'I'd Hit It', Along With More Insightful Commentary

I caught the majority of Palin's speech last night while tending bar; so I was pretty drunk and little preoccupied, but from what I saw/heard, plus the reaction of my 5-7 customers, it was a winner. To sum it up -- Great speech, good delivery, pretty family.

More specifically:

1. I dug her hair. I dug everything. The whole look reminded me of my slutty 11th grade History teacher who tried to press sexual harassment charges on me. Pouty lips, stern face, looks great in heels. How do you not love her look?

2. Attractive family. The daughter is what I dream about 17 year old pregnant girls looking like....You know IF I dreamt about that type of thing, which is to say of course I do.

Side note on this kid Levi who struck gold with a Palin vagina -- Is there a luckier 17 year old soon-to-be-dad out there? For any other high school boy, finding out that you knocked up your girlfriend is the worst news ever. At least for me it was. Damn scary. That could be beccause the girls I was boning had mothers who worked at the Hair Cuttery, not the Govenors mansion...But that's my point, this kid is set for life now all because he knocked up a 17 year old. I want that life.

3. She can give a good speech. I pretty much agree with what has been repeated 100 times since last night about her style -- she delivers a great speech in a Middle-America kind of way. Good rhythm, tone, language, everything. It's a much, MUCH different style from Obama, but still effective. Maybe more so, maybe not. Time will tell.

Mike Huckabee and Hot CNBC Anchors

I'm a few days late to this but here's our favorite ex-chubby, presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee on what the GOP needs to do to 'reverse course'.

What can the party do to reverse course?

Republicans need to be Republicans. The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it's this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it's a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says "look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don't get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it." Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it's not an American message. It doesn't fly. People aren't going to buy that, because that's not the way we are as a people. That's not historic Republicanism. Historic Republicanism does not hate government; it's just there to be as little of it as there can be. But they also recognize that government has to be paid for.

If you have a breakdown in the social structure of a community, it's going to result in a more costly government ... police on the streets, prison beds, court costs, alcohol abuse centers, domestic violence shelters, all are very expensive. What's the answer to that? Cut them out? Well, the libertarians say "yes, we shouldn't be funding that stuff." But what you've done then is exacerbate a serious problem in your community. You can take the cops off the streets and just quit funding prison beds. Are your neighborhoods safer? Is it a better place to live? The net result is you have now a bigger problem than you had before.

Pretty convenient...Get it? What Republicans need to do to turn it around are become Republicans once again. And what is a Republican? Well it's Mike Huckabee, of course!

Full interview here at the Huffington Post.

And on a completely unrelated topic-- Since I'm home sick watching Erin Burnett on CNBC today I'll include her top 10 things a man can do for her. Hint: They all involve spending a lot of money. Darn.

BBQ Bash at the Senator's House

McCain invites 3 VP contenders to his Arizona compound for a weekend of "socializing":

Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a onetime rival for the Republican nomination, have all accepted invitations to visit Mr. McCain at his ranch in Sedona, Republicans said.

What a depressing top 3. Jindal is OK, young at least, but Romney and Crist? Talk about two uninspiring picks...

Florida

Tight race, McCain has a 9,000 vote lead over Romney as of 8:25. The evangelical panhandle hasn't reported yet...I would think that would benefit Romney, rather than McCain as Mitt has been doing well according to exit polling, with FL evangelicals.

If McCain does win, I think this outlook from David Freddeso makes sense.

FOX NEWS BLOGITICS!!!!! Don't ask me about my fascination with this segment, but I just love it.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: All the major media outlets are calling it for McCain making him the undisputed front-runner for the nomination. If there is anything for libertarians who called the GOP home to take solace in, is the fact that now even conservatives have been pushed out of the tent. Where did Rush Limbaugh's power go? Or National Review? So I'm not sure who makes up the Republican coalition anymore, but as of right now, I'm confident that it is no one that I'd like to have a drink with....

And it looks like Rudy is getting out tonight...Probably backing McCain tomorrow.

Quote of the night from Megan Something-or-other on Fox: "McCain won both men and women, and that will usually do it."

GOP Debate

Sorry, I was out drinking and eating oysters, and not watching the GOP debate. Uh..Shame on me. Just turned it on to see McCain pitch a softball with the highest arc possible to Huckabee, framed as a question about the Fair Tax.

So it should be 100% clear (if it wasn't already) that McCain and Huckabee are courting one another. What a ticket that would be to ignore.

When does Lost premiere?

"Republicans Battle For Show"

Real Clear Politics on the battle in Iowa for third place.

Huckabee: the GOP Frankenstein

Mike Huckabee has become the Frankenstein in the GOP. The party's pandering to evangelicals helped them win elections. Now that wing is taking over the party and they created a monster that they can no longer control.

George Will writes against Huckabee here , Krauthammer here, Novak here, Rich Lowry of National Review here.

Rich Lowry richly calls it "Huckacide." From his article:

The GOP’s social conservatism inarguably has been an enormous benefit to the party throughout the past 30 years, winning over conservative Democrats and lower-income voters who otherwise might not find the Republican limited-government message appealing. That said, nominating a Southern Baptist pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it. Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message, but it can’t be the message in its entirety.

Lowry's own words summarize the problem that the GOP has created for itself. Arguing that social conservatism "has to be a part of the Republican message" while also acknowledging that social conservatives "might not find the Republican limited-government message appealing" is a tacit acknowledgement, and approval, of the GOP abandoning Goldwater-style libertarianism to elect more Republicans to office. But what is the point of electing people to office when they do not adhere to your principles? We saw the result of this strategy of electing Republicans at all costs with the GOP-led Congress that pushed through the Medicare drug benefit while intervening in the Terry Schiavo case. Tom DeLay is, thankfully, out to pasture but...

Enter Mike Huckabee, who is the next natural step in this evolution, even if he does not believe in evolution. And if he wins the primary then there really will be a Huckacide by the GOP.

Huck's Thin Skin

Immigration, crime, spending, taxes, scandal. Plenty of core Republican issues for Huckabee's fellow candidates to attack him on. As Huckabee soars to a 22% lead in Iowa, and pulling closer to Giuliani in the national polls, the mud is beginning to fly -- and rightfully so. Today Romney released a TV spot in Iowa attacking Huckabee's immigration record as governor. We all know Iowans are notoriously anti-negative ads, so it might not play well in that state, but it should have an impact on the national scene especially if Romney hopes to pull away any Huckabee voters in other early primary states.

Huckabee's role in the granting of clemency to convicted rapist Wayne Dumond is beginning to work it's way to the surface, now clearly in the sights of the MSM. Thanks to conservative journalist who have been pushing this story since the summer (see Byron York's piece in National Review some months back) and continue to do so now with the help of folks like Tom Edsall, et al (see the main page of the Huffington Post as of 10:00am).

Clemency, or excessive pardons along with immigration are the two easiest attack routes on Huckabee from within the GOP. Taxes and spending attacks go nowhere in a party that lacks the constituency that cares enough about limited government (at least as of now). That's not say that more Club for Growth type attacks won't still be mounted; it's just I don't think it's a winning strategy for a Rudy or a Mitt to use on Huckabee. Stay with immigration (even if the candidate lobbing the mud is suspect himself on immigration) and the easy soundbites like he "released a rapist from prison to murder". How does that not work?

What I find interesting -- or what I think will become the deciding factor in whether Huckabee can make anything of this surge -- has to be his thin-skin in the political arena. Huckabee can't take criticism, from any side. In Arkansas he was terrible at dealing with journalist, using a slash and burn technique when he would have been much better off ignoring the publication or individual journalist. How will this personal characteristic work for him in national politics? Presidential politics? Not too well I think, but time will tell.

As Huckabee says, people are scared of him. The Washington establishment is scared of him, Wall Street is scared of him, normal Americans should be scared of him. He is a religious zealot/economic populist. Anti-free trade, tax and spend, nanny-stater. It's hard to find one thing, besides his fundamentalism, that matches, or should match up with the Republican Party. It's not a healthy thing for our country when Ron Paul pulls 2-5% nationally, and a candidate like Huckabee pulls 19%. Anyone who sees hope in a cash-rich, and semi-popular Paul candidacy should have that hope soundly smashed when we see Huckabee surging to become a viable candidate.

New Palmetto Poll

I'm pulling this directly from a Byron York post over at NRO. I did a quick search to see if the Clemson poll had been fully released and couldn't find it. So I'm trusting the real journalist for these numbers. Pay close attention to Ron Paul's jump in this southern state of South Carolina and Giuliani's nove dive, down to 5th place.

The poll shows Romney in the lead among Republicans with 17 percent – up from his fourth-place, 11 percent finish in the same poll in August. Fred Thompson is in second place at 15 percent, down from his first-place, 19 percent showing in August. Mike Huckabee is in third with 13 percent, well up from his fifth-place six percent in August. John McCain is in fourth place with 11 percent, down from his third-place 15 percent in August. And Rudy Giuliani – who was virtually tied with Thompson for first place with 18 percent in August – is in fifth place with nine percent in the new poll. Giuliani's nine-percentage-point drop is the biggest in the field. Finally, Ron Paul is in sixth place with six percent – up from one percent in August

6% for Paul isn't half bad in South Carolina. You figure his immigration and abortion views would play well there....But that seems awfully good for him...

An End of an Era

The last member of the Singing Senators still holding office will be resigning this year from his US Senate seat. Best news I'll hear all week.

Scary Election 2008 Moment

Mail in my inbox with the subject line: "Working to Win in '08"...Sender: President George W Bush.

Don't worry; he wasn't referring to himself, more of a whole Republican Party victory in '08.

I wasn't concerned about Bush declaring martial law and suspending elections; only that someone hadn't bothered to tell him he could only run for 2 terms.

Maybe We Need to Lose the Pedaphilia Tag...And Rob...And Cicero...And Post Titles Alluding to Obama's Penis...

Once we do that, double our readership to two dozen, we'll start getting invitations to blogger conference calls with '08 candidates. Until then, I'll just continue to put up the "Conference Call" sign on my office door every afternoon at 1, pretending I'm talking to presidential candidates; when in reality I'm racking up international phone bills on Vietnamese phone sex. Leaving you readers with notes from other bloggers who are actually on conference calls with queers like Mike Huckabee. Enjoy.

"One of the reasons that I got the endorsement of the machinist union. … Further complicated by the buying up of currency. … Free trade is a great thing … but if it is not fair trade, it is not free trade. … Violations of human rights and disregard of the environment. … We do expect them to treat workers with respect. … A regulatory system that is more effect and more like ours. …Protect this country."

[...]

"I am supported by the true economic conservatives. … I believe that risk ought to be rewarded. .. The attacks come from special interest groups who have an interest in protecting a certain segment. … One of the reasons that I support the Fair Tax is that it doesn’t pick winners and losers. … When we have reforms on tax policy, it ought not be good for a few CEOs and hedge fund managers .. but for everybody. …Hedge fund managers make 2200 times what the average worker makes. … Hundreds of millions of dollars in instant profit… As a Christian, not just an economic issue, but a moral issue. When you have real success, you share it with the people who helped you.

Full thing here.

Craig Not Going Down Quietly

The Republican Party really is imploding. Looks like the rumors of Craig reconsidering his resignation are true:

CBS/AP) To the dismay of fellow Republicans, Sen. Larry Craig launched a determined drive to save his seat on Wednesday, vowing to stay in office if allowed to withdraw his guilty plea in a men's room sex sting.

[...]

“It is my intent to fight the case before the Ethics Committee while I am a sitting Senator. I would prefer to have that case resolved on its merits.

“The letter sent today from the Committee to Senator McConnell does not address the arguments laid out by my attorney earlier today. I hope that Committee addresses those arguments sooner, rather than later, so that I can have my name cleared.”

Craig's decision to deploy his legal team marked a reversal of his pledge to resign on Sept. 30, and raised the possibility of a protracted legal and political struggle, much of it playing out in public, with gay sex at its core.

That sound you just heard was a collective "Fuck You" from every Congressional Republican..Full article here.

Looking Grim for House GOP

Via a Corner post:

Things look mighty grim for the House GOP right now. A Republican source tells me that if the election were held today, they would probably lose more than ten seats. I cannot disagree with that assessment.

Sounds about right. But if there is a group of people who know how to ruin opportunities worse than Democrats, I'd love to hear about them.

Baltimore GOP Presidential Debate Set to Go..Thompson Looking Forward to Debating Himself

From the Sun:

WASHINGTON - The organizers of a Republican presidential debate in Baltimore next month said yesterday that the event is on, even though the leading contenders haven't agreed yet to attend.

The nationally televised forum would probably feature one of the first debate appearances by Fred Thompson, if, as expected, the actor and former Tennessee senator declares his candidacy next month and if the event comes off, as planned, Sept. 27.

To date, a number of leading Republican contenders - including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. John McCain of Arizona - have not agreed to take part, according to their campaigns.

Full article here.

Mike Huckabee?

I'm not in a position to criticize bloggers for saying outrageous things. Turns out, if you go back through the archives, I've written some pretty awful things. Still though, I have the refuge of knowing that rarely if ever, am I sober when posting. So that's my excuse -- What's Jim Henley's?

Meanwhile, let me be the first to predict that Mike Huckabee will be the Republican nominee for President - or close to the first.

Humm...How's that?

He scores high on likeability. He’s conservative as such things are defined today, with a longer track record of support for Christian Right issues than the current front-runners. The Mormon and the cross-dresser make spectacularly flawed candidates to “the base,” and I suspect that Fred Thompson, if he runs, will turn out to be too transparently stupid even for the GOP. The cat has already curled up on the bed of the McCain campaign. Tancredo and Brownback aren’t TV-friendly. The 26%ers despise Ron Paul.

That's just plain silly. Huckabee is a nobody candidate, with no support or name recognition nation-wide. Tancredo won't win because he is fucking nuts and everyone knows this. Brownback is a nobody with zero political skills (See the way he handled the immigration debacle in the Senate---In the worst possible way.) I'd say Ron Paul has a better shot at the nomination than Huckabee. Not that I think Ron Paul has a shot, but I'm saying that you could see a scenario like a 1964 possibly evolving. Huge odds against it, it won't happen, but at least a candidate like Paul has an opening. Same thing with Gingrich. If anyone has a shot at this thing besides the top three candidates (which I don't think is the case) it's gotta be Gingrich. Him or Thompson. My guess would be Gingrich. And I don't say that because I agree with Jim or the CW that Thompson is an empty suit -- I highly doubt he's any dumber than our average politician. I go with Gingrich because I don't think Thompson -- politically that is -- is ready for a presidential election...and I'm talking about the primaries here. The guy hasn't even formally announced and he's gone through three campaign managers. When he's questioned he has a look -- not of a moron -- but of a candidate who has never been prepared for a question. My guess -- he runs out of steam early.

Let me make one last point about something that annoys the fuck out of me. Giuliani can and most likely will be the Republican nominee for President. He is by far the strongest guy in the field for both the primary and the general election. How it's possible for the front runner, who has consistently been leading the rest of the field by 8-10 points for the past year, to be looked at not as the front runner is mind-boggling. Plain stupid. My opinion, and my opinion only, is that the case against Giuliani is being way overstated. Again politically. Please don't berate me about how he is going to be the next totalitarian President of our great country. Don't care about that. Right now I'm only concerned with who will win and who won't. And there is no reason he won't, barring a collapse of course, but the guy is a strong politician in every way. To act like his support will vanish once people learn about his stances on abortion, gun control, gay rights, etc. is foolish. People are worried about it and are talking about it. But his numbers stay steady and they only increase if McCain dies. And by dies, I actually mean dies. Have you seen the him lately? Yikes. As for the base; right now it's all about the wars. War on Terror and the Iraq War. Once you get past that, it's who can beat Hillary.

SC State Treasurer Blows His Chances for Senatorial Run

Charleston Post and Courier:

State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel was indicted Tuesday on charges of cocaine possession and intent to distribute it. Gov. Mark Sanford immediately suspended him from state office.

[...]

At a press conference late Tuesday, South Carolina Law Enforcement Department Chief Robert Stewart said Ravenel emerged as a participant in an ongoing cocaine sting in Charleston County. He said Ravenel was charged with possession and was sharing — not selling — powder cocaine with an undisclosed number of people.

All of the charges stem from incidents that date back into 2005, meaning Ravenel was in possession of cocaine during his 2006 campaign for state Treasurer. He defeated longtime incumbent Grady Patterson in that race.

This guy was supposed to be a rising GOP star in South Carolina. These indictments might have an impact on his career. Via The Corner. Full article here.

McCainLikesCock.com Still Avaliable

Via Johnathan Martin at the Politico:

June 14, 2007

McCain buys anti-Romney URL

In another sign of John McCain's plan to assault former Mitt Romney over his alleged flip-flops, the Arizona senator's campaign has purchased the website "www.mittvsfact.com" and will launch it in the coming weeks as a compendium of what they say are the former governor's differing stances.

In all fairness Romeny has held about 12 views on every issue, so the URL isn't far off the mark; but McCain has been drilling Romeny, and news like this means that his campaign isn't planning on stopping anytime soon. McCain can only allow himself to fall so far behind in this race. Personally, I think he's on a sinking ship that has no chance of recovering.

In the Mailbox

Just received an e-mail Mel Martinez. THE Mel Martinez. Not the Mel I met over craiglist. Or maybe it is...Either way, I like Latinos. I like 'em well. [emphasis mine]

Dear Rob,
Alberto Gonzales is a man of integrity and high ethical standards. He has pledged to cooperate with Congress and I am confident he will. I have said that it is irresponsible to pronounce judgment on the replacement of the U.S. Attorneys before we have the facts. Unfortunately, some would prefer to make political pronouncements instead of getting the facts.

Sure Mel. "Integrity" and "high ethical standards." That's Al. Cicero pretty much summed up my own feelings on this scandal, issue, or whatever we are calling it now.

My own thought(s)--and--to begin with, I'm still young and working a lot of things out. Like whether I like boys or girls, if a lion could take a tiger, if the challenges of a small cock can be overcome, and most important -- if I care about scandals. I really would like to say I don't, but that seems a bit high-minded for someone who enjoys following Lindsay Lohan's antics. However, in this case it doesn't matter, I really care how this one ends up; if only because I want the hack out of the AG's office, and his political career badly damaged. This might be my best chance.