The Discerning Texan
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Fred Hits the ground Running
If you like what you see here (and even the center-left leaners over at The Politico was impressed), here is where you can go to do something about it.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Fred Thompson, Republican
Ron Paul: Space Invader
Some states are going to allow Democrats to vote in the Republican primary--do not be surprised if Paul does well in some of those states, in a potential attempt to sabotage the other candidates. Fortunately this will be taking legitimate votes away from mostly the non-conservatives in the race. Do I see Paul as the nominee? No way, but I do think the other candidates need to spend more time taking shots at Paul to ensure his continued irrelevance (and hopefully his withdrawal...). This is an important election, and egomaniacs playing in the sandbox does not befit the seriousness that the Party needs to be taking these debates. And so long as extreme long shots like Paul, Tancredo, Hunter, and Brownback continue to rob the other candidates of serious airtime, it does not serve the need for serious Republicans to put up the candidate who has the best chance of beating Mrs. Clinton/Obama.We'll all be watching the Thompson road show from here on in. [...]
He is the polar antithesis of Ron Paul, who is now starting to scare me. Glenn Reynolds calls him a kook, but that is charitable. He is worse. Paul gives me the willies. Something about watching him talk about "neo conservatives" in tonight's debate with his neck rigid and his hands clutching made me tense with memories I didn't like. The joke is over. There is something spooky about Ron Paul and something even spookier about his acolytes whose devotion pushes them to support him in online polls like cyber-brown shirts. They have made a mockery of the Pajamas Media Straw Poll (you should read our email--the Paulites filled with vitriol and obscenity when their candidate falls below one percent and drops off; reams of others writing us in despair to blackball him forever and return to the poll to normalcy).
The Fox News flash poll has also been destroyed by the Paulites who again pushed their candidate to victory tonight with 35% of the vote;Huckabee had 18 percent. Giuliani trudged along in third at 16. What does this mean? Paul still does not register on national polls. In fact, tonight he was devastated by Mike Huckabee, but that doesn't bother his acolytes whose belief in their leader is religious. I have no such belief in any politician and find that highly dangerous. Twentieth Century Europe was turned into a charnel house from such belief in leaders. Of course, the Paul crowd despises such comparisons but they are not the most sophisticated of people. His supporters live in a kind of libertarian-geek-neverland far from the reality of the lives of the rest of us. Trapped behind their computers, they want to squeeze the world into the models, but it just won't fit. They also have a kind of America first-ism that smacks of xenophobia. This is not a cocktail I care to drink.
In the meantime, so long as the man with the propeller-head is on the stage, the other candidates need to continue to take hard shots at Paul by continuing to link Paul's head-in-the-sand position on the War to those of Clinton and Obama; at least this will serve to keep the public focused on the fact that this nutjob's position is also the consensus position of Democrats.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Republican
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
UPDATED Fred Jumps In...
I am looking forward to helping a true conservative win this race, and right now I think that Fred Thompson is the most bona fide conservative in the race who has a chance to win. There are aspects of many of the other candiadates that I like, but for the things that really matter--the War against militant Islamism, Tax Reform, Federalism, Illegal Immigration and Border Protection, Second Amendment Rights, and Constructionist Judges who won't legislate from the bench--Fred is the best in the field, so far as I can see.
One slight caveat: I cannot sit here and pretend that a man with the intellect and communications skills of Newt Gingrich would not be a temptation for me, were he to jump in; the ability to communicate a strong stirring message cannot be over-emphasized, and that is the only real unknown for me about Fred--whereas Newt is almost Reaganesque in his ability to inspire. But at the moment Gingrich is he is not in, and Fred Thompson is--and I am acting on that basis.
It is going to be an interesting month, indeed.
UPDATE: Great appearance on the Tonight Show. Fred has already proved the pundits wrong: it was a master move not getting into that shouting match with Space Cadet Paul. I'm pumped.
Also check out this nice Thompson profile in the Washington Post. A pleasant surprise.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich
Monday, August 27, 2007
Another good sign for Republicans--they are playing hardball
Indeed.Remember when the No. 3 Democrat in the House said if the Surge worked it would be “a real big problem for us” (Democrats)? The video is here. Guess what? Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee remembers and he’s using it to raise funds:
Dear Donald,
The Democrat leadership believes failure by our troops in Iraq — the central front in the War on Terror — is essential for them to win elections in 2008…
…and that any positive sign of progress in Iraq is simply a “problem” for them.
Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, driven by polls and politics, declared “This war is lost,” even before the President’s new strategy began. Reid also has bragged, “We’re going to pick up Senate seats as a result of this war.”
And Democrat House Majority Whip James Clyburn said that a positive report in September from General Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would be “a real big problem for us (Democrats).” Meaning the Democrats’ desire for an arbitrary troop withdrawal — and their party’s 2008 electoral fortunes — would be in jeopardy if our troops succeed.
Donald, America’s national security should not be kicked around like a political football. Republicans believe winning the War on Terror is vital to our country’s national security. The RNC needs your help to get this message past the liberal media filter and directly to voters. They need to know about the Democrats’ “surrender and defeat” politics.
Please click here to make a secure online contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50 or $25 to help spread the word about the Democrats’ political rhetoric and defeatist agenda.
It is unconscionable that Democrat leaders are hoping for our troops to fail so their party can gain a political advantage. And it is unacceptable that the leading Democrat presidential contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both claim to support our troops yet voted against providing them with the resources to sustain their mission and keep them safe.
Your urgent online contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50 or $25 to the RNC today will help get the facts about the Democrats’ true defeatist agenda and their efforts to put politics above the War on Terror past the liberal media filter.
Our President and our Party are counting on your help. Thank you.
Ah, liberalism: The gift that keeps on giving.
Labels: 2008 Congressional Races, 2008 Presidential Race, Defeatocrats, Democrat, Republican
Saturday, August 25, 2007
DNC: Florida Primary Won't Count
It would certainly be justified if Florida stands its ground chooses not to back down--a State has a right to hold its primary whenever it wants--this is a State by State decision; but the thought of the DNC purposefully disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Florida voters is almost too delicious to comprehend. Will Jackson and Sharpton be marching in the streets chanting "No justice, no peace"? Will the Florida State Supreme Court get involved. Will the US Supreme Court. What better way to remind the country about how the Democrats tried to steal the 2000 Election.The Democratic Party has taken a swipe at the nation's fourth biggest state, stripping Florida of all of its '08 delegates as punishment for jumping the gun with its Jan. 29 primary. Florida's early date could force other states to move up and up to stay at the front of the pack.
Florida officials complained that the DNC was going to "disenfranchise voters," as it says on the state party's home page. The DNC pushed back strongly against that contention, since it has rules that Florida decided not to follow.
Under a nearly unanimous vote taken moments ago by a powerful committee of the Democratic National Committee, if things don’t change, Florida’s primary will be a "beauty contest" — the delegates won’t count toward the party’s presidential nomination.
This is the party’s way of trying to stop the crazy domino effect of states moving their nominating contests earlier and earlier, which causes OTHER states to go earlier and earlier.
The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted nearly unanimously that Florida’s plan is noncompliant with party rules, and gave the state 30 days to fix it. Otherwise, the state will lose 100 percent of its delegates.
In any case a lot of damage has undoubtedly already been done: Florida Dems are probably already livid at the National party, and it won't make cooperation during next year's Presidential race any smoother. In fact, the DNC may have drawn a line in the sand that they cannot afford to enforce if they want the White House in 2008. This one should be fun to watch.
Labels: 2008 Congressional Races, 2008 Presidential Race, Democrat, Democrat Sabotage
Is Fred being advised by Gingrich??
Fred Thompson's decision to announce his presidential candidacy with a video was suggested by Newt Gingrich, who is considered a possible contender himself.Former House Speaker Gingrich has indicated he will run only if Thompson does not or his late-starting campaign crashes and burns. Actor-politician Thompson plans to follow the model of Democrat Hillary Clinton by launching his campaign with a video, followed by a fly-around to several cities.
Gingrich has expressed contempt for becoming one of many announced Republican candidates at crowded debates. Thompson has decided to be one of many at the Sept. 27 debate at Baltimore's Morgan State University.
This would be a huge win/win for conservatives looking for a candidate. Thompson is a candidate with far fewer negatives than Gingrich, but who would benefit greatly from the former Speaker's intellect and ideas; and he would also benefit by Gingrich not diluting his potential base by entering the race himself. Alternatively, if Thompson wins, Gingrich could figure prominently in a Thompson Administration--as either his running mate or as a Senior Cabinet member.
As I see it our country needs both men to help lead us in this time of extreme national peril; and if Gingrich were to throw his complete support behind Thompson, it will be that much easier for people like me to get 100% behind the campaign. Stay tuned...
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich, Republican
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Surge is Working; therefore we need to...LEAVE???
STFU both of you clowns with a grand total of zero relevant experience. I don't play chickenhawk, but there comes a time when the mendacious drivel spouted by these two completely political animals disgusts me beyond reprieve. OK now their story changes from we have lost the war, to Well the war may be going well but the political situation is screwed. The most grotesque irony is that both are criticizing the Iraqi Parliament for not being in session 24/7 while our two members of the Senate and our entire Parliament of Hoors are on vacation as well.
They hurt me they really do. They know that security was the first step and political rapprochement the second, but they are hell bent on defeat and by God they will get those troops out of there before they stumble their way to victory.
I just loosed a tremendous stream of F-bombs out loud rather than burden you with them here, but I can barely stomach the behavior of far too many of these losers. It is one thing to disagree with policies it is another to purposefully undermine our military while afield fighting a war. There is no lie or misrepresentation they are not willing to use. Well they will not go unopposed. and whether they know or care I will be one of an Army of Davids taking them down. Americans do not cotton to losers and that is exactly what the leadership of the Democratic Party represents. The public has begun to hear about progress and the polls are actually switching, the problem for the Dems is they can't retreat from their calls for defeat. Most of them are to personally invested in derailing the neo-con express, but even if they could see through that blood mist, their own lefty would eat them alive. The Nutroots now rule and they will deal with that hateful bunch who will not abide anything short of W's abject surrender.
You go ahead and preach defeat as our troops secure more and more neighborhoods, and trust me the Iraqi politicians are just as finger in the wind as ours, they have been home and heard about the successes. Now they have been charged to go back to Baghdad and make some deals. There is no constituency that can support an insurgency when there is an alternative with security and prosperity, not in Iraq and damn sure not here at home.
I know a lot of folks think that we Republicans lose ground when people actually speak up bluntly like this, but I beg to differ: I think far too many Republicans have just laid down and licked their wounds while the Democrats have been saying things like "Bush is a Nazi" and comparing our troops--who are laying their lives on the line for us--to Stalin and Pol Pot, out of nothing more than pure venom and hatred for Conservatism and anyone daring to speak up against the so-called PC "prevailing wisdom." These non-stop red meat partisan attacks have been a staple of our evening news for over 6 years now (thanks to lap dogs like Reid and Pelosi)--and for most part these attacks have not been responded to in kind--at least not enough so to my liking. Enough is enough; politics is a contact sport, and frankly it is about damn time a people stood up and spoke up with more than syrupy sweet niceties about these hypocrites. Personally I hope we see a lot more fighting fire with fire. The time for kid gloves in the battle for hearts and minds is long gone.
In February of this year every single Democrat Senator went out of their way to vote for a "Sense of the Senate" censure of the President, stating that they were against "the surge" only days after it had been announced. Well guess what, sports fans--the surge is working, and the smarmy Dems were on the wrong side of history--as usual. So enjoy that crow guys--we are not about to let the country forget what you have been up to for the last 6 years.Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Defeatocrats, Hillary, Hypocrisy, Iraq, Islamic Fascism, Surrender Caucus
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Bush Continues to be Twice as popular as the Dem Congress
No one has really been listening to me, and some may think me crazy, but I still say that Congress' dismal performance--combined with Hillary's plan to nationalize and socialize our Health Care a la the failed experiment in Canada and England, combined with the Dems "all in on defeat" stance--could lead to one of the largest and most sweeping routs of Democrats in electoral history. Republicans just need to stick to conservative principles and the rest will take care of itself.Right about now, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are learning the meaning of the phrase “be careful what you wish for.” Their nincompoopery has led them to have the Most Despised Congress Ever. This constant investigations without any legislation is wearing thin on an American people who thought they were voting out earmarking, money-grubbing incompetents. The “new” team turned out to be the 1994 team of Dave Obey and Robert C. Byrd as the respective appropriations chairmen. Meet the new boss — older than the old boss.
Bush has a base. 58% of Republicans approve of his overall handling of the presidency. He has accomplishments and he has taken the principled — if momentarily unpopular — stance on the war on terrorism.
The 110th Congress as run by Pelosi and Reid is universally hated. ...
Labels: 2008 Congressional Races, 2008 Presidential Race, Congress, Defeatocrats, Democrat Sabotage, Nutroots, Socialism, Socialized Medicine, The Left, US Senate
Saturday, August 18, 2007
...or, simply a Sub-Par
Cartoon by Eric Allie (click to enlarge)
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Hillary, Socialism, Socialized Medicine
Obama: Read my Lips, No New Debates
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama
Friday, August 17, 2007
Another Democrat comes out in favor of Staying in Iraq
Another Congressional Democrat has shifted his views on Iraq to support from opposition -- and this change has significance. Rep. Brian Baird, one of the Democrats who voted against the authorization to use military force in 2002, has now returned from Iraq convinced that we need to give General David Petraeus more time:
U.S. Rep. Brian Baird said Thursday that his recent trip to Iraq convinced him the military needs more time in the region, and that a hasty pullout would cause chaos that helps Iran and harms U.S. security."I believe that the decision to invade Iraq and the post-invasion management of that country were among the largest foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. I voted against them, and I still think they were the right votes," Baird said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.
"But we're on the ground now. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people and a strategic interest in making this work."
Baird, a five-term Democrat, voted against President Bush ordering the Iraq invasion — at a time when he was in a minority in Congress and at risk of alienating voters. He returned late Tuesday from a trip that included stops in Israel, Jordan and Iraq, where he met troops, U.S. advisers and Iraqis, whose stories have convinced him that U.S. troops must stay longer.
Baird made it plain that his change of heart is based on two very clear criteria. One, a pullback would devastate Iraq and be catastrophic to the region and our national interests. Primarily, though, Baird believes that Petraeus has made real progress. He does not want to pull out while success can still be achieved
Read the rest--it really will be interesting to see how the Dem Presidential candidates react to this (look for Hillary to move first--she will shift with any wind if she thinks it will help her get elected...).
It was also reported yesterday that Petraeus' upcoming report is supposed to be mostly positive... and that Democrats reportedly want the briefing to be away from the cameras and the public. When you are a Stalinist in a Democracy, it often becomes very difficult to hide that fact...
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, America War Support, Defeatocrats, Hearts and Minds, Iraq, War Successes
Edwards pet Hedge Fund linked to Katrina foreclosures
Photoshop shamelessly pilfered from Ace (and George)--but it was too good to pass up.
You have got to love the irony of the fact that the Breck Girl announced his campaign in a New Orleans back yard-maybe it was one of the ones that his hedge fund foreclosed on (hell, the whole neighborhood would probably fit into his garage...). And how big of the ambulance chaser to say he will divest in this investment. What an example for us all...
Ace puts it very succinctly, as always (Emphasis is mine):
There are two Americas -- and John Edwards is fighting as hard as he can to keep it that way. Gotta keep the riff-raff down, you know.
God Bless 'im.Democratic presidential contender John Edwards has investing ties to subprime lenders who are foreclosing on victims of Katrina, according to a report published Friday.
The Wall Street Journal said there are 34 homes in New Orleans that face foreclosure from the subprime unit of Fortress Investment Group. Edwards has about $16 million in Fortress (Charts), a hedge fund and private equity manager, the newspaper said.
Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, has been a vocal critic of subprime lenders and told the Journal that he would assist homeowners in New Orleans who face foreclosure from businesses linked to Fortress or who have already lost their homes. ...
I hope Edwards stays in the race until the bitter end--his glaring hypocrisy is the gift that keeps on giving.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Hypocrisy, John Edwards
Thursday, August 16, 2007
A New Game for Republicans...
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Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Defeatocrats, Democrat, Democrat Sabotage
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
If you don't know which player is the sucker...
Cartoon by Michael Ramirez (click to enlarge)
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Defeatocrats, Democrat
Hillary Locks Down her records as First Lady
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton cites her experience as a compelling reason voters should make her president, but nearly 2 million pages of documents covering her White House years are locked up in a building here, obscuring a large swath of her record as first lady.
Clinton's calendars, appointment logs and memos are stored at her husband's presidential library, in the custody of federal archivists who do not expect them to be released until after the 2008 presidential election.
A trove of records has been made public detailing the Clinton White House's attempts to remake the nation's healthcare system, following a request from Bill Clinton that those materials be released first. Hillary Clinton led the healthcare effort in 1993 and 1994.
But even in the healthcare documents, at least 1,000 pages involving her work has been censored by archives staff because they include confidential advice and must be kept secret under a federal law called the Presidential Records Act. Political consultants said that if Hillary Clinton's records were made public, rivals would mine them for scraps of information that might rattle her campaign.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Hillary, Scandal, Socialism, Socialized Medicine, The Left
VDH: The Fat Lady has not Sung Yet
If Iraq can be stabilized, then the enormousness of that achievement will eventually be appreciated and dwarf all else (taking out the worst regime in the Middle East and fostering a consensual society in its place, while defeating on its home ground the worst radical Islam has to offer). The Democrats seem to have ceased blaming each other for voting for Iraq, and demanding time lines of immediate withdrawal, but now are shifting in order to have a fallback position of “Well, they finally listened to me in Iraq and so things settled down” should Gen. Petraeus’ report convince even some of them of real progress.
The responsibility of governance is not the same thing as easy op-ed criticism, and the nation is learning just that as it listens to our would-be future presidents—whether Obama’s apparent Pakistan invasion option, or Hillary’s pandering with pseudo-accent to African-Americans, or the obsessions of Mrs. Edwards with Obama, or her husband’s continual embarrassment of living high in one nation, while lecturing others about the needs of the other.
I say all this remembering that friends used to tell me that in March 1991 George Bush would win by a landslide in 1992, and in 1987 Ronald Reagan would either be impeached or resign, or that after 9/11 and the despicable pardons, Bill Clinton would be ranked among our very worst presidents.
The point is that few know exactly how the country and the world will look by November 2008, but it may very well be that the U.S. will enjoy a position of strength and respect abroad and security at home — and someone still in office in late 2008 will get a great deal of credit for that.
Labels: 2008 Congressional Races, 2008 Presidential Race, Democrat Sabotage, Iraq, Islamic Fascism, The Long War
Sunday, August 12, 2007
As well they Should Be... UPDATED
UPDATE: This is why I think Hillary would mobilize the base like no other: it's the 'fear factor':
Most especially as a woman, I have become more and more concerned that Hillary Rodham Clinton just might be elected as the first female President of the United States in 2008. And that possibility curls my hair, dangerously accelerates my heartbeat and sends shivers down my spine.
I have been following Hillary's "life" since she first made a blip on the national radar during the 1992 election. Back then, my own perception of her was that she was kind of pert, sort of pretty, and that she might even be slightly smarter than that absolutely charming husband of hers - the candidate. When I learned that she had her own Yale law degree and that they were being billed as the "two-for-one" presidency, I actually thought to myself that it might be a good deal for the taxpayers. Pay one President; get two. I do always try to give a new President - and First Lady - the benefit of the doubt, as due respect for our Republic and the electorate dictates.
But that was 15 years ago. In that time, I've read six biographies of Hillary (4 admittedly unfavorable, 1 gushingly favorable, and 1 supposedly neutral). With such a preponderance of damning evidence against her already widely disseminated, it strikes me as more than a little strange that this woman is not in prison or a mental institution. That she has managed to remain not only free, but center-stage in the Democratic Party and a Senator from an "adopted" state is an indictment of our press and her Party. If she succeeds in lying and manipulating her way into the White House, it will be an indictment of us all.
Even Carl Bernstein admits (A Woman in Charge; Knopf; 2007; p. 554) that Mrs. Clinton is the human equivalent of a chameleon, changing her colors and her story to suit her audience:"As Hillary has continued to speak from the protective shell of her own making, and packaged herself for the widest possible consumption, she has misrepresented not just facts but often her essential self." (emphasis mine)In real life - as opposed to fairytales - misrepresenting facts is called "lying." Constantly changing yourself (and your "truth") according to the company you are in is called "a lack of integrity." A lack of integrity is considered by most normal folks to be a glaring character defect. Now, if even Carl Bernstein is able to admit that Hillary is a liar and has a substantial lack of integrity, why would we even elect her POTUS?
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Democrat, Hillary
Huckabee has a Good Day
When it was all over, there was no doubt that the winner of the day was Huckabee. “It is beyond huge,” Huckabee told reporters. “Tonight, for all practical purposes, we won the Iowa straw poll. No one was even saying we would come in second…You gotta admit, for what we had to work with, the resources we had, for us to surge, coming in second, is the victory, it is the story.”I wonder if Fred and Rudy's decision to neglect the straw poll is wise--Mitt won himself a really good TV appearance today on Fox News Sunday--and he looked confident and like a leader. Bottom line: it is nice to have several strong candidates when the Dems have such a weak field, and when defeating them next year will be so critical...
He’s right. Huckabee said he had spent about $150,000 for the event, a small fraction of what Romney spent. And just a day earlier, Huckabee, who didn’t have the money to rent buses for his voters, was urging people to ride other candidates’ buses and turn around and vote for him. It worked. Given the numbers, there’s no doubt that some Iowans arrived on Romney buses and cast their ballot for Huckabee.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Republican
