 Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher asks if Huckabee had gastric bypass surgery. Apparently, this is a relevant point to contemplate because:Much of Huckabee's "can-do," likeability quotient rests on his remarkable weight loss story, and the book he wrote about his experience -- crediting his success to diet and exercise.Well, that's deep political analysis for you. Next thing we'll be reading the tea... Not that I like to link to him, but yesterday, Kos posted something about GOP factions. As he sees it (outsider's perspective, bound to be at least a bit off), there are four of them: corporate cons, paleocons, theocons and neocons.What about libertarian Republicans, I have to ask? And why is Ron Paul lumped in with Pat Buchanan here, when it's quite clear that on at least one of the big "moral... Tancredo endorses Romney.That's a pretty big deal. It's also, I'd suggest, not something Fred's going to be very happy about. He's been talking about immigration a lot, and to many people looks more consistent than, well, pretty much the whole field on the subject (OK, I'll adjust that statement-- McCain looks consistent, too, just not in the way immigration hawks like). Yet he misses... Readers will note there have been quite a few Christmas/Holiday ads put out in the last 24 hours. I must say, I am not a fan of the bulk of them. I thought Obama's was surprisingly boring and a bit lame. Hillary's felt predictably crass and not terribly clever. Rudy's was funny, though I'm a little unconvinced by the sweater vest. Apart from his, I don't really know what any of them bring to... Here are the key points in what passed:- no subsidies for those earning more than $750k- no direct payments of more than $40k- no counter-cyclical payments of more than $60k- unlimited marketing loan payments- 1% increase in sugar subsidiesThe point: this wasn't a good bill, even if it was better than what they easily could have done. Here are the Senators who had the guts to vote against... Usually, when I write anything involving the words "Democrat" and "Colorado," it's to point out what a stellar job Democrats have done in kicking GOP butt in the state. But not today!From Politics West:Boulder Democrat Jared Polis was slammed by opponents Thursday after releasing a television ad blasting corporate “war profiteers” in Iraq — including two companies in which the congressional... Tonight, I'll be guesting on Libertarian Politics Live. You can tune in by clicking on the link. Oh, and I'll be talking presidential politics...... This is just a bit amusing. From CQ (subscription required):Pelosi, D-Calif., said she miscalculated on the biggest issue of the year: Iraq War policy.After President Bush’s party lost control of Congress in an election in which Iraq policy was a central issue, “The assumption I made was that the Republicans would soon see the light,” Pelosi told reporters. [...]“That was a revelation to me... Charles Krauthammer has a great piece running today at NRO (and I presume also the WaPo, though I trawled past NRO first this morning, so can't be sure).In it, he points out that one's religious devotion shouldn't confer special status where politics is concerned-- even though several candidates (and not just Republicans, I might add) are trying it on. He says he "hasn't exactly invented hot... And lo and behold, in the NY Times Magazine, we're discussing whether Jesus and Satan are brothers.Wait for the ensuing discussion in any other number of publications about magic underpants, people who had two grandmothers who were sisters, and where exactly the Garden of Eden might have been located.Disclaimer: as most readers know, a good chunk of my family is Mormon. So suffice it to say, all... I've noticed over the last few days that so many of them had such high hopes for taking the VA-01 seat away from the GOP. You know, Bush is very unpopular, so is the war, we're heading into a recession, we're killing the planet, etc.Yet, voters there decided to back a Republican by, oh, the same margin (actually even a slightly better one than that) by which Bush won the district in 2004.That... Yup. Key extract:Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. I think the Editors may have a different definition of "viable" than I, or most pollsters...The poll gives Clinton, Obama and Edwards double-digit leads over Romney and... From the Seattle P-I: The New York senator's campaign has three official heads in co-chairs Rep. Jay Inslee, former Gov. Gary Locke, and King County Executive Ron Sims. [...] Sims is considered a prime candidate for a posting in any new Clinton administration. (my emphasis added)Meanwhile, it appears that the guy who helped pay for quite a bit of yours truly's high school education is backing... Readers will have noticed I've been offline for a few days. That, unfortunately, has been the result of me coming down with a nasty cold. Bear with me, I'll be back again soon...... Check out my column on British welfare reform here. And my column on Huckabee's religious message-- and the problems with it-- here.... Rudy starts it off with a tabloid-tastic ad that feels like something the Monster Raving Loony Party would endorse. He took on King Kong and made it snow less. How can anyone object to that?Rudy gives a great answer, seriously, about repairing America's image abroad and in the Muslim world, most specifically-- and underlines very well that we are not at war with Islam, and Muslims like the... Duncan Hunter has some concerns about the questioner's handling of his gun.Rudy's going to get hit on guns now. This is actually a pretty tough question. Rudy thinks we need to be aggressive about enforcing gun laws that exist. And all laws, actually. He's pointing to his crime record. He did just say that he thinks that the 2nd amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms.... Charlie Crist kicks off, talking about the "people's debate." And I personally am upset that we'll have no questions from dogs.We start off with a question that Romney must be loving-- sanctuary cities, for Rudy. Rudy does a good job with the answer, but Romney's hitting back hard. And Rudy comes out blasting. Mitt had six sanctuary cities, and a sanctuary mansion! He didn't deputize until 2... I rarely like to ask readers to do things like sign petitions or donate money, but today, I'm going to do it.It appears that MSNBC may cancel Tucker Carlson's show. This is a personal disaster for me. Tucker is one of my favorite people in the whole world. His show is the highlight of my day. Yes, I am a much sadder person than you ever imagined. But, there you have it.So, if you like me,... I’m not normally one to tout Al Gore or anything that he does, but today I am—kind of. That’s because Gore is joining a venture capital firm that invests in companies pursuing environmentally-friendly technologies-- a good thing, in my opinion. And, it turns out that Gore is going to take away from his position with the firm-- and keep-- his share of the carried interest that gets paid to... Tomorrow (well, technically today, since it's past midnight now), I'll be appearing on "Meet The New Press" on New Hampshire's WEMJ radio, 1490 AM. I'll be talking Mormon-gate, Clinton vs. Clinton on free trade, and a few other bits and pieces relevant to presidential politics. For those not in New Hampshire, click here for instructions as to how to tune... This morning, in the wake of the resurgence of Mormon-gate as a story, I've been doing some digging around. While I had hoped to write something on where we stand now, and what we know, including the results of my digging this morning, at an actual publication (as opposed to my own blog), with a few hours to go before everyone switches off for Thanksgiving, I'm bailing on that idea.So, here... Well, I thought this story had died a death heading into Thanksgiving. Guess I was wrong.Last night, Soren Dayton noted the fact that several people who received the Mormon-bashing calls are on the Romney payroll, and one is on a Romney steering committee. I'm no expert on polling, but one of the questions that immediately springs to my mind is, wouldn't you filter out of a call list of this... Check out this interesting piece at Politico about Rudy's appeal to younger voters.The question I have, arising from the piece, is to what degree support from younger voters for Rudy will matter. Younger voters, historically, have not tended to vote in the legions expected by some pols (e.g., John Kerry). But, according to some, today's youth are more politically active than say my (barely)... This morning, the Mormon-gate story continues to develop, with NRO's Mark Hemingway publishing a piece that-- if you read it closely-- pins blame for orchestration of the Western Wats calls causing the hubbub with Romney strategist Alex Gage. The latest development, set out by Hemingway, is that there's an established connection between Target Point Consulting, Gage's firm, and Western Wats, the... In yesterday and today's Mormon-gate frenzy, I missed some news of interest. McCain won the endorsement of former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.This is a big get for McCain, at least in my eyes. Norton is a fave of mine, and I had very much hoped she would run for the open Colorado Senate seat next year. Sadly, she's not doing that. But, if the GOP takes more hits in Colorado next year, and... Original post here. The updates to that were getting too extensive, so here's a new post with the latest.1. Justin Hart at My Man Mitt has details of a conversation with someone at Western Wats:UPDATE: Just spoke to my Western Wats source (a senior employee at the firm). * He said the notion that this is Romney-driven is “nonsense” and “ridiculous”. * He did not confirm or deny that the... I've been talking to a number of people about this issue of calls being made to voters in IA and NH saying not very nice things about Mormonism all day, and here are some thoughts.First off, I've been pleased to see that the McCain camp was quick in calling for an investigation by the NH AG into the calls. Per a McCain press release:Today, the McCain New Hampshire Leadership Committee intends to... Jonathan Martin has the story.Let me just say this on the subject that I hate politicians targeting each other over religion. I really, really do. And I am sensitive to Mormon-bashing, in particular, because, well, part of my family is Mormon.In my view, candidates-- and their proxies (and I suspect it is proxies involved in this case)-- should fight each other on the issues, not on the basis... Good. This guy is a disgrace to all British Muslims, including a few I know who worship at Finsbury Park Mosque and were all too happy to get rid of him. He's also a big-time welfare recipient, so getting rid of him should save the UK taxpayers quite a lot of cash.... Is there anything even faintly conservative about Michael Gerson? Has there ever been?Not to my knowledge, no. There's plenty in this book, which if you haven't read, you should, that makes it pretty clear that Gerson has a lot more in common with the likes of SCHIP-expansion supporters than he does Barry Goldwater. Obviously, that doesn't sit too well with... According to a new ARG poll, it is veritably so.Romney 26%Huckabee 24%Looks like maybe this:
hasn't worked out so well for him after all.By the way, this comment from Huckabee:I think Mitt Romney would rather keep people out of college so they can keep working on his lawnis one of the funniest, and most to-the-point statements I've heard in a long time. I also think the fact that... ... from Florida:This week’s callous budget slashing and the downright laughable property tax “cut-reform” mess merely illustrate what 43 of the United States already know: Florida needs a state income tax, a graduated, progressive income tax. It seems so obvious if you’re not rich like 90% of the people in this state: taxes should be based on one’s ability to pay. It’s doable if you have the... Last month, I penned a piece for the American Spectator on the subject of McCain's targeting of Mitt Romney, and how it could help Rudy, who is close friends with McCain. That argument has, of course, been echoed elsewhere in the blogosphere, and the idea that McCain and Rudy might be tag-teaming to take down Romney and deliver the nomination to Rudy obviously p*ssed some people in a particular... I'm now feeling OK about RedState's Paul-supporter ban because, after all, it's led to Erick teaming up with Wonkette. What more could I possibly want in blogosphere alliances?BTW, if certain other unnamed bloggers take issue with this in the mainstream press, I won't be coming to their defense because a sense of humor is a valuable... ... here.Jonathan Martin likes the Gravel-Sugar Hill Gang comparison. I personally prefer John McCain/50 Cent. Both because there's some accuracy here, and because I like both (OK, I like McCain way more than 50 Cent, but... Here's wishing everyone a Happy Veteran's Day, and offering any veterans or servicemembers reading this blog a round of applause and thanks. You do hard, excellent, and frequently unrecognized work. And I personally am very thankful for it.
As a side note, blogging will be extremely light today-- though I am online.... People who know me, know that I'm someone with a pretty black sense of humor. They also know that I'm not exactly a fan of Heather Mills. So, I'm posting this, which I found a tad funny.H/T The... Today, I've got a column running at the American Spectator on the subject of this whole Hillary, sexism and women thing. As some readers know, the way her campaign has tried to appeal to women by pointing to discriminatory attitudes to cover up a shoddy debate performance has seriously irked me-- and the column gives an indication as to why,...  ... For those who haven't heard, or are in parts of the country unaccustomed to paying attention to Virginian politics, last night, the GOP lost the State Senate. Three Senators-- Nick Rerras, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Jay O'Brien were ejected yesterday, and Senator Ken Cuccinelli also may have been (his race was so close that a mandatory recount has been triggered-- and I'm not sure it's... Ezra Klein has penned a piece blasting Giuliani for making things up vis a vis prostate cancer. But, it appears that Klein screwed up quite majorly in doing his homework for said piece. How embarrassing that the Guardian, a top flight paper in the UK, published his work, without demanding fixes, considering how much was obviously wrong with it. I won't berate Ezra over this (everyone makes... Yes. I've never been a Weyrich fan by any stretch of the imagination (he's the Moral Majority, I presumably am a member of the Immoral Minority, given my beliefs), so this does nothing more than solidify my deep and abiding skepticism of Romney.... The other day, I mentioned this ridiculous column by Boris Johnson MP, an Islington-dwelling Conservative (in the UK party sense) as I used to be, and a fellow member of the local party there, in which he endorses Hillary Clinton.Yes, you read that correctly.Well, today, top transatlantic site BritainAndAmerica ran my response to Boris' column.Check it out, and let me know what you think. ... So, in the aftermath of the Democratic debate the other night, where Hillary Clinton pretty much bombed out, the issue of sexism in politics has come to the fore.For those who haven't seen, Hillary Clinton's campaign has been going on the defensive with the "Piling On A Woman"/"All The Boys Are Mean And Sexist" thing, and not a few political pundits and newsmakers have been backing her up. And... Over at Reason, Brian Doherty is urging Congress to call Bush's bluff with regard to AG nominee Mukasey. Go take a look at what he (briefly) has to say.While (as I said yesterday) I'm not convinced that were I in the Senate, I'd be concerned enough about Mukasey's responses on the subject of waterboarding to vote against him, I will say this: after having watched the President's remarks at... And you may want to check them out. The first is at the Seattle P-I, and it's on the subject of Democratic free-traders from my home state of Washington. For those of you not familiar with Washington politics, or the major issues of importance there, I'd encourage you to check it out. Last year, a contact of mine in DC stunned me with the suggestion that someone should go after Maria Cantwell... So, I've got MSNBC on (as ever) and I look up from writing a column on this ridiculous concept, and what should I see, but Bush, on TV, at the Heritage Foundation, speaking out in favor of AG nominee Mukasey!While I don't want to sound overly high-minded or deprecating of the President, I am wondering however if I might offer him a suggestion. George, given that just about everyone in the whole... I'm sure everyone heard the deeply saddening (< / sarcasm >) news that Tom Tancredo won't be running for Congress again. So, you might be wondering, who will the GOP run in his stead?Turns out it could be the Republican Secretary of State, Mike Coffman-- and that he's causing everyone a lot of heartburn by virtue of his decision.Basically, the problem is this. Coffman's replacement will be... Late in the day, I know, but here's wishing you a good one, and briefing you on all the politically-related Halloween news!John Tabin has news of dolts in Iowa taxing pumpkins.Russian schools are banning Halloween or somesuch.Chuck Hagel went to the Senate as Joe Biden today (note: anyone who's ever been into the big meeting room in Hagel's office knows that this costume is a poor substitute for... This 30 second quickfire round thing is a bit of a joke, isn't it? No one is actually being teleported off the stage if they run over, there are no puffs of smoke, and no amusing noises to accompany candidates not disappearing from the stage. But, Brian Williams is going to get tougher on enforcing the cut-off time, so OK, I'll keep playing along.Dodd is wasting time by telling us he has 30... It's the Social Security round, apparently. And Hillary's been caught out on some inconsistency, courtesy of an AP reporter.Hillary says she wasn't being inconsistent, and she has a plan. By plan, she means loose principles and nothing specific on offer. But she's switched to talking about evil Republicans and privatization. Smart move, because she was clearly caught out here. BTW, talking... A reader has just emailed to ask why Hillary has two sets of eyebrows, and to suggest that Joe Biden may be growing a ponytail. Could this be true? Biden isn't getting enough face time for me to really tell, but Hillary's eyebrows are indeed wacky.Edwards just hit Hillary really hard, too. If you want troops to stay in Iraq, vote for Hillary. Actually, I think he's got a point. Her... OK, so first of all, rising health care is a problem in this country. Remember that.And John Edwards needs to eat less sugar, because that "good evening" intro was wigged-out.Ooh, and Hillary's a liar about Social Security (actually, I didn't realize she'd said anything much at all on the subject-- I thought she was trying to avoid talking specifics, full stop). And I love how Hillary has been... I've been working on a couple of columns today, so haven't been blogging too much, but I have been watching MSNBC rigorously (as I always do) and getting ready for tonight's Democratic debate.The topic of the day seems to be, is Obama going to come out fighting tonight, and beat Hillary Clinton up for being an unspecific, imprecise, philosophically-ungrounded, pandering,... Today, I've got a column running in The Politico on the subject of the GOP and our poor record and weak rhetoric on health care. Extract:72 percent of those surveyed, and even 61 percent of Republicans, say they favor expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, putting them at odds with the (still) leader of the Republican Party, President Bush, who vetoed the original SCHIP... I like Judd Gregg, but I'm not a big fan of this particular move.I also think it's interesting that this is the second time in a row that Gregg seems to have backed the guy who can't cope without a script in hand (see the Romney "house than Reagan built" debacle in the most recent GOP... So, evangelicals are getting ticked off with the GOP. Anyone who has been paying attention knows this is to some degree true. The question is, why? The NY Times magazine offers one suggestion:Today the president’s support among evangelicals, still among his most loyal constituents, has crumbled. Once close to 90 percent, the president’s approval rating among white evangelicals has fallen to a... I say "interesting" with the greatest degree of irony. From the Concord Monitor:John Edwards says if he's elected president, he'll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he'll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal... ... I'd like to draw your attention to my piece on McCain running interference for Rudy in today's American Spectator.The piece has already generated a whirlwind of comment. By the time I checked email this morning, I already had about 25 emails about the piece-- a high number for 9AM! So, if you haven't checked out the column, please do-- and send me your... So, the arguable real winner of the 2004 WA-Gov contest, Dino Rossi, is going to run against Christine Gregoire again in 2008. Fun, fun, fun!Rossi announced his closely watched decision in an interview with The Associated Press and planned campaign kickoff events in Issaquah, the heart of his old legislative district, and in Spokane."It's time for fresh air in Olympia," he told the AP. "I'm... Charlie Rangel's at it again.At what, you ask? Raising taxes. By 4% on those earning more than $150k a year (or, it seems couples making more than $200k). By 4.6% on those earning more than $500k.It's a stupid move, yes, and I think it gives us all a pretty good indication of what Democrats' definition of "rich" is (i.e., probably not the same as yours and mine-- $150k a year is a nice income,... I'm late in the day posting on this, but we all learned today, definitively, that Tom Davis isn't going to be running for John Warner's Senate seat in Virginia.I'll be the first to say this is a shame. I think Davis would be best placed to beat Mark Warner.But, I also understand why he's not doing it. In a campaign against a well-known character like M. Warner, the only real shot a Republican... I've been working on a bunch of stuff today, so while I've been online a bit, I haven't been blogging.But, there's something very serious going on in the right-wing blogosphere today, and I feel I must now weigh in, despite the fact that my voice is less well-heard and softer than those of some other conservative/center-right/whatever bloggers.Conservative blog (and occasional old foe) RedState... ... but, tonight I stumbled across Right-Wing Facebook, one of their productions.I strongly encourage you to check it out. There are two reasons for this. First, it's pretty funny (see items like Thompson's status: "napping," Rudy's political views: "9/11" Romney's interested in: "conservative voters with short memories").Second, it offers an interesting insight into the kind of themes on which... So, everyone is now talking about how Rep. Tom Davis won't be running for Virginia's Senate seat. Personally, I'm going to wait for Davis to make his intentions public before speculating (I know the guy, and while I wouldn't say well enough to bet on his plans, given how much effort he's devoted to putting himself in a position to run for the seat, I still think there's a chance he may go ahead... I was unable to live-blog last night's Republican debate on FOX due to a migraine, but I did tune in-- and am offering my thoughts, belatedly.First off, I'm declaring joint winners: McCain and Giuliani. McCain had a number of great lines last night (my favorite being about Woodstock being a cultural and pharmaceutical event), and won me over by hitting the nail on the head in relation to Russia.... Jonathan Martin has details of how Romney bought another straw poll, this time the Family Research Council's Values Voter straw poll.Among actual attendees of the FRC's Values Voter conference/summit, Mike Huckabee took a stunning 51% of the vote. But, because the FRC allowed online voting among people who contributed as little as $1 to the FRC, Romney won overall.Today, I had occasion to speak... I didn't attend the Club for Growth thing in DC today, but I have noted the coverage of it.The main point for me? Romney praising No Child Left Behind:Unfortunately he apparently praised No Child Left Behind and spoke in favor of a national weekend training program for parents of children in schools that rank in the bottom 10%. Now for a guy trying to live down government intervention in... ... I give you a mock-up of Larry King Live featuring Ken Starr and James Carville. ... Well, this should help tighten up the debates:Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) will drop out of the 2008 presidential race tomorrow, the AP reports."Brownback, a long-shot conservative contender, had trouble raising money to compete in the race. He is expected announce his withdrawal in Topeka, Kan."It also isn't much of a surprise. Those tracking the presidential race have noticed that Brownback has... Wow. This is a severe kick in the pants for Romney.Jeb Bush, Jr. isn't as important a figure in Florida politics as his dad (the actual former governor and brother of the President). But still, he's a pretty big name, and the endorsement does suggest that Romney hasn't quite captured the imagination of Jeb Bush's immediate family as he presumably had hoped to do. From Team Giuliani:The Rudy... Last night, when chatting with a friend of mine who is a much more prominent political author than I, I engaged in some speculation about who Rudy's big endorsement of the day was going to be. Given that it coincided with the Club for Growth's big do in DC, our joint money (you might have said) was on it being someone who we know commands a lot of respect with the Club, and who is probably... Today starts with some good news. While Jim Ogonowski didn't win in MA-5, he only lost by 6%. That's nothing-- literally, nothing-- when you consider that a) it's Massachusetts (aren't they supposed to elect Democrats for everything except for Governor by something like a 20-point margin) b) Ogonowski was outspent something like 4:1 and c) he was running against the widow of a former... Today, there's an election going on in MA-5! Yes, yes, I know, significantly less exciting than presidential politics, but still-- the MA-5 race represents an opportunity for the GOP to pick up a seat in the bluest of states and-- what's more-- it's not complete pie in the sky.Here's the latest on the race. From the Politico:The most recent polls in the race show Ogonowski trailing by narrow... I was away over the weekend, attending (and speaking at) CLC 2007 in Reno, so I haven't been online too much in the past few days. But, sifting through my email, I saw a link that had been sent to me to this YouTube clip relating to Ron Paul's candidacy-- together with a mention that Jon Stewart and Bill Maher both back Paul.So, I checked it out (note to readers: put "Jon Stewart" anywhere in an... Yesterday, I was experiencing some problems with my internet connection, which prevented me from blogging—apologies for that.One of the things, however, I had meant to write about—and am writing about now—was a debate going on over at NRO’s The Corner involving the definition of “conservative.” Specifically, I’d like to point to two posts by friend-of-a-friend David Freddoso here and... Fred exceeded expectations, sure, but I'm not sure he won. He KO'd Romney with that last line, which I liked, but I'm not sure the rest was a total home run.I think Rudy won-- just. But he didn't distinguish himself as much as he should have.McCain also did well, despite evidently not being able to hear half of the questions.Romney lost by being forced to concede that Rudy had a great fiscal... Huckabee is right that SCHIP was about political posturing. But his answer is too detailed already-- he's out of time. Huckabee's basically saying he wouldn't get to the point of having to veto SCHIP because he would have run the PR better. He's also saying he might not have vetoed the bill, essentially (I think he's saying) because it might have been a waste of political capital. Yet, by... I don't really know why McCain thinks it pays for him to talk about immigration, but I don't think it does.Ah, Romney's going to talk about how Hillary Clinton has no private sector experience except as a lawyer. And he's raised his health care plan. Well done, Mitt. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but what she's advocating essentially is your health care plan!!!***It would be ever so nice if... I am baffled as to why, in a debate about economic issues, we're talking Iraq. But whatever.Aw, the McCain-Rudy love club continues with McCain's comment about credit for uniting Americans after 9/11!McCain is highlighting his early stance in bashing the administration on Iraq. Good. He has a point.***The problem with talking about Iraq is Ron Paul gets going. He has some fair points, yes, in... I actually liked the way Fred handled that comeback to Hunter. He's right to say that China is a didgy dealer, but he's also right to say that nixing free trade is the wrong way to handle the issue.I am liking Brownback's talk about the optional flat tax. Brownback himself is rather uninspiring, but this is a good idea in terms of giving people a choice that, if taken, will no doubt propel us... ... and Fred just stumbled on the word "recession," which he seems to have forgotten. But, he has leapt into talking about excessive spending, which I appreciate. Sadly, he doesn't seem to be doing much of a good job at explaining why so many people think that we're headed into a recession.Oh-- Romney thinks it's everyone's duty to solve the problem of large numbers of home foreclosures in... I'm gearing up for today's debate here at home, and hope you'll be tuning in later on also.Needless to say, this is going to be a big one, because Fred is participating. It's on economic issues, and Fred generally has a lot to say here. He's quite good at railing against extravagant spending, and big, bulky entitlements like Medicare Part D and Social Security. So, I think this could be good... ... I miss this:
And it's one of the funniest things I've seen since, well, last week's Romney-bashing ad.On a related note, Ryan Sager has details of Fred's Florida... George Allen is backing Fred Thompson. I guess this is a good thing, as long as he doesn't say too much and avoids video cameras like the plague. There is a risk that this reinforces negative stereotypes about the kind of person attracted to Thompson (southern, male, white, dim/foot-in-mouth), as well, but my hope is that with the debate tomorrow, Thompson will start putting paid to those kinds... I have been often accused of being too harsh on CO-Sen candidate and Republican Bob Schaffer (including by some people working for some very prolific and powerful Republicans in DC). No mind. As someone who is very concerned about where the party is going wrong in the West, and who thinks Colorado is the focal point of our screw-ups, I think it's important to point out what I think is really... I'll be appearing on NPR's "On Point" again tomorrow, discussing presidential politics, SCHIP and a variety of other items. Check out where the show will be airing in your area, and tune in! * Northeast-- All - XM Satellite Radio - : 11am - Noon, 9 - 11pm, 1 - 3am (Wed-Sat) (ET) * Hartford, Connecticut - WNPR - 90.5FM : 10am - Noon (ET) * Norwich, Connecticut - WNPR - 89.1FM : 10am -... This is airing in Iowa.... This morning, James Dobson (of whom I am no fan) has an editorial in the NY Times explaining how social conservative activists have adopted a resolution stating that if the Democrats and Republicans nominate presidential candidates who are not sufficiently pro-life, they will vote for a "minor-party candidate." The resolution was passed unanimously. They also debated the creation of a third... So, yesterday I learned that on FOX, errant Republican Rep. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina said he'd be co-sponsoring this resolution the Democrats are talking about bashing Rush Limbaugh.I'm not a huge fan of Rush, I'll be the first to admit. But I'm certainly no fan of Jones', either, with this evident leap to buddy up yet further to the Cindy Sheehan elements of the Democratic party who... As some of you already know, for a few months now, I've been working on launching a new 501(c)(4) organization aimed at advancing small "l" libertarian policy and ideas among 18-35 year olds. It's a non-partisan organization, entirely focused on policy and outreach on policy ideas, and it is finally up and running under the name Maximize Liberty.To kick things off, we're holding a Happy Hour... Readers know that of the 2008 races I'm watching, CO-Sen is one of the top three. So, I am of course compelled to mention that a second Republican has decided to run for retiring Sen. Wayne Allard's seat. His name is Wayne Wolf..I don't know jack about this guy as it stands, but I'll be doing some investigating today. What my gut tells me, though, is that not everyone in Colorado can be... Well, all, I returned back from S Africa yesterday, and am currently working on recovering from jet-lag while catching up on work stuff.While I do, I'm posting some photos for public consumption. You can view the main highlights on my trip, with commentary, here. However, here are a few, with added commentary, for your immediate perusal.Our first day in Capetown was spent at a two-match day at... As readers will know, I'm currently vacationing in South Africa. Thus far, it's been action packed.Yesterday entailed going diving with Great White Sharks (sample pictures, not my own, below). Tomorrow is likely to involve a visit to a cheetah sanctuary (pictures to follow as soon as possible).While I'm vacationing, be sure to keep checking in for updates on what's going on over here, and also... I'll try to post my own as soon as I have them...Addo Elephant National ParkHluhluwe Game ReserveTable Mountain,... According to Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, Jeanne Shaheen will enter the NH Senate race today.This is really bad news for my favorite Senator, John Sununu. As the Boston Herald reminds us:In a Research 2000 poll in July, Shaheen led Sununu by 22 percentage points. The poll had Sununu beating each of the other Democrats, but with less than 50 percent support.Shaheen also evidently has a... I'll be flying out to Capetown in a few hours, but I did want to put up links to two new columns I have running today.First, at The American, I have a new piece up on proposed tax increases in the UK that would hit the private equity industry (and you thought that was just an American concern?)Second, in the Seattle P-I, I have a column up looking at the Dave Reichert-Darcy Burner rematch in... I'm getting more and more comfortable with Fred by the day: today, his campaign confirmed that he thought the federal government had no role to play in relation to the Terri Schiavo matter.Together with his position on gay marriage (note that the constitutional ban he's been discussing is a heck of a lot more limited than the FMA-- his ban would simply say state judges don't get to decide on... I've been going light on the blogging today, because I'm getting ready to set off to Africa tomorrow. More on that later. In the meantime, I'm posting a hodgepodge of everything not related to hiking boots and mosquito repellent that has been attracting my attention today.First up, everyone will have seen that Mark Warner is indeed running for Senate in Virginia. What not everyone will have... Usually, I use this blog to comment on political goings-on. But, occasionally, I deviate into football/soccer-- and today is one of those days.Last night, in the Euro 2008 qualifier, Scotland beat France 1-0, thanks to a goal by James McFadden.I cannot overstate the importance of this. Scotland now sit at the top of their qualifying group, though admittedly, we do have a few tough games still... I'll resist saying more than that. Except to say that I do think that the Democrats are idiots to not be taking a closer look at Bill Richardson for their nomination. And that I do believe the West is more libertarian-inclined than South Carolina or Connecticut.... I hate to link to Kos, but his site is the most immediate place I could find these numbers on the VA-Sen race, which I was provided with yesterday (but didn't have time to post on):Rasmussen. 9/5. Likely voters. MoE 4.5% (No trend lines)Gilmore (R) 34Warner (D) 54Davis (R) 30Warner (D) 57 Kos seems to be construing these polls not as a sign of early, and unavoidable victory for Warner. He's... It seems that the fighting has begun over at RedState over the VA-Sen race. The issue is that Erick Erickson thinks that Rep. Tom Davis, who will no doubt be running for John Warner's soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat is too moderate and unpredictable.My friend Mason Conservative has a good reply to Erick. I think for anyone following this race, it's worth reading.Check it... I've been tied up over the last couple of days, prepping for taking off to South Africa on Friday (sister-in-law's wedding, followed by safari excursions). That's prevented me from posting much, but I've come back online to weigh in on what's going on vis a vis Iraq.First off, let me say that I was extremely pleased to see yesterday, during the House hearing, General Petraeus make clear that we... This one's on the GOP, the West and the environment.... Giuliani: 34% (+2)
Thompson: 22% (+3)
McCain: 15% (+4)
Romney: 10% (-4)
Looks like Thompson is taking support from Romney.... Ross Douthat at the Atlantic has an interesting post up today about the GOP candidates and what to expect in terms of foreign policy. I highly recommend it.Here are the most interesting bits, for me:Rudy Giuliani, for instance, seems to have the most hawkish advisors of any candidate, and the particular hawks he's chosen suggest that a Giuliani administration would drop at least some of the... The beard is dyed.Let me take a minute to point out how hilarious this is. The dude supposedly is this ascetic, devout Muslim, but in actual fact, he's an image obsessed preener. I can't imagine that him evidently being so concerned about the color of his beard that he would dye it (while living in a cave, for God's sake) makes him look like anything less than a girlie-man (to steal Ahnold's... I'm not overly enthused about this. Ryan Sager is reporting that Fred Thompson has decided to back a federal marriage amendment. Not necessarily the Federal Marriage Amendment, mind you (at least not so far as I can tell right now). But still, he wants to do an amendment that would restrain judges and prevent states from having to recognize gay marriages sealed in other states.This from a guy... Does he use Just for Men on his beard, or what?  ... First up: Cesar Conda, a member of Team Romney, is blasting Rudy's economic record, apparently claiming that he's not just moderate on social issues, but also economic ones, and that Romney is much more economically conservative. This marks the first time that the Romney camp has sought to attack Rudy on a non-social issue, and I don't think it's going to work out very well for them. Those... So, as I mentioned in my story in the American today, Rep. Charlie Rangel has been holding hearings on overhauling the US tax system today. In the crosshairs is the private equity industry, on which Rangel wants to raise taxes (like a lot of people these days, Rangel doesn't understand that asset-based moneys properly correspond to capital gains tax, whereas things like salary properly... Some debate thoughts:1. McCain cleaned everyone's clock tonight. I was really impressed with him, particularly when he hammered Romney over his withdrawal-friendly stance on Iraq. I don't necessarily disagree with Romney's apparent premise that we need to be monitoring progress in Iraq closely and need to keep in mind whether it is appropriate to look at withdrawal, but I do sense a lot of... If you haven't seen it already, Ryan Sager has a column up today at the NY Sun about how GOP candidates are snubbing social conservatives, namely the chappies running the ValueVoters.org debate. I recommend you read it.Ryan accurately described the agenda of these social cons as "anti-abortion, anti-stem-cell-research, anti-judicial-independence, anti-immigration, and pro-censorship."More to the... On one level, this is kind of worrying, because it means that Romney is being treated as a serious threat by at least some Democrats. On the other, it's just bad news for Romney because while a Democratic attack on a Republican in the pre-primary stage is usually a good thing, this website contains some pretty bad stuff. All the usual Mitt-Flips are on parade-- no news there. But there is a... For those who haven't heard, former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, my fellow Washingtonian, passed away yesterday. In addition, Rep. Paul Gillmor of Ohio was found dead in his apartment today.My condolences go out to the families of Ms. Dunn and Rep. Gillmor. Both will be missed, but for me, Ms. Dunn's passing is particularly said. She represented the district across Lake Washington from my house until... From an alert reader, who knows more about Massachusetts culinaria than I:In certain parts of Massachusetts the term Tube Steaks is commonly used to denote hot dogs. That is because a famous hot dog stand, Joe and Nemo's, was located next door to the underground which is usually called the tube here in Boston. So people would say "I'm going to the tube to get one of those steaks at Joe and... Yes, yes, we've all heard about Hillary and Mr. Hsu, but what about this fundraiser of Romney's?While I hate to quote sites like Crooks and Liars, I will agree with their assertion that relatively little was said about this particular bit of drama.Fine team Romney seems to have assembled. There's Robert Lichfield, this Fabian chap, Bruce Benson (who evidently said he wanted to kill his wife back... Who calls hot dogs "tube steaks" (OK, apart from Mitt)?
If you have ever heard this term used to describe any kind of sausage, or sausage-like edibles, please email me.It may just be that having grown up in extra liberal Seattle, where we don't even really eat hot dogs (OK, we eat tofu dogs, not the same thing, though) and then having moved back to the land of fried Mars Bars and Haggis,... I'm not normally one for doing the Ann-Coulter-style-call-liberals-on-their-own-hypocrisy-and-misdeeds type thing, but after a couple of days offline, having come back and checked my main email account to which readers send me comments, I feel that I've got to say something.The volume of emails I have received from self-described Democrats and liberals containing comments like "The Republican... I'm really not quite sure what to say about this, except should I ever run for public office, I will NOT be replicating Romney's example here. Showing yourself running, sweaty and sounding a little out of breath strikes me as a funny idea-- though it does demonstrate cojones. I am tempted to wonder whether, since Romney always gets tagged with the "looking too perfect" line, maybe this is a way... My editor at the New York Sun, Ryan Sager has a good piece up today about Florida being the deciding state on the Republican side of things.A lot of pundits seem to keep focusing on Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as in previous years. Personally, my view is that those states matter very little these days. Florida looks a lot more like the big states that immediately follow its primary... The great state of Florida is getting its share of headlines this morning (i.e., whatever isn't being focused on Larry Craig and, from watching Joe Scarborough's morning show, Britney Spears), with drama afoot on both the Democratic and the Republican sides of the political debate.First up, the Democrats. Last week, after threatening by Howard Dean (including, according to one source of mine,... The great state of Florida is getting its share of headlines this morning (i.e., whatever isn\'t being focused on Larry Craig and, from watching Joe Scarborough\'s morning show, Britney Spears), with drama afoot on both the Democratic and the Republican sides of the political debate.First up, the Democrats. Last week, after threatening by Howard Dean (including, according to one source of mine,... Friday morning, from 10 to 11AM, I will be appearing on NPR's On Point, together with David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register.For those who don't routinely listen to the show, here are some details about it.The show is broadcast out of Boston, on WBUR, 90.9 FM. Since almost none of my readers live in Boston, below, I've set out details as to where and when you need to tune in if you live outside... Here it is, folks. As they say in Chicago, vote early, vote often.... Well, today it's all been Larry, Larry, Larry, hasn't it? I'm finally weighing in.First of all, let me say that I think it's extremely sad that we live in a society where people evidently don't feel free to just be themselves without having to conceal important personal attributes, like their true sexual orientation. I think, contrary to Sen. Craig's many protestations, that it is fairly... I'll weigh in on Larry Craig later, for those who have been wondering (you can probably guess my views anyway).But, for now, here's your nanny state alert.Mike Huckabee wants a national smoking ban.So does Hillary.Oddly, Hillary sounds less fascist on this, saying that she'd like to bans like this up to local governments-- she'd just like every single one of them to ban smoking. Huckabee, on the... My buddies, Eric Dondero and Andre Traversa, are on BlogTalkRadio tonight, doing a show featuring Bruce Cohen. It's going to be an interesting show, so tune in, if you can!... Here's a shameless plug-- I have a column running today with the Washington Examiner. It's on the subject of Republicans adopting a policy of triangulation, but doing it a little bit differently than Bill Clinton did. Check it out!... I've been working on other stuff this morning, so am only just getting to writing on this.So far as I am concerned, good riddance to Gonzo. Gonzales was the lead man on some of the more serious efforts at infringement on civil liberties conducted during this administration, a less-than-slick operator who seemed incapable of presenting anything close to a coherent story on anything under... Fred Thompson apparently told a reporter in Indiana over the weekend that "he expects to officially announce his candidacy in either September or October."Earlier this month, we were definitely on for an announcement in September-- around Labor Day, in fact. Before that, announcements had been pushed back from May to June, June to July and so on.Now, as before, it sounds like Fred is planning to... I hate to quote CBN News, but it appears that they reported this first.Former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci is supporting Rudy Giuliani for President, instead of his fellow Bay Stater, Mitt Romney. And he has some pretty negative words about Romney's tax record, as contrasted to Giuliani's:The Mayor is not just talking about taxes… He has a record of doing it in New York City. I certainly... OK, so today, Mitt Romney has rolled out a new health care plan (good, because the old one stunk). Everyone seems confused, though.On my reading of things, this new plan of Romney's is a vast improvement over the old plan of Romney's (which I have criticized here, here and here).It basically replicates most of the Giuliani health care plan, laid out ages ago, when Romney was still touting the... Bob Schaffer, the Republican candidate (apparently, but not if you listen to his own words, I guess) for Colorado's open Senate seat, is this month's replacement for Mitt Romney as the focus of many posts, most of them not terribly congratulatory.So, you'll be surprised to know I'm writing about Schaffer again, and that he seems, again, to have got himself in a spot of bother. From Colorado... Bob Schaffer, the Republican candidate (apparently, but not if... Last year, when blogging at GOPProgress.com, I wrote a lot on the MI-7 race. Most of it amounted to complaining that the description of the then-incumbent, Rep. Joe Schwarz, who was more moderate than some in the GOP would have liked (and that included me, to be fair-- I recall having commented on RedState that I thought Schwarz's non-support for legislation to nix decisions like Kelo v New... ... says a report cited by Bloomberg:Congressional efforts to more than double taxes on managers of private-equity firms will generate little or no additional revenue to help pay for middle-class tax cuts that many lawmakers are seeking, a new study shows.Buyout and venture-capital firms will restructure their affairs to sidestep any new tax laws aimed at their executives, according to the paper... I meant to post on this yesterday, but didn't end up having time. In any event, it appears that Romney has flipped again on abortion. From ABC:Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday in a Nevada television interview that he supports letting states "make their own decision" about whether to keep abortion legal."My view is that the Supreme Court has made an error in saying at... New Rasmussen data:The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% of Likely Voters would definitely vote against Romney if he’s on the ballot in 2008. That’s a point higher than the 43% who would definitely vote against Clinton.[...]In terms of partisan reaction, it’s interesting to note that 25% of Republicans say they would definitely vote against Romney while 22% of Democrats... ... This is weird.Udall, who represents Boulder and the 2nd Congressional District, is the only Democrat to have announced his Senate campaign thus far, while former Rep. Bob Schaffer, a Republican member of the Colorado Board of Education, is the only Republican raising money for a Senate race.Schaffer, who is from Fort Collins, clearly did not want to step into the Pinon Canyon controversy Tuesday.... Readers will know that NC Rep. Walter B. Jones is not exactly my favorite guy. My problems with him really come down to bad votes on economic issues earlier this year, more than his position on the war (I disagree with Jones on his war position, but I'm not as gung-ho a war backer as, say, the guys on RedState-- basically, I'd just like to win and ideally not leave Iraq in a position where we... Sen. Gordon Smith remains one of my favorite senators, even though I'm far from wild about his views on things like SCHIP. In any event, as such, this is encouraging:A new Riley Research poll in Oregon shows Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) leading challenger Jeff Merkley (D), 38% to 19% with 35% still undecided.Provided that is that Smith can get a decent proportion of the undecideds to decide he's... Powerline has details of a poll by Zogby (yeah, it is Zogby, but still) that puts Huckabee two points ahead of McCain.Worse, Taegan Goddard has details of a poll that says that if McCain's senate seat were up today, and AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano ran against him, she'd win. More evidence of how badly the GOP's brand has been tarnished out West, or just evidence of how badly McCain has alienated a... I've been meaning to post on this for a couple of hours now, but have been tied up with some paying work.In any event, you can-- and indeed should-- read the Club for Growth's assessment of Mtt Romney's economic record here. My initial take? I don't think the Romney team are going to be enthused by this.But then again, Romney's record on economic issues isn't what it's been cracked up to be, by... I guested on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning. It was a good show, though a little dominated by the Ron Paul supporters. And I've certainly had hate mail since (favorite bit: the one calling me a "goose-stepping Nazi" by a Democrat-- I can't decide if that's worse than being called a "communist abortionist" as I have been by a right-wing non-fan).In any event, you can watch the show... So says a new poll by YouGov. Though not many voters seem to actually support independence.Also, most Scottish voters think that people in England and Wales don't fully appreciate the contribution that Scotland makes. That's something I'd agree with, based on my experience of coming from a Scottish background, being married to a Scot, and having lived in London.Sadly, more Scots identify most... Yup.It appears that the Tories are contemplating cutting taxes, including the inheritance tax, which is (in my opinion) the stupidest tax going in Britain (various studies have shown that it costs more to administer it than it actually brings in, but yet it is kept because, one presumes, it signifies redistribution, even if it doesn't result in it).Labour is calling this a lurch to the right. As... Hey everybody
Tomorrow, I'll be appearing on C-SPAN's Washington Journal from 8:30-9:30 am. I'll be talking about the Democratic debate, and other items. Hope you'll check it out...... Jonathan Martin has a post up noting that Fred Thompson campaigned in Iowa today. The most salient point, for me, was that "Thompson was the only candidate to take avail of a golf cart in making his way around the butter cow, pork-chop-on-a-stick and livestock barns."I agree with Jonathan that "It's perhaps not the best imagery for a candidate whose energy for 18 hour days has been called into... The WSJ has a great piece up today about the Netroots setting out to devour moderate Democrats.The piece picks up on a theme that I touched on earlier this year in a column at The New York Sun. But WSJ brings us up-to-date on just how ready to take out moderates the base of the Democratic party has become.If the liberal blogging phenomenon deserves to be known for anything, it is the strategy to... Ankle Biting Pundits and The Hill both have items up today talking about John Sununu's re-election race, and the Senator's vulnerability heading into next year over his perceived lockstep record of voting with the Republican majority (and the President). Both items hone in on the issue of Iraq, and what that could do to Sununu; the Hill piece also focuses on items related to health care.Readers... ... I do have to ask what is up with this.Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani voiced support Wednesday for the inclusion of prayer at school graduation ceremonies - an issue that has been the subject of a number of court battles.Giuliani, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, discussed the issue with a supporter during a campaign stop in the southwestern Iowa town of Carson."Why... Yesterday, my friend Soren Dayton wrote a post on Romney's investments in oil companies with links to bad regimes: Saddam's Iraq, Ahmadinejad's Iran, and China, by the by.While I think Soren might have gone a little over-the-top in titling his piece, it makes a good point: blind trust or no blind trust, Romney is a guy who seems to have been benefiting massively from investments in companies that... I'm really not going to bother to say more than this: some days, I disagree with my friend Soren Dayton, sometimes even strongly. But today is not one of those days.If you want a good summary of just where the GOP is right now, where the parties have really changed over recent (and not-so-recent years), and exactly what the hell is wrong with us (well, anyway, this is what I derived from Soren's... I swear, I'll write about goings-on in a different state at some point soon. In the meantime, let me point to a couple of interesting items.First, it appears that this story involving CO-Sen candidate Bob Schaffer having taking money from the guy running an organization that benefited from a vote dished out by Schaffer in his position as a member of the State School Board is getting worse. ... From CATO@Liberty:From a recent Heritage Foundation paper on eliminating the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a.k.a. SCHIP, a.k.a. MediKid: As an alternative to the tobacco tax, Congress might look to raise income taxes to avert a SCHIP funding shortfall.Yeeeeouch! is right!I wondered what exactly Heritage were on when they got in bed with Romney to help him formulate a plan that is... Colorado Pols has some interesting data up today about the Presidential race. Citing a Rasmussen report, they note that:Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has a ten-point lead over New York Senator Hillary Clinton in race for Colorado's nine Electoral Votes . It's Giuliani 50%, Clinton 40%.Arizona Senator John McCain leads Clinton by just three points while the former First Lady is... Jonathan Martin has the details, but the upshot is, Romney said that he misspoke when he appeared to compare his sons' service to his campaign to the service of our men and women in uniform.Glad to see this. Silly it's taken five days for him to say he screwed up.The problem the whole thing evidences is that a) Romney can majorly put foot in mouth (and it's not just liberals who commented on it,... Via Fark, Britain's Daily Mail reports that the Thames Valley police are employing 16 year-old quasi-officers (16 is a common age for leaving school in the UK):Two 16-year-olds have been recruited as police community support officers with the authority to detain and question suspects.The pair, just out of school, will join foot patrols from a 'busy' police station.The move by Thames Valley Police... This is a repeat of what I posted at Andrew Sullivan's blog, but here are my initial thoughts on Ames.
Tomorrow, I'll cool it some on blogging about Republican this-and-that. But, for the time being, let me offer my thoughts on the Ames Straw Poll results.
Romney won with 31.5%. Mike Huckabee came second with about 18%. Sam Brownback came third with 15.3%. Tom... Tomorrow, I'll be doing the Conservatives With Attitude! radio show, together with Michael Illions of Polipundit and Matt Lewis of Townhall. We'll be talking about Ames. Join in by calling by calling (646)... I have a column up today at Reason Online on the subject of agricultural subsidies and the 2007 Farm Bill, as passed by the House. As you'd expect, I'm not pleased with the Farm Bill, but the reasons are multiple. Check out the column for more specifics...... A while back, I wrote about how the Republican nominee-presumptive, who will face off against Mark Udall in the battle to replace Wayne Allard in the CO-Sen race next year, seemed to have got himself in a spot of bother by virtue of having taken campaign contributions from those connected with a company, to which he helped dish out money in connection with charter school programs.Well, it turns... ...and if you haven't been checking it out, you should! Amongst other things, Hugh Hewitt seems to have decided that I and the other guys are all liberals because we said that Mitt Romney's comment about his sons contributing to the country by campaigning for their Dad, while others are risking their lives in Baghdad, was dumb.Well it is dumb, and if Hugh can't see that, then he's suffering an... I wrote awhile back that this bill that was being moved by Grassley, Baucus, Schumer and Lindsey Graham that would attempt to "deal" with China rigging its currency was bad news.Turns out it is. According to the UK's Telegraph, China is now threatening a "nuclear option" of dollar sales, basically in retribution for trade sanctions that are on offer under the bill.Were China to take this option,... In response to reading this at SFGate.com:Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who ran as a moderate in past campaigns in Massachusetts, on Monday rated himself as conservative as the late President Reagan.In his 12th visit to Florida since January, the former Massachusetts governor was asked to grade himself as a conservative on a scale of one to 10 if Reagan were a 10."Probably a 10... All I seem to write on these days is Romney. But this post is about a different kind of Romney. Specifically, it's about Romney sheep, which despite being part Scottish (Scots are big on sheep), I never had heard about. Anyway, here's your second Romney post of the day. And here's your Romney.  ... The Union Leader up in NH has a very good column this morning that gets right down to brass tacks on the issue of Romney and his abortion stances:In a 2002 forum with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon O'Brien, candidate Romney said he would "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose," opposed a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion, said he would do nothng to make it... Some day, I hope to be able to stop writing things criticizing Mitt Romney, and discussing his latest flip-flop, dumb comment, or indeed bizarre behavior on the part of his campaign team.
But that day is not today.
As we all know, until about 18 months ago, Mitt Romney was, in terms at least of his public policy position, pro-choice. Now, he's pro-life. I'm not going to spend time and... For those of you with an interest in health care, or reading my writings, perpetually wondering why I think instituting an American version of Britain's NHS is such a bad idea, take a look at my column in today's San Diego Union Tribune.... So, I'm watching the GOP debate. Here are some initial thoughts:1. I really thought John McCain's linkage of the abortion issue to national security was odd. Do people in the Congo, or Bangladesh, or Iraq think better or worse of us, to any significant degree depending on whether abortion remains legal in this country? I must say, having traveled in countries that are not huge fans of the... 1. You know what? I'm going to do something controversial and give Sam Brownback credit for saying you can do a good job of raising a child out of wedlock, or in situations of divorce, it's just harder. If more social cons were capable of talking in those terms, they would perhaps stop alienating a lot of people and switching them off, the second they start talking.2. Rudy's on about leadership... Mistakes? This is always a bad issue to raise because most people just spout off crap. But...1. You could have expected Romney to say "taking a pro-choice position." I'm calling BS and pandering on that one.2. Giuliani offers a brilliant answer. That was funny as hell! And it was probably accurate! Loved it!3. McCain is talking about Keating Five. Gracious.4. Tommy Thompson will end breast... 1. Giuliani just made a wonderful, concise point about how reducing taxes increases revenue. He also has spouted off some very persuasive figures. I hope people who don't believe at all in supply-side economics are listening-- and that includes Romney's economic adviser who thinks supply-side economics are extremist.2. Ooh, Romney's talking about bridges. I wonder whether anyone is going to... 1. WOW! Giuliani just made a point about democracy that I consistently try to make in arguing against people who say that basic democracy-- i.e., just allowing people to vote-- in countries previously dominated by authoritarian regimes is the answer when it comes to delivering greater stability. Giuliani's basic point is that made by Fareed Zakaria-- that democracy doesn't work, and won't work,... More thoughts:1. It's a bad day when on any level, I agree with Tom Tancredo. But I did agree with his comment about it not being government's responsibility to provide "womb to tomb" health care.2. Romney's banging on about everyone going to the emergency room, and how much that costs again. As ever, I'm wondering whether anyone is going to ask the question: if health insurance in... From the WSJ (subscription required):[I]n New Hampshire this week … Rudy Giuliani offered the outlines of his own health-care plan -- and even mentioned the free market. The Republican Presidential candidate got right at the crux of the issue: the tax code. The health-care market is distorted because companies can deduct the costs of insurance but individuals cannot … Mr. Giuliani suggests a tax... Last night, I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum (note: for those of you who liked Bourne I and II, this one is worth seeing, but if you felt that II was a downer, you may feel the same about this one.. anyway). I guess while I sat at the cinema, our Representatives were engaged in roughly the same amount of action and violent combat as Matt Damon...The House last night unanimously agreed to... I learned of this site this morning, courtesy of my former GOPProgress.com assistant, Jess Mahone (for those wondering, Jess has moved back to Tennessee where she's about to embark on some serious postgraduate study...)Anyway, here are some Saturday morning laughs, courtesy of... Just a heads up that for the next week, I'll be standing in for Andrew Sullivan at his blog, while he enjoys some time off. I'll still be blogging here, too, but please do help me keep Andrew's traffic sky-high, even as he remains offline...... For those who haven't seen this, check it out:
Anytime someone can integrate beating up on Romney's dodgy dealings with Pink Floyd, it's a winner for... ... that Rudy decided to tout his health care plan, which was helped to be crafted by an opponent of RomneyCare and is totally unlike RomneyCare, in Romney's hometown paper?It seems that people on the Giuliani team understand the term "in your face." I love it!UPDATE: RCPhas video up of Romney talking health care, getting hammered by a few people. Watch it-- it's interesting. Not least because... From MSNBC:Romney is lucky the press has been kicking around Obama this week – otherwise his statement below about Hezbollah would be receiving A LOT more attention. “At a town hall meeting in Iowa last Friday, Mitt Romney offered an eye-catching twist on his usual stump speech when he held up Hezbollah as a model for the effectiveness of using social services as a way to win hearts and minds.... Well, we're less than a week away from the Ames Straw Poll, so you know Mitt Romney-- that famous straw poll manipulator-- and his team (some of whom are outright straw poll fraudsters) had to be up to something, right?Yeah, well, they are. From Marc Ambinder:A Republican county chairman in Iowa wants to punish presidential candidates who decided to opt out of next weekend's GOP straw poll in... John McCain's new book is set to hit stores on August 14th. But, Bloomberg's Edward Nawotka is already writing about it.The book is called "Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them."Nawotka's first move in commenting on it is to cite Democrat George Shipley, who said about it "It's got to be ironic...because in recent years McCain has failed to make the hard calls.... KLo at The Corner has up a press release covering the new immigration bill that John McCain is pushing. The basic point? This bill pursues the enforcement-first strategy. In fact, unless I'm missing something, this is a bill that purely deals with enforcement.While I am a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, as a general strategy (if not quite in the form that the Senate came up with... Today, I got a tip from my online buddy Nate Nelson that a fellow named Matt Sanchez apparently thinks that certain gay rights activists qualify as-- get this-- "gay jihadists".Yes, you read that right. Gay activists (or at least some of them) are "jihadists." Wow.The post whose comment thread played host to this extraordinary comment features here. Apparently, Mr. Sanchez has had the good... Rick Renzi obviously seems to be in a world of trouble, and getting himself into a situation where he's going to get his butt kicked by a Democrat, and move Arizona into the blue state category by at least one measure, as it stands today. Yet, he's not saying he won't run for re-election-- something that might, just might, give Republicans a clean shot at holding his seat (which I seriously... ... rather than getting the people organizing the YRNC Straw Poll in Miami back about a month ago to change rules to allow 85 year-olds to vote, because that was the only way he could win it, Mitt Romney perhaps should have just talked to the people mentioned in this lovely story, which proves that no matter how great Charlie Crist is (and he really is great), and no matter how hard he's trying... It may well be that this is corrected within five minutes of me posting, but I just want to know, why is Matt Drudge running this:with this:"Having failed to thwart Murdoch purchase of WALL STREET JOURNAL, the NEW YORK TIMES intensifies battle.."written underneath... How fricking stupid is this?The new rules, which were proposed by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting, would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a public place for more than 30 minutes to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a... According to the WaPo, Democrats have come up with a compromise, aimed at allowing the administration to continue its supposedly high value eavesdropping-- crap, did it again, I mean surveillance-- program.The proposal, according to House and Senate Democrats, would permit a secret court to issue broad orders approving eavesdropping of communications involving suspects overseas and other people,... Little more needs to be said than this:There's never exactly a convenient time to have one's house raided by federal agents. But for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) the impolitic timing Tuesday was exquisite: One day after the feds rummaged through his property on a corruption probe, he threatened to try to kill an ethics reform package.Oh, yeah, guess what? Trent Lott is planning on voting against... My hometown paper has a funny story up today. Or, at least, I think it's funny.So, the well-respected Republican who was appointed to replace the well-loved King County prosecutor and (!elected Republican in King County!) Norm Maleng (who died) is doing so well that in order for one of his Democratic opponents to challenge him, the dude is basically making things up.He's saying he's the "only... Readers will know that I'm not exactly completely convinced by the candidacy of ex-Congressman and CO-Sen GOP candidate Bob Schaffer. This is mainly because I believe that Colorado is a state that is rapidly heading blue, and becoming less across-the-board conservative (see Sen. Wayne Allard's not-exactly-resounding 51% victory in 2002, Democrats' defeat of Republicans to take control of the... ... so, here's what's been going on in the world, and what I make of it:- Tom Tancredo is yet again proving that he's an ass, not fit for public consumption, and definitely not ready for prime time. Today, Rep. Tancredo said "If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina." He seems... | 
