Truth.
Also via Tam, American Thinker‘s Conservative Grief. Must-read.
I’m more of a libertarian, but he’s right on the money.
Tag: politics
Quote of the Day.
Via Shooting the Messenger from the NY Post op-ed, Fools Rush In:
Conservatives are one Justice away from completing the tantalizing half-century project to get the Supreme Court to stop using the Constitution as an Etch-a-Sketch for their ideas about right and wrong.
Fits disagrees with the op-ed, but that one pull-quote says a lot.
Craptastic
Well, Mitt has put his campaign on “hold” (i.e.: I quit, but didn’t really say so). Huckabee doesn’t have a prayer outside the Bible-belt, so that pretty much means that John McCain is a shoe-in for the Republican nomination.
If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, it will be a horse-race to see which horse’s-ass crosses the finish line first.
If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I think he’ll be the next President of the United States. Put him next to McCain on a stage and a public obsessed with American Idol ain’t going to pick the cadaver.
Here’s what each means, insofar as I can tell.
McCain: He’ll keep us in Iraq until it’s stable, even if that lasts throughout his term (I sincerely believe he’s only going to get one.)
He MIGHT select decent judges for federal benches up to and including SCOTUS.
He will try to “work with the Democrats Left”. The Republican Party will lurch even further Left with him.
“Immigration Reform”? Essentially open borders, and amnesty for everyone.
Hillary: We’ll probably stay in Iraq until she can pull the troops out without looking like an international loser.
She WILL select Leftist judges who will be hell to stop, and who are perfectly comfortable wiping their asses with the Constitution.
She will LEAD the Democrats to even more social entitlement programs, greater spending, higher taxes, and the beating of the taxpayers will continue until morale improves. She may get two terms, too.
Either Hillary or one of her appointed Federal judges will find some way to foist “universal health care” on us all with her blessings.
Bill Clinton will be in the White House – again. Some fear he will be appointed to some high office or another. I think it’s a reasonable fear. Hillary would probably like to get rid of him once she achieves her life’s dream.
Obama: As CIC, I have no doubt that he’ll yank our troops out of Iraq immediately, and then ignore whatever happens in Iraq, placing the blame on the Iraqi authorities for not taking care of their problems themselves. Expect a new wave of “boat people.”
Immigration reform? Hell if I know.
Social programs? I think he’s even farther Left than Hillary.
If either Hillary or Obama wins, I expect there to be a great exodus from the military. McCain? I don’t know.
I have concluded, however, that Confederate Yankee has the right of it:
McCain for President. Or we’re really screwed.
I expect to see that on bumper stickers very shortly.
I’m almost 46 years old. The next Presidential election will be 2012 and I will be 50. I’m getting too old for this sh!t.
I think it’s past time that the Republican Party went the way of the Whigs, because if America doesn’t get off its collective ass and continue to support individualism, personal responsibility, capitalism, and individual rights, it appears that no one is going to.
No John McCain – Better Stated.
Bill Quick does a detailed fact-filled analysis of why John McCain should be the LAST choice for President in his post john mccain: the list of infamy (I don’t know why Bill is channeling ee cummings). I strongly suggest you read it if you haven’t.
Apparently Ann Coulter has.
Quote of the Day.
Well, from the 20th of January, but still good!
Twenty-Six Years Ago Today: Reagan Becomes President and Iran Blinks
Wonder what they’ll do next year when Hillary’s sworn in?
From Empire of Dirt. Even though he’s a McCain supporter, it’s a good quote.
If You Need ANOTHER Reason Not to Pull the Lever for McCain…
Read the transcript of Glenn Beck’s radio show from yesterday, or listen to all sixteen minutes of his interview of Michelle Malkin.
(h/t: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical)
Almost Exactly Right.
Instapundit linked to this Weekly Standard piece on the Thompson campaign that reads like something I wanted very much to write before he dropped out.
Good quotes:
In his recent memoir, Alan Greenspan says he’s been pushing a constitutional amendment of his own devising. It reads: “Anyone willing to do what is required to become president of the United States is thereby barred from taking that office.”
I’m a fan of that one myself, only I think it ought to apply to any federal-level elective office, and all state governorships.
(Thompson) was asked about it at a town hall meeting in Burlington, Iowa, in late December.
“Nowadays, it’s all about fire in the belly,” he said, with a touch of sarcasm. “I’m not sure in the world we live in today it’s a terribly good thing that a president has too much fire in his belly.”
—
“I’m not consumed by this process. I’m not consumed with the notion of being president. I’m simply saying I’m willing to do what’s necessary to achieve it, if I’m in synch with the people and if the people want me or somebody like me. . . . I’m only consumed by very, very few things and politics is not one of them.”
Those are good quotes, but the one that sealed the deal for me was his response to a question from a small-town newspaper reporter in Iowa:
What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?
I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. There’s a lot of programs we’ve got out there, some of which are good programs, some of which are not. And I think that we need to work our way through that and make sure we’re doing what’s good for the country, not just the farmers, not just the people of Iowa, not just the people of Tennessee. But good for the country. A sound policy that makes sense. I think there’s a lot more that we could do for the working farmer in terms of ecological programs and environmental programs – land conservation, soil conservation – that would be fair and it would be beneficial to the nation and to Iowa and to our country. We’re going to have to phase out the corporate welfare system we’ve got, however. There are extremely rich people living in skyscrapers in Manhattan that are receiving subsidy payments. I think that’s wrong. I’d put a stop to that if it was within my power. That still continues in this latest Farm Bill and it’s not right. There ought to be a cutoff at some level and it’s not right to have millionaires receiving farm subsidies.
That’s the opposite of pandering, and it’s a damned brave thing to say on a campaign trail.
Because it’s truth – something politicians usually have very little experience with.
Asked about education reform, he said: “It would be easy enough for someone running for president to say: I have a several-point plan to fix our education problem. It’s not going to happen. And it shouldn’t happen from the Oval Office.”
How often do you find honesty in a presidential campaign?
I recommend you read the whole piece. The only nit I have to pick is the repeating of the negative “silly hat” story that wasn’t, but the gist of the whole piece is that Fred Thompson was the best man for the job because he’s the only one qualified who ran and didn’t really want it.
The Lesser of Evils.
As I’ve noted before, I sometimes listen to Hugh Hewitt on the way home from work. Today, of course, the show was all about the Florida election and about the two-man race for the Republican nomination. There’s been a lot of talk about how much of a RINO (see below) John McCain is, but Hugh said that if McCain wins the nomination he will urge everyone to vote for McCain for six reasons:
John Paul Stevens, 87
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 74
Antonin Scalia, 72
Anthony Kennedy, 72
David Souter, 69
Stephen Breyer, 69.
I’m almost convinced. But John McCain is the guy who said on Don Imus’s show,
I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.
John McCain swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. In that single sentence he proved that he lied when he took that oath. He’s willing to do whatever he feels necessary to achieve what he believes is needed – and he is not willing to be constrained by the Constitution – the founding legal document of our government, and one expressly crafted to restrain that government.
So why should I believe that he’ll nominate strict constructionists judges that will be likely to overturn any unconstitutional laws John McCain wants passed? Remember FDR and his threat to “pack the court” with judges that would rule his way?
Sorry. That reason doesn’t fly with me, and it’s the only reason that might have.
I Guess the Rumors of a Disorganized Campaign Were Right.
I got a letter in the mail today from “Friends of Fred Thompson.” Click on the image for the readable version:
Check the date. Sheesh!