January 11-12, 2008
Jan 11 02:09 Clueless Beltway Pundits Jan 11 04:13 Now Who's Arrogant??? Jan 11 16:12 Fred Picks Up Human Events Endorsement Jan 12 18:25 When Making Predictions Is Unwise Jan 12 23:50 'Official' Reconciliation Progress Made
Clueless Beltway Pundits
I know that that headline isn't news to bloggers but it's the first thing that I thought of when I read this article , Here's what I'm basing my opinion on:
Throughout his presidential campaign, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson (R) has been dogged by questions about whether he wants to win the White House. On Thursday night, he answered those critics by delivering his best debate performance when he needed it most.Let's first dispose with Klaus Marre's opinion that "it may be too little, too late." BULLETIN TO MARRE: We're 2 states into the process. Nobody's out of it. Except Ron Paul. (I'm still wondering if he's from the same solar system.)
However, it might be too little, too late for Thompson. He has performed poorly in the previous contests, had his commitment questioned and his campaign appears to have some money problems.
Right out of the gate, Thompson criticized former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), who could be his main competition in the fight for the votes of Christian conservatives.
Another point that's easily rebutted is Marre's statement that Fred's "performed poorly in the previous contests." I'm wondering if Marre watched Saturday night's ABC debate, which Fred won. I'm wondering if he watched Fred Sunday night's FNC debate, in which Fred had another strong showing.
After tonight's debate, in which Fred exposed Huckabee for getting the NEA's endorsement because Huckabee's opposed to school vouchers, Huckabee's support amongst Christian conservatives will plummet.
Let's compare Marre's opinions with Captain Ed's :
Who put the vitamins in Fred Thompson's oatmeal? We have waited for Thompson to show up on the campaign trail, and tonight he finally did. He had energy, focus, a command of detail, and a willingness to finally engage with the other candidates on the stage. He took almost everyone else aback, and seized momentum that he only occasionally relinquished.Tonight might best be described as Fred's 'Take No Prisoners' night. He annihilated Huckabee on Huckabee's willingness to abandon the principles of federalism to sign a nationwide smoking ban. He chastised Huckabee for having a "Blame America first" attitude on foreign policy. Finally, Fred thrashed Huckabee for saying that the Reagan coalition is dead.
UPDATE: Fred ate more Wheaties between the debate and his appearance on Hannity & Colmes. He's smacking Alan Colmes around on Iraq and Iran. He's looking for battles and winning them. It's pretty amazing.
While most candidates managed to get in their talking points and one-liners, it appears as though Thompson was the winner Thursday night. A Fox News focus group overwhelmingly believed that the former senator had done the best job but also questioned whether it was enough to turn around an ailing campaign.Frankly, it's getting bothersome to hear the same line about whether Fred can turn things around. That was a legitimate question prior to Fred's barnstorming tour of Iowa. It's obvious that he's showing more energy in these debates. More importantly, he's showing himself to have the most solid policies of anyone in the field.
Another benchmark that's worth thinking about is which candidates won over the most new support. If you're using this measuring stick, it's clear that Fred stripped alot of Christian conservatives from supporting Huckabee and giving them plenty of reasons for supporting Fred. Rudy, Romney and McCain likely treaded water, maybe losing a little, maybe gaining a little.
The other thing to remember is that Fred's campaign wasn't lagging because people didn't love his policies. People weren't flocking to Fred's campaign because they wanted him more emotionally invested in his campaign. Now that Fred's showing that he's invested totally in winning the nomination, grassroots support for Fred will grow quickly.
Posted Friday, January 11, 2008 2:13 AM
Comment 1 by HeavyHanded at 11-Jan-08 11:51 PM
I think Ron Paul ought to each across the aisle and draft Dennis "The Menace" Kucinich as his VP running mate.
Wouldn't they make a great pair?
And hey, they could "bring America together" again.
Now Who's Arrogant???
Mike Huckabee said he believes that Bush administration foreign policy is arrogant, that President Bush hasn't sought the help of enough allies and that President Bush has a bunker mentality. That's why I find this statement so disingenuous:
"I think we need to make it very clear, not just to the Iranians, but to anybody, that if you think you're going to engage the United States military, be prepared not simply to have a battle. Be prepared, first, to put your sights on the American vessel. And then be prepared that the next things you see will be the gates of Hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that ," South Carolina front-runner Mike Huckabee said.Now who's being arrogant? Who's the one with a go-it-alone unilateralist attitude? More importantly, who believes that gov. Huckabee actually thinks like that? Haven't most conservatives figured out that he'd have a pacifist foreign policy? He's gone from being very dovish to sounding very hawkish in just a few short weeks. That isn't convincing anyone.
Huckabee said that after spending $12 billion to help the Pakistanis fight terror on and within its borders, the U.S. should get a rundown of what it bought.The last thing we need is for some foreign policy lightweight like Gov. Huckabee to make such provocative declarations. Like Sen. Thompson said, our first goal should be to keep Pakistan's nuclear weapons out of terrorists' hands.
"I think we now are in a position more than ever that we should ask the Musharraf government for a better accounting. And it also ought to buy us some leverage with the Musharraf government," he said.
In past campaigns, Democrats have made provocative statements about foreign policy. Now another liberal is making provocative statements about foreign policy. Unfortunately, this time the liberal is a Republican. Talk about arrogant and self-serving.
Posted Friday, January 11, 2008 4:14 AM
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Fred Picks Up Human Events Endorsement
Human Events just endorsed Fred Thompson . Here's what they said about Sen. McCain:
Sen. John McCain of Arizona is a war hero whose personal courage sustained many of the men imprisoned with him in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton." We honor him, but he does not honor many conservative principles. His co-authorship of the Bush-McCain-Kennedy "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation last summer ran directly against our principles of American sovereignty and national security. His position has not been ameliorated by his more recent explanations of border-security measures he might support. His opposition to the Bush tax cuts, his support for economy-strangling measures to control "global warming" and his anti-torture legislation (which didn't make torture illegal, it already was: McCain's law only made a clear law vague to the point of unenforceability) all cut against the conservative grain. And so did his McCain-Feingold campaign finance law with its stifling of political free speech.Last night, I said that McCain's wandering off topic to talk about global warming had everything to do with his winning independents, not conservatives. John McCain isn't terribly interested in conservatism. John McCain's interested in self-promotion.
Here's what they said about Mike Huckabee:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is a charming and agreeable gentleman. But his support for the economically disastrous "cap-and-trade" fix for global warming is as bad as Sen. McCain's position on the issue. The so-called "fair tax" he supports is unworkable. His tax-and-spend policies do not comport with conservative principles, but they do align all too well with Huckabee's populist rhetoric on the injustice of corporate CEO salaries. His stance on granting special benefits to the children of illegal aliens is also very troubling. On the war, Gov. Huckabee's understanding of the issues does not impress us. For example, he wants to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and move the detainees there into U.S. prisons, which, as Sen. Thompson schooled him on in a recent debate, would result in the grant of constitutional rights to terrorist detainees even though they are enemy combatants. Gov. Huckabee's grasp of foreign policy does not make us comfortable.Huckabee is a fast-talking liberal, not a conservative beyond his pro life record. He's an apprentice on foreign policy, too. Fred's telling the audience that Huckabee got the NEA's endorsement because he opposes school vouchers is more proof that he's a liberal.
Finally, here's what they said about Fred:
On the issues that matter most to conservatives, Sen. Thompson's positions benefit from their clarity. He is solidly pro-life. He said that he was in favor overturning Roe v. Wade because it was "bad law and bad medical science." As the National Right to Life Committee said in its endorsement of him Nov. 13, 2007, "The majority of this country is opposed to the vast majority of abortions, and Fred Thompson has shown in his consistent pro-life voting record in the U.S. Senate that he is part of the pro-life majority."Fred is the total package in appealing to what I'm calling Lieberman Demoocrats, Reagan Republicans and states' rights libertarians. He's as solid on foreign policy as John McCain, as smart on economic policy and as quick on his feet as Rudy. That's why Fred needs to be the next president of the United States.
Thompson's record is solid on voting to preserve gun owners' rights, cut taxes, reduce government spending and drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has voted consistently against gay marriage. Thompson is by no means perfect. He strongly supported the McCain-Feingold bill, did not support the impeachment of Bill Clinton on perjury and more than once voted with the trial lawyers against limitations on liability in defective product and medical malpractice cases.
We like the way Thompson unhesitatingly attacks the liberal ideologues and their activists such as MoveOn.org and the ACLU, and the way he reaches out to those we knew as the Reagan Democrats.
It's time for Republicans to unite behind Fred Thompson. He's the man who can restore the Reagan Coalition. He's the man we can trust to nominate strict constructionist judges. He's the candidate that we know will keep taxes low. Fred's the candidate that'll veto veto bills with tons of airdropped earmarks in them.
Posted Friday, January 11, 2008 4:18 PM
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When Making Predictions Is Unwise
When I read Dick Morris' latest column , the first thing I thought was that is that it's foolish to predict who the GOP nominee will be. The second thing was that picking McCain was Morris' pick. Here's a portion of his analysis:
McCain could even beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. His record taps into a latent populism that attracts Republicans, Democrats and Independents. His battle against big tobacco, efforts to address global warming, opposition to torture during interrogations and fight to reform corporate governance and to protect investors and pensioners appeal to voters of all stripes.The first thing Morris gets wrong is that McCain attacts enough Republicans now that we're entiring the Republican phase of the GOP primaries. McCain is a populist, just like Huckabee is. Neither will get the endorsement because they don't attract conservatives.
His issues cut across party and ideological lines, for an attraction far broader than the single notes sung by the evangelical Mike Huckabee and the anti-terror Giuliani.
His heroism is apparent and his independence from special interests notable. He's pro-life and suitably conservative on social issues, so he attracts conservatives as well as moderates. And his credentials on terrorism and other national-security issues are outstanding. He's got two main obstacles to overcome: his support for amnesty for illegal immigrants and his age.
Morris got it right in saying that McCain's support for shamnesty will hurt him. That's just one of his transgressions against the GOP. Frankly, he's with the GOP on very little. Certainly, he's a national security hawk. He's also pro life enough to pacify most Republicans. But his constant yapping about manmade climate change isn't winning him votes in the GOP. That's subtracting votes, if anything. His role in putting the Gang of 14 together isn't something movement conservatives appreciate, either.
Here's another thing that Morris got wrong:
But consider his competition: Giuliani, who draws from the same well, has squandered his early lead in what can only be described as a determined passivity. Fred Thompson is also catatonic.Morris must've submitted this before Thursday night's debate. He certainly couldn't have written it after that debate. At minimum, he couldn't have written that with a straight face. I'm wondering what Mr. Morris would say if he read this article :
In fairness, it was Thompson who started the spat, calling Huckabee a liberal on the economy and foreign affairs in Thursday's GOP debate in South Carolina. He ticked off Huckabee's alleged sins against that most hallowed of Republican institutions, the church of Ronald Reagan.Fred absolutely torpedoed Gov. Huckabee with that critique. Meanwhile, Gov. Huckabee's defense was limited to a bad attempt at humor, saying that "Fred needs to take some Metamucil." As I've noted before, Gov. Huckabee didn't dispute anything Fred said on a substantive level. He didn't attempt it because he knows he couldn't say it and get away with it.
"On the one hand, you have the Reagan revolution. You have the Reagan coalition of limited government and strong national security," Thompson said. "On the other hand, you have the direction that Governor Huckabee would take us in."
Among Huckabee's transgressions: He called President Bush's foreign policy "arrogant," he supported taxpayer-funded scholarships for children of illegal immigrants and he signed a smoking ban into law.
"So much for federalism," sniffed Thompson, who enjoys cigars. "So much for states' rights."
The biggest difference betwee Sen. Thompson and Gov. Huckabee is that Fred's the substantive guy with a sense of humor. Gov. Huckabee is just the guy with a sense of humor.
These are just a few examples why it's foolish to be predicting who the GOP nominee will be. The only thing that's worse is if you're picking Huckabee or McCain. That's sheer folly.
Posted Saturday, January 12, 2008 6:27 PM
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'Official' Reconciliation Progress Made
I can just picture Democrats crying after reading this article dealing with the de-Baatification legislation adopted by the Iraqi Parliament. For months, we've heard Democrats whine that the surge was a failure because the Iraqis hadn't passed "national reconciliation."
Iraq's parliament adopted legislation Saturday on the reinstatement of former Baath party supporters to government jobs, a benchmark sought by the United States as a key step toward national reconciliation.Democrats had been hiding behind the fig leaf of cover that the surge failed because national reconciliation hadn't passed. That fig leaf has just disappeared. Democrats don't have a place to hide at this point.
The voting was carried out by a show of hands on each of the law's 30 clauses. The bill, officially called the "Accountability and Justice" law, seeks to relax restrictions on the right of members of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Baath party to fill government posts. It is also designed to reinstate thousands of Baathists in government jobs from which they had been dismissed because of their ties to the party.
The dismissal of thousands of Baath Party supporters from these jobs had deepened sectarian tensions between Iraq's majority Shiites and the once-dominant Sunni Arabs.
We all remember Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi's joint letter making that point:
"As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results," the two leaders wrote. " The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation . It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased. In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops."Let's hope that President Bush reminds voters of this. In fact, I hope the full 'alphabet' of Republican organizations make this a campaign issue putting Democrats on the defensive. (This can't be the sole point we attack Democrats on but it better be part of the assault.)
Sen. Reid and Ms. Pelosi should be called out for being defeatist puppets in MoveOn's play. The House held tons of votes on Iraq, mostly at the behest of MoveOn. It's time we asked each Democrat how they're serving We The People , not MoveOn.org. There isn't alot of proof suggesting that they're interested in serving We The People .
Posted Saturday, January 12, 2008 11:53 PM
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