The Republican Debate

How many of these do we need to have? Good grief.

I watched a bit of it. Nothing new. But I did like it when the moderator asked for a show of hands on certain questions, Thompson said "I'm not doing the show of hands thing." And everyone else agreed. Good on him. It is stupid.

Stuff

Huckabee recieves endorsement of Jim GilChrist, founder of the Minuteman project. This certainly takes the sting out of Huckabee's past illegal immigration stances. Here is Huckabee's immigration and border enforcement plan.

UPDATE: It seems Jim GilChrist asked all the candidates if they would like his suppport and Huckabee is the only one who accepted. After Huckabee's record on illegal immigration, that must have seemed like a Godsend. (no pun intended) via HotAir

GOP Des Moines Register/Iowa Public Television debate today will be a bit more interesting with Alan Keyes there. Keyes is always good for fire and brimstone.

MaryKatharine is wondering where in the world is Fred Thompson?

One last thought. I watched Hillary and Warren Buffet on CNBC discussing the estate tax and how wonderful it is to tax money that has already been taxed:

"The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, that we do not want a system — where we expect people to make it on their own — to be, over time, dominated by inherited wealth," she said. "That we do believe that people should have to get out there and make their way, to a great extent."

She also said the following, but I cannot find it in any transcript. She said that "passing wealth from generation to generation must be stopped."

I almost fell on the floor. So people who have wealth and pass that wealth down to their children should not be allowed to do so in Hillary's opinion! The government should get that money. Good grief. Could that be any more socialistic?

I suppose If Clinton gets elected people who work hard to make a great deal of money need to spend all of it before they die. Because heaven forbid their children receive it.

California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring had this to say:

"Hillary Clinton's death tax is just another tax on assets that have already been taxed," Nehring said. "Under Clinton's plan, family-owned businesses and individuals stand to lose half of everything when the business and/or property pass from one generation to another."

"Andrew Giuliani defends relationship with father"

Oh, really?

Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew, defended his relationship with his father during an interview with the campus newspaper last week. The Duke University Junior spoke to the paper after learning that Details Magazine labeled him as the “person who could most easily torpedo” his father’s campaign, ranking him the 19th most powerful man under-45.

Andrew responded:

He added that Details mischaracterized his relationship with his father based on a New York Times article earlier this year that he said twisted his words.

“For them to say I have no relationship with my father is flat out wrong. They took a 20-minute interview and spun it in the direction that they wanted,” Giuliani said. “It’s not anything new to say that The New York Times is not in my father’s corner, and they did a good job of proving that. I wasn’t careful enough in watching my words and gave them too much rope to hang myself with.”

Umm... yeah..wow. Such a rigorous defense! Here is the opportunity to set things straight and all he can say is that the NYT was wrong to say he had "no relationship" with his father?

Oh, he has a relationship with his father alright. It's called "strained."

There is something about leaving your kids, humilating the mother of your children in public, as you are cavorting around town with a mistress while you are mayor of NYC, that might lend itself to a "strained" relationship with those children when they are grown.

I doubt the boy will even vote for his father.

Update: If you want an in depth (and I mean really in depth) look at Rudy's business dealings after 9-11, Vanity Fair has this. Needless to say, VF hates Rudy so view the story through that lens.

The Scientific Way to Love...

Have you ever been somewhere and looked across the room at someone you found attractive and thought, "I wonder if our DNA match?"

No?

Well, get ready. At ScientificMatch.com has found a way to scientically find your true love:

A new dating service that says it's the first to use DNA matching to find that "perfect someone" is scheduled to launch in Boston Tuesday.
ScientificMatch.com promises its technology will use DNA to find a date with "a natural odor you'll love, with whom you'd have healthier children and a more satisfying sex life."

How does it work?

In analyzing DNA, the company said it looks at immune system genes and identifies compatible mates from people with different immune systems.

Could it get any sexier?

National Review Endorses Mitt Romney

I've been reading National Review since I was 21 yrs old. It was an oasis of clean conservative water in a parched liberal desert of political news when I was younger. There was no Rush Limbaugh. There was no Fox News. There was no Glenn Beck. There was only The National Review.

I think NRO is the best conservative online magazine on the net. I don't think I could get through the day without The Corner. I respect their choice. Mitt is my rebound man, no doubt.

They like McCain, but they say McCain is not as conservative as Romney. They have the usual gripes against McCain, campaign-finance law, voting against the Bush tax cuts, and supporting this year’s amnesty bill.
They like Thompson, but they say he has never run a large and he has not run his campaign well at all.

This is what they like about Romney:

Romney is an intelligent, articulate, and accomplished former businessman and governor. At a time when voters yearn for competence and have soured on Washington because too often the Bush administration has not demonstrated it, Romney offers proven executive skill. He has demonstrated it in everything he has done in his professional life, and his tightly organized, disciplined campaign is no exception. He himself has shown impressive focus and energy.

What about flip flopping?

It is true that he has reversed some of his positions. But we should be careful not to overstate how much he has changed. In 1994, when he tried to unseat Ted Kennedy, he ran against higher taxes and government-run health care, and for school choice, a balanced budget amendment, welfare reform, and “tougher measures to stop illegal immigration.” He was no Rockefeller Republican even then.We believe that Romney is a natural ally of social conservatives. He speaks often about the toll of fatherlessness in this country. He may not have thought deeply about the political dimensions of social issues until, as governor, he was confronted with the cutting edge of social liberalism. No other Republican governor had to deal with both human cloning and court-imposed same-sex marriage. He was on the right side of both issues, and those battles seem to have made him see the stakes of a broad range of public-policy issues more clearly. He will work to put abortion on a path to extinction. Whatever the process by which he got to where he is on marriage, judges, and life, we’re glad he is now on our side — and we trust him to stay there.

All of this is true. The only obstacle I see for Romney is this ridiculous Mormon prejudice. Huckabee is taking votes now based on this prejudice. I don't like it at all.

I'd like to see a McCain/Romney ticket or a Romney/McCain ticket.

But you guys knew that.

via Ace

"Huckabee would lose by double digits"

So says a new CNN/Opinion Poll in head to head matchups.

Who is the only one to beat Hillary, according to the poll?

Say it with me..... McCain.


Hillary Clinton 51%
Rudy Giuliani 45%

Hillary Clinton 54%
Mike Huckabee 44%

Hillary Clinton 54%
Mitt Romney 43%

John McCain 50%
Hillary Clinton 48%

via Ace

The Right To Bear Arms

In light of the Colorado shootings, I thought you might enjoy Ted Nugent's take on the 2nd Amendment.

via Grouchy Old Cripple

Remembering Daniel Pearl

After recently seeing "A Mighty Heart," I realized that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal Journalist who was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists, will always serve as a brutal reminder of the horror we fight.

My post, "Because he was a Jew" here.

Last night Pres Bush and Laura Bush welcomed Daniel Pearl's parents, Professor Judea Pearl and Ruth Pearl, to light their family Menorah at the White House reception: (emphasis mine)

The Menorah originally belonged to Professor Pearl's grandparents who brought it with them when they moved from Poland to Israel in 1924, to establish the town of Bnai-Brak.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters Mrs. Pearl hopes the Menorah serves as a "visual reminder to all people who are facing darkness, that with hope and perseverance, freedom and goodness will prevail."

A Moral Question....

The WaPo:

A former CIA officer who participated in the capture and questioning of the first al-Qaeda terrorist suspect to be waterboarded said yesterday that the harsh technique provided an intelligence breakthrough that "probably saved lives," but that he now regards the tactic as torture.

John Kiriakou, said the first high-level al-Qaida detainee was defiant for weeks but broke down 35 seconds after the waterboarding started. Although the information he gave "probably saved lives," Kiriakou now says that he considers waterboarding to be torture, and "Americans are better than that. via Slate.

Hmmm.... Everyone here knows how I feel about this, but please discuss.

I remember reading about a women during the Holocaust who slept with a Nazi officer to keep him from sending a Jewish family that worked in the home to the gas chambers.

Was that moral? She committed a grave sin to save the lives of others. Was she "better than that?" Is that right? Was she right? And if she was right, then is waterboarding right?

Huckabee's Fall

Yes, he's up in the polls. He has had a few fantastic weeks, but this week has been a bit of a problem.

Jesus!

Did you see this news video of a Granny who ministered her would be mugger and told him "Jesus is in this car."

According to the women security guard who shot the shooter of the Church in Colorado Springs yesterday, Jesus was in her gun.

Taking care of bad guys, one way or the other.

;-)

Kumbya My Lord...

There is a change in the air.

How McCain Could Win...

ABC News:

"The reality is, as it's been for many, many months is that the [Republican] candidates all have weaknesses and at the end of the day John McCain is hoping that Republican voters take a deep breath, reassess the candidate and say it's not about a specific position on immigration or campaign finance reform, it's about strength and leadership and toughness in standing up in the war against terror," said Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report.

"If that's how Republicans decide, they may come back to him and decide 'Well, I rejected him six months ago, but he looks like the best of the lot now.'"

This is how they see it happening. Huckabee wins Iowa, McCain wins New Hampshire, breaking Huckabee's surge, and both losses quell Romney's popularity. Then if McCain wins South Carolina or even comes in second, he will be deemed the "comeback kid." Rudy and Fred would be left without a win and the ball would be rolling.

This is how I see it happening. Evangelicals don't want Mitt. Libertarian types don't want Huckabee. True conservatives don't want Rudy. And no one seems to want Fred.

All McCain needs to do is somehow say (without actually saying it) "I'm not a Mormon (unfair I know, but there it is), I'm not an evangelical, and I'm not a liberal."

Look, every single candidate mentioned has disappointed us conservatives, whether it be on taxes, immigration, campaign finance reform, abortion, or gay marriage. So we are going to have to forgive someone here.

Who has the experience? Who has the star power? Who is right on taxes, pork barrel spending, social issues, and most importantly...the war on terror?

The McCain perfect storm. It could happen.

Democrats Cannot Re-write History.....

The RNC has put together a montage of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and Sandy Berger, and John Edwards among others, making it clear to the American people that Saddam Hussein was a danger and that he had WMDs.

The Democrats would like to re-write history, but this clip reveals the conviction of their belief in this threat:

It's here.

I must say it is almost surreal to hear them speak about our national defense in such a strong firm way.

via NRO

History Found.

Awesome.

From NRO:

A Recording of U.S. Catholic Protests Against Hitler in November 1938 Turns Up in Catholic University Archives

An archivist at Catholic University stumbles upon a 1938 radio broadcast labeled "handwritten label on the center of the record: “Catholic Protest Against Nazis — Nov. 16, 1938.”

1938 — a year before Germany’s invasion of Poland sparked World War II, and a full three years before the United States would enter the war. The date was much earlier than he would have expected for a stateside protest. So Cullom took a second look.
....

Catholic University was not simply a venue for the event. The university’s chief executive, Monsignor Joseph M. Corrigan (later elevated to bishop), was featured in the broadcast along with three of the school’s then current or former trustees: Archbishop John J. Mitty of San Francisco, Bishop Peter L. Ireton of Richmond, Va., and former governor of New York Al Smith, who in 1928 had been the first Catholic to run for president of the United States as a major-party nominee. Bishop John M. Gannon of Erie, Pa., also spoke on the broadcast.
....

The purpose of this program, Father Sheehy said in his opening address, was to appeal to Christian political leaders in Germany to stop the persecution of the Jews. But it is clear the broadcast was also meant to inspire prayers for the beleaguered Jews and to denounce what Monsignor Corrigan called “a persecution hardly if ever equaled since earlier blood-lusting paganism martyred Christians for their faith in God.”

They decided to look into the newspaper headlines the next day and there it was:

The headlines echoed the broadcast’s impact: “Prominent Churchmen Denounce Oppression of Jews by Germans,” “Catholic Churchmen Join Pleas for Jews,” “Noted Layman, Clerics Voice Nazi Protest.”

http://libraries.cua.edu/achrcua/packets.html.

How many times have I argued with leftist who insisted that the American Catholic Church was silent during the Holocaust. It's nice to have this bit of proof that I knew in my heart must have occurred.

Univision and the Republicans

In case you missed it, the first GOP forum on Hispanic issues, broadcast in Spanish by Univision from the University of Miami was yesterday.

I've said here before that Republicans are alienating a large voting bloc over our battle of illegal immigration. First of all, Republicans are not making it clear the distinction between illegal and legal immigration and are letting the media paint them as being against immigration. We are also allowing racist rhetoric to enter the fray without protesting it.

I think the Republicans were right to do it. I think we should show up at any venue that asks. Our message is for all people. McCain spoke and expressed how I feel:

We have to address this issue with compassion and love, because these are human beings.""I think some of the rhetoric that many Hispanics hear about illegal immigration makes some of them believe that we are not in favor of or seek the support of Hispanic citizens in this country,"

No matter how right we might feel about border control and law enforcement, we are dealing with human beings who are looking for a better life. We need to deal with it in a compassionate manner. We can do that and still proceed to enforce our laws. We are not doing a good job in making it clear that we support the Hispanics that have come here legally.

This is a complicated issue. We allowed illegal immigrants here for decades with a wink and a nod and now we have to deal with the millions here. It's frustrating, I know. But it's time to not merely dismiss those with ideas on how to deal with the problem just because they don't say we should deport them all.

Kids these days.....

An Icelandic teen, MSNBC reports, figured out President Bush’s private phone number, and called it recently, leaving a message saying he was the president of Iceland and wanted Bush to call him back. When police visited the teen, after being alerted by Secret Service, he would not say how he learned the top-secret number. Big Head DC is speculating that he somehow deciphered the code from when Jenna Bush called her parents during a recent taping of the Ellen show.

via Big Head DC

Madame Speaker, check your phone, hypocrisy is calling...

As you may have read, the CIA briefed four Congressional leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, on the controversial practice of waterboarding over five years ago. Pelosi did not object. Pelosi also knew about the CIA dentention centers, the "black sites" used to interrogate terrorists.

So, Madame Speaker, for four years you failed to mention the fact that you knew and had been briefed on waterboarding and our "secret prisons."

What could she have done you ask? Maybe what Jane Harman did. Harman replaced Pelosi as the committee's top Democrat in Jan. 2003. She filed a classified letter in Feb. 2003 in official protest of the program. But when Pelosi became Speaker of the House in 2006, Harman was quickly kicked out by Pelosi.

I wonder why?

Oprah says "Barack Obama is the one"

If you didn't watch her speech to introduce Obama in Iowa, you missed one hell of a speech. Oprah became a star because she knows what to say and how to say it. Her speech was inspiring and heartfelt. Women love Oprah because she is sincere and funny and down to earth. She even has the guts to say that she had voted for as many Republicans as she had Democrats. She believes in Obama, there is no doubt about that.

I'm not a fan of Oprah for many reasons, but I understand why millions of women love her. She's good. And she probably did more good for Obama in that one speech than in all the other campaigning he has done.

But then Obama spoke.

As you have seen here, I root for Obama for the Democratic nomination. Not because I want him to be President, I surely do not. He may be charismatic and smart, but he is as wrong on the issues as anyone can be.

But, a part of me is proud to see a black man being looked at seriously for President. I watched my parent's and my generation (both white and black) change everything for the black community. I watched the black community go from not being able to drink at the same water fountain as their fellow white Americans to this. To see a black American running for President and being a real contender, is heartwarming to me. I can't help it. And on top of that, he is running against the most corrupt political machine to ever grace the Democratic party, the Clintons. He may be wrong on the issues, but he is honest.

I admit it. I want him to win this nomination. Not only because it may make the Clintons go away for good, but because it is time for black Americans to understand that they have a stake in Presidential politics. Unlike Andrew Young, I dont believe Bill Clinton is as black as Obama. And I don't think most blacks believe that.

I wish Obama saw the real threat of terrorism. I wish he could see the good we have done in the Middle East. I wish he could understand the burden of being overtaxed. I wish he could care for the most vulnerable of our society, the unborn. I wish he could see the disaster universal healthcare would be.

I wish he was Republican.

No, Oprah, Obama is not the one to be President, but he may be the one to stop the Clintons.

And that may be the higher purpose he was born for.

Bill Clinton is every bit as black as Obama

This. Is. Appalling.

Andrew Young wants Obama to be President...in 2016. Why? Well, he says Bill Clinton is every bit as black as Obama, and if I hear him correctly on this tape, he says that Bill has "had more black women than Obama." Then he says "I'm just clowning." Riiight. How is Bill just as black? He suggested a "soul train" dance once and moonwalked while Hillary hiked up her skirt above her knees and boogied too. (I'm so sure) But the last bit in the clip is probably what is most disgusting. He thinks Hillary will be the one who stands up for black folk because look what she did with Bill. When all the bimbo eruptions were happening with Bill, she had her staff stifle them. Now that is standing by your man, according to Young. And if she can stand by her lying cheating husband, then how much more will she stand by the black folk?

Good grief.

via HotAir