2008
Posted at 10:47am on Jul. 1, 2008 Democrat Congressman Tim Mahoney (FL-16): Honoring Those Who Defended the Soviet Union [Updated]
By Jeff Emanuel
[Update-7/1/08@1012CDT: Asked about the photo by Cox Newspapers-Washington, Mahoney spokeswoman Leslie Pollner-Levey said, “We’d like more time to respond. We’re looking into it.”
That tone changed quickly. When the staff realized the magnitude of their error, Charles Halloran, Mahoney's chief of staff, had this to say: “This was an honest staff error. We deeply apologize to those who were offended and we will take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future.”
Kudos to them for being willing to "take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future." After all, getting it right the first time -- which could have been ensured had one single U.S. military veteran been shown the mailpiece supposedly "honoring" veterans before it was sent out.
Sometimes it takes a massive screw-up to teach folks to kick the laziness habit and reinforce attention to detail, I suppose.]
Tim Mahoney, freshman Democrat Congressman from Florida, really, really loves the troops. Remember last March, when he responded to questions about whether or not the 'surge' in Iraq would work by famously saying "So what"? Well, forget it -- Tim Mahoney loves the troops, and don't you dare think otherwise.
He loves them so much that he wants every person in his district to know how much he loves, and honors, the efforts, dedication, and sacrifices of those who defend our freedom.
He loves them so much that he recently sent out a taxpayer-funded mailpiece titled "Honoring Those Who Defend Our Freedom" (viewable here in .pdf form, and here with Staff Advisory Opinion attached).
Read on.
Posted in 2008 | Honoring the Red Army of Josef Stalin | Targets | Tim Mahoney — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:04pm on May 14, 2008 Poppies in Iraq and Arabs in Afghanistan: Did Barack Obama “Pull a McCain” in his SpeechTuesday Night ?
No -- What he did was far worse.
By Jeff Emanuel
You could say that Barack Obama "pulled a John McCain" with his verbal gaffes regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, Arabic-speaking translators, and the War on Terror in his May 13 speech to supporters in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
You could say that -- but you would be wrong.
“Conflating” Sunni and Shi’a?
Two months ago, pundits and politicians alike descended upon Senator McCain with accusations of confusion, a lack of touch, and even outright dishonesty when the Republican presidential nominee said that al Qaeda fighters in Iraq have been receiving funding, training, and equipment from Iran during the last year-plus of the Iraq War.
Mr. McCain "conflated" Sunni and Shi'a organizations, which clearly "represent opposing sides in the Iraqi civil war[sic]" crowed the liberal web site ThinkProgress (an outlet with its own track record of mixing up historical events).
In an ABCNews blog post entitled "Err-Jordan," reporter Jake Tapper wrote that McCain "seemed to step in it" with his assertion that Sunni al Qaeda and Shi'a Iran were working together, asking if the Senator was suffering from "jet lag." (Tapper, who has been one of the most solid reporters of this campaign season, later posted an opposing viewpoint, if not an outright correction.)
Susan Rice, then still a senior foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama (she was later relieved of the position for undermining Mr. Obama's claims that he would initiate an immediate withdrawal from Iraq if elected, and for referring to Hillary Clinton as a "monster"), called McCain's assertion "very bizarre," saying that "there is no body of evidence to suggest Iran is aiding Al Qaeda in Iraq" and noting that Mr. McCain had "made the same statement three times in as many days. Surely he must know, as Senator Lieberman reminded him, that Iran is not engaged with Al Qaeda in Iraq. I don't know if he is confused, or is he cynically trying to conflate Al Qaeda and Iran as Cheney and Bush did Al Qaeda and Iraq in 2002 and 2003?"
Read on.
Posted in 2008 | Afghanistan | Barack Obama | GWOT | inexperience | Iraq | John McCain | War | zero-sum foreign policy — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:20am on May 8, 2008 How McCain Can Win
Win The Argument
By Martin A. Knight
Victor David Hanson makes a good point here about the upcoming Presidential election; John McCain cannot beat Barack Obama by trying to blur the differences between himself and the likely Democratic nominee in a bid to win over the mushy middle.
... conservatives should reach out with conservative principles better framed and presented, rather than change the message for the perceived advantage of the hour.
What the Republicans need is not an abandonment of conservative principles, but a smarter, more articulate defense of even more conservativism, not less.
My shorter interpretation of what VDH is saying we need is this; BETTER MARKETING.
The fact is Conservative turnout in 2006 was virtually unchanged from 2004 in 2006 so blaming our booting from majority status on the 1-2% of the base that sat on their hands ON 11/7/2006 is being willfully blind. We lost because we lost swing voters (the "center") in massive numbers (70D-30R, if I recall correctly) from an essentially even 50D-50R split in the two years from 2004 to 2006. And from all indications, we still have a long way to go before we can claw our way back to narrowing it to 60D-40R later this fall.
The first step to doing that, over the long and short term, is recognizing the fact that swing voters are primarily won through the marketing, rhetoric, stagecraft, image management, Press coverage, etc. The presentation and the public persona of the candidate (including the baggage of the popular perception of the candidate's party) matters a lot more with the average "middle" voter than his/her policy positions.
It's not exactly the most flattering picture of the part of the electorate that generally gets to decide who ends up giving the concession (or in the case of Democrats - filing suit in the nearest friendly Court) or victory speech on Election Day, but there it is.
The thing to remember though, is that this is no sign of stupidity, it's a sign of disinterest.
Amongst these people are numbered some of America's smartest men and women in every field of endeavor. They are registered as Republicans, Democrats as well as Independents - what they generally have in common is that they just do not actively think of or pay anything beyond passive attention to politics until maybe a week or two before Election Day. Then everything they've absorbed over the whole cycle combines with what they're hearing at the moment - from their own subjective gut reactions to poll reports telling them who their neighbors are voting for to the disbelieving arch of the reporter's eyebrow to October Surprises - and then they go out and vote.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | how to win | McCain | Obama — Comments (84)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:32am on May 5, 2008 In choosing between the evils of two lessers, I choose Hillary
How about a controversial statement for your Monday morning?
By Erick
I think, given the choice between Barack and Hillary, we should throw our support behind Hillary.
To be sure, Hillary is a threat to our freedom and would be a disaster as President. But when judging between the evils of two lessers, we must sometimes make tough choices.
I write from the premise that, regardless of what McCain does this Presidential season, the odds are still in favor of a Democrat in the White House. And from that vantage point, I think Obama has the potential to do more long term damage to this nation than Hillary Clinton.
Hillary has an iron fist that will first pound on the Democrats and media that opposed her. It'll be close to three years in the White House before she focuses on the rest of us. Obama, on the other hand, is both a piss poor manager and is a terrible judge of character.
While Hillary values loyalty, Obama is ready and willing to throw every one of his staffers under the bus so long as he does not have to throw one of his marxist friends under the bus. Obama really seems to buy into this "change" notion and the best I can tell, his version of "change" is to effect the proletariat revolution against evil capitalists. Imagine this dude's cabinet picks -- the friends he won't throw under the bus. He'd put people comparable to Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright and his wife into positions of power. He'd have no control over these people or would choose not to control these people. While the policy positions between Hillary and Obama are not far apart, the people Obama has chosen to surround himself with in public are far to the left of Hillary. How much further left are those he surrounds himself with in private — the ones we don't know about yet?
Put simply, Hillary Clinton knows she needs the right as a foil. Obama thinks, after the revolution is complete, the right will be irrelevant. He's Jimmy Carter and Woodrow Wilson wrapped up into one incompetent package with a ready willingness to let his friends on the far left run the ship of state.
Given the choice between Hillary and Obama, I'll take the one who, at the end of the day, is in it mostly for herself over the guy who is in it to see Marx's dream made real.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | John McCain — Comments (40)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:05am on May 2, 2008 Willfully Ignorant Media Gives Obama Activist Pass to Ask McCain About the C-Word
By Erick
My, my how the media is lazy.
From our good friend Gateway Pundit we find that a Democratic operative asked John McCain at a townhall meeting if he'd ever called his wife a c**t.
How did the media describe the guy? A Baptist minister.
Who is the guy?
Marty Parrish, Joe Biden's former office manager. He's also an Obama supporter.
Naturally though, the Des Moines Register was too dumb to realize who the guy actually was.
Parrish, a 45-year-old Baptist minister and technology business owner, said he attended the event specifically to confront McCain about the rumor.
McCain, however, handled the incident like a pro.
Here’s a transcript of today’s remarks:
PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a (expletive)?
MCCAIN: Now, now. You don’t want to … Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.
The audience gasped at the question and applauded at McCain’s handling of it.
Remember, the left will stop at nothing this year. Nothing.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | Barack Obama | Joe Biden | John McCain | Marty Parrish — Comments (63)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:02am on Apr. 16, 2008 O'Bama: I said something that "everybody" knows is true ...
Giving the rest of us a window into the liberal/Democratic worldview ...
By Martin A. Knight
I really didn't have much to say about Barry Henry O'Bama's San Francisco gaffe - but I did notice how similar it was to Michael Weisskopf's little "largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command"? gaffe way back in the early 1990s. And, of course, how it echoes one of the Left's most celebrated political books today; "What's The Matter With Kansas?"
As George Will's very nice article on this points out, this has been a part of the Left's mindset since Adlai Stevenson (Eisenhower's opponent in both '52 and '56). Liberals excel at psychoanalyzing the American electorate and assigning attributes/motives/beliefs to vast swathes of the American people, that, strangely enough, always serve to make them look good in comparison.
Read on ...
Posted in 2008 | Archived | gaffes | liberal condescension | Obama — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:14am on Apr. 1, 2008 No Really. Hillary Has A Decent Shot (caution -- long post with lots of maps)
By horaceox
Promoted from the diaries. This is some detailed work here, and gives us hope that the hits will keep on coming. – Neil Stevens
It has become something of a passtime among polling geeks like myself to use Jay Cost's primary vote calculator to predict the outcome of the Democratic race. Most who have played with it have come up with some kind of scenario where Hillary leads in the popular vote.
Now, I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but a few days before Jay's calculator came out, I had my own estimate coming to this conclusion. But this calcuator provides some more concrete ways of estimating the popular vote. Let's look at this in more detail (especially given all the calls for Hillary to drop out).
Before we do a state-by-state assessment, people who followed me from myelectionanalysis.com know about my obsession with political geography. In case you didn't know, I've hand-programmed maps for every congressional election going back to 1972, with about half the states going back to their origins. I love maps and their use at displaying political data. This Hillary-Obama race gives a perfect opportunity to analyze along these lines.
Read on...
Posted in 2008 | Appalachia | Archived | Barack Obama | Democrats | Hillary Clinton | Rooting For Injuries — Comments (25) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:45pm on Mar. 19, 2008 Paul to GOP: Why don't you Neocon Constitution-haters like me?
Is it the hat? Or the McCain bashing?
By Neil Stevens
Representative Ron Paul, Republican nominee for Congress in Texas district 14, believes there is a 'New Right' conspiracy against him in the GOP.
Despite the fact that he shifted effort from his Presidential campaign to ensure he beat the mainstream Republican, Chris Peden, in the Texas 14 primary, and that he still has neither endorsed John McCain for President nor even acknowledged that he needs to work with McCain to ensure Republican victory in November, Paul thinks the burden is on the party to come to him.
Read on...
Posted in 2008 | John McCain | Republicans | Ron Paul | Texas | Texas 14 | The International Neocon Conspiracy — Comments (26)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:10pm on Mar. 17, 2008 A Tough Decision For FL-22 GOP Primary Voters
The case for picking the candidate that makes strategic sense in both the long and short term.
By Martin A. Knight
The 22nd Congressional District of the state of Florida is currently represented by a freshman Democrat, Ron Klein, the former Minority Leader of the Florida Senate, who defeated Republican Clay Shaw in 2006, a very senior 26 year veteran of the House.
This is still a marginal district, a purple seat with neither red nor blue having a distinct advantage, even with the benefit of incumbency that Ron Klein currently holds.
And it is one of those seats we need to start winning before we can have a hope of regaining a majority any time within the near future. 2006 saw the GOP lose probably around 90% of every toss-up race in the country, and to make matters more ... difficult, we just lost our former Speaker's nominally Republican seat thanks to our side's nomination of someone who, by all accounts, was a terrible candidate.
Like Dan would say, it's people ultimately that run for public office, not disembodied ideas, ideologies or Parties.
Read on below ...
Posted in 2008 | Allen West | Archived | FL-22 | GOP | Mark Flagg | Primary | Ron Klein — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:25pm on Mar. 4, 2008 The Great Tuesday Showdown Open Thread
By Leon H Wolf
I never thought I'd say this, but... Go, Hillary, Go!
Open thread.
[UPDATE by Erick:] Let me throw this into the open thread discussion. A friend of mine who is a very reputable pollster tells me that in California the major media polling firms did not do any spanish language polling. He also said that in Texas, despite the lessons they should have learned in California, the media is again not doing serious spanish language polling. With the Latino vote around 30% of the primary, Hillary could have a bigger polling advantage that we've seen, which is probably why Obama is setting the bar higher than "win" to "win with double digit lead."
[UPDATE by Ericka Andersen:] Amazing there is actually footage of John McCain in Vietnam but it’s helpful in times like these -- when Gloria Steinem is questioning his service and Liberals are downgrading the significance of his POW status as well. But the following John McCain video will touch politicos of any party or ideology, so watch and be moved:
Posted in 2008 | Blood Sport | Miscellanea | Rooting For Injuries — Comments (114)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:52pm on Feb. 7, 2008 Three Quarters of a Loaf -- Better than nothing, better than half.
By Erick
That was the best speech John McCain has given this election season. He won't calm everyone nor resolve all issues. He alluded to that.
But the speech was good.
He pledged to hold the line on taxes. He said he will cut the corporate tax rate and make the Bush tax cuts permanent. He gave a great contrast between himself and Hillary and Obama. It was an unapologetic defense of the war, defense of low taxes, defense of life, defense of liberty, and defense of the American way as we know it.
John McCain is the nominee and he sounded both Presidential and conservative.
Conservatives may not have gotten the whole loaf of bread they wanted, but they know where McCain stands, and he's willing to fight on grounds the Democrats would abdicate to the socialists within and terrorists without.
It was a good speech.
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | CPAC | McCain — Comments (146)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:06pm on Feb. 7, 2008 McCain should lead on FISA
By The Directors
It's no secret that John McCain, now the frontrunner and likely GOP nominee for President in 2008, still has work to do to win the trust of many conservatives. His upcoming appearance at CPAC offers one opportunity to show what he is willing to say to reassure conservatives about what a McCain Administration might look like. But he can do some more immediate good by acting now to help secure passage of legislation critical to the War on Terror.
Presidential nominees don't have the luxury of waiting until after the inauguration to start acting like the leader of their party, and don't need to wait until the nomination is on ice to start drawing contrasts with their potential general election opponents. That's why we join in the suggestion by Andy McCarthy and the editors of National Review that Senator McCain should come out loudly, forcefully and publicly in favor of immediate passage of bipartisan legislation now being debated on the Senate floor to reauthorize and modernize procedures for gathering intelligence on foreign terrorists. Without immediate action by the Senate, our nation will face gaps in our ability to track and interdict terrorist plots - yet left-wing activists and bloggers want to stall the bill and are pressuring Democratic Senators, including Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, to prevent the bill's passage or water it down through onerous amendments. The Bush Administration already supports the bill, which passed the Senate Intelligence Committee by a 13-2 vote. But it can use all the help it can get - and Senator McCain, who has sold himself to GOP voters principally on the basis of his credentials as a prospective Commander in Chief in wartime, is just the man to provide that help.
Read On...
Posted in 2008 | FISA | McCain | National Security — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:01pm on Feb. 3, 2008 A Strategy For Republican Victory in 2008
By ilitigant
Promoted from Diaries - Martin A. Knight.
If the right strategy is used by the Republicans in this Presidential election, it will not matter which of the Democrat pretenders is offered.
It is important to know what the strategy cannot be.
Posted in 2008 | Republicans | Strategy | winning — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:31pm on Feb. 2, 2008 Romney Thinks Some Bloggers Are More Equal Than Others
By Bluey
Mitt Romney held his first conference call with bloggers yesterday, following in the footsteps of rivals John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Romney's campaign chose to connect the candidate to bloggers -- at least a select few -- just as the Republican presidential race reaches a critical moment.
The campaign's director of online communications, Stephen Smith, organized the call for about a dozen mostly pro-Romney bloggers Friday morning. But as soon as it was over, the buzz among bloggers was not what Romney said, but who got left off the invite list.
I was among the unlucky ones who didn't make the cut. I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge my disappointment. It's not that I had a craving to talk to Romney; I got to do my own one-on-one interview about a year ago. But I'd never been deliberately excluded from one of these calls.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was miffed. Matt Lewis of Townhall told me that he wrote to Smith and press secretary Kevin Madden questioning the campaign's decision. Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report had just interviewed Romney a day earlier and couldn't believe he was left off the call.
"I think this must be a case of the left foot and the right foot not talking," Fleischman said. "When running for president, you have to avoid missteps like this, especially this late in the game."
Continued on the jump...
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | Bloggers | Mitt Romney — Comments (20)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:20am on Jan. 30, 2008 Electile Dysfunction
By Erick
I want my party back. I really do. My party, if you will remember, is the one that fights the Democrats on spending, instead of pushing them aside to get a place at the trough.
My party is the one that is conservative without Michael Gerson.
My party is the one where we can disagree politely on matters without calling each other traitor.
Now, personally, I blame George W. Bush for all of this. You can blame Romney or McCain or Giulilani if you want. But George W. Bush left us with a political power vacuum. He knew Cheney wouldn't run. Cheney would be the heir apparent. Instead of pointing us in a direction, we had this wonderful primary season that has split the party into pieces.
The GOP has a pattern of going with the heir apparent. The party is keeping true to form by heading toward McCain. It has nothing to do with rejecting conservatism. It has everything to do with conservatives following history and tradition and traditionally we've always known who the heir was going to be.
George W. Bush, in his utter disregard for the conservatism of the party, decided to break with past precedent on this issue and we find ourselves in the present mess. Along the way, he also gave us big government conservatism, Michael Gerson, Dan Bartlett, an immigration fight, and out of control spending by his own party.
So now we are left with Romney and McCain.
Keep reading . . .
Posted in 2008 | 2008 | George W. Bush | John McCain | Mitt Romney — Comments (70)/ Email this page » / Read More »
