full time campaign, he should resign from the Senate and allow Arizona to have new representation. If McCain looses, he can always primary the guy who was appointed in his place in 2010.

Either way, McCain should take a page from the books of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Sam Brownback and Chris Dodd and realize, if you're going to run for President, you need to do that AND be a Senator, or resign. How good does it look to voters if the guy who wants to be President is neglecting his current job?

Frontrunners in Third

A new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll for the Democratic and Republican caucuses put John Edwards and Mitt Romney on top of their respective party's caucuses.

Edwards leads by six over second placer Barack Obama, followed closely behind by Hillary Clinton; 29%-23%-21%. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is at 10%

On the GOP side, Mitt Romney leads the pack with 30%, while John McCain follows far behind at 18%. Rudy Giuliani is in THIRD with 17%.

Giuliani and Clinton are supposedly the front runners, both in third according to this poll.

OOOOO, McCain Used A Dirty Word!

Sometimes Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) made his triumphant return to the Capitol today, taking credit for the immigration deal he never helped negotiate thanks to his busy campaigning for President schedule, only to be met with resistance over his tardiness.

He got into an argument and told a colleague "F--- You" and claimed he knew more about immigration than anyone.

The colleague?

Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) who complained that McCain was out of line due to his lack of presence during the negotiations. McCain had complained that Cornyn's objections, which he termed "petty," would kill the deal (which he probably is planning to campaign on.)

McCain, by the way, has missed four of the 14 votes on Iraq, including the most recent, this year and has not showed up for a single vote in the month of May. The other presidential candidates from the Senate; Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Joe Biden (D-Delaware), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), and Barack Obama (D-Illinois) have missed none in May.

Zogby: Romney leads in Iowa, N.H.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who I still believe will end up as the GOP nominee, has opened a lead in the GOP race in the two crucial first caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire according to Zogby.

In Iowa, his lead is small, leading Giuliani and McCain by 1%; 19%-18%-18%. However, this is up from 5% in January, while Giuliani has lost all the ground he's gain since then.

In New Hampshire however, the state to the north of the one Romney was governor of until January, he has opened a substanial lead over Giuliani and McCain; 35%-19%-19%.

Perhaps Republicans and beginning to realize the most "conservative" candidate out there in Romney and maybe it's better to loose with a "conservative" than win with a fake.

Or maybe Zogby is pulling my leg again.

Governors' Endorsements

A list of Presidential candidates and the Governors who have endorsed them;

DEMOCRATS;

Hillary Rodham Clinton;
Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-New York)
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Maryland)
Gov. Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)

Barack Obama;
Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Illinois)
Gov. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia)

Bill Richardson;
Gov. Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico) Well obviously

REPUBLICANS

John McCain;
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Indiana)
Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minnesota)

Mike Huckabee;
Gov. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota)

Mitt Romney;
Gov. Matt Blunt (R-Missouri)
Gov. Don Carcieri (R-Rhode Island)

The Reagan Wannabes

At one time he carried 49 of the 50 states, including Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and California, states Republicans only fantasize about carrying these days. He won nearly 60% of the popular vote and helped create a coalition of the opposition party who voted for him.

He's Ronald Reagan and to prove their desperation, the Republicans went to debate near his final resting place; in hopes to relive a time when the Republican Party was widely respected by the entire nation. The key words in last night's Republican debate were "Ronald Reagan" and "9/11"

19 times the name of Ronald Reagan was uttered by the candidates.

Sadly, none of them are anything like Ronald Reagan. The spirit of the kindhearted, sensible, tough, sly, friendly, conservative President who won the hearts of Americans for most of his term wasn't in any of these men.

The Republican image Reagan worked so hard to create and successfully sold to Americans has been dismantled.

McCain: Gonzales Should Resign

John McCain joins the ever growing chorus of voices calling for Alberto Gonzales to leave his job.

How loud does the chorus have to get before the Bush Administration hears it, winches and decides it's too loud to ignore?

Senate Passes Iraq Funding Bill With Timetable

The vote was 51-46 with 3 Senators not voting; The still ill Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota), and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and of course John McCain (R-Arizona)

Two Republicans voted with the Democrats;
Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska)
Gordon Smith (R-Oregon)

Lieberman sided with the Republicans