Meet a Huckabee Supporter

Heh.

A Southern Baptist preacher who endorsed GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee on church letterhead said Wednesday he was being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for mixing religion with politics.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the IRS. Drake later lashed out at them in an Aug. 14 press release and urged his supporters to direct "imprecatory prayer" toward two of the group's officials, Joe Conn and Jeremy Leaming.

He gave as examples of imprecatory prayer: "Persecute them. ... Let them be put to shame and perish" and "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

I'm not entirely sure that's what Jesus would do.

The Hipocrypha

Remember the bleeding-edge irony of the Democrats cutting states out of their primary process for not playing by the rules?

Democrats, 2000: How could this happen? Voters clearly chose Al Gore, who cares what the stupid, arcane rules say? We should obviously abolish the electoral college. We need to do more to make sure every vote is counted, no matter what. Bush wasn't elected, he was selected by the courts.

Democrats, 2007: How could this happen? Who cares what Florida and Michigan voters want to do? We have stupid, arcane rules that they must obey, and the primary process is a sacred institution of our party. We shouldn't have to count their votes if they don't play by the rules. We'll see you in court!

Remember the enhanced hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton changing her mind and demanding that Florida votes be counted, once she found out she was losing elsewhere?

Harold Ickes, a top adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign who voted for Democratic Party rules that stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates, now is arguing against the very penalty he helped pass.

In a conference call Saturday, the longtime Democratic Party member contended the DNC should reconsider its tough sanctions on the two states, which held early contests in violation of party rules. He said millions of voters in Michigan and Florida would be otherwise disenfranchised - before acknowledging moments later that he had favored the sanctions.

Campaigning in Wisconsin after Ickes' remarks, Clinton echoed his contention that a suitable arrangement could be worked out to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations.

Now? Hillary Clinton admits she doesn't really care what the voters want, as long as she wins.

A top strategist to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Saturday countered the recent claims of some prominent Democrats that party elders would be wrong to override the will of their constituents in their choice for the Democratic presidential nominee.

In a phone call with reporters, Harold M. Ickes, argued that the 796 so-called superdelegates who could decide the party's White House nominee were as much or "potentially more in touch" with the issues important to voters than the delegates amassed by the candidates through state primaries and caucuses.

At least the superdelegates won't be so easily "baffled" by their paperwork.

The two-step ballot required nonpartisans who wanted to vote in the [California] Democratic primary to mark two bubbles on the ballot – one for the party and the second for the candidate.

While most voters did, an estimated 49,500 were unable to solve the puzzle.

Then again, maybe they will.

One of the 10 handwritten ballots cast for president carried the name of vice presidential candidate John Edwards (actually spelled "Ewards" on the ballot) rather than Kerry.

There was stunned silence after the announcement that Edwards had gotten a vote for president, but none of the 10 [Minnesota] electors volunteered that they voted for Edwards as a protest, nor did anyone step forward to admit an error.

If liberals can't handle handwritten ballots... One has to wonder if Clinton supporters will be willing to mire Obama in claims of a "stolen election".

Hillary = Fail

So does this mean Clinton's campaign manager has to commit seppuku? Will James Carville be his second? Is this something Americans would pay to see on live television?

On the other hand, FOX News should use this soundbite as a promo for the rest of the election season:

In a surprising admission, Hillary Clinton says Fox News Channel has actually been fairer to her presidential campaign than liberal MSNBC.

What are some other sentiments Clinton could express to make her supporters' heads explode?

"Most of the 47 million uninsured in this country are either illegal immigrants or people who choose to self-insure."

"The reason gasoline prices are so high is because we choose to pay high gasoline prices."

"What did you think was going to happen when you signed a mortgage you didn't understand and couldn't afford?"

"I'm endorsing Ron Paul."

Meanwhile, Joel Stein ponders how to keep the momentum moving:

The best we Obamaphiles can do is to refrain from embarrassing ourselves. And I do believe that we can resist making more "We Are the World"-type videos. We can resist crying jags. We can resist, in every dinner argument and every e-mail, the word "inspiration." Yes, we can.

No, they can't. A is A.

Update: Hillary Clinton is dealing with her terrible loss to Barack Obama by pretending it isn't happening:

Texas needs a president who actually understands what it's going to take to turn the economy around, to get us universal health care, to save hardworking Americans homes from foreclosure at the abusive practices of the mortgage companies.

...to warn Americans to learn to read contracts.

I see an America where everyone willing to work hard has a job with a rising income. And if you're willing to work full-time, you have wages that lift you out of poverty. I want to make sure every American who works full-time has a minimum wage of at least $9.50.

With the massive inflation a $9.50 minimum wage would drive, I fully expect wages would rise, struggling to keep up with prices. She's even harping on ethanol, a known scam, as a solution to our dependence on oil.

It'll be especially stimulating if I spend it at a strip club.

I see Congress has approved the $150,000,000,000 "economic stimulus" package. It includes $300 for those who don't earn enough to pay taxes, which is great, because we all know how responsible people are with windfall money. Flashback:

Lawmakers expressed outrage Wednesday over a federal audit report that debit cards handed out to hurricane victims last year were used to buy such items as a $200 bottle of champagne from Hooters and $300 worth of 'Girls Gone Wild' videos.

The cards -- given to people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- also bought diamond jewelry and a vacation in the Dominican Republic, according to the Government Accountability Office audit.

The GAO uncovered records showing $1,000 from a FEMA debit card went to a Houston divorce lawyer, $600 was spent in a strip club, and $400 bought 'adult erotica products,' all of which auditors concluded were 'not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs.'"

Something tells me most people won't be using this money to pay off their personal debts, anymore than they did their regular tax refunds. IMAO's artist's conception of the plan is especially funny because it's true:

The President has also requested, if there is enough spare room on the shuttle to allow it, that the last remaining copies of the Contract with America--particularly those portions dealing with a balanced budget--be tossed into space along with the stimulus cash.

Meanwhile, more fun with campaigns.

After Hammering McCain for Skipping A Stimulus Vote, Clinton Skips A Stimulus Vote

Heh.

Update: Well, yeah: "The Rob Your Kids To Buy A Big-Screen TV Act of 2008."

The King of Kings

Rhetoric from Barack Obama supporters is, perhaps, getting a little "out there".

He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh, over color, over despair.

Others are one step ahead of the game.

Although I remain an Obama supporter, I do fear that I'm allowing myself to be enchanted in an intellectually juvenile way.

So true.

We Must All Hang Together

So, contrary to what I wrote before, I'm not going to tell you why I grudgingly support Romney over McCain.

Why? If I do, some of you will maul out each other's eyes. That's not good for any of us.

I'm going to tell you two things.

1) People who think that conservative opposition to John McCain is a new phenomenon, a result of him suddenly becoming "popular and powerful", are, at the kindest, intellectually dishonest in the extreme. This means Roger L. Simon.

2) Equally, people who think Mitt Romney is "a true conservative" are kidding themselves.

Both factions are milking brown cows, promising chocolate milk to all their friends, and it's going to be mortifying when reality strikes. Everybody has valid reasons to be on the side they're on: McCain's immigration bill, Romney's lunatic health insurance plan. There's no reason to fight over which scrap we found in the garbage is the most edible. Honorable men may differ, but we can all agree that this election cycle is pretty disastrous. Coming through it with an intact libertarian conservative movement that can survive in the benighted, post-apocalyptic political landscape that may await is far too important for us to start turning on each other personally, for bloggers to quit, for people to just get frustrated and give up.

Instead, let's all band together in blaming the people who failed to support Fred Thompson.

Heh. *sigh*

Well, You Brought It Up

Mike Huckabee seems confused about the role of religion in his campaign.

"I always get asked the God questions," he said, adding that "it's really been frustrating" that people don't want to know more about his work as Arkansas governor.

That might be because by Huckabee's stated reasoning, it isn't "his" work in Arkansas. It's God's.

A Note to Ron Paul Supporters

Many Ron Paul supporters and others on the periphery of that movement seem to regard Abraham Lincoln as "liberal trash", and consider comparing someone to Lincoln to be an insult. This view is more or less shared by Paul himself.

Regardless of the merits of your arguments, both real and imagined, this may have something to do with why you aren't more popular.

Come With Mitt If You Want To Live

Just putting it out there, but I'm officially going to have to vote for Mitt Romney. More on why when I have some free time, also on why Obama is truly unacceptable.

Update: By the way, just so you understand how lukewarm I am on this, just now I was seriously entertaining the notion of deleting this post and never speaking of it again, despite it having four comments. I feel dirty.

Raging for Ron

I try to make an effort around here to give Ron Paul some of the credit he's due as an honest guy with some good ideas (and a few I think are better classified as "interesting"), but as we've discussed before, the sheer anger of some of his supporters makes them their own candidate's worst enemy. Listen to this one.

The sad part is, that caller is mistaken to invoke Jefferson on that point: Jefferson quite deliberately circumvented the need for a declaration of war against the Barbary pirates by sending a fleet into the Mediterranean, with orders to use force as needed to defend themselves and American shipping (given the situation, making combat a near certainty), without telling Congress until it was too late to recall them. It's really beside the point, though, because, as I recall, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and Adams (a rather thorough sampling of the spectrum of constitutional theory among the Founding Fathers) all agreed that there is a fundamental difference between the diplomatic power to declare war (legislative) and the military power to wage it (executive), that no declaration of war was needed if a de facto state of war existed, as it might, if, say, a country were to knowingly violate it's formal ceasefire with the United States with a pointy stick on dozens of separate occasions.

Somewhere along the line, you have to admit, as a simple matter of intellectual honesty, that if Saddam Hussein hadn't wanted a war with the United States, he could have avoided it by, for example, not routinely shooting at American warplanes whose presence he had accepted as a condition of peace or not trying to blow up an American President. The problem that Paul supporters should be annoyed with is not the lack of a formal declaration of this war, but the lack of a formal and authoritative end to it in 1991, as well as the muddying involvement of the United Nations, a non-state actor that should have no place in defining war and peace.

Or, if that's just too much thinking for a Sunday afternoon, this image at SondraK's blog seems to say it all:


Maybe the flames symbolize passion.

They Make Each Other Laugh

It's dark days when the leading Republican candidate is sharing a New York Times endorsement with Hillary Clinton, the NYT celebrating that he has only "occasionally" been a conservative.

We have shuddered at Mr. McCain's occasional, tactical pander to the right because he has demonstrated that he has the character to stand on principle. He was an early advocate for battling global warming and risked his presidential bid to uphold fundamental American values in the immigration debate. A genuine war hero among Republicans who proclaim their zeal to be commander in chief, Mr. McCain argues passionately that a country's treatment of prisoners in the worst of times says a great deal about its character.

Not that I disagree with the man about prisoner treatment, but I'm forced to wonder which fundamental American values he has been upholding in the illegal immigration debate. McCain, the war hero candidate, just got the endorsement of The New York Times. If that doesn't cause the lights in your house to go dim, organ music to play, and a bolt of lightning to erupt out your window, brace yourself, because McCain apparently also has the Hillary Clinton endorsement.

"She and John McCain are very close," [Bill] Clinton said. "They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they're afraid they'd put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other."

That's not troubling. That's...not...troubling...at...all... *cough*


Update: Reader Tim in Ohio, in comments:

Hah hah! We're fucked.

Don't worry, you guys can all come live in my right-wing militia compound, once I get the fence up.

Phone Home

Dennis Kucinich, once again, is out of the race.

It's for the best: I don't think he could've survived much longer in our oxygen-rich atmosphere.

Quote of the Day

Spotted on an Illinois politics discussion board:

In Illinois, you have to pass a constitution test to graduate from high school and another one to graduate from college. I do not see that this has done any good. Democrats still get elected.

Heh.

The Sad Conclusion

NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez looks at the end of the Fred Thompson campaign.

"We need to deserve to lead. And this is what this is all about; it's about deserving to lead."

That was Fred Thompson on Saturday in South Carolina during a sincere, passionate, well-grounded speech that sounded like his farewell to the campaign trail. With his announcement Tuesday afternoon that he has withdrawn his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, we now know it was. It was a bittersweet moment for any conservative who had been watching his campaign and wished it had been a more effective one earlier in the process. It was also a moment for the ages - one that every civics class in America should reflect upon: Politics is about policy and service to this great nation; that's what makes the campaign worthwhile. That's why you put up with the trophy-wife slanders and Chris Matthews's questions.

Read the whole thing. I didn't support Fred Thompson's campaign because I expected him to win, I supported Fred Thompson's campaign because he believed he should, and that seems to be true of every single person I know who lined up behind him. That example, set well by both the Thompson and Paul campaigns, should be something Republicans take home with them from 2008. Libertarian conservatives of all stripes have made a powerful and influential showing in this race, and should continue to do so, every single time. We should always demand candidates of good faith who share our ideological origins, the origins of the Constitution itself, and let voters go home from the polling place and sleep soundly, knowing they did right, rather than candidates who are barely restraining their authoritarianism to placate us.

Now, am I supposed to vote for Romney or McCain? *sigh*

He'd Only Allow God's Speech

It seems that Mike Huckabee doesn't approve of people being allowed to talk about him.

Over the Target

Fred Thompson attacks the Department of Justice brief calling for a weaker standard of scrutiny on the Second Amendment. Says Mike Devine: "The Constitution is written and Fred Thompson gets it." Thompson is also jumping McCain over the immigration bill, at long last.

Meanwhile, it appears Huckabee supporters are push-polling against Thompson. Classy.

Update: More on the push-polling.

You rarely see Fred Thompson get too riled about anything, but steam was near about shooting from his ears today when he heard at a campaign stop that some of his supporters had received "push poll" calls from a group supporting Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

At a steak house in this small town west of Columbia, a man in the small crowd told Thompson that many people had gotten such calls in the past 24 hours. Thompson asked anyone who had received such a call to raise his or hand. At least a dozen hands shot up. The former senator said he'd heard of push polls accusing him of supporting partial birth abortion.

"They're taking the most outrageous, easily disproved things that they can come up with. It's amazing to me. Its so ham-handed," Thompson said. "I had a 100 percent pro-life voting record over 8 years."

Trey Taylor, 41, told The Post that he'd gotten a call in which, after he'd revealed his preference for Thompson, a recorded voice said Thompson had lobbied on behalf of a "radical" pro-abortion organization. The recording then cited Huckabee's anti-abortion record.

Speaking with reporters, Thompson looked like he was ready to strip the bark off Huckabee.

You know what they say: Mitt Romney may be stuffing mailboxes with negative facts about Mike Huckabee, but Fred Thompson is the only candidate who's planning to stuff Huckabee himself into a mailbox.

Give Me An AMEND, Brother!

I think it's just about time for the Mike Huckabee campaign to go away:

"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards," Huckabee said, referring to the need for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Nevermind that 2,000 years of religious scholars have been unable to clearly identify any definitive list of "God's standards". God, to Mike Huckabee, "a soldier" in his army who's just "following orders", apparently finds the idea of a national ban on public smoking acceptable, state sovereignty be damned.

During the presidential campaign of 1800, Jefferson's Federalist enemies attacked him as an atheist, citing a sermon that warned: "Can serious and reflecting men look about them and doubt that, if Jefferson is elected and the Jacobins get into authority, those morals which protect our lives from the knife of the assassin, which guard the chastity of our wives and daughters from seduction and violence, defend our property from plunder and devastation and shield our religion from contempt and profanation, will not be trampled upon?"

Of course, none of it happened. The argument was a front for keeping in power the same people behind the perverted and unconstitutional Alien and Sedition acts. Jefferson went on to lead America's prosecution of a war against the Islamist Barbary pirates that, despite all factions being in agreement that no declaration of war was needed, would give modern leftists a fatal fit of apoplexy.

This weird and nebulous interpretation of government's duties to morality was a cartoonish and irrational approach then, and it remains so now. Just a couple weeks ago, Huckabee was telling us that God personally guides people to vote for him, now he's telling us that the Constitution has to be amended because, apparently, except in the Iowa caucuses, people aren't listening to his version of God. Since the Supreme Law of the Land provides no mechanism for forcing them to do so, it must be corrected to impose the federal government into elements of sovereign state law where it has never been intended to go. Trusting honest, free, voting Americans to instruct their state governments properly is insufficient. The man's only an octave away from parroting Islamist political theory.

Nevermind the "nuance" of his policies, the internal inconsistencies, or the absurdity of promoting music and the arts as "Weapons of Mass Instruction". This, right here, should be enough to drag this campaign to it's end.

Kill, Protect, Punch

New polling in South Carolina gives Fred Thompson a statistical tie with Romney and Huckabee, with only John McCain clearly ahead of the pack at 28%. The New York Times grudgingly admits to Fred's appeal:

Whether this was a new Fred Thompson, or just a sign of mirage-inducing campaign fatigue among voters, many people attending Mr. Thompson's campaign rallies here on the day after the debate reported having similar revelations.

Jim Sickles, a retired corrections officer; Natalie Bankowski, an office manager; and Maryanne Gasper, who said she was "a waitress, with two other jobs," were among a dozen people randomly interviewed who said they had been undecided or leaning toward other Republican candidates - mainly Mr. Huckabee - until Thursday night.

The question is, when is McCain going to be taken to task?

IMAO's Fred Thompson t-shirt says it all:


As the RightWingNews videos say, if Fred Thompson were President, taxes would become so depressed they'd start cutting themselves, and there would be no natural disasters, because the Earth would know better than to try that kind of crap.

Count Every Vote...Repeatedly

Dennis Kucinich, still unable to find his Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator, demands a recount in New Hampshire, because he thinks Hillary rigged the voting machines.

I could be mistaken, but wasn't the demented conspiracy theory that all the voting machines are controlled by Republicans? Did the Clintons suddenly get someone on the board of directors, or does this version involve Hugo Chavez?

He Took Huckabee's Lunch Money, Too


I find a certain irony in Huckabee's primary defense against allegations of liberalism being that he was elected "again and again" by the same electorate that elected his convicted felon of a Democratic predecessor, and, before that, Bill Clinton, the same electorate that reverted to a Democrat after he left. In fact, Arkansas has only had two other Republican governors since Reconstruction.

Which is more likely? That Huckabee brought about an anomalous decade-long love affair with Reaganite conservative principles, or that he was elected "again and again" because, as an accidental incumbent, he fit a certain mold?