This endorsement from the Dallas News makes me wonder why they even bother to endorse a Republican. I guess it’s so no one would think they are biased! (more…)
No Runny Eggs
The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
Archive for the 'Politics' Category
March 2, 2008
With endorsements like these, who needs a Democrat?
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Michelle Obama and the Subprime Crisis
Like many of you, I’ve heard several reports about Michelle Obama’s comments at the Zanesville Day Nursery. Some of the more amazing and highly reported comments included ironically, her encouragement to give up hope and not pursue a lucrative job:
"Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond."
Michelle also spoke about the difficulties of living with the consequences of her choices:
Mrs. Obama complains about the lasting burden of student loans dating from her days at Princeton and Harvard Law School. She talks about people who end up taking years and years, until middle age, to pay off their debts. "The salaries don’t keep up with the cost of paying off the debt, so you’re in your 40s, still paying off your debt at a time when you have to save for your kids,"
Finally, Michelle tells us just how expensive it is to keep kids in extracurricular activities:
"I know we’re spending "” I added it up for the first time "” we spend between the two kids, on extracurriculars outside the classroom, we’re spending about $10,000 a year on piano and dance and sports supplements and so on and so forth,"
Michelle Obama’s economic views are the kind that have created the subprime mess: (more…)
March 1, 2008
Pssssssst, I’ve got a secret
I just got back from my BPOU convention and I’ve got some news….if you can keep a secret. For those of you who don’t know, BPOU stands for Basic Political Organization Unit. Depending upon where you’re at, the BPOU may be as large as a county or may be aligned to Minnesota House District. My BPOU is for the entire county and 2 House districts are represented in it.
Our BPOU is fortunate. Our House and Senate representatives are strong conservatives. As a result, each of our endorsements came on the first ballot and were just shy of unanimous (even a strong conservative will find someone who thinks they aren’t ALL conservative ALL the time!)
We went through proposed plank ammendments approving many and setting aside a few that were too specific or appeared already covered in the existing platform planks.
Sounds pretty straight forward and boring right?
So what’s the secret? Promise you can keep it?
The secret is…….
Based on what I saw today, the overreaching by Democrats at the State level, where they passed and overrode a veto of the largest tax increase in Minnesota history and brought us a nearly $1B budget deficit, has energized Minnesota Republicans like never I’ve seen before. As a result, in November, we will see a Republican turnout that in the future will be spoken of in the same reverent braggadocio as used by those who have lived through the record setting snows in Wisconsin i.e. “Yes, I lived through the winter of ’07’08” or “I was a part of the largest Republican turnout in Minnesota history!”
The secret is, that thanks to Minnesota Democrats, Minnesota is solidly in play for the Presidential election and I believe John McCain will win Minnesota.
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February 28, 2008
Busted
I love it when a plan comes together. The gang at Gop3 whack the Journtinel’s attempt to do some fishing for a hit piece on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. First, the initial cast by the Journtinel:
Have county transit changes affected you?
How have you been affected by Milwaukee County Transit System fare increases and service cuts? Please contact Journal Sentinel reporter Larry Sandler at lsandler@journalsentinel.com to let him know, and please include your name and a telephone number where you can be reached.
Next, the definitive answer that won’t be published from Brian Collar:
Larry,
As a student of Marquette I’ve been affected by the bus transit situation. It costs more and more to go to Marquette because the property taxes that landowners have to pay to work and live in Milwaukee that finance an ineffective and costly bus transit situation mean that I can’t have a car without hefty parking fees, whether for Marquette sponsored parking or for landlord sponsored parking. The fact that city and state leaders, with the notable exception of County Executive Scott Walker, keep relying on out-dated systems of transportation means that more money drive (sorry, bad pun intended) less efficient modes of transportation as politicians try to decide for us how to run our lives. Fewer taxes in Milwaukee (and Wisconsin, for that matter) means more opportunity for business and landowners to invest and compete in the near-Marquette community which could provide the very opportunities for less costly parking options that employment-opportunities seeking students like myself need.
I’m sure this won’t make the story your editors were asking for but I thought you might appreciate some input.
Thanks,
Brian Collar
It’s a good thing Scott Walker doesn’t have a birthday tomorrow; next thing you know, the local sorry excuse for a paintcatcher would take a cue from the Gray Lady and say Walker’s too young to be county exec.
Oh, and what’s affecting me is having to pay an outrageous gas tax so that those too lazy to own a car don’t have to feel the full effects of a 50% increase in the cost of fuel (closer to 100% if one uses diesel, like MCTS).
I don’t mind sharing the judging duties
The boss at Hot Air and USA Today both agree that this comment from 29Victor on the New York Times’ hit piece on John McCain’s place of birth (in the Panama Canal Zone to two wed American citizens) is the Comment of the Day™:
Good thing McCain wasn’t born on February 29th, they’d be debating whether or not he is over 35.
29Victor on February 27, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Somebody get the Slimes to stop before they get to their waist, please. They’ve already put all their feet in their mouths and have made it to knee level.
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“Hope” is spreading!
I don’t write on business issues much even though I do follow them pretty closely. The main reason I don’t write on these issues is that they tend to be specific to the business or industry and rarely are they a broad or pervasive issue. However, here’s one that is spreading faster than ants on a picnic….HOPE!
Sears Holdings (the company that operates both KMart and Sears stores) and Sprint Nextel Corp both reported disastrous financial results from the previous quarter. Over the past couple of years, both companies have managed to become “Worst in class” in their respective industries.
Both companies had their analysts calls today. After a recap of the results of the quarter it is typical for the company management to answer questions from analysts that follow the stock. As I reviewed the information from the analyst calls I noticed a trend; both companies have horrible strategies, are executing horribly and have no real specifics for turning their stock plunge around. In spite of that, both companies hold out HOPE that things will get better, HOPE that they can raise their stock price, HOPE that they can get customers to forget their past experiences with them and buy from them again.
Apparently the “Audacity of HOPE” is not just limited to presidential politics! I suspect that HOPING for improvement will work about as well for shareholders of Sears Holdings and Sprint Nextel Corp. as it will for those of us that are shareholders in America, if Barack Obama is elected President.
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On the “death-wish” crowd comments
If you miss the Back of the Book segments Wednesday’s on The O’Reilly Factor (approximately 7:50 pm), you miss a pretty good segment. Last night’s segment (thanks for the DVRing, AP) is no different, as Mary Katharine Ham explained the difference between the Huffington Post and the Nazis to Bill O’Reilly. She expanded upon that today, which leads me to throw in my own two cents’ worth.
Political discussion has never been “civilized” in the main. With the “common folk” able to put their ruminations out there almost-completely unfettered for the whole world to see, with nothing more than access to a library, I doubt it is as “civilized” as it was in the recent past. Heck, I’m as guilty of the cheap shot as the next person. However, there are some lines I try not to cross, like kicking a public figure when he or she is down for health reasons and joining the “death-wish” crowd. That sense of self-control is something lacking, relatively speaking, on the other side of the aisle. I’ll admit there are those on my side of the aisle that harbor similar lack of graciousness, but the term “lack of graciousness” describes that perfectly.
I tend to fall into Charlie Sykes’ camp that the best way to combat “bad” speech is with more speech, not just from the other denziens of a particular website but from the powers-that-be. It generally is illuminating to see who falls into the “death-wish” crowd, and who repudiates it. Fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with that aspect here, but depending on how ugly it gets, I can see the proprietors getting involved by removing the “death-wish” crowd.
Like MKH, I don’t see a role for government to get involved, at least without a credible, specific threat. That involvement is the true analog of Nazism, or more-properly, the parent governmental philosophy of totalitarianism. Indeed, it is one of the main reasons of the “free speech” portion of the First Amendment and the various state analogs.
Hey, New York Times, I’ve got a lead for you!
Wasn’t the New York Times all heated up about John McCain writing a letter to the FCC? As I recall, that letter didn’t suggest to the FCC how to decide the issue but rather to JUST DECIDE? So………how come, after the article that the New York Time’s wrote about John McCain, an article that had no facts and tried to create a controversy from something that didn’t rise to the level of hear-say, they haven’t had a chance to write a front page store on Obasmic securing $855,000 in fees for a political contributor who wasn’t even a constituent?
At the risk of asking a rhetorically squared question (that’s a question that is so rhetorical it hurts to ask):
Am I missing something? Obviously the New York Times is; an ability to investigate NEWS!
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February 27, 2008
A tough week for Tim Pawlenty
It’s hard to know how to read this one. On the one hand, Pawlenty was advocating a position that would align with McCain’s goofy gorebal warming perspective. On the other hand, getting shot down by the National Governor’s Association, an association Pawlenty leads, can’t help on the credibilty front.
I think Pawlenty may be in trouble as this is the second time he’s been thunked this week. Earlier in the week, Pawlenty was unable to hold his minority, Minnesota House Republicans together to sustain his veto on the largest tax increase in Minnesota history. This could spell the end for Tim Pawlenty’s VP aspirations.
2/28/08 update: This portrayal of the NGA meeting makes it sound really bad for Pawlenty.
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February 26, 2008
Milwaukee Police Department in favor of voter ID, no same-day registration
I’m a bit late to the party, as Brian, Charlie, Fred, Owen and Jim Geraghty have already jumped all over MPD’s Special Investigations Unit’s report on the November 2004 election, released this morning. The troubling part is that the entire election apparatus in Milwaukee fouled things up so much, it was nigh impossible to prosecute any individual participating in vote fraud. That goes to something John Washburn noted a while back (paraphrase because I can’t find the exact post right now): it’s the entire system, not individual cases.
Speaking of the system, I’ll repost the recommendations from the SIU (page 26 of the report), interjecting where necessary:
It is the opinion of the Task Force investigators that more than any other recommendation we could make, our investigation has concluded that the one thing that could eliminate a large percentage of fraud or the appreance of fraudulent voting in any given Election is the elimination of the On-Site or Same Day voter registration system. It is the opinion of the Task Force investigators that given the inability of Election Inspectors to check the eligibility of voters (e.g. felons) or in other cases the reluctance of Election Inspectors to check the eligibility of a voter (e.g. verification of information on cards), on the day of any election, there is no other way to ensure that only eligible voters are voting on Election Day. It is our opinion that as it relates to not only the irregularities encountered with the 1305 ‘un-entered’ cards, but with the 2004 Election overall, a time period for the verification of registering voters prior to any Election must be included to ensure that the person registering is an eligible voter. If a verification period would be provided to the Election Commission before any Election, the majority of the problems detailed in this report would not have existed.
That last assumption is assuming, of course, the Election Commission is interested in honest elections. The facts do not exactly support that assumption. I’ll repeat one particularily-troubling item from that paragraph – “…in other cases the reluctance of Election Inspectors to check the eligibility of a voter….”
As it relates to felons, a verification period would have allowed Election Commission employees to check those potential voters registering with an up to date list that could be provided by the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections. If this would have been done and those persons who are in the Ward book would only be permitted to vote, felons who are ineligible would not have been included.
Again, that assumes that the Election Commission is interested in honest elections. The good news here is that eventually the state-run voter registration list, with a tie to a list from the Department of Corrections, will be online. The bad is, at last check, it isn’t.
Where the “Not in City” voters are concerned, the same verification period would have allowed to (sic) the Election Commission to do the same thing that the Task Force was able to do: confirm or deny that the registering voter was or was not a City of Milwaukee resident. This system would have registered eligible voters mistakenly omitted by the Election Commission, such as the Appleton Avenue family. All members of this family will have to re-register before voting again. This verification period also would have informed those voters who were simply mistakenly voting in Milwaukee that they are not voting in the proper Ward. But, most important, a verification period could have stopped someone such as the ineligible Chicago resident fromvoting in the City of Milwaukee and now will be eligible to cast future, unchallenged, votes.
I’ll note that the Appleton Ave. family’s story is found on page 15. I am familiar with that area of Milwaukee, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how the Election Commission determined that the 11000 block of W. Appleton Ave. (approximately 6200 north), which is just over a half-mile northeast of that family’s previous residence and about 7/8 mile as the crow flies and over a mile as the car drives inside city limits, is not part of the city of Milwaukee.
That episode also points out a potential problem with the statewide voter registration list. If city of Milwaukee employees can’t determine an address is in the city of Milwaukee when there is no doubt an address is in the city, how is a state employee in Madison going to tell that, say, 7121 W. Bluemound Rd. is in Wauwatosa and 7129 W. Bluemound Rd. is in Milwaukee, or in which city the residents at 7125 W. Bluemound Rd. should vote (both Milwaukee and Wauwatosa have tax records with 7125 W. Bluemound Rd. as the address of record).
That example is of a block that was developed and had its city limits locked decades ago. I won’t even go into areas with new construction, like Oak Creek, or in areas where annexation of parcels is still possible.
As an alternative, if On-Site registration is to continue in its present form, then the presentation of a government issued identification card that includes the voter’s name, address (including city) and date of birth should be presented before that person is allowed to register and vote. The inclusion of identifcation alternatives such as a credit card bill, library card, lease, etc., where no photo is provided, does not ensure that the person presenting these types of documents is in fact the person they are asserting to be.
Why merely an alternative to ending same-day registration?
In the absence of any substantive change, it is recommended that the Election Inspectors be provided with adequate training and resources to ensure that they are not allowing persons who live outside of the City of Milwaukee to vote.
Again, that speaks to the apparent lack of interest on the part of the Election Commission to run honest elections. Given that each polling place includes a rather small section of the city, it should not take a lot of training to check addresses given by new registrants against a list of streets and address ranges to determine whether that address is plausible.
The investigators further recommend that after every election, the City of Milwaukee Election Commission fulfill its mandated responsibility to report those occurrences where persons may have violated Wisconsin State Statutes to the Milwaukee County District Attorney.
I believe mhking has the right phrase for this smackdown – “Just damn.” Of course, it also assumes that the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office has a serious interest in honest elections, and history has shown that it doesn’t under the leadership of both former DA E. Michael McCann (known around these parts as McCan’t) and current DA John Chisholm.
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Anyone have Amy Winehouse’s number?
Phil Kerpen at National Review online suggests that Mike Huckabee ought to cede the presidential race and run for a Senate position. The article reports Huckabee’s response as:
Huckabee denied any interest in such a run last week, saying he would more likely "get tattooed and go out on the town with Amy Winehouse" than try for the Senate.
Frankly, Hucakbee needed to be out of this race a few weeks back. If someone can get me Amy’s phone number, I’ll pop for the tattoo!
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But the veneer stays nice and shiny this way!
So….Barack Obama doesn’t like working with the press. I guess that’s best when you have a fragile shell and nothing inside!
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February 25, 2008
New NRE poll – Who will drop out first?
It’s beginning to look a lot like Hillary Clinton is as dead as fried chicken in the polls. Barack Obama has caught her in Texas and is closing rapidly in Ohio, and this isn’t the infamous last-second close that never does materialize. Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is soldiering on in his quest to top Mitt Romney’s vote total.
Guess, since I’ve had nothing the last couple days (side note; thank you, Shoebox, for bailing me out of my blogging funk), it’s time for a new NRE poll. The clock stops when the candidate officially announces he or she is either “ending” or “suspending” the campaign, not when the press says that one or the other will drop out.
Who will drop out first?
Up to 1 answer(s) was/were allowed
- Mike Huckabee (59%, 10 Vote(s))
- Hillary Clinton (41%, 7 Vote(s))
Total Voters: 17
Loading ...Is this how much Hillary is loathed?
The Des Moines Register released a poll on Sundayshowing the Iowan preferences in a McCain/Clinton and a McCain/Obama head to head. In the poll, McCain beat Hillary 49% to 40%. However, Obama beats McCain 53% to 36%.
As I’ve posted before, it’s hard for me to discern much policy difference between the two Democrats. However even with my disinterested review, I can tell that while both candidates are Socialists, Hillary is Socialist lite.
(more…)
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McCain rallies the base – Part 2
While I’m sure it wasn’t on his “things to do this week” list, John McCain got some of the Republican base rallied last week as he turned the tables on the New York Times, junior high smear piece….”Psst, do you know who I saw with John McCain? I think they LIKE each other!”
Now that the House is back in session, McCain should use his position as the assumed Republican Nominee (sorry Huck folks) to explain to the American people why the FISA bill, as passed by the Senate, is important to American security and should be passed without delay. In doing so McCain will accomplish 3 things:
- Get important intelligence tools back in place.
- Define the differences between Republican priorities for the nation and Democratic priorities i.e. Security for the American people versus security for the American trial lawyers.
- Build upon the base awakening that was caused by the NYT and give them a rallying point for another week.
McCain can only win the general election if he gets the base to not just tolerate him, but embrace him. Issues like FISA give him the perfect issue to work towards that goal.
February 24, 2008
Now hoooooold on thar, Baba Looey!
The folks at Openleft.com are getting giddy over general election polls IN FEBRUARY! They seem to think that Obama’s ability for group hypnosis will hold without change until November.
Funny how things can change in just a couple of days.
(more…)
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And his voting record is to the right of McCain
Note the round up of Chuck Hagel’s interview this morning on FOX. I can’t do a better job of summarizing it than Mark Kilmer did at Redstate.com:
Third on LE, Chuck Hagel said that he’s out of the process but that he would not support anyone until some later date. (He used to follow John McCain around like a puppy dog but now has wrested the maverick mantle away from the GOP nominee.) He wants to negotiate and to trade with Cuba, calling it a “great country” and comparing it with Vietnam and the PRC. He wants to negotiate the future of Iraq with Iran, and he’s backed away from his QUAGMIRE, QUAGMIRE, VIETNAM rhetoric regarding Iraq, but he refused to say that the surge has worked.
In a previous post I looked at the disconnect between McCain’s lifetime conservative 82.3 and the sense that he isn’t a conservative. In that post I noted how McCain’s recent voting record was a far cry from his lifetime record and that in fact Chuck Hagel recently had a higher conservative score than McCain….Really makes me wonder if this political universe isn’t part of the Bizzaro World of the Superman comics!
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February 23, 2008
If we can’t think for ourselves, do you think we could learn from a “friend”
The Weekly Standard writes a great article showing the impact that another orgasmic political figure, Pierre Trudeau, had on his country.
Like Barack Obama, Trudeau campaigned on flowery platitudes and nationalistic fervor. Not until he was elected did policies become specific. When they were, it became obvious that Trudeau was probably the first Socialist leading a nation on the North American continent (that is if you can get past FDR).
While a bit before my political awakening, I do have a number of Canadian friends who lived through this era. As we talk about Canadian/American relations, they will point to the Trudeau era as Canada’s tipping point from viewing the US as a staunch ally to a tolerated neighbor. Additionally, it was during Trudeau’s tenure that Canada lost it’s national cohesiveness as Quebec successfully separated themselves socially from the rest of Canada even though they couldn’t get themselves separated physically i.e. a separate national government.
I remain hopeful (no, not H.O.P.E. ful) that Americans will expect some level of specificity from Barack Obama and in doing so will awaken and ultimately save us from going through the “Socialist experiment” that our northern allies, Canada are still impacted by.
February 22, 2008
John McCain, Live by the sword, die by the sword?
Yes, I’ve stated I’ll vote for McCain but that doesn’t mean I won’t still poke fun at him!
John McCain seems to be getting hooked by some of the nasty FEC regulations. After using the law to his advantage by gaining access to primaries without having to get signatures in each state, he now doesn’t like the imposition of the spending limits that come along with it.
The part of this that I find most ironic is that McCain’s attorney is claiming a constitutional right for McCain to back out of the FEC program.
Shouldn’t John McCain have worried about the the power that the FEC has and the consitutionality aspect before he muddled it further with McCain Feingold?
Hillary and Barack…”Change you can Xerox!”
While participating in the live blogging of last night’s Democrat debate, I kept thinking (in between the need to swallow the puke that kept filling my mouth following either candidate’s answer) that the differences between Hillary and Barack could be printed on the head of a pin in a 12 point font and still have room to print the New Testament alongside it.
The only difference that the cadidates could gin up any kind of a debate about, was their particular brand of socialist healthcare. They debated this issue with intensity as if they had 10 seconds left to decide whether the green or red wire needed to be cut to keep a nuclear explosion from destroying Austin! All I could hear from it was that one wanted to use guns to force you to buy their socialist insurance and the other wanted to use BIG guns.
In general, the debate went on with the two candidates smiling, agreeing and giving each other platitudes. Without knowing it at the time, Hillary summed up the evening and solidified her position as LOSER with the following quote:
“change you can Xerox.”
The only chance Hillary had of beating Barack was to create some actual difference between them. Without any difference, Barack wins hands down because he is imminently more likeable and has all the momentum. She didn’t create any difference, Barack and Hillary look to be “Change you can Xerox!”
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Would you want this man with his finger on THE button?
Surprisingly, I’m not talking about Barack Obama, I’m talking about Mike Huckabee. In an interview this morning, Huckabee claims that he will stay in the race, suprise McCain in Texas and Ohio, and force a deadlocked convention.
According to Real Clear Politics MCcain currently has 975 delegates. 1,191 delegates are required for the nomination. Romney has said that he wants his delegates to vote for McCain. Romney has 272 delegates. Doesn’t that put him over the top?
OK, so let’s say that Romney’s folks don’t follow the leader. McCain is leading polls by double digits in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. A total of 302 delegates are available in these states. Is any clear thinking person believing that McCain doesn’t have this thing wrapped up? A total of 875 delegates are yet to be settled, does anyone think McCain won’t get at least 25% of those?
I’ve said it before, Huckabee is staying in this thing for his ego. He changes his reasoning following each primary to fit some new delusional view of how the world might be. If Mike is able to craft personal delusions for a losing cause as a nominee, what kinds of delusions do you think he could live in if he was faced with a serious security threat to the US? Is this the type of thinking we would want for the man that has his finger on “the button?”
February 21, 2008
The last ‘Rat debate
CNN has it, and I have the beer. Let’s drunk-blog. As usual, I’ll be paraphrasing a lot (I’m not that fast a typist), the questions will be in italics, the answers in plain-text, and my comments in-line with a question or answer will be in parentheses. Also, the courtesy lamp is out, so expect a lot of bombs.
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Presidential Pool – Why is Huckabee still in the race – revisited
Somewhere below, I asked what Mike Huckabee was still doing in the race. The answer I came up with was that he was pushing to pass Mitt Romney’s vote total to become the “next in line” for the 2012 campaign. According to CNN, after the “Potomac primaries”, he trailed Romney 4.17 million to 2.74 million in the primary votes (or by 1.43 million votes). Since we had a pair of primaries with only John McCain and Huckabee actively campaigning since then, I can do some very sketchy back-of-the-envelope math. Washington State hasn’t finished counting yet according to CNN, so I’ll have to start assuming early. Huckabee was ahead of Romney approximately 82,000 to 76,000 with 57% reporting, and AP still had no results from 4 of Washington’s 9 Congressional districts. I’ll assume that the remaining vote actually breaks a bit more in Huckabee’s favor and give him 150,000 to Romney’s 100,000. Coming out of those states, the spread should be about 1.24 million.
Do bear in mind that I’m doing some serious assumptions here, from what the vote total in Washington State will look like when they’re done counting to not taking any regional or political party bias into account. I’ll also assume for the ease of math that Romney picks up nothing; .
Over the course of the campaign so far, the states that have held primaries have had approximately 44,200 votes cast per electoral vote. There are 16 states with primaries left, with 2 of them nothing more than beauty contests: Ohio (20), Rhode Island (4), Texas (34), Vermont (3), Mississippi (6), Pennsylvania (21), Indiana (11), North Carolina (15), Nebraska (5; meaningless primary), West Virginia (5), Oregon (7), Kentucky (8), Idaho (4), South Dakota (3), Montana (3; meaningless primary), and New Mexico (5). Those states have 154 electoral votes between them, and if the math holds, there’s approximately 6.81 million votes left to be picked up if the fight goes all the way to New Mexico. If that holds true, Huckabee would need just over 18.2% of the remaining vote (plus a number equal to whatever Romney gets) to pass Romney.
That’s easily doable. The trickier question is, when will that happen? Ignoring any votes that Romney may get in future primaries, if that is to happen on March 4, when Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont vote, Huckabee would need to get just under 46% of the total vote in those states. To avoid this dragging on to Pennsylvania and April 22, he’d have to get just under 42% of the total vote from those 4 states and Mississippi. If one adds in the sole April primary of Pennsylvania to keep the quest out of May, Huckabee would have to get just under 32% of the total vote from those 6 states.
The follow-up question is whether that’s going to happen before John McCain hits 1,191 delegates. Depending on how one slices and dices the delegate count, McCain is anywhere between roughly 160 and 280 short right now (less any ex-Romney or “uncommitted Party” delegates that have announced support for McCain that I don’t know about). By the time the March 4 primaries finish up, 288 delegates will be selected (including 20 from Puerto Rico, 6 from the Northern Marianas and 6 from American Samoa), with another 36 from Mississippi and 6 from Guam, as well as the final selection of 26 from Alaska at their state convention, in March. My best guess is that both will happen on April 22.
In short, we’re in for another 2 months of the remains of the Huck-a-boom being a leech on John McCain’s not-exactly-full bank account. Just wonderful </sarcasm>.
February 20, 2008
Kudos to McCain
John McCain has now been quoted saying that Pres. Bush should veto the bill that restricts interrogation techniques. McCain is not saying that he has changed his position on waterboarding (a techinque that I can’t find a reason to call “torture”.) He does say that Bush should not allow Congress to restrict methods to those outlined in the army field manual.
Perhaps the most noteworthy piece of this article is:
“If a president disagrees with legislation, he should veto it, McCain said. He said he disapproves that Bush sometimes signs legislation he dislikes, then issues critical “signing statements” outlining his objections.”
If you take this at face value, McCain will actual fight the fight and make it obvious for the American People. Today, Pres. Bush signs many bills and than adds “signing statements” which will attempt to withhold legal authority on some items. This falls short in that it doesn’t always “hold water” as a rule of law. Plus, it doesn’t raise the issue so that the American people can weigh in by hitting up their Representatives and Senators.
This is one instance where John McCain’s straight forward approach may benefit conservative voters by giving them an opportunity to call their representatives to accountability.
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Why I will vote for McCain (and you should too)
While I haven’t had the privilege of blogging here for very long, it’s probably apparent that I have been no supporter of John McCain. I’ve been like a lot of you during this nomination process. I went from not seeing anyone I would vote for to supporting Fred Thompson because he was/is the only person I considered a conservative in the mix. When Thompson dropped out I made my one “deal with the devil” and switched to Romney. He’s not a true-blue conservative but I could find myself dreaming enough conservatism in him to pass muster. Well, Romney is out and the last man standing is McCain…what to do?
Like most of you, McCain really hacks me off! Every time he refers to us as “my friends” I feel the need to shower. On too many occassions I feel like he has gone deliberately out of his way to poke his thumb in my eye and follow it up with some sanctimonious blathering about his principles and looking out for the American people.
OK, deep breath…count to ten…one, two, ten!
Unless your name is Mike Huckabee or Hillary Clinton, it’s obvious that McCain is the Republican nominee and that his likely opponent will be Barack Obama. Are any of us really serious when we say “We want to teach the Republicans a lesson” and by extension that we’re OK risking having Obama as President rather than McCain? Really? You’re OK with that? If you are, I have to question what kind of a conservative you are. In fact, if you’re really serious about that than are you any different than McCain pouting after being shot down on immigration? Now that I’ve riled you (If I haven’t you don’t need to read the rest of this), let’s look at why we should support McCain.
- Supreme Court Justices – It is possible that during the next Presidential term 2 – 3 Supreme Court Justices could retire. Do you really want Barack Obama picking up to 3 Justices? McCain may not be fond of Alito but he is of Roberts. Do you have a problem with 3 additional Justices with the ideology and thinking of Roberts being appointed?
- War on Terror – Barack Obama has vowed to remove troops from Iraq by ’09. He has stated on numerous occassions that his approach to International issues including the War on Terror is to talk to people. Talk to people???? Isn’t that pretty much what got us into the situation we’re in today by Bill Clinton talking to people? Do you really want another Jimmy Carter in the Whitehouse? I’m not suggesting that we go and blow nations off the map but without a credible threat of force, talk will only result in additional talk. Do you have any question of McCain’s resolve to keep America safe?
- Fiscal – OK, McCain didn’t vote for the tax cuts. I’ll even give you that I don’t believe his tap dance about not voting for them because he wanted spending cuts to go with them. However, he has stated on numerous occasions lately that he will make the tax cuts permanent. Also, he has been a hawk on earmark reform and budget accountability. On the other hand, have you taken a look at Obama’s economic policies? I believe Obama’s policies can be summed up as “Everyone’s a victim of something. I’m going to give you all money so you feel less like a victim and become more beholden to the Democrats.” Is that something that you would be OK with?
- House and Senate – If the conservatives sit out Obama will likely win in a landslide fashion. If he does, his coattails are likely to be very long. Conservative government begins in the House. Remember Newt Gingrich? Remember what that congress was able to accomplish? Remember who was President? Do you think McCain is more liberal than Clinton’s natural tendencies? If Obama wins, I fear that not only will we be House minorities but with 24 Republicans retiring, we might run the risk of deteriorating to a veto proof minority. Would you be OK with that?
I don’t know if McCain can win even if he gets the conservative support. I know damn sure he can’t win without it. If McCain loses we may get a momentary emotional satisfaction but we will have a long term physical reality of the negative consequences.
It’s time for those that claim conservative ideology to quit whining and move forward. With McCain we may not have a perfect situation but it gives us a chance to improve on it. Without McCain we will be voices in a wilderness for a period that could make the forty years of the Hebrews a mere blink of an eye. And yes, I include myself in that group.
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