Has the GOP found their candidate? Probably not, but the Southern Baptist anti-gay, anti-choice, misogynistic ex-Governor of a red state likely to be won by Hillary Clinton sure is attractive.
The other guy, America's mayor? Yeah, we're done with them.
All this brouhaha about Mike Huckabee and his appealing for the paroling of a rapist who later killed someone when he was Governor of Arkansas is of little interest to me.
The story goes that a relative of Bill Clinton was raped and her rapist went to jail. Anti-Clinton forces in Arkansas, where they were more ferocious than anywhere else early on, thought the convicted rapist got an unfair deal because his victim was a relative of the Clintons. The pressure put on Huckabee to push for his parole was obvious from anti-Clinton forces, but whether or not Huckabee's pleas for parole were political or just his Christian sympathetic personality is up for question. Perhaps this is the unintended consequence of his Christian beliefs, sort of like his sympathetic stance on illegal immigration and his reluctant support for the death penalty.
Even if Huckabee's support for parole was politically motivated, I cannot see how it would hurt him in the primary. Rather, it may actually help him. Republicans are only motivated due to their hatred for the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. In the general, however, it could hurt with independents, especially if he is not facing Clinton and anti-Clinton sentiment is not an issue.
Less than a month away from the Iowa caucus and with Huckabee opening quite a lead there, is it too late to derail his momentum? Is it too late for his GOP rivals to come back and stop him, or should Democrats be preparing to face the former Governor of Arkansas in the general. Is that why this issue is suddenly coming to light?
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
Whether or not I believe he would do anything about it is another story, but it would be nice to see a GOP candidate who is not tied to big oil and can speak the truth.
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.
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.
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.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas) headed to Florida to remind voters what the real priorities in America should be...
Finding a way out of Iraq? Nope.
Rebuilding our alliances around the world? Nah
Effectively fighting terrorism? NOT
Putting together an energy policy the weens us off oil and onto cheaper, more environmentally friendly forms of energy? Yeah sure
Education? Poverty? Restoring the middle class? Not in our lifetime.
Nope, what's really important is banning gay marriage (and for that matter all gay rights,) banning abortion and turning America into a Christian Theocracy.
Yep, who needs allies, cheaper cleaner energy, or a middle class anyway, so long as we don't have gays or unwed mothers, and everyone's going to church, we're fine.
This is my beef with the GOP.
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)
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.
