Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sunday Talk Review-CNN Late Edition (Canis Lupus and some favorite governors)

Gov. Mike Huckabee stole the show. The Canis Lupus certainly owed Gov. Huckabee a serious interview and a chance to defend his record. Today, albeit with a smaller audience, Huckabee got a first rate interview on CNN.

Huckabee was at the top of his game this morning. His discussion of Iraq, and its relationship to the overall War on Terror, and most importantly, the consequences of defeat in Iraq to the rest of history, has become more specific and aggresive. Earlier in the year Huckabee ducked those questions and now he takes them straight up and answers in a Presidential manner.

Huckabee did a good job of explaining why Guantanamo is still used as a prison. An American President has to understand that we have to do something with the terrorists that we pick up around the world. The Geneva Convention actually allows them to be shot, which I favor, but Gov. Huckabee is willing to settle for continued incarceration off-shore.

Finally, his relationship to the immigration bill seems to have evolved over time. Huckabee’s charm allows him some wiggle room on immigration. He is comfortably occupying a good position on the issue-unlike Senatorial opponents Brownback and McCain he, like Rudy, Tommy and Fred don’t have to actually evidence their position with a vote.

The short interview with Jerry Brown, formerly Governor and now Attorney General of California, was entertaining. Jerry is about as blunt as they come. He’s also a smart guy who unfortunately hit his political jackpot at a too young age. Brown’s latest issue is energy independence. Brown has never been reluctant to admit error so I wonder if he thinks some of the environmental restrictions on energy policy, like preventing the construction of any new refineries in the United States since the 1970s, have contributed to energy dependence.

Evan Bayh and Jon Kyl were on hand to give further Senatorial obfuscation to the Senate immigration debate. The disagreements between centrist Democrats (like Bayh) and what could quickly become a consensus Republican position does not appear very great. Maybe it is but I’ve gotta believe that Dems who won in Republican states and districts in 2006 (Tester in Montana, Webb in Virginia) are hearing pretty much the same thing from constituents as I’ve been hearing for the last several weeks on this issue-only they’re hearing it by the thousands.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree we should do something with any terrorists we "pick up" around the world. But what should be done with the hundreds of non-terrorists held without cause at Guantanamo? Five years without knowing the charges against the captives? This is un-American.

What does Huckabee think about haebeus corpus? Does he think the Pres should have the power do declare citizens "enemy combatants" and hold them indefinitely without charge?

desmoinesdem said...

Huckabee is the Republican I would least like to run against in the general. He would be a very strong candidate.

It's amazing to me that the GOP moneymen won't give Huckabee the time of day and have given Romney and Giuliani tons of cash. The pro-choice, pro-gay rights New Yorker whose personal life is a train wreck and the flip-flopping Mormon from Massachusetts would be very weak general election candidates.

Anonymous said...

Thanks DSM Dem, that was what we adults like to call "transparent".

NEXT

Anonymous said...

here's what I don't get about the mccain and rudy. how can you be the front runner, and concede defeat on the first contest?

Anonymous said...

The straw poll did what it was supposed to do. It is a test of strength of campaign, both in organization and in message.

Clearly, Rudy and McCain assessed their situations, realized they couldn't compete in Iowa because they haven't made the sale to Iowans, and conceded defeat.

Iowans are not buying what they are selling. So, we did what we are supposed to do. The straw poll remains a test of strength, and clearly, McCain and Rudy failed it.

None of us are surprised. The straw poll is the ultimate grassroots event. It will remain so.

Anonymous said...

Who is Mike Mahaffey and why do reporters keep interviewing him about current events within the party? How long ago was he involved in Iowa politics??????? A decade or two? Time to update the contact list.

Anonymous said...

At the debate, McCain referred to conservatives in his party - as if he wasn't one.

Then, yesterday morning during his interview, he again separated himself from "the conservatives in his party who are anti-immigrant", again, as if he is not a conservative.

Plus, he's a stupid ignorant liberal if he thinks that is the reason conservatives, republicans and centrist democrats (Evan Bayh, for instance) are against it.

He's been trying to sell to conservatives that he is a conservative. So, if he's not a conservative, just what is he?

Maybe we Iowans understand McCain and that's why he admits defeat in Iowa.

Anonymous said...

Will the staff who works for McCain hit him over the head with a baseball bat until he finally understands that the reason people are against his anti-national security illegal amnesty bill has nothing to do with being anti-immgrant?

Perhaps making that bill all about amnesty for illegal immigrants rather than about national security is why he's getting the reaction. He's not paying attention. He does NOT UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE!

Anonymous said...

Which Presidential candidate said the following:

I can tell you that it is a part of my daily prayer to, when I pray, to ask the Lord to give me the strength to see the difference between what I want to do and what he wants me to do, and to give me the strength to do his will and not my will.

I sin every single day. We are all sinners. We all fall short, which is why we have to ask for forgiveness from the Lord.

I do think there’s evil in the world. I think that, when planes crash into buildings and kill innocents, there’s evil there.

But I think your — your faith guides you every day. Certainly, mine does. But, at those moments in time when you’re tested, it — it is absolutely essential that you be grounded in your faith.

Oddly, there seems to be little outrage from the MSM and the liberal elite. It is odd because they usually trip over themselves to condemn any positive reference of a western religion made by Republicans.

Afterall, we remember Howard Dean, chairman of the intolerant-wing of the Democrat Party, calling the Republican Party the “White Christian Party”. These statements would seem to confirm that.

Not to be outdone, the head of the famously partisan “civil rights” group the NAACP said the Republican leaders represent the “Taliban-wing of the Republican Party.”

There’s no outrage because these statements were made by Democrats.

Liberals are silent because no one really thinks the Democrat presidential candidates actually believe this.

The MSM and the liberal elite know that this is nothing more than a cynical ploy by the Democrats trick “values-voters” into supporting them.

Anonymous said...

Here's what RealClearPolitics has to say about McCain and the straw poll.

Interesting strategy since McCain will still be on the ballot. The only difference is that McCain will not be speaking to the public,such as National FOX News, etc. like all of his competitors, including NEWT!

His voters will still be there. He can't pull out. He can't claim he didn't play. He just didn't pay for tickets, which he never had to do in the first place. Sounds like dumb strategery to me, but I'm not a professional.

John McCain: The conventional wisdom is that Iowa voters still resent McCain for not competing in their state in 2000, but the Senator's problems are more current than that.

Iowans bristle at his support of immigration reform and, even more important, he has yet to spend enough time there to try and counteract such negative impressions.

His lack of funds and relatively sparse number of visits, however, is somewhat balanced by a formidable organization, one that includes Iowa native Terry Nelson as campaign manager.

McCain's decision to stay out of the straw poll is largely an economic one — enabled politically by Giuliani's choice — but having already raised expectations with some initial visits to the state, he can't afford to completely ignore Iowa this time around.

A win there means his shot at the nomination is suddenly more likely than it's been in a year;

...a close second means he's set to take New Hampshire and the momentum that comes with it to South Carolina, where he's also strong;

... and a third place showing means he's done.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that McCain's only hope at reviving his free-falling campaign is to compete in the straw poll. He's going to do even worse than third.

Anonymous said...

More analysis on pulling out of Iowa by RealClearPolitics.

Rudy Giuliani: Six visits to the state show that Giuliani at least knows where Iowa is.

But as a national figure who polls remarkably well, "America's Mayor" has made no secret of his emphasis on Florida and other "Super-Duper Tuesday" states over the traditional first three.

Strategists in rival campaigns simply note that garnering the nomination this way would upset the calendar once and for all.

To the extent he does decide to take on the state, Giuliani's chances in Iowa are hampered by a slight tin ear for the rhythms of the heartland: it's not just his support of abortion rights and his colorful personal life, but missteps like his advance staff reneging on an event with an Iowa farmer who turned out not to be rich enough to help illustrate Giuliani's stance in support of abolishing the estate tax.

Anonymous said...

Mitt Romney: He's spent the most time there of all the Republican frontrunners, and more money than anyone else in both parties — almost a million dollars in media buys across the state, designed to "introduce" and define the candidate before anyone else gets a chance.

So far, it's seems to be working: An average of all the current Iowa polls has the relative newcomer with a slim lead over John McCain, who skipped the state entirely in 2000.

But, as with Edwards, Romney's conspicuous embrace of Iowa means he has to do more than simply win. What's more, his lead there is more precarious than that of Edwards.

His high polling comes in a vacuum — no other campaign has yet launched a serious negative attack on him in the state.

Anonymous said...

Fred Thompson: Thompson is unlikely to participate in the Straw Poll — it simply comes too soon after the birth of his official campaign.

But he has a strong incentive to compete in the caucuses. With no ground work or organization, he still manages to cut Romney's top-place polling lead in half.

A Thompsonless poll by the Des Moines Register has Romney in first with 30 percent. Include Thompson, as in an American Research Group poll, and Romney drops to 16 percent.

McCain and Giuliani, by contrast, actually benefit from including Thompson in polls. Thompson has signaled his intention to run an atypical race, depending largely on the Internet and other media rather than actually traveling,? and that approach that could sit badly with Iowans who expect facetime.

But a minimal investment of time would be well worth it if it does enough to knock out Romney and narrow the field of social conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton loves to tell whoppers.

Her latest: she has played "pickup basketball.”

It’s the latest in tall-tale fibs she has been spinning to make herself more likeable to voters.

The New York Times revealed Hillary’s problem in a feature article this weekend headlined "Hillary Clinton Searches for Her Inner Jock.”

Hillary’s MySpace page claims she is a "speedwalker” also with using her leisure time to do "crossword puzzles, Scrabble and gardening.”

This spells B-O-R-I-N-G.

The Times quotes one Hillary donor explaining the dilemma: "How does 59-year-old Mama run against sexy [Barack] Obama?”

One way may be to play "make believe.”

But her "pickup basketball” story appears to be a feeble effort to play catch up with Obama’s athleticism. He does play basketball, along with vigorous and frequent workouts at the gym.

For sure, Hillary has a propensity to make things up when she gets into a political bind.

Among Hillary’s more hilarious claims:

She was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. who climbed Mount Everest.

She was a Yankees fan when she lived in Chicago.

She told upstate New Yorkers she had been a "duck hunter.”

She claimed on Sept. 11 daughter Chelsea was jogging around the World Trade Center.

Anonymous said...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed two national co-chairs for her presidential campaign -- including a former U.S. District Court judge who was impeached.

Alcee Hastings said a second Clinton in the White House would make the country "a much better place for the African-American community, Floridians and all Americans."

Hastings was U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida from 1979 to 1989, until he was impeached and removed from office for corruption and perjury.

He was only the sixth federal judge to be impeached and removed from office in American history. He ran successfully for the U.S. House in 1992.

Anonymous said...

Fred Thompson has a great opportunity to show up in Ames, speak and walk away with whatever votes he gets as a net gain. He will be speaking to close to half of all caucus voters in one location and it is the best time anyone could ever ask for to steal support from other candidates including the seven dwarfs who only half support their non-big 3 candidate for lack of a Fred Thompson or Newt in the race.

There are literally zero expectations for Fred to meet and exceed at the Ames Straw Poll. Its a win-win for him just to show up. And I'm guessing Iowa republicans will be as grateful to Fred for saving the straw poll and the caucuses as they are pissed at McCain for twice screwing them.

Anonymous said...

Via the Dallas Morning News :

Noncitizens likely voted in Bexar County

DA investigating as many as 330 people in election fraud case
Dozens of non-U.S. citizens may have voted in Bexar County elections, a county elections official reported, prompting an investigation by federal and local authorities.

The names of 330 noncitizens on the voter rolls were reported by Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen.

Those named had received jury duty summonses but told the court they weren't eligible to serve because they were not U.S. citizens.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, requested Mr. Callanen's report in an administrative subpoena. And the Bexar County district attorney's office is investigating whether as many as 41 of those noncitizens voted in more than a dozen local, state and federal elections since 2001.

"You bet your bottom dollar we'll prosecute ... if we find people voted illegally in violation of the state election code," Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said.

The 330 names have since been removed from voter rolls, Mr. Callanen said.

Federal authorities also requested similar voter data from election officials in Harris, Tarrant and El Paso counties, Mr. Callanen said.

But Ms. Pruneda declined to discuss the scope of the federal inquiry.

Imagine how many more will cast ballots if the Bush-Kennedy shamnesty gets through. But hey, what's the problem?

One man's "non-U.S. citizens" with fraudulent voting records and false citizenship claims are another man's "undocumented Americans," after all. Right, Sen. Reid?"

Anonymous said...

interesting that Yoda disappeared the same day that Krusty Konservative disappeared. did anyone ever see them together?

Anonymous said...

Monday, June 11, 2007 11:06 a.m. EDT

Fred Thompson May Enter Iowa Straw Poll

Aides to Fred Thompson have had repeated conversations with Iowa Republicans about him possibly competing in the straw poll in August.

"They want to know what it's going to look like, how the voting works, the logistics of it and how the program works in general," said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa.

Laudner said the conversations began a couple of weeks ago, and the most recent was at the end of last week after two prominent contenders, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, announced plans to skip the August straw poll in Ames, Iowa.

Thompson, the former Tennessee senator, has formed a presidential exploratory committee and is expected to join the GOP race this summer. His late entry and delayed start in raising money made it less likely that he would compete in the Aug. 11 straw poll.

The potential of Thompson participating in the contest had Republicans upbeat.

"People are going to turn out to see him," Laudner said "Absolutely we have been talking to them."

Anonymous said...

The attempt to downplay the straw poll by Mr. Giuliani and Mr. McCain may not work, however.

The imminent entrance into the race of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson may transform the straw poll into a different kind of event.

Indeed, this may now be just the opportunity Mr. Thompson and his campaign need to demonstrate his support and credibility at a vital moment in the contest.

The large field of candidates has a frontrunner and a first tier, but no one is in a command position.

The combination of frontloading the primaries, and the large number of credible candidates has raised the possibility that the Republican nomination will not be decided until the GOP convention next September in St. Paul, Minn.

Mr. Thompson's imminent entrance into the race only increases this possibility.

If Mr. Gingrich enters the race in October, it might become highly probable that there will be no nominee until the convention.

But the straw poll now takes on a new importance.

It could become the vehicle that makes Mr. Thompson the new frontrunner.

Should Mr. Thompson actually upset Mr. Romney and win the straw poll (or come in a close second), the publicity could be a turning point in the contest.

The rationale for Mr. Giuliani's withdrawal from the straw poll was that he needed to marshall his energy and resources elsewhere. Mr. McCain's strategy may be equally smart.

But in the multicandidate chess game this 2008 cycle, there are always unintended consequences possible from every significant decision that is made.

No one suggests that the Iowa Caucus is dispositive to the GOP nomination. It has been, on the other hand, a colorful and celebratory occasion that formally opens the Republican presidential season.

Unlike the scheduled Fox News Channel Democratic presidential debate, however, individual candidates cannot "will it away" by not showing up.

Candidates, eager for public attention, will be there, Iowa Republicans will be there, and the media will be there.

There will be a "winner" and there will be lots of media stories.

And who knows, it may be more important than we thought it would be.

Anonymous said...

And who knows, it may be more important than we thought it would be.

Anonymous said...

Ted -
I appreciate your scientific naming of the "Wild Kingdom" host of Tuesday's debate on CNN.

Not to be outdone by the Clinton News Network, we have some "critters" running around here in Iowa last week also.

Crotalus atrox slithered around Iowa attempting to deliver a venomous bite to Iowa's First in The Nation status.

Gallus gallus struggled mightily in the land of "look you in the eye questioning" and having relied on Crotalus atrox for support and protection returned to his coop back east - near the next struggle.

Finally, Meleagris gallapavo. This species wandered into the arena years ago, claiming a course that was true as an arrow. But after losing several handfuls of feathers and seeing the movement of Gallus gallus, he uttered
"Muchos Gratias" and headed east also.

The Iowa Straw Poll, just like centuries and centuries of time, has sorted out the weaker species, and left only the survivors - the strong and the resolute. It sorted out the species that could not compete with ethe environment and other species in the jungle. It sorted out Gallus gallus and Meleagris gallapova before they were completely introduced into the jungle. They will try to survive in less threatening jungles in the east.

As for Crotalus atrox, he has been removed from the political jungle of Iowa forever.

Only one question will remain: Will the thoroughbred Equus caballus come racing into Iowa?

Anonymous said...

That is hysterical.

desmoinesdem said...

LOL, get a life staffers thinks I was trying to trick you people. Did you see the post-NH debate poll of Republicans that showed Huckabee with the greatest rise in likeability following that debate? He does very well on tv, and probably with a live audience too, given his background as a preacher.

Since he hasn't been in Congress, we wouldn't be able to saddle him with voting for everything Mr. 30 percent Bush has ever asked for.

But please, please, pay no attention to me and nominate Rudy McRomney!

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