I apologize for not being able to blog today even though I have much on my mind. I had wanted to comment on yesterday’s Oscar nominations and what they say about Hollywood. My thoughts are not much different from those of Roger Simon who blogged about this yesterday, noting that the nominations were “met with a yawn.”
And there’s much to be said about the nastiness of Ms. Hillary and her husband and how they may well have succeeded in their attempts to bait Obama. Perhaps the left will realize that all things they ascribe to Rove are based on their assumptions that that man utilized Clintonian tactics.
Anyway, a local paper has asked me to write an endorsement of my man Rudy. I just finished the first draft and am now editing it, hoping to get it in by the deadline. It’s funny how I initially struggled with the project when first assigned. I wanted to make my piece so good that it would convince skeptical Republican to vote for the former New York City Mayor. Perhaps overwhelmed by this ambition, I failed to make any headway.
Then, when I decided to write it, it pretty much fell into place. (I will link it when they post it.)
I guess the lesson is that when we often fail to accomplish when we exaggerate our own expectations, when we fear something will not be as good as we would like it to be.
Dick Morris has an interesting take on that:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/how_clinton_will_win_the_nomin.html
His theory:
– White Democratic voters are ripe for racial backlash, putting Hillary over the top.
– When those voters see blacks voting as a block for Obama in SC, that will give them a certain subtle sense of permission.
– The Clintons are deviously courting all that. The Clintons are out “racializing” the Democratic race by endlessly talking race and civil rights, and begging for black votes in SC – votes that the Clintons know they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting – which will trigger said backlash, when the Clintons don’t get them.
Another Dick Morris “I’m ever so clever” crazy theory? Or a real insight? You decide.
(P.S. I meant ‘racializing’ as my invented word, not as a quote from Morris)
Will be anxious to read your endorsement. I am so hoping that Rudy can pull this out of the toliet. Otherwise, we are going to be stuck with no choices in November. I know you should follow party at all costs but I truly cannot cast a vote for John McCain, will not vote for H. So what am I to do?
PatriotMom asks: “So what am I to do?” Simple really. Pull the lever for the Party’s nominees in November… you aren’t just pulling the lever for the Prez/Veep spots… you’re keeping the WH in the hands of a Party who can effectively guard and protect Americans and America’s interests at home and abroad. Proven fact.
I wouldn’t choose McCain or Huckabee as a first choice either, but if my choice doesn’t make it, I’ll vote GOP because it means the levers of govt will remain in competent hands –the Cabinet, the leading political staffs at various fed agencies, et cetera. It’s far more than just electing the Prez or his Veep.
Have I ever done that? Sure. RonnieReagan wasn’t my choice in 1980 but I voted for the Reagan/Bush team that year. Dole wasn’t my choice in 1996 but, in hindsight, he was far better than the ultimately impeached leacherous Clinton and would have done more to confront global jihadists than Clinton ever did… aspirin factory bombings included.
I’ll pull the lever for McCain if he’s at the top of the ticket because having the GOP continue control the WH and federal govt is far more important than letting the Dems have a blank check on 2 wings of govt and on our kid’s future.
It might be true, but as an Independent, I don’t take it for granted. When I think “competence”, I don’t think McCain nor Huckabee. And when it come to principles and ideas – the things which a government and a society need for long-run success – there is such a thing as preferring a clean fight, or “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”
I give McCain credit for being a staunch supporter of our troops in Iraq. He and Huckabee are also technically conservative in being pro-life, but that part doesn’t concern me. And I can’t give the Huckster the credit of being a staunch Iraq supporter.
On every other issue (that does concern me), McCain and Huckabee are Democrats, in terms of what they’ve already done, or said they’d consider. They would sell America down the river on taxes, Global Warmism, immigration shamnesty, socialized medicine, our precious free speech rights, and more. What would be the difference between them and President Hillary, on those issues? Only this: with Hillary, at least the fights will have clear partisan lines and the coming 1994-style backlash (in 2010 / 2012) will be directed against a Democrat.
I’m watching Hillary’s signals on the Iraq war. Is she giving out signals that she would actually stay, i.e., see it through? Some people think so. I’ll make up my own mind if she is. If she would, then I would be that much more hard-pressed to identify the real differences between her and McCain or Huckabee.
So, that’s my own perspective as an Independent. I’ve never stayed away from voting before. I could see a scenario where, sadly, this year might be the first.
I think it’s pretty clear from Clinton’s statements that she doesn’t intend to pull troops out of Iraq until it’s stable enough to do so safely. That’s not a really a different position from the GOP candidates on this issue.
“When I think “competence”, I don’t think McCain nor Huckabee”.
The context of my comment was in relation to the Executive Office personnel, Cabinet officers, senior political appointees to various federal agencies, et cetera… not to McCain or Huckabee. The emphasis was on who they APPOINT to those Washington posts.
The point of the comment was that the Prez/Veep bring with them competent people and competent appointees to fill out the federal govt… as well as make competent appointments to SCOTUS and the federal bench. Not whether one views McCain or Huckabee as competent. The last Prez to try to completely control the appointment process was JimmineyCricketCarter and history can refresh us with incompetent boobs like Bert Lance, Cy Vance, Griffin Bell, Patricia Harris, Zbigniew Brzezinski and AndieYoung.
Houndentenor, you may THINK it’s pretty clear but the Clintons’ 8 year track record of cutting troop levels, slashing the navy, ending promising arms development, putting US troops under UN control, backtracking on strategic planning, abandoning gains in the intelligence gathering arena and turning their (Clintons’) back on our allies… all of that doesn’t suggest your rosey assessment of Sen Clinton as Prez Clinton on the WOT-Iraq has any foundation.
When you trust a Clinton or any Democrat to support our military and maintain a strong presence in the face of global jihadists, you aren’t just trusting with your pocketbook issues… you’re trusting them with our kids’ future and lives. Nothing in the Clinton record warrants that kind of trust.
No difference between Clinton and the GOP contenders? LOL. Wake up from your daytime daydreams.
Might try convincing a loyal Republican that still believes in the US Constitution how voting for an authoritarian isn’t a form of ideological treason…
Thanks for the clarification. Although, I had already understood that. The context of *my* comment was partly in relation to the candidates’ existing staffers and associates, who would then be the top appointees, do the other staffing, etc. What one refers to as “the candidate McCain”, “the candidate Huckabee”, etc. is always really a package of several people.
I’m gonna give you a little bit, here. If you’ve been following the last 8 years from the standpoint of competing Washington bureaucracies: basically, there is a certain group of career officials at CIA, and at State as well, who are f*cking the country. They’ve undermined both Bush and the GWOT almost from day 1, with leak campaigns to manufacture bogus “scandals”, etc. (Think Joe Wilson / Valerie Plame. The big liars there were the Wilsons; not Bush nor really even Scooter Libby.) A lot of those people were promoted, if not appointed, in the Clinton Administration. And it would be nice to not have Hillary doing all that again for 4-8 years.
Finally – Whatever happened to the 22nd Amendment? Since Bill and she are co-pilots (she says), she violates the spirit of it.
Ummmm…I never said I trusted Sen. Clinton with anything. I was just pointing out what her position was on a specific issue.
Florida is supposed to be the state where Rudy Shines. I have watched him carefuly over the past week: He’s been flat and completely uninspiring. I’m disappointed.
I’ve been a Rudy guy all along, but this is a case of poor campaigning. And if you can’t campaign, you can’t win.
Mikedevx, your comment makes me wonder if Rudy even wanted it in the first place.