Ron Paul not so crushed in Iowa?

This blog entry titled, "Ron Paul Crushed in Iowa," makes one point but the comments section has a few interesting points of its own. First, the main point ofthe original blog entry:

No surprise, of course, but some vindication for our own Michael Learmonth, who caught hell's full fury earlier for observing the obvious--that Iowa would be the beginning of the end for the president of the web.

And some of the comments:

"Crushed? Double Digits is alot better than anyone expected him to do just a few weeks ago. What about Rudy, is his campaign over now?"

"...he more than exceeded my limited expectations..."

"...it was almost a three way tie for 3rd."

"Wyoming on 01/05/2008 may be a good showing for Rep. Ron Paul (although probably little media coverage). New Hampshire, with it's libertarian leanings, may be really big for Paul. Also, I suspect that Nevada on the 19th will be good for Paul especially if N.H. is big on the 8th."

"...Lastly, Paul's fund raising has been increasing at an exponential rate and far surpasses Huckabee."

"10 percent is not crushed. 10 percent with no mainstream media coverage is impressive."

And so on. Some of the commenters seemed a bit "testy" or upset at the notion that Ron Paul should be portrayed as any sort of loser.

Yes, if 10% of the judges at a beauty pageant said I was drop-dead gorgeous, that still wouldn't get me the Miss America crown. I'd be merely dropped dead from shock, lol.

A three-way tie for third place is still third place. It ain't winnin.'

Ron Paul Doesn’t "Accept" Evolution

This is an interesting opinion put forth on an Alternet blog by Manila Ryce who is (obviously) not a Ron Paul supporter.

This line is kind of funny: "I guess Paul decided to keep Huckabee company amongst the presidential candidates who think the Flintstones was a documentary."

The blogger goes on to mention some of the paradoxes that make up the paradox that is Ron Paul... voting for the border fence while claiming to be a libertarian, for example. I don't really know enough about the Libertarian Party to understand that. I'm pretty sure that Libertarians are against any sane gun laws and they are for the legalization of marijuana but that's really all I know about them.

This one makes a little more sense: the paradox of voting against the impeachment of Dick Cheney while claiming to love the Constitution. Dick Cheney is only Public Enemy Against the American People Number Two by virtue of the fact that he is Vice-President and not sitting in the Number One spot.

I don't understand the blogger here: "He's against the occupation of Iraq, yet claims to be from Texas." Hello?

The blogger states, "Understanding Paul is like trying to nail jello to a tree..." which is another very clever turn of phrase but couldn't the same be said of almost every politician?

"Despite eyebrow-raising revelations that continue to surface, such as Paul not believing in the separation between church and state or the donations he accepts from white supremacist groups, nothing is stronger than the love a Paul fanboy has for his golden idol." Yes, I have seen this devotion in action. And why does Ron Paul not seem to mind being associated with Nazis?

The blogger finishes by making the point that Ron Paul's background in and avocation for matters scientific seems to be woefully inadequate and the American people ought to consider electing someone with "at least an elementary school understanding of what constitutes scientific fact this time around, and not someone who thinks "both sides" are equally credible [re: evolution]." I agree with that.

We've had enough of morons and I'm not necessarily speaking of intellectual capacity (although, that may play into it). If you don't respect the Constitution, you're a moron. And you shouldn't be President of the United States.

Anyway, here's a link to the blog post.

Is Huckabee his own worst enemy?

Huckabee's latest antic truly belongs in the bizarre column. It was "The Great WTF Moment" of his campaign.

It seems Romney launched an ad campaign that highlighted questionable things that Huckabee had done in his political past. All of the factual data in that ad was correct even if presented as negatives against Huckabee. Pretty much, par for the course in politics.

A source from Huckabee's own campaign said Huckabee went "white-hot" with rage over the political ad. So, Huckabee fired back with his own disturbing and nasty anti-Romney ad.

The problem with Huckabee's ad is that it was not entirely truthful. At least, Romney stuck with the facts. Huckabee, it seems, did not.

Probably, also par for the course in politics but there's just one problem when it comes to Iowans and their elections: they tend to turn against negative campaigners.

Somebody must have whispered same into Huckabee's ear so he thought to launch a preemptive strike against negative campaign ads in general by featuring his own negative campaign ad!

Are you still following this? LOL.

What Huckabee did was to hold a news conference in which he played his negative campaign ad for all the assembled media types stating something along the lines of, this is not the sort of ad he would be using in the media for his campaign.

HUH????

Dude, that's exactly what you just did! Huckabee claims he was using his negative attack ad for demonstration purposes only and not as an actual negative attack.

From the article:

Huckabee showed off the spot to the journalists, knowing full well his negative message would seep out of the room. He told the media to pay close attention.

"You're not going to get a copy of it," he warned, "so this is your chance to see it, then after that you'll never see it again."

The media laughed.

This man is indeed his own worst enemy.

READ THE ARTICLE

Kathy Griffin on Ann Coulter

What???? Now the G.O.P. is BRAGGING about illegal campaign practices???

"Voter caging," according to the Brennan Center for Justice, "is the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and using that list to purge or challenge voters’ registrations on the grounds that the voters on the list do not legally reside at their registered addresses."

The problem with all of the above is that voter caging is so extremely unreliable as an indicator of the legitimacy of a voter's right to vote that its use has been eradicated. Except by the Republicans.

And do you know why voter caging is near and dear to Republican hearts? Because they ONLY target minorities or any voting constituency they perceive as being likely to vote Democratic.

And THAT'S against the law. Republican abuse of voter caging was so extreme, the Grand Old Party was forced by federal court to sign a consent decree never to do it again.

They lied. That, and denying Americans the right to vote is a crime. But, it gets worse. Now, the Republicans are BRAGGING about it.

From "Crooks and Liars" and "Blue Tide Rising" we learn that the head of the Republican Party for the State of Kansas sent out an email bragging of the following, "To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!”

Slate.com also has a write-up on the Republican Party's attempt through voter caging to subvert yet another American election.

If you are curious about the Republican chairman whose big mouth has put the spotlight square on Republican efforts to steal America away from Americans, his name is Kris Kobach and you can learn more about him here and here. America may actually owe this bigmouth a huge debt of gratitude for being the practical whistleblower that he's turned out to be.

Here's yet another instance of Karl Rove and his bot interfering with the 2004 election. It begins: "For years, Tim Griffin, the former aide to Karl Rove who’s been at the center of the U.S. attorney controversy, has been dogged by allegations that he was a part of a 2004 scheme to block African-Americans in Florida from voting."

This article poses the very believable scenario that Tim Griffin, Karl Rove protege and champion vote-supressor, was persuaded to withdraw his name from Senate consideration to be permanently appointed as a United States attorney purely to avoid having to answer questions under oath about his illegal voter-suppression activities.

Then there's this article about Mr. Griffin's illegal activities on behalf of his master, Karl Rove.

And here's another report on how the Republicans are focusing on disenfranchising minority voters in Ohio and Florida for the 2008 election.

The PBS program, "Voter Caging & Housing Works" attempts to answer the following: "Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? This week NOW examines documents and evidence that points to a Republican Party plan designed to keep Democrats from voting, allegedly by targeting people based on their race and ethnicity with key battleground states like Ohio and Florida of particular interest." Here is their video (in addition to the linked article).

The PBS program makes reference to David Iglesias, one of the fired U.S. Attorneys, who was ordered to go out "fishing" for likely targets for voter caging and when all his investigating failed to turn up enough dirt, he was fired. Here is that interview with David Iglesias.

RELATED LINKS:

E-mails between National Republican Party headquarters and Ohio State Republican Party officials about plans to challenge voters in Ohio [pdf]

List of people in the Cleveland, Ohio area who the Republicans planned to stop on Election Day, 2004 [pdf]

Guidebook for Republicans interested in becoming poll monitors[pdf]

"Truth About Voter Fraud"

BBC: "New Florida vote scandal feared" by Greg Palast

"In 2004, BBC reporter Greg Palast obtained two e-mails -- prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director -- that listed '1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas' of the Jacksonville, FL Naval Air Station. Palast explains: "Here's how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, 'Do not forward', to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as 'undeliverable.'"

SO THE REPUBLICANS SUNK SO LOW THAT THEY SOUGHT TO DISENFRANCHISE OUR SOLDIERS. Who's the traitor now?

Here's one of those anti-American traitors...

Please, don't let them steal America again. This country belongs to the people!!! And 70% of us want the current crooked regime OUT OF THERE ALREADY!!!!

Permission is granted to repost my words in this specific article (only) on any blog or website or forum or messageboard. If you do copy this article, please keep "fair use" and "copyright" in mind and do not copy more of the excerpted articles than what you see here and please leave a link back to the original sources as I have done.

One of the 50 most loathsome people in America: YOU

One of the 50 most loathsome people in America: YOU
by John Aravosis (DC)
· 12/28/2007 03:48:00 PM ET ·

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears' children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you're going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques." You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can't spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don't want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy's doing well. You're an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn't get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn't cover. You deserve it, chump.

Strange... this post very much describes the majority of posters at the Bully Pulpit forum at Delphiforums. They become apopletic with insane rage if you suggest they follow the Golden Rule... you know, if you wouldn't like it if someone hijacked your own threads because they politically disagreed with you and if you didn't like it when people launched personal attacks against you, then you probably should not do that to others.

In fact, the frothing-at-the-mouth extremists at the Bully Pulpit will even insist that anyone who dares to suggest the Golden Rule ought to be a guideline for forum behavior absolutely must be banned from that forum.

They really, really hate you for posting the real facts. Truth is anathema to extremists because it is not bendable to extremist talking points.

Pity.

Well, I guess this is one endorsement Rudy won't be getting...

Rudolph Giuliani, Oxycontin Defender

One way that Rudy used his post-9/11 hero status was to go to bat for the makers of the drug Oxycontin. They were being criminally investigated for misleading the public and health care professionals about the potential dangers of using the drug. As head of Guiliani Partners, the lobbying firm hired by the Oxycontin makers, it was Rudy's job to thwart that criminal investigation. How is that representing the best interests of the American people? If he was President, what highest bidder would he sell us out to as George Bush has done vis-a-vis being owned in business by the bin Ladens and the Carlyle Group?

In western Virginia, far from the limelight, United States Attorney John L. Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team had been building a case that the maker of the painkiller OxyContin had misled the public when it claimed the drug was less prone to abuse than competing narcotics. The drug was believed to be a factor in hundreds of deaths involving its abuse.

Mr. Giuliani, celebrated for his stewardship of New York City after 9/11, soon told the prosecutors they were wrong.

In 2002, the drug maker, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., hired Mr. Giuliani and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, to help stem the controversy about OxyContin. Among Mr. Giuliani’s missions was the job of convincing public officials that they could trust Purdue because they could trust him.

READ MORE...

Rudy would never tell a lie... would he?

A Conservative Republican's View of the events of 9/11

This link leads to a short trailer for this conservative Republican's documentary (also downloadable from this page) on his view of the events of 9/11.

Perhaps his next video will be showing his proof that creationism is an earth/physical science?

Lawn work at Romney's home still done by illegal immigrants

Oh, Mitt. You've been a very bad boy. READ THE ARTICLE.

100 Examples of GOP Corruption, Lies, and Ignorance

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig

David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.

Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.

They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.

David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.

Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.

Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.

A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Also on this page:

NOVAK VOICES DOUBTS

Conservative columnist Robert Novak has raised doubts about Sen. Larry Craig's truthfulness. In his syndicated column Sept. 3, Novak wrote that "several Republican senators and staffers were not a bit surprised" by Craig's guilty plea in connection with a sex sting.

On Oct. 5, the day after Craig reversed his pledge to resign, Novak elaborated on Bloomberg Television, saying he'd spoken to several Senate sources about Craig.

"They knew about it," Novak reported. "They knew he had this problem, and it was in the closet and it was not just a homosexual relationship, it was this weird, weird conduct."

UPDATE! The number is now up to eight men.

Obama pulls ahead for Democrats in Iowa Poll

I think we are seeing a contest between Obama's "positives" versus Clinton's "negatives." Obama's main positive point is that he makes a good showing for himself as an advocate of the American family because he, himself, is a family man and treasures his loved ones. Every time he talks, this comes through and it makes people take notice of this guy.

Hillary's main negatives are that she is thought of as almost a carbon copy of George Bush when it comes to Iraq and that a vote for her is a vote for George Bush's policies and the country is sick unto death of that.

She's also got a huge negative in being thought of as a major player in the Slime Machine of American Politics. She's not much more than pond scum when it comes to that and the only thing beneath her are the scum who have actually been convicted of corruption. Never mind that they're Republicans - all pond scum is starting to look alike anymore.

If Obama gets caught with a mistress or Hillary can vault herself out of the pond and show clear evidence of having a conscience, then things may change.

Unfortunately for Obama, his JFK-esque fresh image also makes the average person wonder if he's a bit too pure for Washington and world politics. Once there, could he kick ass?

Anyway, have a peek at what the Des Moines Register has t o say:

Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses, while the party's national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has slipped to second in the leadoff nominating state, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll.

Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses, just over half of likely caucusgoers who favor a candidate saying they could change their minds.

...The lead change appears after weeks of increasing criticism of Clinton by Obama and Edwards about her position on U.S. policy toward Iran and questions of her candor.

Meanwhile, Clinton has recently begun accusing Obama of inexperience and criticizing his proposal to expand health insurance coverage.

The poll shows what has continued to be a wide gap between the top three candidates and the remainder of the field.

READ MORE OF THE ARTICLE HERE

Highlights from the CNN/YouTube GOP Debate

This is actually quite a good little collection of quips and sound bites and worth listening to if you want to get some measure of who the candidates are. I think the most genuine and honorable of the GOP candidates, as they appear on this video, are Huckabee and Ron Paul. I think Mitt Romney has the looks and style and grace of a Presidential candidate but when he turns sideways, so to speak, there's little substance there. Fred Thompson, while seemingly genuine, does not make a great impression for himself as "President material" and Rudy Guiliani comes off as the uber-slick politico and I think our country is sick unto death of the uber-slick ones.

Ha ha ha ha ha... Bernie Kerik, Character Witness

Bernie Kerik vouches for Rudy on the Shag Fund (from the Times) ...

Bernard B. Kerik, who was Mr. Giuliani’s police commissioner when some of the charges were billed, said in an interview yesterday that the security detail’s travel expenses would normally come out of the Police Department’s budget.

“There would be no need for anyone to conceal his detail’s travel expenses,” said Mr. Kerik, who was indicted earlier this month on unrelated federal tax fraud and corruption charges. “And I think It’s ridiculous for anyone to suggest that the mayor or his staff attempted to do so.”

MORE...

Well, with a character witness like Bernie vouching for you, who needs credibility?

For more info on Bernie's qualifications as an expert character witness, see, "Ultimate Kerik Scandal List."

The Rudy Canoodle Mistress Story Keeps Going... and Going... and Going...

In a previous post, I discussed how Rudy bilked New York City taxpayers for the expense of his mistress and that not-so-little item keeps growing. It seems Rudy's mistress really did use New York City Police as a taxi service:

Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

"She used the PD as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani.

Read more about it here.

Ex-NY city-mayor Ed Koch says it looks like a cover-up to him:

Koch, who served as the mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989, said that the episode gave off the appearance that Giuliani, who was at the time married to his second wife Donna Hanover, was trying to hide his affair. He also argued that providing Judith Nathan her own personal protection (when she was not a member of the first family) constituted an even more flagrant misuse of taxpayer money.

"I found it strange that his lady friend was given protection," said the long-time New York politico. "That was bizarre. She's not the city's responsibility. Rudy is the city's responsibility. Your wife and his children get protection, and that's understood. But certainly not your lady friend."

As for Guiliani's current run for President:

"I'm just amazed that Giuliani is doing as well as he's doing," said Koch. "He doesn't deserve it."

Read more about it here.

Even the NYC Comptroller states that Guiliani "stonewalled" auditors over his mistress' expenses:

City Comptroller William Thompson said Thursday his auditors were "stonewalled" by the Giuliani administration when they inquired about the unusual billing procedures, which he called "disturbing."

Read more from that story here.

Gosh, would that be equivilant to Bill Clinton billing the U.S. taxpayer for Monica's dry-cleaning bill? In other words, if this was a Democrat politician, I do believe we would be hearing the Republican screeching over it from one end of the country to the other.

Where are those upholders of family values now? Lurking in public restrooms? Donning diapers for prostitutes? Masturbating online with children? What's a Republican to do these days? The crowd of viable - and acceptable - Presidential candidates is thinning out. Who'll be the last comic standing?

Did Rudy bill taxpayers for his adulterous trysts?

You can SEE THE VIDEO of Rudy being grilled over who paid the expenses for his private security as he carried on his adulterous affair with Judy Nathan, the woman who now wants to be America's First Lady and representative of Amercan family values.

Generation Chickenhawk - fun with the College Republikkkans

Max Blumenthal takes us on a hilarious and shocking tour of the College Republican National Convention, where the GOP's next generation cheer on the war in Iraq, then make sorry excuses for why they can't serve.

LINK

Resign-O-Rama: GOP Woes Worsen

Lott's Departure Precedes Ethics Restrictions
Veteran Republicans Opt Out, Making 2008 a Tougher Fight

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is calling it quits only one year into his six-year term, giving Republican leaders one more headache as they head into an already tough 2008 election cycle.

Lott announced in Pascagoula Monday that he would resign from the Senate before the end of the year, becoming the latest in a string of prominent Republican lawmakers to leave Congress.

In the Senate, GOP veterans John Warner of Virginia, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Wayne Allard of Colorado have all, for various reasons, already decided not to seek re-election.
Those departures are more troublesome than Lott's for Republicans because Warner, Hagel, Domenici and Allard are all from battleground states.

Lott and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Ida., who opted not to resign after an embarrassing scandal but will not run for re-election next year, are both from states considered reliably Republican.

LINK

I think some of this Republican exodus is due, in part, to people trying to preserve a "personal legacy" as a lawmaker or prominent American and nobody wants their name and their body of life work to be intimately associated with Bush or even the official tie-in to the Republican Party at this time in our country's history. They have some realization that history will not be kind to Bush and his bots.

Well, and in ol' Trent's case he's got a fat lobbying career ahead of him and he has to skedaddle out of Washington to beat a deadline in order to transition to lobbyist.