NOTE: MY MOST RECENT BLOG VISITORS CAME FROM THE FOLLOWING PLACES: Anchorage, AK; Juneau, AK; Kasilof, AK; and Fairbanks, AK.
My motto is: You can never have too many Alaskans visiting your blog -- or too many in the White House (keep that in mind Sarah, Todd, Bristol, Willow, and Piper).
I recommend highly a very pro-Palin column by Douglas Gibbs of http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/ Here's an excerpt: "Sarah's supporters are nationwide. A group of bloggers have done all they know how to do to introduce Governor Palin to the American Public. One such blogger is a young man named Adam Brickley, a college student who launched the Draft Palin effort for Vice President."
Also, SJ Reidhead (Cindy), who has achieved what we all seek -- that is, becoming a FAMOUS blogger -- is writing again in support of Sarah's efforts in a Sunday post at ThePinkFlamingo.
In conjunction with his remarkable efforts on Sarah's behalf, Adam Brickley, founder of the Draft Palin movement is getting a great deal of publicity. Online media guru Patrick Ruffini (see the two Saturday columns below) in his Townhall essay gives Sarah a good solid "A" grade in her performance as Governor. Ruffini also calls attention to Adam's blog (http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/) and Trish's http://palintology.com/. For some reason, he neglected to mention me, but because I like Patrick, I forgive him.
If you're fascinated by blog-driven campaigns, take a look at Mike Huckabee's blog site at: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/ Mike's efffort with bloggers is -- by far -- the best of any of the candidates. Apparently, he has more than 200 bloggers listed, and the campaign pays attention to the "care and feeding" of this group.
The problem with Huckabee's bloggers is a variation on the his campaign's central problem: that his supporters really aren't willing to let him deviate from right-wing evangelical positions. For example, when Mike suggested that racism might have played some role in the immigration debate, there was something resembling a howl from his base -- and Mike soon "clarified" his comment out of existence. His remarks that "life doesn't END at birth" put him on dangerous grounds with the small band of evangelicals -- Dr. Laurence White being one -- who often act as if they believe life does end at birth.
Huckabee's bloggers communicate mainly with one another. That means they have very little outreach to people who don't know much about the candidate. Thus, Mike's many active bloggers fail to create anything resembling viral marketing. It's something like the old line about Boston, "the land of the bean and the cod, where the Cabots speaks only to the Lodges, and the Lodges speak only to God." In short, Mike's bloggers need to get out more into the real world, where not everyone is an evangelical Baptist.
In short, Mike Huckabee exists in a cage constructed by his supporters. (Later today, I'll discuss Huckabee's recent comment again gay marriage -- and how it reinforces an image of him as something of an Arkansas homophobe pandering to the Dr. Dobson and Laurence White types.)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Patrick Ruffini on Sarah Palin
NOTE: THE FIRST SATURDAY COLUMN BELOW IS PATRICK RUFFINI'S EXCELLENT "TOWNHALL" PIECE ON GOV. SARAH PALIN. THE OTHER SATURDAY COLUMN REFLECTS MY COMMENTS ON THE PALIN ARTICLE AND MY ASSESSMENT THAT "EXPERIENCE" IS NOT REALLY AN ISSUE WITH THIS REMARKABLE WOMAN. Please feel free to make comments.
Patrick Ruffini, "The GOP'S North Star," Townhall, September 29, 2007
When Larry Craig brought disrepute onto the Republican house, conservatives did not circle the wagons. They immediately demanded his ouster. Even the party's leadership, normally slow to respond, did the right thing by setting aside Senatorial collegiality and demanding an explanation and eventually his resignation. With the case now a month removed from the headlines, Craig has snuck back in under the wire by delaying his resignation (that's right, after he initially retracted the initial trial balloon earlier this month).
Regardless of its ultimate outcome, the Craig case demonstrates that there is a growing grassroots movement within the Republican Party to clean house before a hostile media and an impatient electorate do it for us. To date, the movement's impact is mostly theoretical. Only 16 House Republicans consistently reject the backscratching earmark gravy train, scoring 100% on the Club for Growth's RePORK Card. And Republicans may be powerless to stop Larry Craig's embarassing flip-flop-flip on resignation.
Sarah Palin, right, is congratulate by former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles at the election center in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006, as Palin leads in the Republican gubernatorial primary and Knowles leads in the Democratic primary. The former Wasilla mayor faced former state legislator John Binkley of Fairbanks and incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the race. Former Alaska governor Tony Knowles is expected to beat two lesser-known primary opponents in the Democrat primary.
But there is at least one Republican for whom ethical governance is more than just a theory. Meet Sarah Palin, Alaska's rockstar governor.
The rise of Sarah Palin has been improbable and meteoric. A losing primary candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, Palin was eagerly sought out by then Gov. Frank Murkowski for a number of jobs in his new administration.
After rejecting every job offer up to that point, she eventually settled on the chairmanship of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Months later, she resigned after blowing the whistle on ethical improprieties within the Commission. Then she took on the Governor's attorney general/campaign manager and forced him to resign. In 2006, the 43-year old mother of four and mayor of Wasilla challenged Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary.
In a three way race, Palin emerged victorious with a majority of the primary vote while Murkowski took less than 20% in his race for renomination. In the general election, she defeated popular former Governor Tony Knowles by 8 points.
Most candidates stop playing the part of ethical crusader once they win the election. Not Sarah Palin. She immediately rescinded many of Murkowski's midnight appointments, and pushed some of the largest budget cuts in the state's history. As she put it to Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard , Alaska should be self-sufficient and not subsist off "federal dollars."
That's why Sarah Palin's crusade for clean, efficient government doesn't stop in Alaska. This week, it was Palin who singlehandedly killed the leading symbol of Republican spending excess in Washington: the Bridge to Nowhere.
The Bridge to Nowhere was actually a state project, to be built with funds earmarked by the state's powerful Congressman Don Young. Last week, Palin killed the $398 million bridge to Gravina Island (pop. 50), directing that the money be spent on more "fiscally responsible" projects.
In a small state that generally votes Republican, the divide between Alaska's Republican elected officials could not be more clear. Palin was elected as a whistleblower, and routinely rails against the state's transactional Republican establishment.
Don Young has screamed "It's my money!" when conservative lawmakers challenge his pet projects and blamed the Republican loss of Congress on conservatives who want to cut spending. And Senator Ted Stevens' record as a porker is rivaled only by the patron saint of the West Virginia highway system.
With Palin now in office for the better part of a year, we have some data points to evaluate whose brand of politics works better. A poll out last month put Palin's approval rating at 84%, and Fred Barnes has noted that she's probably America's most popular elected official in any party.
Not content with Palin's public approval numbers as vindication for clean, fiscally responsible government, the Club for Growth decided to do some polling of its own. The Club found that Palin would handily beat Stevens, a 40-year Senate veterans, by 56 to 32 percent in a Republican primary, a number certainly helped along the by ongoing FBI bribery investigation that has implicated Stevens and his son.
When asked about the Bridge to Nowhere, only 25% of Alaska Republicans approved while 66% disapproved. And when Young's own constituents were asked to evaluate his claim that Republicans can only win by bringing home the bacon, they disagreed by wide margins. 71% said it was more important to cut spending, while just 17% endorsed Congress lavishing billions on home state projects.
The idea that more government spending is in the "interest" of the voters back home is being upended by the voters themselves. Republicans need to ride this wave, not fight it as the majority of them do by voting for earmarks on the House and Senate floor. Sarah Palin could be just the leader we need to convince Republicans to return to their roots.
Palin's devoted fans in the blogosphere aren't waiting for the Governor to be anointed by the powers that be. Barely a year into her term, blogs like Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President and Palintology track the Governor's every move, hoping that the GOP nominee will pluck Alaska's rising reformer for a spot on the ticket.
Palin's boosters aren't wrong, just a bit early. Let Palin get a term or two under her belt as governor. And then: watch out Washington.
Patrick Ruffini is an online strategist dedicated to helping Republicans and conservatives achieve dominance in a networked era. He has seen American politics from every vantagepoint — as a campaign staffer, activist, and analyst.
(Note From Steve: Patrick Ruffini is very, very good. In the essay, he provides, even without it being his primary purpose, simple, clear, compelling arguments Republicans can use in electoral and philsophical combat with liberals. Basically, they're variations on things Republicans should say -- but often don't -- such as, "Do you want to reduce taxes or do you want to have your tax money spent on 'The Bridge to Nowhere?'"
Patrick Ruffini, "The GOP'S North Star," Townhall, September 29, 2007
When Larry Craig brought disrepute onto the Republican house, conservatives did not circle the wagons. They immediately demanded his ouster. Even the party's leadership, normally slow to respond, did the right thing by setting aside Senatorial collegiality and demanding an explanation and eventually his resignation. With the case now a month removed from the headlines, Craig has snuck back in under the wire by delaying his resignation (that's right, after he initially retracted the initial trial balloon earlier this month).
Regardless of its ultimate outcome, the Craig case demonstrates that there is a growing grassroots movement within the Republican Party to clean house before a hostile media and an impatient electorate do it for us. To date, the movement's impact is mostly theoretical. Only 16 House Republicans consistently reject the backscratching earmark gravy train, scoring 100% on the Club for Growth's RePORK Card. And Republicans may be powerless to stop Larry Craig's embarassing flip-flop-flip on resignation.
Sarah Palin, right, is congratulate by former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles at the election center in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006, as Palin leads in the Republican gubernatorial primary and Knowles leads in the Democratic primary. The former Wasilla mayor faced former state legislator John Binkley of Fairbanks and incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the race. Former Alaska governor Tony Knowles is expected to beat two lesser-known primary opponents in the Democrat primary.
But there is at least one Republican for whom ethical governance is more than just a theory. Meet Sarah Palin, Alaska's rockstar governor.
The rise of Sarah Palin has been improbable and meteoric. A losing primary candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, Palin was eagerly sought out by then Gov. Frank Murkowski for a number of jobs in his new administration.
After rejecting every job offer up to that point, she eventually settled on the chairmanship of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Months later, she resigned after blowing the whistle on ethical improprieties within the Commission. Then she took on the Governor's attorney general/campaign manager and forced him to resign. In 2006, the 43-year old mother of four and mayor of Wasilla challenged Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary.
In a three way race, Palin emerged victorious with a majority of the primary vote while Murkowski took less than 20% in his race for renomination. In the general election, she defeated popular former Governor Tony Knowles by 8 points.
Most candidates stop playing the part of ethical crusader once they win the election. Not Sarah Palin. She immediately rescinded many of Murkowski's midnight appointments, and pushed some of the largest budget cuts in the state's history. As she put it to Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard , Alaska should be self-sufficient and not subsist off "federal dollars."
That's why Sarah Palin's crusade for clean, efficient government doesn't stop in Alaska. This week, it was Palin who singlehandedly killed the leading symbol of Republican spending excess in Washington: the Bridge to Nowhere.
The Bridge to Nowhere was actually a state project, to be built with funds earmarked by the state's powerful Congressman Don Young. Last week, Palin killed the $398 million bridge to Gravina Island (pop. 50), directing that the money be spent on more "fiscally responsible" projects.
In a small state that generally votes Republican, the divide between Alaska's Republican elected officials could not be more clear. Palin was elected as a whistleblower, and routinely rails against the state's transactional Republican establishment.
Don Young has screamed "It's my money!" when conservative lawmakers challenge his pet projects and blamed the Republican loss of Congress on conservatives who want to cut spending. And Senator Ted Stevens' record as a porker is rivaled only by the patron saint of the West Virginia highway system.
With Palin now in office for the better part of a year, we have some data points to evaluate whose brand of politics works better. A poll out last month put Palin's approval rating at 84%, and Fred Barnes has noted that she's probably America's most popular elected official in any party.
Not content with Palin's public approval numbers as vindication for clean, fiscally responsible government, the Club for Growth decided to do some polling of its own. The Club found that Palin would handily beat Stevens, a 40-year Senate veterans, by 56 to 32 percent in a Republican primary, a number certainly helped along the by ongoing FBI bribery investigation that has implicated Stevens and his son.
When asked about the Bridge to Nowhere, only 25% of Alaska Republicans approved while 66% disapproved. And when Young's own constituents were asked to evaluate his claim that Republicans can only win by bringing home the bacon, they disagreed by wide margins. 71% said it was more important to cut spending, while just 17% endorsed Congress lavishing billions on home state projects.
The idea that more government spending is in the "interest" of the voters back home is being upended by the voters themselves. Republicans need to ride this wave, not fight it as the majority of them do by voting for earmarks on the House and Senate floor. Sarah Palin could be just the leader we need to convince Republicans to return to their roots.
Palin's devoted fans in the blogosphere aren't waiting for the Governor to be anointed by the powers that be. Barely a year into her term, blogs like Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President and Palintology track the Governor's every move, hoping that the GOP nominee will pluck Alaska's rising reformer for a spot on the ticket.
Palin's boosters aren't wrong, just a bit early. Let Palin get a term or two under her belt as governor. And then: watch out Washington.
Patrick Ruffini is an online strategist dedicated to helping Republicans and conservatives achieve dominance in a networked era. He has seen American politics from every vantagepoint — as a campaign staffer, activist, and analyst.
(Note From Steve: Patrick Ruffini is very, very good. In the essay, he provides, even without it being his primary purpose, simple, clear, compelling arguments Republicans can use in electoral and philsophical combat with liberals. Basically, they're variations on things Republicans should say -- but often don't -- such as, "Do you want to reduce taxes or do you want to have your tax money spent on 'The Bridge to Nowhere?'"
AN APPEAL TO GOV. SARAH PALIN: GO FOR IT!
I received the following from Adam Brickley, founder of the Draft Palin Effort:
"Conservative web guru Patrick Ruffini (webmaster for the Bush-Cheney Campaign in 2004) has just posted a glowing column about Gov. Palin on Townhall.com. He even mentions our movement, agreeing with us in principle but saying we're "a bit early". Other than that one quip, his column is spot-on in my opinion. Click here to read the column.Adam BrickleyFounder, palinforvp.blogpsot.com."
Here's the link to Patrick's essay on Sarah ("The GOP's North Star"): http:/townhall.com/columnists/Column.aspxUrlTitle=the_gops_north_star&ns=PatrickRuffini&dt=09/29/2007&page=full&comments=true&submitted=true0188d8c6-5b38-4a6c-a329-b3e76c3cfbcb
Here's My Response to Adam:
Adam, I saw the Patrick Ruffini column saluting Sarah and agree that it's a very good one. A "bit early" doesn't strike me as too extreme in his comment about Sarah and the nation's highest offices.
Soon, perhaps, say by the election in 2008, it won't be "a bit early" for her to be on the national ticket.
Consider: when I was your age (previous century, but not telling exactly which century) freshmen in college were't allowed to play on the varsity football and basketball teams. The idea was that they (and even sophomores) were't "ready." Of course, we found out that was not true -- and, in some cases, it was absolutely absurd.
Today, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the University of Pittsburgh football team will start a freshman at QB and another one at running back. three years ago, West Virginia University started two freshmen in the backfrield and both got some mention for All-American teams. I guess they were a lot more "ready" than people might have imagined.
I even disagree with my friend Malia in Hawaii some on the question of Sarah's readiness to assume the presidency if necessary. I think she is in fact ready now (if it became necessary) to lead this country -- mainly because leadership is a question of character, willingness to listen and learn, and a desire to serve the "governed."
More and more people look at Sarah and soon begin to wonder: "Is there any space left on Mr. Rushmore?" One recent blog noted Sarah's ridiculously low 4% disapproval rating (and nearly 90% approval) and proclaimed: "She's More Popular Than Kittens." She has touched the hearts of her constituents in a way we've not seen with any other elected official.
People used to pester us with questions about Sarah's "stand" on the War on Terror. When her son Track, age 18, enlisted in the Army on 9/11-2007, I think we learned all we need to about the Palin family's views on that subject.
Sarah Palin has a connection with key issues (including the WOT) that is more direct and personal -- than any other candidate under consideration for President or V-P. She has more knowledge on critical issues -- especially energy and the environment. She rejects the view that top elected official has to be some sort of egomanic. Instead, she sees herself a "a willing servant."
This is a remarkable woman, and we don't even have the right to ask her to be more remarkable.
Adam, I'd compare Sarah in some ways to the founder of the Draft Palin movement -- which happens to be you. You're 20 years old. You're much "too young" (in the minds of some) to have accomplished what you have -- turning this effort into the largest such grass-roots undertaking now underway. I guess the fact that it's "a bit early" to achieve such things means you should have devoted your time to "normal" college activities, such as kegging, painting your face with the school colors, chasing girls, etc.
Right now, you're the same age Bill Gates was when he dropped out of Harvard to form the company that became Microsoft.
I've osaid that if Sarah were a Democrat, she'd be right up on the stage with Hillary, Obama, and the others. Even with her short tenure as Governor, she has more executive experience than Mrs. Clinton and Obama combined.
We Republicans tend to place a lot of value on "experience," which usually means that we end up running candidates who are eligible for Medicare and Social Security. Dick Cheney is a fine man, but he's too ill, too old, and too widely disliked to be an asset to George W. Bush. As for Dan Quayle, I don't know about his "experience," but he didn't have the intellect , dynamism, or candor of a person like Sarah Palin.
Someone (John Ehrlichman I think) once asked Richard Nixon why he chose Spiro Agnew as his running mate. Nixon said, "Because no one in his right mind would think of assassinating me."
As a political Party, we can do better, much better. Adam, the success of your "Sarah Project" derives from your initial perception that we as Republicans can't continue running a bunch of aging, exhausted Caucasian males. Frankly, we don't want to be a Party mainly appealing to "angry, old white guys." There's no future in that approach.
Like anyone in high office, Sarah would need good people around her. (Adam, you should be one of those people -- and Patrick Ruffini and Fred Barnes should be others. So should some of the people that received my e-mail today on this subject.)
In all candor, the kind of "experience" Sarah lacks is the type that seems to produce mainly Beltway Cynicism and the politicization of every aspect of an indvidual's being. Adam, at some point in our lifetime, we want someone on the ticket -- as V-P nominee first and later as presidential nominee -- who has the potential to be a Washington, a Lincoln, a Truman, or a Reagan.
If not Sarah, who? If not now, when?
Steve Maloney
"All Sarah (Almost) All the Time"
Note: I'll put up Patrick's entire article later today (Saturday)
"Conservative web guru Patrick Ruffini (webmaster for the Bush-Cheney Campaign in 2004) has just posted a glowing column about Gov. Palin on Townhall.com. He even mentions our movement, agreeing with us in principle but saying we're "a bit early". Other than that one quip, his column is spot-on in my opinion. Click here to read the column.Adam BrickleyFounder, palinforvp.blogpsot.com."
Here's the link to Patrick's essay on Sarah ("The GOP's North Star"): http:/townhall.com/columnists/Column.aspxUrlTitle=the_gops_north_star&ns=PatrickRuffini&dt=09/29/2007&page=full&comments=true&submitted=true0188d8c6-5b38-4a6c-a329-b3e76c3cfbcb
Here's My Response to Adam:
Adam, I saw the Patrick Ruffini column saluting Sarah and agree that it's a very good one. A "bit early" doesn't strike me as too extreme in his comment about Sarah and the nation's highest offices.
Soon, perhaps, say by the election in 2008, it won't be "a bit early" for her to be on the national ticket.
Consider: when I was your age (previous century, but not telling exactly which century) freshmen in college were't allowed to play on the varsity football and basketball teams. The idea was that they (and even sophomores) were't "ready." Of course, we found out that was not true -- and, in some cases, it was absolutely absurd.
Today, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the University of Pittsburgh football team will start a freshman at QB and another one at running back. three years ago, West Virginia University started two freshmen in the backfrield and both got some mention for All-American teams. I guess they were a lot more "ready" than people might have imagined.
I even disagree with my friend Malia in Hawaii some on the question of Sarah's readiness to assume the presidency if necessary. I think she is in fact ready now (if it became necessary) to lead this country -- mainly because leadership is a question of character, willingness to listen and learn, and a desire to serve the "governed."
More and more people look at Sarah and soon begin to wonder: "Is there any space left on Mr. Rushmore?" One recent blog noted Sarah's ridiculously low 4% disapproval rating (and nearly 90% approval) and proclaimed: "She's More Popular Than Kittens." She has touched the hearts of her constituents in a way we've not seen with any other elected official.
People used to pester us with questions about Sarah's "stand" on the War on Terror. When her son Track, age 18, enlisted in the Army on 9/11-2007, I think we learned all we need to about the Palin family's views on that subject.
Sarah Palin has a connection with key issues (including the WOT) that is more direct and personal -- than any other candidate under consideration for President or V-P. She has more knowledge on critical issues -- especially energy and the environment. She rejects the view that top elected official has to be some sort of egomanic. Instead, she sees herself a "a willing servant."
This is a remarkable woman, and we don't even have the right to ask her to be more remarkable.
Adam, I'd compare Sarah in some ways to the founder of the Draft Palin movement -- which happens to be you. You're 20 years old. You're much "too young" (in the minds of some) to have accomplished what you have -- turning this effort into the largest such grass-roots undertaking now underway. I guess the fact that it's "a bit early" to achieve such things means you should have devoted your time to "normal" college activities, such as kegging, painting your face with the school colors, chasing girls, etc.
Right now, you're the same age Bill Gates was when he dropped out of Harvard to form the company that became Microsoft.
I've osaid that if Sarah were a Democrat, she'd be right up on the stage with Hillary, Obama, and the others. Even with her short tenure as Governor, she has more executive experience than Mrs. Clinton and Obama combined.
We Republicans tend to place a lot of value on "experience," which usually means that we end up running candidates who are eligible for Medicare and Social Security. Dick Cheney is a fine man, but he's too ill, too old, and too widely disliked to be an asset to George W. Bush. As for Dan Quayle, I don't know about his "experience," but he didn't have the intellect , dynamism, or candor of a person like Sarah Palin.
Someone (John Ehrlichman I think) once asked Richard Nixon why he chose Spiro Agnew as his running mate. Nixon said, "Because no one in his right mind would think of assassinating me."
As a political Party, we can do better, much better. Adam, the success of your "Sarah Project" derives from your initial perception that we as Republicans can't continue running a bunch of aging, exhausted Caucasian males. Frankly, we don't want to be a Party mainly appealing to "angry, old white guys." There's no future in that approach.
Like anyone in high office, Sarah would need good people around her. (Adam, you should be one of those people -- and Patrick Ruffini and Fred Barnes should be others. So should some of the people that received my e-mail today on this subject.)
In all candor, the kind of "experience" Sarah lacks is the type that seems to produce mainly Beltway Cynicism and the politicization of every aspect of an indvidual's being. Adam, at some point in our lifetime, we want someone on the ticket -- as V-P nominee first and later as presidential nominee -- who has the potential to be a Washington, a Lincoln, a Truman, or a Reagan.
If not Sarah, who? If not now, when?
Steve Maloney
"All Sarah (Almost) All the Time"
Note: I'll put up Patrick's entire article later today (Saturday)
Friday, September 28, 2007
Pro-Life Phonies: Larry Perrault and Laurence White
SARAH AND FRIENDS: Since you're an honest elected official in Alaska -- a rare breed indeed -- you're welcome to use one of my many Irish jokes. Anyway, John O'Leary and Paddy Murphy had spent some extra time in the pub one Friday, and were staggering along when they came upon the Dublin Cemetery. John read the words on one large headstone: "Here lies the body of an Irish Senator . . . and an honest man." Paddy turned to him and said, "Imagine that, two men buried in the same grave!"
Sarah Again, Under the heading "More Popular Than Kittens": Sarah Palin Alaska Governess Sarah Palin’s approval numbers are still to die for ... of the following. If you have no opinion of the person, just say so. “Sarah Palin.”Favorable - 88.7% Unfavorable - 4.3% No opinion - 6%
Never heard of - 1%
{Steve's note: I believe the 4.3% unfavorable comes mainly from Republican officials whom she has accused -- correctly -- of ethics violations. The 1% consisted of a guy who sees more polar bear than people.)
I mostly say nice things about Mike Huckabee, but that may end tomorrow morning. :-(
If you're betting on the Republican race in NJ, put your money on Rudy. Latest NJ poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University: GOP New Jersey Primary Rudy Giuliani 48% Fred Thompson 12% Mitt Romney 8% John McCain 7% Hillary Clinton 4% Barack Obama 4% Don’t Know 14% Among those with a preference Rudy Giuliani 56% Fred Thompson 14% Mitt Romney 9% John McCain 8% Hillary Clinton 5% Barack Obama 5%. Survey of registered Republican voters.
(Silly me, I didn't even know Barack and Hillary were Republicans.)
One of Mike Huckabee's most quoted comments is the following: "Life begins at conception, but it doesn't end at birth." In that statement, Mike is making an important point: that some supposedly pro-life people seem to care a lot about embryos but not much about children.
How do you determine if individuals are pro-life phonies, that is people like blogger Larry Perrault and Lutheran pastor Laurence White? You make that assessment based on the number of practical suggestions they make for REDUCING ABORTIONS and INCREASING ADOPTIONS. If they pursue a purely rhetorical approach to abortion, then they are frauds.
Such individuals focus on condemning America for its supposed moral and social depravity. Basically, they accuse the nation -- aside from people like themselves -- of countenancing mass murder (of embryos). However, they make no practical proposals to deal with what they see as a horrifying situation.
In reducing abortion, it's essential to know WHO is having them -- and WHY. Unfortunately, the Perraults and Whites of the world seem to have little or no interest in such important questions, and so they never go beyond condemnation.
In the U.S. (and other Western nations), abortion tends to be "ethnically-driven." Specifically, abortions are much more common among minority women. In the U.S. In 2000-2001, the rates among Black and Hispanic women were 49 per 1,000 and 33 per 1,000, respectively, versus 13 per 1,000 among non-Hispanic white women.
Someone like Pastor White might look at such statistics and presumably determine that Black women are three-and-a-half times more depraved than their Caucasian counterparts -- and Hispanic women two-and-a-half times as depraved.
Clearly, economic circumstances -- poverty -- play an important role in the number of abortions that occur. My solution to this problem is to pay women money NOT to have an abortion. In short, if they have abortions mainly because they're poor, make them LESS POOR.
A critical factor in reducing abortions is to understand the cultural and economic conditions that breed abortions. Women without hope are not enthusiastic about bringing children into the world.
What does it feel like to live in a culture of hopelessness? To identify such a situation, I've relied on a few segments of Elizabeth George's novel What Came Before He Shot Her. The setting is an impoverished section of London, England, but it could just as well be about poor people in America.
(Multiracial Dix D'Court, a kind and loving man, to his multiracial girlfriend Kendra, who lives in depressed area of London with three children basically dropped off at her doorstep): "You ever think about how God works?"
Her response: "Man, I tell you: No God I'm familiar with has ever lived in this part of town."
[God supposedly does live in Rev. White's section of Houston, and that's why he will never understand Kendra, her children, or her circumstances. ]
At one point in the novel Kendra talks about her niece, "Ness," to a rather stiff white woman from Social Services. The white lady is talking about the need to get to the root-cause of Ness's problems (truancy, drug overuse, constant indulgence in sex. and an attempted mugging -- all at age 15).
Here's what Kendra, who deserves an award as surrogate mother of the year, is thinking: " . . . She asked Fabia Bender [the social worker] a logical question. How much more than a dead father and an institutionalized mother was necessary to the understanding of Ness's fury? And what did an understanding her fury have to do with keeping her from ruining her life? Because, Kendra Campbell told the social worker, some serious life-ruining was what Ness Campbell had in mind. She saw her existence as destroyed already, so she'd decided to go along for the ride."
[I submit that people like Laurence White have probably never once listened carefully to person like Kendra Campbell or Ness. By the way, Jesus apparently communicated regularly with such people.]
The answer to a social problem like abortions is not to sit back and feel superior to -- and contemptuous of -- people who have them. Rather, it's to understand the problem and then go about fixing it.
Basically, I want to fix it. In contrast, people like Perrault and White want to complain about it.
Stephen R. Maloney
NOTE: FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN HOW CHANGING CULTURAL/SOCIAL CONDITIONS, I RECOMMEND MALCOLM GLADWELL'S THE TIPPING POINT. PART OF THE BOOKS DEMONSTRATES HOW MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI SHARPLY REDUCE THE CRIME/MURDER RATES IN NEW YORK. HE DID SO BY ATTACKING 'MINOR" THINGS LIKE PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS AND GRAFFITI "TAGGING" THAT CREATE THE CLIMATE FOR CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. .
Sarah Again, Under the heading "More Popular Than Kittens": Sarah Palin Alaska Governess Sarah Palin’s approval numbers are still to die for ... of the following. If you have no opinion of the person, just say so. “Sarah Palin.”Favorable - 88.7% Unfavorable - 4.3% No opinion - 6%
Never heard of - 1%
{Steve's note: I believe the 4.3% unfavorable comes mainly from Republican officials whom she has accused -- correctly -- of ethics violations. The 1% consisted of a guy who sees more polar bear than people.)
I mostly say nice things about Mike Huckabee, but that may end tomorrow morning. :-(
If you're betting on the Republican race in NJ, put your money on Rudy. Latest NJ poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University: GOP New Jersey Primary Rudy Giuliani 48% Fred Thompson 12% Mitt Romney 8% John McCain 7% Hillary Clinton 4% Barack Obama 4% Don’t Know 14% Among those with a preference Rudy Giuliani 56% Fred Thompson 14% Mitt Romney 9% John McCain 8% Hillary Clinton 5% Barack Obama 5%. Survey of registered Republican voters.
(Silly me, I didn't even know Barack and Hillary were Republicans.)
One of Mike Huckabee's most quoted comments is the following: "Life begins at conception, but it doesn't end at birth." In that statement, Mike is making an important point: that some supposedly pro-life people seem to care a lot about embryos but not much about children.
How do you determine if individuals are pro-life phonies, that is people like blogger Larry Perrault and Lutheran pastor Laurence White? You make that assessment based on the number of practical suggestions they make for REDUCING ABORTIONS and INCREASING ADOPTIONS. If they pursue a purely rhetorical approach to abortion, then they are frauds.
Such individuals focus on condemning America for its supposed moral and social depravity. Basically, they accuse the nation -- aside from people like themselves -- of countenancing mass murder (of embryos). However, they make no practical proposals to deal with what they see as a horrifying situation.
In reducing abortion, it's essential to know WHO is having them -- and WHY. Unfortunately, the Perraults and Whites of the world seem to have little or no interest in such important questions, and so they never go beyond condemnation.
In the U.S. (and other Western nations), abortion tends to be "ethnically-driven." Specifically, abortions are much more common among minority women. In the U.S. In 2000-2001, the rates among Black and Hispanic women were 49 per 1,000 and 33 per 1,000, respectively, versus 13 per 1,000 among non-Hispanic white women.
Someone like Pastor White might look at such statistics and presumably determine that Black women are three-and-a-half times more depraved than their Caucasian counterparts -- and Hispanic women two-and-a-half times as depraved.
Clearly, economic circumstances -- poverty -- play an important role in the number of abortions that occur. My solution to this problem is to pay women money NOT to have an abortion. In short, if they have abortions mainly because they're poor, make them LESS POOR.
A critical factor in reducing abortions is to understand the cultural and economic conditions that breed abortions. Women without hope are not enthusiastic about bringing children into the world.
What does it feel like to live in a culture of hopelessness? To identify such a situation, I've relied on a few segments of Elizabeth George's novel What Came Before He Shot Her. The setting is an impoverished section of London, England, but it could just as well be about poor people in America.
(Multiracial Dix D'Court, a kind and loving man, to his multiracial girlfriend Kendra, who lives in depressed area of London with three children basically dropped off at her doorstep): "You ever think about how God works?"
Her response: "Man, I tell you: No God I'm familiar with has ever lived in this part of town."
[God supposedly does live in Rev. White's section of Houston, and that's why he will never understand Kendra, her children, or her circumstances. ]
At one point in the novel Kendra talks about her niece, "Ness," to a rather stiff white woman from Social Services. The white lady is talking about the need to get to the root-cause of Ness's problems (truancy, drug overuse, constant indulgence in sex. and an attempted mugging -- all at age 15).
Here's what Kendra, who deserves an award as surrogate mother of the year, is thinking: " . . . She asked Fabia Bender [the social worker] a logical question. How much more than a dead father and an institutionalized mother was necessary to the understanding of Ness's fury? And what did an understanding her fury have to do with keeping her from ruining her life? Because, Kendra Campbell told the social worker, some serious life-ruining was what Ness Campbell had in mind. She saw her existence as destroyed already, so she'd decided to go along for the ride."
[I submit that people like Laurence White have probably never once listened carefully to person like Kendra Campbell or Ness. By the way, Jesus apparently communicated regularly with such people.]
The answer to a social problem like abortions is not to sit back and feel superior to -- and contemptuous of -- people who have them. Rather, it's to understand the problem and then go about fixing it.
Basically, I want to fix it. In contrast, people like Perrault and White want to complain about it.
Stephen R. Maloney
NOTE: FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN HOW CHANGING CULTURAL/SOCIAL CONDITIONS, I RECOMMEND MALCOLM GLADWELL'S THE TIPPING POINT. PART OF THE BOOKS DEMONSTRATES HOW MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI SHARPLY REDUCE THE CRIME/MURDER RATES IN NEW YORK. HE DID SO BY ATTACKING 'MINOR" THINGS LIKE PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS AND GRAFFITI "TAGGING" THAT CREATE THE CLIMATE FOR CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. .
Thursday, September 27, 2007
MIKE HUCKABEE: DECISON TIME ON AMERICA-HATING SUPPORTERS
Blogger Larry Perrault has accused me of "vomit[ing]" on his spiritual mentor, Dr. Laurence White, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran (OSL) Church in Houston. It's true that I regard Dr. White as a purveyor of anti-American (and anti-Christian) rhetoric, the kind that drives mentally and spiritually deficient individuals (I've cited abortion site killers Paul Hill and Eric Rudolph) to violence.
As to White's relentless anti-Americanism, I've cited the preacher's own words in his disturbing speech/essay called "God and Caesar," where he compares America to Nazi Germany. He says:
[In the early years of the Third Reich] ". . . most Christians looked the other way while innocent people were slaughtered and a nation was led down the path to destruction. I would submit to you this evening that we [in America] find ourselves in a similar predicament today. "
White adds: "Once again the innocents are being slaughtered, the country is being led down the path to destruction, and Christians, by and large, are looking the other way. America finds itself today in the midst of a moral catastrophe. We have cast aside the most basic standards of human decency. We have broken marriages and fractured families.
He continues: "Our youth are losing their way and often their lives in a maze of alcohol and drugs. We live in the midst of a culture that mistakes lust for love and tolerates the vilest perversions as acceptable alternate lifestyles while pestilence stalks the land. Our public schools have become facilitators for fornication and procurers for the abortionists knife."
White also says: "America has sown the wind of immorality and we are reaping the whirlwind of destruction and death. We have degenerated into a nation rolling in luxury, reveling in excess, rollicking in pleasure, revolting in morals, and rotting in sin. Personal responsibility, duty and honor have been abandoned in our mindless pursuit of instant gratification for our every desire."
This is more than a preacher jeremiad. Frankly, it sounds like a call for violent revolution.
Here's the link to "God and Caesar," which I urge you to read in its entirety: http://mtio.com/articles/bissar55.htm
Just prior to the Ames (Iowa) Straw Poll, Mike Huckabee disassociated himself from an evanglical Protestant supporter (Rev. Ride) who made anti-Catholic statements. It would seem to be the time for him to do the same with Dr. White and Larry Perrault (who blogs at: http://larryperrault.blogspot.com/
I've compared Dr. White's thoroughgoing blast at America with Osama bin Laden's similar attacks on the U.S. and Western culture. Substitute Islam for evangelical religiosity and the two men basically are saying the same thing about our society. They are calling for its overthrow.
Mike Huckabee's blog reprinted Dr. White's recent condemnation American politics, complete with an ethusiastic endorsement from the omnipresent Larry Perrault. You can read these strange documents on Mike's blog at: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=478. Note that White compares the current situation in America with the "holocaust." Essentially, the letter says it would be preferable to elect Hillary Clinton rather than one of the candidates from "the Republican establishment."
Here's what Larry Perrault said in an accompanying letter mainly attacking me for criticizing White's apocalyptic rhetoric and distaste for America: "Just look at the [White] letter and consider that America is well entrenched into a mortal social sickness." (Note: It turns out that the "social sickness" refers to the fact that most Americans don't agree with Larry Perrault and Laurence White.)
Understand that Perrault is condemning a society where four-out-of-five people identify themselves as Christians. It is the most Christian -- and the most charitable -- society on earth.
What White and Perrault are criticizing basically is that most Americans practice a form of Christianity that's anathema to them. Their condemnations of society exemplify smugness, sanctimony, and spiritual arrogance.
The vast majority of Mike Huckabee's supporters are decent, god-fearing individuals, and they're certainly people who love their country. They certainly have issues with the tawdry elements of American popular culture, but they also recognize that this is an extremely diverse, pluralistic society -- not a theocracy.
Candidate Huckabee has a decision to make: Is he a serious presidential canidate, or is he basically the captive of a small number of extremists in the evangelical movement? From all evidence, Mike is a patriot, not someone with a deep hatred of this nation. He doesn't need overheated supporters like Dr. Ride, or Dr. White, or Larry Perrault.
Stephen R. Maloney
NOTE; IN RECENT WEEKS, I'VE PROPOSED AN AMENDMENT THAT CONGRESS AND THE STATES PROBABLY WOULD PASS. IT WOULD REDUCE THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF ABORTIONS IN AMERICA BY ROUGHLY 200,000 -- PERHAPS MANY MORE OVER TIME. PEOPLE LIKE PERRAULT AND WHITE HAVE SHOWN NO INTEREST IN IT. I FEAR THAT'S BECAUSE THEY LIKE BEING "PRO-LIFE . . . FOR THE SAKE OF BEING PRO-LIFE." THESE ARE THE PEOPLE MIKE HUCKABEE WAS ADDRESSING WHEN HE SAID, "LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION, BUT IT DOESN'T END AT BIRTH."
SOME EVANGELICALS -- VERY FEW IN NUMBER -- APPEAR TO BE MAKING A CAREER OUT TALKING THE PRO-LIFE MESSAGE WITHOUT ACTUALLY DOING ANYTHING TO REDUCE ABORTIONS AND INCREASE ADOPTIONS.
Note 2: If you go the Our Savior Lutheran Church website, you will notice Dr. White preaching to what appears to be an all-white (or nearly all-white) congregation in a comfortable middle-class section of Houston. That causes a problem, becuase it means the preacher (and his flock) are unlikely to have much understanding of the vastly different world inhabited by most of humanity, especially the women who end up having abortions. I'll write about that next.
-----------------------------
Excerpt from next blog piece (quotes from Elizabeth George's superb novel What Came Before He Shot Her:
(Multiracial Dix D'Court, a kind and loving man, to his multiracial girlfriend Kendra, who lives in depressed area of London with three children basically dropped off at her doorstep): "You ever think about how God works?"
Her response: "Man, I tell you: No God I'm familiar with has ever lived in this part of town."
[God supposedly does live in Rev. White's part of Houston, and that's why he will never understand Kendra or her children. ]
At one point in the novel Kendra talks about her niece, "Ness," to a rather stiff white woman from Social Services. The white lady is talking about the need to get to the root-cause of Ness's problems (truancy, drug overuse, constant indulgence in sex. and an attempted mugging -- all at age 15).
Here's what Kendra, who deserves an award as surrogate mother of the year, is thinking: " . . . She asked Fabia Bender [the social worker] a logical question. How much more than a dead father and an institutionalized mother was necessary to the understanding of Ness's fury? And what did an understanding her fury have to do with keeping her from ruining her life? Because, Kendra Campbell told the social worker, some serious life-ruining was what Ness Campbell had in mind. She saw her existence as destroyed already, so she'd decided to go along for the ride."
[I submit that people like Laurence White have probably never once listened carefully to person like Kendra Campbell or Ness. By the way, Jesus apparently communicated with such people regularly.]
As to White's relentless anti-Americanism, I've cited the preacher's own words in his disturbing speech/essay called "God and Caesar," where he compares America to Nazi Germany. He says:
[In the early years of the Third Reich] ". . . most Christians looked the other way while innocent people were slaughtered and a nation was led down the path to destruction. I would submit to you this evening that we [in America] find ourselves in a similar predicament today. "
White adds: "Once again the innocents are being slaughtered, the country is being led down the path to destruction, and Christians, by and large, are looking the other way. America finds itself today in the midst of a moral catastrophe. We have cast aside the most basic standards of human decency. We have broken marriages and fractured families.
He continues: "Our youth are losing their way and often their lives in a maze of alcohol and drugs. We live in the midst of a culture that mistakes lust for love and tolerates the vilest perversions as acceptable alternate lifestyles while pestilence stalks the land. Our public schools have become facilitators for fornication and procurers for the abortionists knife."
White also says: "America has sown the wind of immorality and we are reaping the whirlwind of destruction and death. We have degenerated into a nation rolling in luxury, reveling in excess, rollicking in pleasure, revolting in morals, and rotting in sin. Personal responsibility, duty and honor have been abandoned in our mindless pursuit of instant gratification for our every desire."
This is more than a preacher jeremiad. Frankly, it sounds like a call for violent revolution.
Here's the link to "God and Caesar," which I urge you to read in its entirety: http://mtio.com/articles/bissar55.htm
Just prior to the Ames (Iowa) Straw Poll, Mike Huckabee disassociated himself from an evanglical Protestant supporter (Rev. Ride) who made anti-Catholic statements. It would seem to be the time for him to do the same with Dr. White and Larry Perrault (who blogs at: http://larryperrault.blogspot.com/
I've compared Dr. White's thoroughgoing blast at America with Osama bin Laden's similar attacks on the U.S. and Western culture. Substitute Islam for evangelical religiosity and the two men basically are saying the same thing about our society. They are calling for its overthrow.
Mike Huckabee's blog reprinted Dr. White's recent condemnation American politics, complete with an ethusiastic endorsement from the omnipresent Larry Perrault. You can read these strange documents on Mike's blog at: http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=478. Note that White compares the current situation in America with the "holocaust." Essentially, the letter says it would be preferable to elect Hillary Clinton rather than one of the candidates from "the Republican establishment."
Here's what Larry Perrault said in an accompanying letter mainly attacking me for criticizing White's apocalyptic rhetoric and distaste for America: "Just look at the [White] letter and consider that America is well entrenched into a mortal social sickness." (Note: It turns out that the "social sickness" refers to the fact that most Americans don't agree with Larry Perrault and Laurence White.)
Understand that Perrault is condemning a society where four-out-of-five people identify themselves as Christians. It is the most Christian -- and the most charitable -- society on earth.
What White and Perrault are criticizing basically is that most Americans practice a form of Christianity that's anathema to them. Their condemnations of society exemplify smugness, sanctimony, and spiritual arrogance.
The vast majority of Mike Huckabee's supporters are decent, god-fearing individuals, and they're certainly people who love their country. They certainly have issues with the tawdry elements of American popular culture, but they also recognize that this is an extremely diverse, pluralistic society -- not a theocracy.
Candidate Huckabee has a decision to make: Is he a serious presidential canidate, or is he basically the captive of a small number of extremists in the evangelical movement? From all evidence, Mike is a patriot, not someone with a deep hatred of this nation. He doesn't need overheated supporters like Dr. Ride, or Dr. White, or Larry Perrault.
Stephen R. Maloney
NOTE; IN RECENT WEEKS, I'VE PROPOSED AN AMENDMENT THAT CONGRESS AND THE STATES PROBABLY WOULD PASS. IT WOULD REDUCE THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF ABORTIONS IN AMERICA BY ROUGHLY 200,000 -- PERHAPS MANY MORE OVER TIME. PEOPLE LIKE PERRAULT AND WHITE HAVE SHOWN NO INTEREST IN IT. I FEAR THAT'S BECAUSE THEY LIKE BEING "PRO-LIFE . . . FOR THE SAKE OF BEING PRO-LIFE." THESE ARE THE PEOPLE MIKE HUCKABEE WAS ADDRESSING WHEN HE SAID, "LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION, BUT IT DOESN'T END AT BIRTH."
SOME EVANGELICALS -- VERY FEW IN NUMBER -- APPEAR TO BE MAKING A CAREER OUT TALKING THE PRO-LIFE MESSAGE WITHOUT ACTUALLY DOING ANYTHING TO REDUCE ABORTIONS AND INCREASE ADOPTIONS.
Note 2: If you go the Our Savior Lutheran Church website, you will notice Dr. White preaching to what appears to be an all-white (or nearly all-white) congregation in a comfortable middle-class section of Houston. That causes a problem, becuase it means the preacher (and his flock) are unlikely to have much understanding of the vastly different world inhabited by most of humanity, especially the women who end up having abortions. I'll write about that next.
-----------------------------
Excerpt from next blog piece (quotes from Elizabeth George's superb novel What Came Before He Shot Her:
(Multiracial Dix D'Court, a kind and loving man, to his multiracial girlfriend Kendra, who lives in depressed area of London with three children basically dropped off at her doorstep): "You ever think about how God works?"
Her response: "Man, I tell you: No God I'm familiar with has ever lived in this part of town."
[God supposedly does live in Rev. White's part of Houston, and that's why he will never understand Kendra or her children. ]
At one point in the novel Kendra talks about her niece, "Ness," to a rather stiff white woman from Social Services. The white lady is talking about the need to get to the root-cause of Ness's problems (truancy, drug overuse, constant indulgence in sex. and an attempted mugging -- all at age 15).
Here's what Kendra, who deserves an award as surrogate mother of the year, is thinking: " . . . She asked Fabia Bender [the social worker] a logical question. How much more than a dead father and an institutionalized mother was necessary to the understanding of Ness's fury? And what did an understanding her fury have to do with keeping her from ruining her life? Because, Kendra Campbell told the social worker, some serious life-ruining was what Ness Campbell had in mind. She saw her existence as destroyed already, so she'd decided to go along for the ride."
[I submit that people like Laurence White have probably never once listened carefully to person like Kendra Campbell or Ness. By the way, Jesus apparently communicated with such people regularly.]
BULLETIN: GIULIANI IN NHI
The latest national and state polls show Rudy Giuliani surging to the lead nationally and -- of great significance -- drawing even in the key state of New Hampshire. He's doing so with significant support from the evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic communities. "America's Mayor" is advancing in spite of the scorched earth policy of a tiny fragment of evangelicals, such as Laurence White and Larry Perrault, whose effort seem designed mainly to hand the general election to Hillary Rodham Clinton. On White and Perrault, see the two columns I'll write on Thursday and Friday.
Gov. Romney has reportedly spent $2 million in NH, and he served as Governor of the neighboring state of Massachusetts. The spending and proximity may not be enough. If Romney loses New Hampshire, his campaign will be a case of "dead man walking." Senator McCain, who won the primary in the Granite State in 2000 is locked in third place. Mike Huckabee, the approved candidate of the two Larrys (White and Perrault) has only a tiny fragment of the vote and shows no sign of forward momentum.
The following are the figures, released today, from the WMUR (Manchester, NH) poll conducted this week: Romeny, 25%, Giuliani 24%, McCain 16%, Thompson 13%. The results reflect a surge in Giuliani''s support, while Romney has dropped 9% since early this year..
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
Gov. Romney has reportedly spent $2 million in NH, and he served as Governor of the neighboring state of Massachusetts. The spending and proximity may not be enough. If Romney loses New Hampshire, his campaign will be a case of "dead man walking." Senator McCain, who won the primary in the Granite State in 2000 is locked in third place. Mike Huckabee, the approved candidate of the two Larrys (White and Perrault) has only a tiny fragment of the vote and shows no sign of forward momentum.
The following are the figures, released today, from the WMUR (Manchester, NH) poll conducted this week: Romeny, 25%, Giuliani 24%, McCain 16%, Thompson 13%. The results reflect a surge in Giuliani''s support, while Romney has dropped 9% since early this year..
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
WHY SARAH PALIN FOR THE NATION'S HIGHEST OFFICES?
NOTE: I HAVE SOME REGULAR VISITORS THAT I KNOW A LOT ABOUT AND SOME ABOUT WHOM I KNOW NOTHING. DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAVE YOUR NAME AND THOUGHTS. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH WHAT I SAY, YOU MAY JUST BE IN THE MAJORITY. ANYWAY, THANKS FOR STOPPING BY. -- STEVE
But why Gov. Sarah Palin for the nation's highest offices? She's scrupulously honest, which puts her at odds with the state's pervasively corrupt Republican office holders.
She's able to win elections against both powerful Republicans (Frank Murkowski) and Democrats (Tony Knowles). She's completely uninterested in using political office to enrich herself and her family. She's BOTH a female professional AND a working mother. She's not only FOR the "workingman," she's married to one (commercial fisherman and oil field production worker).
She's a devoted Christian whose religious beliefs have NOT curdled into sanctimony and self-congratulation.She not only "supports" our troops, but also has a beloved son -- Track -- who's one of them.
She's an expert on energy and the environment, two of the great issues of our time. She's a lifetime advocate of the sanctity of life and gun rights, but does a minimum of pandering on either.
That's why I support Sarah Palin for vice-president and, in God's own good time, for President. Those with eyes to see detect signs there of another Washington, Lincoln, or Reagan. She's a person whose communication skills and character have earned her the nation's highest approval ratings.
She's a breath of fresh air in a political atmosphere -- Republican and Democrat -- that's generally stultifying. For a nation in need of strong leadership, Sarah is the best our nation has.
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
But why Gov. Sarah Palin for the nation's highest offices? She's scrupulously honest, which puts her at odds with the state's pervasively corrupt Republican office holders.
She's able to win elections against both powerful Republicans (Frank Murkowski) and Democrats (Tony Knowles). She's completely uninterested in using political office to enrich herself and her family. She's BOTH a female professional AND a working mother. She's not only FOR the "workingman," she's married to one (commercial fisherman and oil field production worker).
She's a devoted Christian whose religious beliefs have NOT curdled into sanctimony and self-congratulation.She not only "supports" our troops, but also has a beloved son -- Track -- who's one of them.
She's an expert on energy and the environment, two of the great issues of our time. She's a lifetime advocate of the sanctity of life and gun rights, but does a minimum of pandering on either.
That's why I support Sarah Palin for vice-president and, in God's own good time, for President. Those with eyes to see detect signs there of another Washington, Lincoln, or Reagan. She's a person whose communication skills and character have earned her the nation's highest approval ratings.
She's a breath of fresh air in a political atmosphere -- Republican and Democrat -- that's generally stultifying. For a nation in need of strong leadership, Sarah is the best our nation has.
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
LAURENCE WHITE AND LARRY PERRAULT: EVANGELICAL EXTREMISM (AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN)
NOTE: ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 27, I'LL BE WRITING ABOUT HOUSTON BLOGGER LARRY PERRAULT AND HIS SPIRITUAL MENTOR, DR. LAURENCE WHITE, A HOUSTON PREACHER -- AND A MAN I CALL "EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY'S OSAMA." THE PIECE WILL DEAL WITH THE DEEP HATRED OF AMERICA FOUND IN THE EXTREMIST SEGMENT OF THE EVANGELICAL "COMMUNITY." I WILL BE ASKING MIKE HUCKABEE TO DISSOCIATE HIMSELF FROM LAURENCE WHITE'S VENOMOUS COMMENTS ABOUT THIS COUNTRY -- COMMENTS I'M SURE ARE AS DISTURBING TO MIKE AS THEY ARE TO ME . . . AND WILL BE TO YOU. http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/ (my site); http://mtio.com/articles/bissar55.htm (Dr. White's speech/essay, where he compares America to Nazi Germany)
http:// http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=478 ((Dr. White's letter to Mike Huckabee saying "This Election Cannot Be About Electability")
I strongly believe Dr. White's apocalyptic rhetoric is the kind that encourages such demented "pro-life-killers-for-Christ" as Paul Hill and Eric Rudolph. This man and others like him are going to tarnish Mike Huckabee's reputation beyond repair.
http:// http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=478 ((Dr. White's letter to Mike Huckabee saying "This Election Cannot Be About Electability")
I strongly believe Dr. White's apocalyptic rhetoric is the kind that encourages such demented "pro-life-killers-for-Christ" as Paul Hill and Eric Rudolph. This man and others like him are going to tarnish Mike Huckabee's reputation beyond repair.
Like any candidate, Mike inevitably will attract some nutcases. But the last thing he needs are "supporters" who claim to be Christians chanting "We Hate America."
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
RUDY & SARAH: VICTORY in 2008
Sarah Palin and husband Todd in Dillingham, Alaska, with Alaska Teacher of the Year Ina Boucher
Diana Lynn Irey, Washington County (PA) Commissioner who gained a national following in her heroic campaign against John Murtha, is endorsing Rudy Giuliani for President. In 2006, Giuliani campaigned tirelessly for two conservative Pennsylvania Republicans: Senatorial candidate Rick Santorum and gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann. Thanks Rudy. In the words of Sarah Palin (spoken about her son), "We have your back."
John Hawkins August 10, 2007 column (J.C.'s Corner) in "The Forgotten Street" gives a salute to Sarah Palin and the grass roots effort (led by Adam Brickley at http://palinforvp.blogspot.com).
He also mentions as possible females for higher office Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutcheson and Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. I am opposed to either Kay (whom I like a lot) or Marsha (who is a fine congresswoman) getting consideration for higher office.
It makes no sense -- check out the Cheney fiasco -- to nominate people for Vice-President who have no chance, either because of age, health problems, or lack of energy -- to have a opportunity to run for President. That eliminates Kay Hutcheson.
What about Marsha Blackburn? She's only 55 years of age and she has a good record as a Tennessee state Senator and as a congresswoman, where she's been cited as one of the best "new" representatives. She's pretty, blonde, and relentlessly Republican.
However, Rep. Blackburn won her congressional seat in one of the most Republican districts in America -- an area stretching from the suburbs of Nashville to the suburbs of Memphis. In other words, she represents the classic GOP base: people who are white, generally affluent, and almost reflexively Republican.
Early in the presidential campaign,Blackburn was a staunch backer of Mitt Romney. Later, she switched her allegiance to her home-state candidate Fred Thompson.
To win elections -- and to avoid repeating the disaster of 2006 -- Republicans don't need to solidify the (Southern or Southwestern, white,well-off, significantly evangelical) base. Frankly, attractive as she is personally and politically, Mrs. Blackburn doesn't really add strength to the Republican ticket.
Exactly who is she going to attract that we don't have already?
In the coming election, a Republican who wants to win must contest effectively in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and -- yes -- in Hillary's New York. The Republican Party in Ohio, usually a must-win state, is in disrepair, and Hillary will carry that state. She may also carrry Florida and Colorado, both with big Hispanic bases mainly ticked off at the Republican Party's stance on immigration.
Since 2004, the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans has declined by about 10%. The number who identify themselves as Democrats has risen by about 10%. Also, the number of Independents who lean Democratic has increased substantially.
In New Hampshire, three-fourths of the Independents say they will vote in the Democratic primary. Let me beat the networks by about 14 months and "declare" the Sununu Senate seat in New Hampshire lost. The Virginia Senate Seat vacated by Republican Warner? Also a sure loss against an extremely popular Democrat.
Republicans have problems with the following voting segments: Blacks, Hispanics, young people (voters under 35), women professionals (teachers, journalists, doctors, lawyers), gays (about 5% of the electorate in most states), and younger evangelicals. (In 2006, Democrats got 27% of the evangelical vote, up from 21% in 2004).
A person like Mrs. Blackburn might help some with female professionals, but I see her as a net negative with the other key groups.
Traditionally, the Republican Party has nominated aging male Caucasians. All too often, as I've said before, the vice-presidential choice has been an individual who's one or more of the following: aged, or corrupt, or unelectable. When asked why he put Agnew on the ticket in 1972, Nixon replied, "Because no one in his right mind would want to assassinate me." Maybe that comment gives some insight into Bush, Sr.'s curious allegiance to the intellectually challenged Dan Quayle.
Recently, the web site race42008 had a discussion about the GOP's presidential nominee's "need" to have a Black running-male (there being no Black females imaginable) on the ticket. The participants came up with every conceivable Black other than O. J. Simpson and Michael Vick. It was a sad display of tokenism and political naivete.
He also mentions as possible females for higher office Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutcheson and Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. I am opposed to either Kay (whom I like a lot) or Marsha (who is a fine congresswoman) getting consideration for higher office.
It makes no sense -- check out the Cheney fiasco -- to nominate people for Vice-President who have no chance, either because of age, health problems, or lack of energy -- to have a opportunity to run for President. That eliminates Kay Hutcheson.
What about Marsha Blackburn? She's only 55 years of age and she has a good record as a Tennessee state Senator and as a congresswoman, where she's been cited as one of the best "new" representatives. She's pretty, blonde, and relentlessly Republican.
However, Rep. Blackburn won her congressional seat in one of the most Republican districts in America -- an area stretching from the suburbs of Nashville to the suburbs of Memphis. In other words, she represents the classic GOP base: people who are white, generally affluent, and almost reflexively Republican.
Early in the presidential campaign,Blackburn was a staunch backer of Mitt Romney. Later, she switched her allegiance to her home-state candidate Fred Thompson.
To win elections -- and to avoid repeating the disaster of 2006 -- Republicans don't need to solidify the (Southern or Southwestern, white,well-off, significantly evangelical) base. Frankly, attractive as she is personally and politically, Mrs. Blackburn doesn't really add strength to the Republican ticket.
Exactly who is she going to attract that we don't have already?
In the coming election, a Republican who wants to win must contest effectively in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and -- yes -- in Hillary's New York. The Republican Party in Ohio, usually a must-win state, is in disrepair, and Hillary will carry that state. She may also carrry Florida and Colorado, both with big Hispanic bases mainly ticked off at the Republican Party's stance on immigration.
Since 2004, the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans has declined by about 10%. The number who identify themselves as Democrats has risen by about 10%. Also, the number of Independents who lean Democratic has increased substantially.
In New Hampshire, three-fourths of the Independents say they will vote in the Democratic primary. Let me beat the networks by about 14 months and "declare" the Sununu Senate seat in New Hampshire lost. The Virginia Senate Seat vacated by Republican Warner? Also a sure loss against an extremely popular Democrat.
Republicans have problems with the following voting segments: Blacks, Hispanics, young people (voters under 35), women professionals (teachers, journalists, doctors, lawyers), gays (about 5% of the electorate in most states), and younger evangelicals. (In 2006, Democrats got 27% of the evangelical vote, up from 21% in 2004).
A person like Mrs. Blackburn might help some with female professionals, but I see her as a net negative with the other key groups.
Traditionally, the Republican Party has nominated aging male Caucasians. All too often, as I've said before, the vice-presidential choice has been an individual who's one or more of the following: aged, or corrupt, or unelectable. When asked why he put Agnew on the ticket in 1972, Nixon replied, "Because no one in his right mind would want to assassinate me." Maybe that comment gives some insight into Bush, Sr.'s curious allegiance to the intellectually challenged Dan Quayle.
Recently, the web site race42008 had a discussion about the GOP's presidential nominee's "need" to have a Black running-male (there being no Black females imaginable) on the ticket. The participants came up with every conceivable Black other than O. J. Simpson and Michael Vick. It was a sad display of tokenism and political naivete.
But why Sarah Palin? She's scrupulously honest, which puts her at odds with the state's pervasively corrupt Republican office holders. She's able to win elections against both powerful Republicans (Frank Murkowski) and Democrats (Tony Knowles). She's completely uninterested in using political office to enrich herself and her family.
She's BOTH a female professional AND a working mother. She's not only FOR the "workingman," she's married to one (commercial fisherman and oil field production worker). She's a devoted Christian whose religious beliefs have NOT curdled into sanctimony and self-congratulation.
She not only "supports" our troops, but also has a beloved son -- Track -- who's one of them. She's an expert on energy and the environment, two of the great issues of our time. She's a lifetime advocate of the sanctity of life and gun rights, but does a minimum of pandering on either.
That's why I support Sarah Palin for vice-president and, in God's own good time, for President. Those with eyes to see detect signs there of another Washington, Lincoln, or Reagan. She's a person whose communication skills and character have earned her the nation's highest approval ratings.
She's a breath of fresh air in a political atmosphere -- Republican and Democrat -- that's generally stultifying.
The new national polls are coming out today. The Democratic version shows Hillary Clinton increasing her lead over Obama and Edwards, in keeping with her Gallup Poll ranking as the most popular woman in America -- Oprah is second.
The Republican Poll is as follows:
Rudy Giuliani 30%
Fred Thompson 22%
John McCain 16%
Mitt Romney 09%
Mike Huckabee 04%
One notable point in the poll is that Thompson is taking support from Huckabee. I'm hoping that Mike, a wonderful man, will read the handwriting on the wall and throw his support to Rudy Giuliani. When the time comes, I believe John McCain, a true American hero, will do the same.
George W. Bush, who knows something about winning elections, has said that the national polls are very important this time around because the primary itself will be "a national one." He's referring to the fact that 60%-plus of the nation will vote from the Florida primary (January 29) through Super Tuesday on Feb. 5.
In Pennsylvania, which will hold a "late" primary, Giuliani seems to have an insurmountable lead.
I strongly urge people interested in voting in the general election for someone other than Mrs. Clinton to back Rudy Giuliani. He's already focusing on the Democrats and has completely refrained from attacking Republicans.
I also urge Republicans to ask (beg?) Rudy to choose as his running mate Sarah Heath Palin.
Anyone who has seen Sarah in action will recognize that she will never be "Rudy's token." With her, Rudy will have his hands full, which is as it should be. I don't expect her to discard any of her core beliefs.
She's BOTH a female professional AND a working mother. She's not only FOR the "workingman," she's married to one (commercial fisherman and oil field production worker). She's a devoted Christian whose religious beliefs have NOT curdled into sanctimony and self-congratulation.
She not only "supports" our troops, but also has a beloved son -- Track -- who's one of them. She's an expert on energy and the environment, two of the great issues of our time. She's a lifetime advocate of the sanctity of life and gun rights, but does a minimum of pandering on either.
That's why I support Sarah Palin for vice-president and, in God's own good time, for President. Those with eyes to see detect signs there of another Washington, Lincoln, or Reagan. She's a person whose communication skills and character have earned her the nation's highest approval ratings.
She's a breath of fresh air in a political atmosphere -- Republican and Democrat -- that's generally stultifying.
The new national polls are coming out today. The Democratic version shows Hillary Clinton increasing her lead over Obama and Edwards, in keeping with her Gallup Poll ranking as the most popular woman in America -- Oprah is second.
The Republican Poll is as follows:
Rudy Giuliani 30%
Fred Thompson 22%
John McCain 16%
Mitt Romney 09%
Mike Huckabee 04%
One notable point in the poll is that Thompson is taking support from Huckabee. I'm hoping that Mike, a wonderful man, will read the handwriting on the wall and throw his support to Rudy Giuliani. When the time comes, I believe John McCain, a true American hero, will do the same.
George W. Bush, who knows something about winning elections, has said that the national polls are very important this time around because the primary itself will be "a national one." He's referring to the fact that 60%-plus of the nation will vote from the Florida primary (January 29) through Super Tuesday on Feb. 5.
In Pennsylvania, which will hold a "late" primary, Giuliani seems to have an insurmountable lead.
I strongly urge people interested in voting in the general election for someone other than Mrs. Clinton to back Rudy Giuliani. He's already focusing on the Democrats and has completely refrained from attacking Republicans.
I also urge Republicans to ask (beg?) Rudy to choose as his running mate Sarah Heath Palin.
Anyone who has seen Sarah in action will recognize that she will never be "Rudy's token." With her, Rudy will have his hands full, which is as it should be. I don't expect her to discard any of her core beliefs.
Together, they can supply dynamic leadership in a time when the country desperately needs it.
Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
From today's Anchorage Daily News (http://adn.com): Following in the footsteps of North Dakota. Gov. Sarah Palin has been picked to serve as chair of Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission in 2007-08, according to a state-issued press release. Palin succeeds North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven as head of the group, which promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of the nation’s oil and natural gas resources.
NOTE: MUCH OF MY EFFORT BETWEEN NOW AND SUPER TUESDAY (FEB. 5, 2008) WILL BE ON BEHALF OF RUDY GIULIANI'S CANDIDACY FOR THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION. AT THE SAME TIME, I'LL DEVOTE AS MUCH TIME AS I CAN TO THE OTHER CANDIDATES I SUPPORT, ESPECIALLY GOV. SARAH HEATH PALIN OF ALASKA AND DIANA LYNN IREY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Evangelical Extremism is Destroying Mike Huckabee's campaign:
On Mike Huckabee's main blog today (Tuesday), he reprints a letter from Dr. L. White, a Lutheran pastor in Houston. I urge you to read it -- and also read some of White's anti-American tirades. Here's my response to the White letter and his other writings, especially "God and Caesar," which is available at: http://mtio.com/articles/bissar55.htm
I've posted a comment on Gov. Huckabee's blog about Dr. Laurence White. I don't know whether it will get printed. I've probably written enough about Dr. White, a thoroughly evil egomaniac.
In his essay "God and Caesar," White compares America to Nazi Germany, saying the following: "America finds itself today in the midst of a moral catastrophe. We have cast aside the most basic standards of human decency. We have broken marriages and fractured families. Our youth are losing their way and often their lives in a maze of alcohol and drugs. We live in the midst of a culture that mistakes lust for love and tolerates the vilest perversions as acceptable alternate lifestyles while pestilence stalks the land. Our public schools have become facilitators for fornication and procurers for the abortionists knife. America has sown the wind of immorality and we are reaping the whirlwind of destruction and death. We have degenerated into a nation rolling in luxury, reveling in excess, rollicking in pleasure, revolting in morals, and rotting in sin. Personal responsibility, duty and honor have been abandoned in our mindless pursuit of instant gratification for our every desire."
Frankly, people who agree with Dr. White should not spend time blogging for Mike. Rather, if things were anywhere near as bad as he says, the proper response would be to engage in violent revolution. Dr. White's extremist comments are the kind that influence "pro-life-killers" like Eric Rudolph and Paul Hill.
Why is an attractive and articulate candidate like Mike Huckabee getting only a dismal 4% in the latest national polls? I fear it's because many Americans somehow associate Mike and his cause with the Dr. Whites of the world.
The Huckabee campaign made a major mistake in posting White's vicious screed against America. The country is not about to elect anyone who has a deep loathing for this country.
The Huckabee campaign disavowed the anti-Catholic statements of one its supporters (Dr. Ride in Iowa). It should do the same with White's comments.
TWO VIEWS OF MIKE HUCKABEE: MATT & STEVE
Note: As the week goes on, I'll talk about a few of the many columns I've written on Gov. Sarah Heath Palin and why I think she would be a dynamic -- and successful -- candidate for the nation's highest offices. On my blogroll you'll find dozens of bloggers who support Sarah for the nation's highest offices. If you'd like to "sign-up" as a Sarah supporter, please contact Adam Brickley at his site (http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/)
Before that, however, I'll talk about correspondence I've received from Matt in Washington state (http://senseinpolitics.blogspot.com/) and John Hawkins in Florida (http://theforgottenstreet.com/)
In response to my recent column indicating that I believe the Mike Huckabee's effort to get the Republican nomination cannot not succeed, Matt in Washington state sent me the following e-mail:
Stephen, I saw your posting in which you say you withdraw Mike Huckabee from consideration. I understand your reasons why, and let me add some [about] why I support Huckabee. It is because he has articulated so eloquently things I have been thinking of for quite some time. Things I would expound on if I were running for political office. Positions I would collectively call " Practical Conservatism." He seems to be trying to lead the conservative movement away from vitriol and rhetoric to more practical solutions to problems. That is where you and I are.
As for his winning, well, he could just be another Goldwater. He'll blaze the trail for another person who will come along and say the same things to a more receptive audience. I think that some of his ideas are light years ahead of what is currently being preached as policy, particularly in the realm of health care. Because he thinks outside the box, and because he holds to his principles while still being likable, he is the one I am truly fired up about. Some had the same feeling for Bobby Kennedy.
But I am realistic, I will be satisfied if Giuliani or McCain get in (hopefully with Gov. Palin). Giuliani being president won't mean that we'll have more abortions in this country, and I doubt that the current status would change even if Huckabee got in. Giuliani comes across as urbane and sophisticated; heck, he's from New York! Sure he's had issues in his personal life that make me have a few questions. But we've had a divorced man as Commander in Chief -- Reagan, who also was Republican -- so that should be put to rest. Giuliani has crossover appeal, and could actually put my state (Washington) in play.
I want to run for office someday, and I think that a variation of Huckabee's platform would appeal to the large number of Independents we have here. I'd have to be looked at as a moderate if I wanted any chance of winning statewide office as a Republican.
This e-mail has run longer than I originally wanted, but I wanted to say check out my newest posting today on "Gun Control for Criminals" and let me know what you think.
Thanks for listening . . .
Matt (E-mail at: corpsole2@olypen.com)
Steve's Response: Matt, your supportive comments about Mike Huckabee are pretty much in line with my own views of the man. I just don't believe he or Fred can win a year from November. (Admittedly, in the early part of 1992, I didn't believe Bill Clinton had a chance against Bush, Sr., who was coming off a period of great popularity after the Gulf War.)
What has changed since then is the huge amount of money needed to advertise on TV in the Super Tuesday states (including California and New York, as well as several other large states). Super Tuesday comes shortly after the Florida primary, which will also require a lot of money. I expect Giuliani and Romney to have significant amounts of campaign cash, and Thompson MAY have enough to keep afloat. McCain is always a question mark, but he seems to be doing better.
Can Mike Huckabee possibly have a dramatic surge among primary voters? In that regard, one candidate in modern times has had an amazing take-off, and that was John Kerry, who was at 9% in late November, 2003 and was at 52% in February, 2004. (Howard Dean screamed himself out of the running, and John Edwards was always more popular with the media than with voters, so it was relatively easy for Kerry to move up quickly.)
In the race for 2008, the only real movement in the polls over the last several months has been by Hillary Clinton with her putting distance between herself and Obama. Giuliani has been at 30% since the last Ice Age.
By the way, one national poll showed Romney with higher unfavorables than Hillary Clinton. She has high favorables (high 40s) and high unfavorables (mid-40s). The highest favorables of any candidate are those for Giuliani. People who say they aren't going to vote for Rudy in the primary still have a favorable view of him.
I've read that nearly six-out-of-ten Americans haven't seen so much as ONE debate. The current campaign started very early, but it's still mainly of interest to political junkies like us.
Evangelical-type candidates in the Northeast and West (Dreier in Cal., Irey in PA) tend to be gravitating toward Rudy. Hard-right evangelicals like Dobson are attacking Thompson, mostly for his virtues rather than his faults. He's not for an amendment banning gay "marriage," mainly because such an amendment doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades of passing.
Also, he's against a total ban on abortion because (1) it wouldn't pass either the Senate or the House; (2) it would criminalize women and doctors involved in early-term abortions. There's massive national support for allowing such abortions -- 84% believe it should be allowable.
Overall, Mike Huckabee should have a bright political future. With Fred Thompson, I believe his political career is behind him.
If I had to go way out on a limb, I'd guess the Democratic ticket will be: Clinton-Richardson. The Republican ticket may well be Giuliani-Palin.
Steve (e-mail at: TalkTop65@aol.com)
Before that, however, I'll talk about correspondence I've received from Matt in Washington state (http://senseinpolitics.blogspot.com/) and John Hawkins in Florida (http://theforgottenstreet.com/)
In response to my recent column indicating that I believe the Mike Huckabee's effort to get the Republican nomination cannot not succeed, Matt in Washington state sent me the following e-mail:
Stephen, I saw your posting in which you say you withdraw Mike Huckabee from consideration. I understand your reasons why, and let me add some [about] why I support Huckabee. It is because he has articulated so eloquently things I have been thinking of for quite some time. Things I would expound on if I were running for political office. Positions I would collectively call " Practical Conservatism." He seems to be trying to lead the conservative movement away from vitriol and rhetoric to more practical solutions to problems. That is where you and I are.
As for his winning, well, he could just be another Goldwater. He'll blaze the trail for another person who will come along and say the same things to a more receptive audience. I think that some of his ideas are light years ahead of what is currently being preached as policy, particularly in the realm of health care. Because he thinks outside the box, and because he holds to his principles while still being likable, he is the one I am truly fired up about. Some had the same feeling for Bobby Kennedy.
But I am realistic, I will be satisfied if Giuliani or McCain get in (hopefully with Gov. Palin). Giuliani being president won't mean that we'll have more abortions in this country, and I doubt that the current status would change even if Huckabee got in. Giuliani comes across as urbane and sophisticated; heck, he's from New York! Sure he's had issues in his personal life that make me have a few questions. But we've had a divorced man as Commander in Chief -- Reagan, who also was Republican -- so that should be put to rest. Giuliani has crossover appeal, and could actually put my state (Washington) in play.
I want to run for office someday, and I think that a variation of Huckabee's platform would appeal to the large number of Independents we have here. I'd have to be looked at as a moderate if I wanted any chance of winning statewide office as a Republican.
This e-mail has run longer than I originally wanted, but I wanted to say check out my newest posting today on "Gun Control for Criminals" and let me know what you think.
Thanks for listening . . .
Matt (E-mail at: corpsole2@olypen.com)
Steve's Response: Matt, your supportive comments about Mike Huckabee are pretty much in line with my own views of the man. I just don't believe he or Fred can win a year from November. (Admittedly, in the early part of 1992, I didn't believe Bill Clinton had a chance against Bush, Sr., who was coming off a period of great popularity after the Gulf War.)
What has changed since then is the huge amount of money needed to advertise on TV in the Super Tuesday states (including California and New York, as well as several other large states). Super Tuesday comes shortly after the Florida primary, which will also require a lot of money. I expect Giuliani and Romney to have significant amounts of campaign cash, and Thompson MAY have enough to keep afloat. McCain is always a question mark, but he seems to be doing better.
Can Mike Huckabee possibly have a dramatic surge among primary voters? In that regard, one candidate in modern times has had an amazing take-off, and that was John Kerry, who was at 9% in late November, 2003 and was at 52% in February, 2004. (Howard Dean screamed himself out of the running, and John Edwards was always more popular with the media than with voters, so it was relatively easy for Kerry to move up quickly.)
In the race for 2008, the only real movement in the polls over the last several months has been by Hillary Clinton with her putting distance between herself and Obama. Giuliani has been at 30% since the last Ice Age.
By the way, one national poll showed Romney with higher unfavorables than Hillary Clinton. She has high favorables (high 40s) and high unfavorables (mid-40s). The highest favorables of any candidate are those for Giuliani. People who say they aren't going to vote for Rudy in the primary still have a favorable view of him.
I've read that nearly six-out-of-ten Americans haven't seen so much as ONE debate. The current campaign started very early, but it's still mainly of interest to political junkies like us.
Evangelical-type candidates in the Northeast and West (Dreier in Cal., Irey in PA) tend to be gravitating toward Rudy. Hard-right evangelicals like Dobson are attacking Thompson, mostly for his virtues rather than his faults. He's not for an amendment banning gay "marriage," mainly because such an amendment doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades of passing.
Also, he's against a total ban on abortion because (1) it wouldn't pass either the Senate or the House; (2) it would criminalize women and doctors involved in early-term abortions. There's massive national support for allowing such abortions -- 84% believe it should be allowable.
Overall, Mike Huckabee should have a bright political future. With Fred Thompson, I believe his political career is behind him.
If I had to go way out on a limb, I'd guess the Democratic ticket will be: Clinton-Richardson. The Republican ticket may well be Giuliani-Palin.
Steve (e-mail at: TalkTop65@aol.com)
Monday, September 24, 2007
Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Evangelical Extremists
Note: Tomorrow I'll be reprinting two e-mails I've received: one from Matt (of SenseinPolitics) about the positive qualities of Mike Huckabee, the other from John Hawkins (of The Forgotten Street) about the conservative credentials of Fred Thompson. Here's the e-mail I sent to them today:
Matt & John, could I reprint your e-mails (one each)? John Hawkins in Florida, a long-time associate of mine who's a supporter of Fred Thompson), wrote a thoughtful e-mail. Matt, your supportive comments about Mike Huckabee are pretty much in line with my own views of him. I just don't believe he or Fred can win a year from November. (In the early part of 1992, I didn't believe Bill Clinton had a chance against Bush, Sr., who was coming off a period of great popularity after the Gulf War.) What has changed since then is the huge amount of money needed to advertise on TV in the Super Tuesday states (including California and New York, as well as several other large states).
Super Tuesday comes shortly after the Florida primary, which will also require a lot of money. I expect Giuliani and Romney to have significant amounts of campaign cash, and Thompson MAY have enough to keep afloat. McCain is always a question mark, but he seems to be doing better.
One candidate in modern times has had an amazing take-off, and that was John Kerry, who was at 9-10% in late November, 2003, and was at 52% in February, 2004.
(Howard Dean screamed himself out of the running, and John Edwards was always more popular with the media than with voters, so it was relatively easy for Kerry to move up quickly.) Kerry it turned out was "everybody's second choice" among the Democrats, which may also be the case with Mike Huckabee.
Remember, however, that Kerry won Iowa and New Hampshire, which I don't believe is possible with Mike. If Mike doesn't win Iowa, he should withdraw and begin planning for the next campaign.
The only real movement in the polls in the last several months has been by Hillary Clinton with her putting distance between herself and Obama. Giuliani has been at 30% since the last Ice Age.
There was one poll that showed Romney with higher unfavorables than Hillary Clinton. She has high favorables (high 40s) and high unfavorables (mid-40s). The highest favorables of any candidate are those for Giuliani. People who aren't going to vote for him in the primary still have a favorable view of him.
I've heard that 59% (think that's it) of the American public hasn't seen so much as ONE debate. The campaign started very early, but it's still mainly of interest to political junkies like us.
Of note: Evangelical-type candidates in the Northeast and West (Dreier in Cal., Irey in PA) tend to be going toward Rudy.
Hard-right evangelicals like Dobson are attacking Thompson, mostly for his virtues rather than his faults. He's not for an amendment banning gay "marriage," mainly because such an amendment doesn't have a snowflake's chance in Hades of passing. He's against a total ban on abortion because (1) it wouldn't pass either the Senate or the House; (2) it would criminalize women and doctors involved in early-term abortions. There's massive national support for allowing such abortions -- 84% believe it should be allowable.
Romney said that abortion should be left up to the states, because that's exactly what would happen if SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade. To Romney's credit, he told people the truth, even though some evangelicals didn't want to hear it. Despite Dr. Dobson's and Rev. Larry White's rants, there is never going to be an amendment overturning Roe. If it happens, it would be the result of actions by by SCOTUS, not by Congress and the states.
The problem with the extreme evangelicals -- the "absolutists" as my friend Sanity102 calls them, is their appalling egoism. The define their own form of Christianity as the only type of belief acceptable to God. They believe that because they want a certain political action to take place that the system has failed if it doesn't. I've compared them them to naughty two-year olds, individuals who start screaming if they don't get their own way.
The absolutists do harm to a campaign like Mike's. One evangelical on the main Huckabee blog said that Mike was heading to perdition because his band played some Willie Nelson songs. Another individual said that the election of Hillary Clinton (herself a liberal Christian) would lead to "the persecution of hundreds of Christians." Other supporters deserted Mike because he said essentially that DC residents were being subject to taxation without representation. Still other evangelicals got in an uproar against Mike because he said there was SOME racism in the opposition to immigration reform.
Perhaps Mike's most controversial statement was when he said, "Life begins at conception, but it doesn't end at birth." This was a slap at evangelicals and others who claim to be "pro-life," but show no concern for children outside the womb who need assistance.
As I've said before, Mike is a better candidate than some of his strongest supporters could ever imagine.
steve maloney
Matt & John, could I reprint your e-mails (one each)? John Hawkins in Florida, a long-time associate of mine who's a supporter of Fred Thompson), wrote a thoughtful e-mail. Matt, your supportive comments about Mike Huckabee are pretty much in line with my own views of him. I just don't believe he or Fred can win a year from November. (In the early part of 1992, I didn't believe Bill Clinton had a chance against Bush, Sr., who was coming off a period of great popularity after the Gulf War.) What has changed since then is the huge amount of money needed to advertise on TV in the Super Tuesday states (including California and New York, as well as several other large states).
Super Tuesday comes shortly after the Florida primary, which will also require a lot of money. I expect Giuliani and Romney to have significant amounts of campaign cash, and Thompson MAY have enough to keep afloat. McCain is always a question mark, but he seems to be doing better.
One candidate in modern times has had an amazing take-off, and that was John Kerry, who was at 9-10% in late November, 2003, and was at 52% in February, 2004.
(Howard Dean screamed himself out of the running, and John Edwards was always more popular with the media than with voters, so it was relatively easy for Kerry to move up quickly.) Kerry it turned out was "everybody's second choice" among the Democrats, which may also be the case with Mike Huckabee.
Remember, however, that Kerry won Iowa and New Hampshire, which I don't believe is possible with Mike. If Mike doesn't win Iowa, he should withdraw and begin planning for the next campaign.
The only real movement in the polls in the last several months has been by Hillary Clinton with her putting distance between herself and Obama. Giuliani has been at 30% since the last Ice Age.
There was one poll that showed Romney with higher unfavorables than Hillary Clinton. She has high favorables (high 40s) and high unfavorables (mid-40s). The highest favorables of any candidate are those for Giuliani. People who aren't going to vote for him in the primary still have a favorable view of him.
I've heard that 59% (think that's it) of the American public hasn't seen so much as ONE debate. The campaign started very early, but it's still mainly of interest to political junkies like us.
Of note: Evangelical-type candidates in the Northeast and West (Dreier in Cal., Irey in PA) tend to be going toward Rudy.
Hard-right evangelicals like Dobson are attacking Thompson, mostly for his virtues rather than his faults. He's not for an amendment banning gay "marriage," mainly because such an amendment doesn't have a snowflake's chance in Hades of passing. He's against a total ban on abortion because (1) it wouldn't pass either the Senate or the House; (2) it would criminalize women and doctors involved in early-term abortions. There's massive national support for allowing such abortions -- 84% believe it should be allowable.
Romney said that abortion should be left up to the states, because that's exactly what would happen if SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade. To Romney's credit, he told people the truth, even though some evangelicals didn't want to hear it. Despite Dr. Dobson's and Rev. Larry White's rants, there is never going to be an amendment overturning Roe. If it happens, it would be the result of actions by by SCOTUS, not by Congress and the states.
The problem with the extreme evangelicals -- the "absolutists" as my friend Sanity102 calls them, is their appalling egoism. The define their own form of Christianity as the only type of belief acceptable to God. They believe that because they want a certain political action to take place that the system has failed if it doesn't. I've compared them them to naughty two-year olds, individuals who start screaming if they don't get their own way.
The absolutists do harm to a campaign like Mike's. One evangelical on the main Huckabee blog said that Mike was heading to perdition because his band played some Willie Nelson songs. Another individual said that the election of Hillary Clinton (herself a liberal Christian) would lead to "the persecution of hundreds of Christians." Other supporters deserted Mike because he said essentially that DC residents were being subject to taxation without representation. Still other evangelicals got in an uproar against Mike because he said there was SOME racism in the opposition to immigration reform.
Perhaps Mike's most controversial statement was when he said, "Life begins at conception, but it doesn't end at birth." This was a slap at evangelicals and others who claim to be "pro-life," but show no concern for children outside the womb who need assistance.
As I've said before, Mike is a better candidate than some of his strongest supporters could ever imagine.
steve maloney
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sound Politics.Com Pro-Palin Comments
In case you missed it, here's a fine post from SoundPolitics.com on Gov. Sarah Heath Palin.
September 21, 2007
Crystal Ball Time
Allow me to amplify and expand on David Postman's discussion of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Postman makes a number of prudent points in his coverage about Palin's rise and its significance. What also bears mentioning is that she may well land on the short list of possible Republican VP nominees next year.
This post first stoked my consideration of that issue. This profile by Fred Barnes cemented the idea that it could be serious. Doing some quick research for this blog entry drew a number of related hits, including a Draft Sarah Palin for VP blog and some related Alaska media coverage.
Palin has some obvious appeal for all the reasons Barnes and Postman enunciate. Granted, Alaska isn't the first state people look to for a quality VP choice. Yet, consider that if Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney becomes the nominee they're likely to want fill out the ticket with someone from the South or the West who has unimpeachable conservative credentials. Palin fits that bill. Plus, it wouldn't hurt for a Republican VP nominee to be somebody other than a white male given the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination. Yes, identity politics are no fun, but they do matter sometimes.
The main point is keep an eye on Palin. She's been soaring while seemingly the entire rest of the GOP in her state has been imploding. That alone make her worth watching.
Footnote: Postman uses the term/adjective "Outside" in his post. For the uninitiated, that's how Alaskans refer to all things non-Alaska. It's almost never considered a compliment and indicative of the exceptionally wary eye Alaskans cast beyond the borders of their unique state.Posted by Eric Earling at September 21, 2007 06:23 PM Email This
Comments
1. I hear she's pro-life and conservative too! And she took on the Republican Establishment. Of course she'd be popular. What's not to like?
Posted by: Michelle on September 21, 2007 07:23 PM
2. I agree, and that would be an individual that I could vote for.
She sounds like a Barn Burnin Reagan Like Conservative.
Posted by: GS on September 21, 2007 10:34 PM
3. I have loved Palin since she ran for Governor!
She would make a perfect VP selection.
Now if only Romney could get the nomination, Romney/Palin has a nice ring to it!Posted by: Kyle on September 22, 2007 11:44 PM
4. Thanks very much for the link. Gov. Palin is a very inspiring leader, and there are a growing number of us who think she is the future of the GOP. If you agree, you can join our blogroll as either an "Endorsement" or a "Palin Fan" (someone who likes the Gov. but isn't ready to endorse her for VP just yet). Hope to be seeing more of you.
Adam BrickleyFounder, Draft Sarah Palin for Vice Presidentpalinforvp.blogspot.compalinforvp@gmail.comPosted by: Palin for VP! on September 23, 2007 10:01 AM
5. I very much encourage people to join Adam Brickley's effort to Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President. Compared to many past V-P choices (Spiro Agnew??!! Dan Quayle??!!) she would be a superb selection. Her son joined the military on Sept. 11 and is now in basic training at Ft. Benning. This is a remarkable family.
Steve MaloneyPosted by: Stephen R. Maloney on September 23, 2007 05:44 PM
September 21, 2007
Crystal Ball Time
Allow me to amplify and expand on David Postman's discussion of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Postman makes a number of prudent points in his coverage about Palin's rise and its significance. What also bears mentioning is that she may well land on the short list of possible Republican VP nominees next year.
This post first stoked my consideration of that issue. This profile by Fred Barnes cemented the idea that it could be serious. Doing some quick research for this blog entry drew a number of related hits, including a Draft Sarah Palin for VP blog and some related Alaska media coverage.
Palin has some obvious appeal for all the reasons Barnes and Postman enunciate. Granted, Alaska isn't the first state people look to for a quality VP choice. Yet, consider that if Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney becomes the nominee they're likely to want fill out the ticket with someone from the South or the West who has unimpeachable conservative credentials. Palin fits that bill. Plus, it wouldn't hurt for a Republican VP nominee to be somebody other than a white male given the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination. Yes, identity politics are no fun, but they do matter sometimes.
The main point is keep an eye on Palin. She's been soaring while seemingly the entire rest of the GOP in her state has been imploding. That alone make her worth watching.
Footnote: Postman uses the term/adjective "Outside" in his post. For the uninitiated, that's how Alaskans refer to all things non-Alaska. It's almost never considered a compliment and indicative of the exceptionally wary eye Alaskans cast beyond the borders of their unique state.Posted by Eric Earling at September 21, 2007 06:23 PM Email This
Comments
1. I hear she's pro-life and conservative too! And she took on the Republican Establishment. Of course she'd be popular. What's not to like?
Posted by: Michelle on September 21, 2007 07:23 PM
2. I agree, and that would be an individual that I could vote for.
She sounds like a Barn Burnin Reagan Like Conservative.
Posted by: GS on September 21, 2007 10:34 PM
3. I have loved Palin since she ran for Governor!
She would make a perfect VP selection.
Now if only Romney could get the nomination, Romney/Palin has a nice ring to it!Posted by: Kyle on September 22, 2007 11:44 PM
4. Thanks very much for the link. Gov. Palin is a very inspiring leader, and there are a growing number of us who think she is the future of the GOP. If you agree, you can join our blogroll as either an "Endorsement" or a "Palin Fan" (someone who likes the Gov. but isn't ready to endorse her for VP just yet). Hope to be seeing more of you.
Adam BrickleyFounder, Draft Sarah Palin for Vice Presidentpalinforvp.blogspot.compalinforvp@gmail.comPosted by: Palin for VP! on September 23, 2007 10:01 AM
5. I very much encourage people to join Adam Brickley's effort to Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President. Compared to many past V-P choices (Spiro Agnew??!! Dan Quayle??!!) she would be a superb selection. Her son joined the military on Sept. 11 and is now in basic training at Ft. Benning. This is a remarkable family.
Steve MaloneyPosted by: Stephen R. Maloney on September 23, 2007 05:44 PM
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