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Friday, May 18, 2007
Rightosphere Temperature CheckOur buddy John Hawkins polled a bunch of center-right bloggers (including yours truly) for their views on the issues of the day. Here's how I responded: 1. A-B 2. A 3. No 4. A 5. B 6. Yes 7. A 8. Tom Tancredo As you can see, I'm in the minority on a couple of issues there. Labels: Conservative Bloggers, Right Wing News
Lew Rockwell: Why Do They Hate Us?There was a brief period of time when the Libertarian option appealed to me. Oh, not enough to get me to vote for the kooks, but enough to make their positions seem more consistent than the Democrats or Republicans. But the Libertarians always fell down on foreign policy, where their positions are largely indistinguishable from the radical left, as Lew Rockwell reveals in a column today: Such was the case after 9-11. Every close observer of the events of those days knows full well that these crimes were acts of revenge for US policy in the Muslim world. The CIA and the 911 Commission said as much, the terrorists themselves proclaimed it, and Osama underscored the point by naming three issues in particular: US troops in Saudi Arabia, US sanctions against Iraq, and US funding of Israeli expansionism. Chickens coming home to roost, as F-Troop Indian Ward Churchill put it. Of course, if the US had removed its troops from Saudi Arabia, lifted the sanctions, and stopped funding the Israelis, Osama would have been happy with us, right? Uh, no. Then it would have been some issues nearer and dearer to Rockwell's heart, like US licentiousness, gay marriage, etc. The idea that these are legitimate grievances that we should heed leads to Chamberlain. Rockwell quotes Ron Paul: "I'm suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we're over there because Osama bin Laden has said, 'I am glad you're over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.' They have already now since that time – have killed 3,400 of our men, and I don't think it was necessary." Labels: Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Zogby (Snicker) Claims Romney Holds Commanding Lead in New HampshireYeah, that Zogby, what a great kidder he is. Romney, who also shows a small lead in Zogby International’s latest poll in Iowa, leads the GOP field in New Hampshire with 35%, and distances himself from McCain and Giuliani who are tied at 19% support. While Romney has surged ahead 10 points since Zogby’s April poll in New Hampshire, McCain has seen his support decrease from 25%, and Giuliani holds steady at 19% – the same level of support he received in last month’s poll.
Plame Game ContinuesHearing this morning: The lawsuit alleges a plot among government officials to expose Ms. Plame's CIA affiliation as retribution for her husband's criticism of claims Mr. Bush used to justify the invasion of Iraq. In particular, the suit claims that the defendants violated Mr. Wilson's right to freedom of speech, violated the couple's rights to equal protection under the law, violated Ms. Plame's constitutional right to privacy, and deprived Ms. Plame of her property interest in continuing employment at the CIA. The suit also alleges that the defendants committed a tort against her by disclosing "private facts," namely her classified affiliation with the agency. Why do so many people get this "freedom of speech" stuff wrong? Did the government refuse to let Joe Wilson speak? No. Did they censor his speech? No. What they did was to exercise their own right to free speech to denounce his lies. I strongly suspect this one's going to get laughed out of court. Labels: Liar Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Pollster: McCain Rising, Giuliani SinkingHere's a pretty interesting analysis of recent polling. But things have been changing recently. Giuliani appears to have benefited from a great many Republicans who simply did not know where he stood on these bedrock issues of conservative Republican principles. In the last two or three months that has begun to change as Giuliani has become the focus of news coverage that has emphasized his positions. Giuliani's recent clarification of his positions, and his performance in tonight's second Republican debate, is likely to further increase awareness among Republican voters.
While polling has found, somewhat surprisingly, that many Republicans say they are willing to overlook these issues I think there has been an inevitable drag on Giuliani, and that is now showing up in the Red estimator.
At the same time, McCain has tried to restart his campaign and it appears to have at least stopped his falling support and perhaps begun to produce some gains. As always, I emphasize that polls don't mean much at this stage of the game. But I suspect as conservatives begin to look at their core issues, they'll find themselves more in tune with John McCain than with Rudy Giuliani. Labels: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani
Ron Paul Provides 9-11 Wackery At Republican DebateReminding us once again of the difference between small-l libertarian ideas and Big-L Libertarian craziness: "They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. ... We've been in the Middle East," Paul said in explaining his opposition to going to war in Iraq. "Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. Predictably, the delusional kooks over at 9-11 Blogger are griping that Paul didn't get asked the same questions or get the same amount of camera time as the real candidates. Fox News is clearly worried about the recent national success of Ron Paul. They begin the debate, by inserting the false notion that candidate order has a place within their format. They state that the order of the candidates on the stage is random. This statement while possibly true, is completely irrelevant if all candidates are not asked the same question, in order. By asking specific questions, in a non linear order, Fox News negates the importance of order all together. Yet they state that it is random, as if it matters in this format. Is that fair or balanced? Recent national success of Ron Paul? Yeah, he's pressing Mike Huckabee for 9th place. Tancredo gets a good line in: Tancredo took another shot at fellow GOP candidates when he said he is surprised at the number of conversions toward his tough position on illegal immigration as well as abortion and gun control.
"I trust those conversions when they happen on the road to Damascus and not on the road to Des Moines," he said. My longtime blogger buddy Gayle has more on Ron Paul, although obviously I don't endorse her comments on Senator McCain. If you're going for electability, I would think McCain would be your man. Labels: 2008 Candidates, Ron Paul
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Romney's Troubles in South CarolinaAre detailed in this article by Ryan Sager. Amazingly, over twice as many people say they haven't heard of Fred Thompson than say the same about Mitt, but Thompson still gets twice the support of Romney. McCain has the lead in South Carolina, an important early primary. Labels: John McCain
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Sine Wave of Political CoverageWell, it's pleasing to see that after months of "What's wrong with McCain?" the coverage is starting to turn to "The Comeback Kid". While most have thought that McCain is the candidate in trouble, it is actually Giuliani. He has not developed beyond his strong opening burst in February, and has slid sharply in most national polls since then. Little more than a month ago, he had a clear lead in Nevada. In this latest poll, he is fourth, albeit within a half-dozen points of the leader, McCain. His fundraising in the first quarter was strong, but no stronger than that of the third place Democrat, John Edwards. McCain, who seemed hyper in the begininng, delivered an effective performance at the Reagan Library, but Giuliani tended to fade into the woodwork, impressing only with a remarkably diffident answer on the fate of Roe v. Wade. This led him to refocus his campaign on his historical pro-choice stance, a risky move in the Republican primaries, especially the early ones. Of course, the sine wave will change again in a few months, but it seems likely we are hitting the "McCain Moment" that Ramesh Ponnuru wrote about a couple months ago. Labels: 2008 Candidates, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani
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