McCain: Keeping GOP Alive

Between Thursday, January 24 and Tuesday, January 29, the day of the Florida Republican Primary, I'll be writing several columns on John McCain. Right now, he's the best -- and most electable -- of the GOP candidates. In my columns, I'd like to tackle some of the tough issues, including Senator McCain's stance on comprehensive immigration reform and on campaign finance reform. I believe he's generally right on both of them.

Sometimes what appears to be the "conservative" position isn't the sound one -- or the correct one. A classic case is the Civil Rights Act of 1964, strongly supported by Lyndon Johnson and just as strongly opposed by Barry Goldwater. In the election of 1964, Goldwater was swamped by Johnson, and a number of fine conservative legislators "drowned" along with the presidential nominee.

Yes, the Civil Rights Act interfered with the "freedoms" of some owners of hotels, restaurants, and the like. But the freedom to deny service to Black people and their families was not a "liberty" anyone should possess. Thus, Goldwater was wrong, and Johnson was right.

The controversy over the Act did great damage to the Republican Party, lasting damage. It meant the GOP lost the Black vote -- and apparently that loss is permanent. In presidential elections, the Republican candidate is lucky to get 6%-8% of the Black vote. That makes it nearly impossible to win several important states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, and California. Also, there are 40-plus Black members of Congress (including one Senator, Obama), and none of them is a Republican.

That sad, enduring situation traces back more than 40 years to Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act.

As we examine John McCain's positions on various issues, we find him seeking -- often imperfectly -- to keep the Republican Party from repeating the mistakes of the Goldwater era. Frankly, he doesn't want his Party, however good its intentions, to become a Permanent Minority.

CA's MAYOR SAM SALUES SARAH PALIN . . . AGAIN

Mayor Sam's Sister City, one of the most-visited blogs in California, is a major supporter of Sarah Palin for the vice-presidency of the U.S. MayorSam, as is his style, refers to Sarah as a "hottie," which causes a few people to wince, but in this column he even explains what that term means. I guess when "you're hot, you're hot," and that's true both of Mayor Sam and of Sarah Palin. Here's his column, which you can find in the 10/5 (Friday) postings:
http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2007/10/hotties-could-save-republican-party.html. Please be sure to visit Sam and tell him he's pretty hot himself! -- Stephen R. Maloney


Hotties Could Save Republican Party

Usually Republicans are wizzened old white guys with the charisma of a wet blanket. But perhaps not for much longer as young, talented, strong, intelligent Republican hotties are coming on the scene.We've talked before about Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Enormously popular, the 43 year old Republican has fought back against dinosaur, tax and spend Republicans in her home state and there's no doubt she could do the same at the national level. Many speculate that Palin could easily challenge bridge to nowhere builder Republican Senator Ted Stevens but a grassroots movement is growing to encourage consideration of Palin as a potential GOP Vice Presidential candidate.

Palin who has what is probably the highest approval rating of any politician in America at 84% has shaken up the GOP old boys club in Alaska, putting a stop to pork barrel politics and ending old sweetheart deals. She even put an end to the bridge to nowhere; killing what some considered to be the poster child for Congressional pork.

Some pundits who like Palin think she needs more experience. However some of her supporters posit that were Palin a male and a Democrat, she'd be considered the next JFK. Indeed, she has more executive experience and is of the same generation as Barack Obama.

Another young, female GOP power player of late is Jeri Kehn Thomspon, 41. The former media consultant and Republican National Committee staffer is considered to be the svengali behind her Presidential candidate husband, Fred Dalton Thompson. As the Thompson campaign kicks into high gear, Mrs. Thompson has become more prominent.

The Republican Party could be revived by turning leadership over to youngsters such as Palin and Thompson. Sure, Thompson's husband is the candidate and yet another wizzened old white guy, but should he be elected there certainly is a model for a first lady to follow to a political career of her own. Given that both Palin and Thompson are of my generation I agree its high time to turn things over to their peers.

By the way before any of you go nuts, when I refer to Palin and Mrs. Thompson being hotties, its the whole package, not just their looks. It refers more to a state of mind, intelligence and ability. Indeed, if Palin or Thompson were just clerks at the Piggly Wiggly, they'd probably just be considered of average attractiveness.

Indeed, Henry Kissinger may have been correct when he said power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Labels: california republican party, fred thompson, jeri thompson, sarah palin

Posted by Mayor Sam @ 10/05/2007 12:56:00 AM

READ PATRICK RUFFINI'S SALUTE TO SARAH PALIN ("THE GOP'S NORTH STAR") AT TOWNHALL

http://townhall.com/columnists/PatrickRuffini/2007/09/29/the_gops_north_star



FRED THOMPSON: WIFE HOT, HIM NOT

Here's the 10/05/07 Matt Lewis column about Fred Thompson

http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/f53dcebd-0ee9-4a74-8d68-ed4c3fbdc440

Fred Thompson Falls Flat, by Matt Lewis


"... Fred Thompson's speech at the American's for Prosperity conference pretty much fell flat. While Thompson was greeted with the best applause, his speech seemed to under-perform -- which seems to be an analogy for his entire campaign.Thompson's style (which one reporter I talked to referred to as "Hollywood") seemed to rub many reporters -- and potential supporters -- the wrong way. His entourage hurried him in to the green room before any reporters or bloggers could ask him any questions. What is more, I'm also told that his team "swept" the green room -- essentially kicking everyone out that wasn't associated with his campaign. While other candidates such as Giulaini, Huckabee, Brownback, and Paul didn't mind sharing the green room with others, Thompson's team asked people to leave ...

SCROLL DOWN TO FIND THE LINK TO THE PETITION TO DRAFT SARAH. PLEASE SIGN IT!

(LATER TODAY) HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR FAVORITE CANDIDATE TO WIN!

Imaginary Reagans & Political Realities: My Quarrel with Larry

NOTE: WHAT A DAY! THIS IS ONE OF TWO COLUMNS FOR TUESDAY, JULY 31. A HEARTY WELCOME TO VISITORS TODAY, THE LAST 10 OF WHOM (AT 1 P.M. EDT) HAVE BEEN FROM: Istanbul, Turkey; Cagnes-sur-Mer, France; Dallas, TX; Manchester, NH; Eagle River, AK; Pittsburgh, PA; Sough, UK; Torino, Italy; Rome, Italy; and Waianae, Hawaii. Talk about an international flavor! (I'm located in Ambridge, PA, 15 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.)

Thanks very much to Gop44 (D. R.) from Green Bay for joining the "4 Palin" movement. Along with Kerry and OpionatedCatholic, he joins the Team Huckabee advocates who are also supporting Sarah. His blog is at: http://themaritimesentry.blogspot.com/

I sent the following to several dozen people today and, happily, some of them are responding, curious about a truly remarkable woman, Gov. Sarah Palin:


I'd like to invite you to support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice-President on the Republican Ticket. Sarah is an absolutely remarkable elected official, the nation's most popular state official.

I urge you to read Fred's laudatory piece about Sarah in The Weekly Standard, available by clicking on the link in the blogroll. He says the following:

"The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they've overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.

Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle-especially to transparency and accountability in government-can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state's proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, "may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history."

Here's what I recently wrote about Sarah on my blog: Campaign2008VictoryA (reachable at http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/

"If the Democrats had a Sarah Palin -- which they don't -- she'd be up on stage battling it out with Hillary, Barack, and John. When the Democrats have someone who's highly electable, they put him or her out there in front of the nation -- as they did at the convention with Obama. We Republicans have a lot to learn when it comes to highlighting candidates like Sarah (and Michael Steele and J. C. Watts)."

The mother of four, Sarah is ardently pro-life.

Frankly, if we Republicans are to win in 2008, we have to present candidates -- plural -- who are appealing, dynamic, and diverse. Right now, we're way behind in fundraising and marginally behind in national polls. We won't overcome these deficits by pursuing "business as usual." We need to put our very best people forward.

If you want to learn more about Sarah -- or, to join the number of bloggers and others who support her candidacy for V-P-- please let me know either by e-mail (TalkTop65@aol.com) or by leaving a comment on my site.

Today at that site I've had many visitors from the U.S., but also people from the UK, Denmark, the French Alps, Italy, and Turkey. I guess our movement is becoming worldwide.

Thanks for your interest!

Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA
National Coordinator, Palin for V-P

P.S. In addition to the Barnes piece, other recent articles about Sarah by important conservatives include Dimitri Vassilaros' Palin is GOP's beacon - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Tom Koenniger's piece at: http://palintology.com/. (You can find the links on the blogroll.)

Imaginary Reagans and Political Realities: My Quarrel with Larry

In my conversations with Mike Huckabee supporters yesterday, I ended up blasting one of them: Larry, who’s present in the comments on yesterday’s piece (and with whom I exchanged several e-mails). Larry believes the nation is being manipulated by the media and the big-money boys into choosing a Republican candidate who’s “not a real conservative,” etc., etc.

I told him his views are paranoid and ultimately destructive of the Party and the nation. In other words, I deviated from my usual (and ultimately unsustainable) role as Mr. Nice Guy.

Larry looks back nostalgically to Ronald Reagan and essentially demands the system produce a candidate like him. I reminded him that Reagan (twice-married) was a proponent of amnesty (the real kind, not the rhetorical type used as a weapon by the anti-Hispanic crew); was pro-choice as governor of California; was an advocate of women’s rights (Sandra Day O’Connor); was friendly with a bunch of gay people in Hollywood; and was the generator of huge financial deficits.

Not exactly a doctrinaire right-winger. In today’s climate, Reagn would be denounced by the “base” as a repulsive RINO. Presumably, he’d get the same treatment as John McCain.

For obvious reasons, an imaginary Reagan is much more palatable to the famed “base” than the real one.

The Republican nominee in 2008 will be the one who wins the primaries. No candidate of any viability (and some with no viability) in either Party is being blocked from participation in the debates. Each candidate is free to raise money and solicit votes, which they’re all doing.

Most American voters are moderates – not strong conservatives or strong liberals. Polls show that Democrats – up to 90% of them – are happy with the candidates they’re offered, all of whom are staunch liberals. Those candidates, from Senators Clinton and Obama to Kucinich and Gravel, offer the usual bagful of goodies (“free health care!”). They offer no plan for conducting a successful WOT.

The polls show that roughly 25% of Republicans currently aren’t happy with the announced candidates. In part, that may reflect the “revenge” of the legendary base. To me, it’s somewhat mystifying – and perhaps a sign of the immaturity of some Republican voters.

My correspondent Larry favors Mike Huckabee and suggests that if he doesn’t get the nomination it will be the result of manipulation by some dark force (the media?). Huckabee seems to be an exemplary man, but he has a hard time raising money. (He raised less than three-quarters-of-a-million dollars in the second fiscal quarter, compared to Giuliani’s $17-million-plus and Obama’s $32-million-plus.)

Without a lot of money, a candidate can’t run TV ads in big states (New York, California, Florida, and Illinois) necessary to win the mega-primaries to be held on January 29 (FL) and Feb. 5 (just about everywhere else).

States like Iowa, New Hampshire, and (to a degree) South Carolina aren’t going to count as much in 2008 as they did previously. (The MSM hasn’t discovered this yet.)

Florida has many more electoral votes than all the other early states combined. Candidates like Clinton, Obama, Giuliani, and Romney are filling up their piggybanks with tens of millions of dollars to advertise in the big states.

The irony with someone like Larry is that he’s a major critic of McCain-Feingold, admittedly a very imperfect piece of legislation. However, one of its purposes was to make it possible for someone like Mike Huckabee to compete. McCain-Feingold didn’t achieve that, but its goal certainly wasn’t ignoble.

With the current primary set-up, no candidate from a small state – such as Arkansas – can compete. People like Larry assert – wrongly – that there’s no constitutionally permissible way to change this situation. Thus, we could end up with a presidential race with three nominees (if Bloomberg gets in) from New York State. Presumably, next time around, it will be California’s turn (Schwarzenegger, Pelosi, and Bill Gates?).

As I said in a previous column, my questions to the Republican candidates, especially Giuliani, McCain, and Huckabee are these: what are you going to do to rebuild the Republican Party? Especially, what are you going to do to repair relations with Blacks, Hispanics, women professionals (teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.), and younger people? If the candidates don’t have good answers to those critical questions, voters should ignore them.

Candidates who appeal only to the conservative “base” risk losing everything – with the exceptions perhaps of Utah, Idaho, Alabama, and Mississippi. That would result in a Senate with perhaps 60-plus Democrats and a House with perhaps 290-plus Democrats. We might end up looking back at 2006 as a relatively good year for Republicans.

So, that’s why I became so impatient with Larry. Holding your breath until you turn blue – or until you detect the Second Coming of the Gipper – is not a responsible approach. In fact, it’s the height of irresponsibility, a political philosophy that’s worthy of a two-year-old.

Sarah Palin & the Draft Sarah Movement

Here's my response to a very talented graphic artist (a Huckabee backer) about what the "Draft Palin" Movement is up to and my role in it. I did some "trolling" among Huckabee supporters, and it was an exhilarating experience. Mike should be proud of his bloggers.

Hi Jered:

No one in the Draft Palin movement is paid or reimbursed in any way. One person in our group (an Alaskan) was involved in Mrs. Palin's gubernatorial campaign.

Sarah has done nothing to discourage the Draft Movement, but even if she did, we'd probably continue as is. (We're stubborn!)

The best way to learn more about Sarah Palin is to read the Fred Barnes (The Weekly Standard) and Dimitri Vassilaros (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) articles (both linked on my blog), along with the Wikipedia piece on Sarah. Wik is not always a great source for learning about a candidate, but in this case the article is a good one. Sarah's life truly is an open book. In her closet, you'll find only clothes -- no skeletons.

The reason for her "running" (right now, she's more "standing back and watching" than "running") for V-P is that it's a critical position -- and one Republcans have not done a good job with over the years. (Nixon ended up becoming President, then getting impeached and resigning; Agnew resigned because of corruption; others (Dan Quayle) were not exactly great credits to the position. Still others (Cheney, Henry Cabot Lodge, Bill Miller, Jack Kemp) had no political future.

Somehow, I think people like you and me could have done a better job choosing the candidates.

Many of us believe that one candidate on his own cannot beat Hillary Clinton. Her two huge victories in New York state, a much more diverse place than most Americans think, can't be discounted. It will take a dynamic and diverse team to defeat Mrs. Clinton.

We see Sarah as an absolutely remarkable woman, the most popular and effective elected official in any state. If the Democrats had anyone like her -- and they don't -- she'd be up there on stage with Senators Clinton and Obama.

In contrast, there's a Republican tradition -- an unfortunate one that favors old, white males for high office -- that works against someone like Sarah. (I'm an older white male, so I can say such an outrageous thing and get away with it.) We want to overcome that bad tradition.

No one in the Palin Movement wants to "make money" off it -- or pursue some sort of ego trip. If Sarah makes it to DC, which I believe she will, I'd be delighted to assist in any way I could, but I'm not looking to get anything special out of this effort. When she's selected as the V-P nominee, we will be volunteers in the combined effort.

We believe strongly that Sarah will become the first female vice president. We also believe that by 2016 or so, she will make a terrific candidate for President -- if the Republican Party and its presidential candidate make sound assessments of her potential and electability.

In a state synonymous with political corruption, Alaska, Sarah has earned a reputation for total honesty, candor, and selflessness. As I've said of her before, she is fresh and everyone else is tired.

I hope you'll join us in this effort!

You can find a great deal of additional information about Sarah on my blog columns and in the links. Go to: http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/.

Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA

P.S. This past Saturday, I was on Political Pistachio radio speaking about Sarah's candidacy. It's available on archive at: http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/.