Mitt Romney Bus Tour Joke

Picture courtesy of a Sue on facebook...

This was taken today in Ohio where the Mitt Romney aka Mittens for President bus tour is out to meet and greet the masses.  Three cops, ten or more Secret Service agents, twenty five or more reporters, and one guy that was just looking for directions to get to Indiana.  Sad.  Just sad.

One thing is certain in this election.  Romney will never be President of the United States.  Even a US Congress representative draws more supporters.  Speaking of that, where are his GOP supporters from the House and Senate from Ohio?

Four more years of Obama, good, very good.  Enjoy the bus ride Mitt.  See America on other peoples donations for your nation wide "Nobody Likes Me Tour".

Go back home Mitt, pick one of your many homes.  The 99% have the President's back.

Papamoka

GOP Leadership Confusion

I have to agree with Newt Gingrich that political power comes in cycles and the Republican Party is out of favor right now. What is really fun to watch is the entire GOP going after one another trying to decide where the hell the political party should stand before the 2010 elections. It’s like watching one neighbor toss the leaves over the others fence only to have the same process reversed just a few hours later. Rush Limbaugh wants to throw everyone out of the party that does not boot step to his demands and Newt Gingrich who has no official political connection to the RNC is going around demanding that Speaker Pelosi step down just because he says so. Then you have RNC Chairman Michael Steele telling everyone to cool it before they all screw up the smoke and mirrors deal he is trying to build. Nobody is in charge and that is a good thing for those of us that tend to back President Obama.

End result is Newt is pissed because he can’t do the Michael Jackson moonwalk dance step and Rush is even more pissed because he can’t find a pair of Jordache jeans that will fit his fat ass. No offense intended to Republican or Democrat voters with good living voluptuous curves in the buttocks region of your bodies. You earned every bit of it and you should be proud that “baby got back”. Feel free to steal that phrase Mr. Steele.

Up out of all the fuss comes some common sense amongst the GOP when it comes to confirming Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Sen. John Cornyn is pissed that Newt and Rush are intent on destroying his political party. And he doesn’t like the attack mode they are aggressively engaged in…

Top Republican calls Limbaugh, Gingrich comments 'terrible'
Posted: 11:23 AM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Cornyn on Thursday said statements calling Sotomayor a racist are 'terrible.'

(CNN) — A top Senate Republican is taking aim at recent statements from conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich suggesting Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a "racist."

"I think it's terrible," Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told NPR's "All Things Considered" Thursday. "This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent.”

Both the popular radio host and former GOP House Speaker have suggested Obama's pick for the high court is a racist while referencing a 2001 speech at Berkeley during which Sotomayor said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." - CNN

Good for Senator Cornyn and I hope he can come to the pulpit and actually make some sense over at the Republican Party. Somebody has to take the helm because they are going the way of the Dodo bird right now. How many moderate Republican’s is Rush Limbaugh going to toss out of his holier than thou political party before somebody tosses his ass to the curb? As for the Newt aka porno king and former Speaker of the House, he’s just selling his latest book and any media attention for him equals sales of his book. Ergo, he is so staunch in his political opinions that he even went on Jon Stewart and the Daily show this week to sell even more copies of his book.

For now, 2010 and the election of yet another new Congress is looking damn good for those of us on the left side of the aisle.

Papamoka

GOP Cancer Grows but Detected

Gallup has an interesting poll that shows the GOP is unable to attract or even keep its political party members. The political party of with us or against us has found themselves in the position of a sinking ship so to speak. Is the GOP dead? Have they gone to far right wing? According to Gallup and the poll, they have…

GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups
Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001
by Jeffrey M. Jones

PRINCETON, NJ -- The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away from the GOP has occurred among nearly every major demographic subgroup. Since the first year of George W. Bush's presidency in 2001, the Republican Party has maintained its support only among frequent churchgoers, with conservatives and senior citizens showing minimal decline. - Gallup

What brings on this sudden demise of the Republican Party? Could it be the fault of former President Bush? Could it be the torture issue authorized under President Bush and Vice President Cheney? Maybe it was Denny Hastert and his cover up of a known pedophile in his Congress? Could it be the Jack Abramoff scandal where the Republican lead Congress was up for sale for the price of a golf trip to Scotland? Could it be the war in Iraq that was based on one lie after another that never panned out? Could it be the wounded Veterans coming home lucky enough to be alive from Iraq or Afghanistan based on those lies? Maybe it’s the 4300 plus military members that have lost their lives based on lies? Who knows, it could be the outing of Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA agent by Cheney and Scooter Libby? I don’t even think I need to mention Tom Delay and his escapades trying to fix the voting in Texas but it has its merits in the discussion. The simple truth is that so much was piled up by the sitting members of the GOP in Congress and the White House that nobody will ever really know. Not in our lifetimes anyway. That is why America and her voters cast the GOP out of power. America did not forget what our nation was all about, the GOP did!

One thing is certain, the GOP has been compromised and if Rush Limbaugh, Ann Culter, Bohner, Bill O’Reilly, and Fox News is the spokesperson for the GOP then they deserve the medicine they have dished out to themselves. It is a formula for political suicide. When you have Rush Limbaugh demand Colin Powell be deported from his political party then, can I say out loud with a NASA quote, “Houston, we have a problem!”.

If you have ever read President Lincoln’s address and speech at Gettysburg, or read the book by Gary Wills, you just might understand what a true political party is all about. President Lincoln summed up in less than three minutes the sacrifices the men that died on that field. Lincoln wasn’t just talking about Union soldiers that died on the fields of Gettysburg. In that respect, it isn’t about you the individual, its about America. It’s about all Americans. That was the political party of Lincoln in his day. That is what the GOP just doesn’t get anymore. The GOP just isn't in touch with the average person in America and that might just be simply because they can't afford the $1000 per plate political fund raising dinners.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that they can not get their political act together!

Papamoka

*****Gun Toting Liberal has linked in and has a very interesting opinion on this same issue

Huckabee - GOP Derailment Eminent

Former Governor and Presidential candidate Mike (I love Fox News) Huckabee is warning the GOP flock that they are at the crossroads of extinction as a political species. His theory or thesis of the ultimate evolution end result of his political party is based on the fact that the GOP can not ignore the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. If you need to know who good old Reverend Mike is talking about I can explain it for you. All of the folks that were screaming out hate at the John McCain for President rallies. You might recall those nice folks that suggested that then Senator Obama was a Muslim, the folks that offered to buy the rope to hang him from the nearest tree, and the folks that believed that George W. Bush was God’s gift to America.

Here is what the Governor or Reverend has to say about the GOP and evolution but he doesn’t really believe in evolution so… Um, here is what he had to say over at CNN…

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Huckabee says the GOP must not lose social conservatives.

(CNN) — Days after national Republicans launched a new campaign to broaden the party's outreach, former upstart presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the GOP is at risk of becoming "irrelevant as the Whigs."

In an interview with the California newspaper The Visalia Times-Delta, Huckabee said the GOP would only further decline in influence should it alienate social conservatives — largely considered the most energetic and loyal faction of the party.

"Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs," he said in reference to the American political party that largely disbanded in the mid 1800s.

"They'll basically be a party of gray-haired old men sitting around the country club puffing cigars, sipping brandy and wondering whatever happened to the country. That will be the end of the party," he said in the interview published Thursday.

Just between you and I, I honestly think that Reverend Huckabee has been hitting the sauce if you know what I mean. His reason for hitting the sauce hard is most likely due to the fact that he sees the railroad wreckage that is the Republican Party today. The party of “NO!” is barreling down a dead end track and at the end is a cliff that there is no return from. The GOP is past the point where they could have jumped off the runaway train but instead they tossed more coal into the boiler and tore the handle off of the break. Just ask Rush Limbaugh (I am the King of the GOP) as he so valiantly tossed Colin Powell off of the train this week to safety into a bed of roses planted by moderate Democrats along the tracks. Arlen Specter of PA jumped off the train himself but that was only because he dropped his paycheck while on a smoking break.

This leads me to wonder what common sense Republican or moderate right wing voters are thinking? If I were in their shoes, and I’m not, I would be pissed as hell over the hi-jacking that has been going on since the November election of the Republican Party.

I seem to recall that Senator John McCain was the Republican candidate for President and not Rush Limbaugh or Mike Huckabee, or any other blow hard with a microphone. I seem to remember that many moderate Democrats liked John McCain but at the last minute just couldn’t vote for him based on the “Antics” of his rally supporters. I also recall very well a Republican Party that was imploding on itself under “I am the Deciderer”, George W. Bush. A leader that coined the phrase “You are either with us or against us” and then proceeded to ignore the very same laws he swore on the holy bible to defend. President Bush wasn’t alone in this adventure of unbridled political passion to manipulate and bastardize the Constitution, Dick Cheney was there, so was Tom Delay, so was Denny Hastert, Trent Lott, Scooter Libby, Jack Abramoff and the list of possible and actual indictments goes on and on. There wasn’t a Democrat drug dealer enticing them to break the law, they did it of their own volition.

I just need to be clear in my thoughts here, Democrats, Liberals, or even Moderate voters from both parties did not bring about the demise of the GOP, the leaders of the political party did. And they were voted out of power in America for it.

Papamoka

*****GUN TOTING LIBERAL has a very unique and must read second amendment look at this same issue.

Republican Oxymoron Revolt

We all know that military intelligence is an oxymoron. Now we can also apply the oxymoron to the Republican “Tea Baggers” who are now against tax cuts for 95% of Americans. Somehow, under the Bush Presidency tax cuts are true blood American values but under the Obama Presidency it is Fascism? Somebody clue me in? A tax cut is a tax cut. How the hell is that Fascism?

CNN reporters attended the tea parties on tax day and they were accosted for not towing the political line…



I can’t comprehend what it means to be a die hard Republican. I just can’t. If you love our nation so much, would be willing to send your sons or daughters into harms way in our military, would promote tax cuts for the last decade for everyone in big business, then why do you honestly back a political party that treats wounded veterans like crap, and now you have a problem with a tax cut for 95% of Americans?

Make no doubt about it, the Republican Party has been hijacked by the extreme right wing factions. Just as the left wing of the Democrat Party tried to hijack our political party but failed. Make no doubt about it, I don’t feel bad at all for the extreme right or left but I have comfort in knowing that the middle of the aisle will come to bare.

As for the extreme right and left of politics, screw you both! I live in the real world and so does the rest of America. We don’t need your bull anymore than we need to set fire to our homes in protest of any issue just because you can scream louder than anyone else.

What kills me is the fact that if you ask a Republican how President Obama is Fascist or Socialist, they don’t have a clear answer? So that works out to that I’m pissed because he isn’t a Repubican?

If Republican’s want a political culture war then lets do it. Let’s
talk and lets do it. Bring your best ideas to the table, oh wait, your
people in the congress already did that and your own Republican
party voted against it. They have lived up to the party of “No”
that has become the consensus for any vote in the Congress.

The point to be made is this, there is no political consensus in the
Republican Party and that is not a bad thing for America right now.

Papamoka

Limbaugh Listeners Revolt

The ditto heads of Limbaugh’s EIB network are fed up and Rush pretty much insists that you are ignorant if you as a Republican believe that torture is okay. Even if you are a former soldier, marine, or past member of any part of the military. According to Rush, people that think that torture is wrong have no place in “His” Republican Party. And in Rush’s mind, people in the middle of the political stratosphere that do not follow the Rush Almighty Republican philosophy are to blame for President Obama being elected.

Let me just say this, I think I know now what the Democrats are doing with the money they had previously appropriated for liberal blogger advertising, they gave it all to Rush Limbaugh. I’m loving this!!! Over at Countdown with Keith Olbermann they have this great piece…

Video Link

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

How classic is this for Democrats? The global warming “Phenomenon” has finally reached the EIB and the meltdown of Rush has begun. Here is Rush Limbaugh being called out by a former Marine radio broadcast listener and blamed for the downfall of the Republican Party. What I find truly funny is that all that the esteemed brain on lone from God shock jock could do was to attack the listener rather than offer a clear well thought out rebuttal. Then again isn’t that typical of the Ditto Heads, if you don’t agree with them, then you are Un-American and unclean.

Getting back to the caller and the torture issue, the caller holds the higher ground as far as being against torture and let me tell you why. The caller, a former US Marine and Army service member put his life in danger and the possibility of being tortured actually existed if he was captured in a hostile situation. Rush Limbaugh’s only chance of that happening is if he spills his coffee at the drive up because he never served in the military.

I’m loving it, the more Rush talks, the better it is for those of us with left leaning political thoughts. Some of which just happen to be fed up life long Republicans. Come on over to the left folks, take your shoes off and relax. We are not the big scary monsters that Rush told you we were. Group hug!

Papamoka

Republican Party R.I.P.

Is it just me or has the Republican Party abandoned even its core base? Christian Conservatives in the Bible Belt, folks in the Heartland, and pretty much everyone making under $100,000 per year, they have all been left on a doorstep and abandoned. Mind you, hard working Republican Americans have not changed their values, not strayed from a government that supports itself, stays out of small and big business pockets, Washington D.C. Republicans have chucked them out with the bath water so to speak. When the House Republicans voted unanimously against the proposed stimulus plan they also voted against every single Republican working hard to pay their own bills all across America. Don’t feel left out, those of us in the middle and on the left were voted against too but it still passed.

The past two elections for Congress, the Senate, and the President has changed the atmosphere and political membership in our nations capitol from a full speed ahead regardless of the icebergs in our way to full reverse to avoid economic icebergs. Without this change in course our nation could and would suffer the same fate as the Titanic.

So what the hell happened to the backbone of the Republican Party that it felt the need to chuck the bird at hard working Americans who still own their homes, for now still have jobs, and have always been loyal? Why was the vote tallied and not one Republican in the House of Representatives totaling zero, nada, not one? Don’t even think about arguing the point that Democrats were slamming this down the pipeline of politics. President Obama met with Republicans many times, they did lunch, they did dinner, he went to the House, something I thought was a poor move on his part and the vote proved my point out. Why has former candidate for President John McCain gone one hundred and eighty degrees from what he talked about that he would be as President on the campaign trail for the highest office in the land? Did he or did he not say he wanted to work a bipartisan and unified Congress to save America during this economic crisis? This week and next, you will see the true John McCain, the man that lives the life of a millionaire and can afford to have higher than thou economic and political morals in his vote. How does that work for someone trying to run a farm based on those same morals and principals but doesn’t have a couple of million bucks to fall back on?

I think it needs to be said, the Republican Party was buried alive with and by President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Supporting cast including Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and the list goes on of former White House operatives that are or will be facing jail time for crimes against America. All of the scandals including Jack Abramoff, the Speaker of the House Denny Hastert hiding the facts of a known pedophile having to resign, the two Senate majority leaders having to resign in disgrace, one for trying to rig elections and the other for praising a known racist and hate monger. Tom Delay and Trent Lott had great political careers till they thought they were omnipotent.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very glad these scumbags are out of our government, but I think they damaged the fabric that is our political collective. Not everyone thinks the same or has the same values and I would be an idiot to think they should. That is the beauty of our political nation in its entirety. We can debate any issue but we will still look out for one another and our collective interests. Be it our local school system, fire department, police department, national defense, or even caring for all of our elderly. Pick a topic, it can be debated, thought out, and a compromise come too! Somewhere in the middle is the meeting point where any topic can be agreed upon, it takes serious discussion, logical thought on all parties, but most of all compromise. In that thought, I honestly believe that President Obama could have chopped down a grove of olive trees and covered the house with olive branches and the Republican Members would still have spit on him and the House Stimulus plan. Is that a lesson learned by the new President courtesy of the Republican Party in the House?

While the main stream media is in hot debate over the latest stimulus plan, I’m wondering how the folks on the right side of the aisle feel seeing the sheer refusal to even negotiate on it. Letters from the leaders of the Republican Party went out before the bill was even drafted to vote against it? What does that tell Joe and Jane Six Pack Republican? It tells him or her that his and her job is not important, his or her company that gives them a paycheck every week is not important, it tells them that their political party is unified against any logical thought process that comes from the left even with tax cuts regardless of the end means. Buy an apple cart Joe or Jane and make sure you put a GOP sticker on it! Your Republican representative in the Congress will be by in two years to greatly appreciate your vote and lay a rose on the grave of your children.

Papamoka

Palin Goes Rambo on McCain

Governor Sarah Palin is apparently going off message on the McCain campaign for President on purpose. According to CNN she does not like how her image and roll out on world politics was handled. Maybe Chusck Todd of MSNBC was right on the lack of chemistry between the two politicians. She is after all a very strong woman and maybe too strong for the McCain people to keep quiet on the political campaign. Over at CNN they have this to say..

October 25, 2008
McCain aide: Palin 'going rogue'
Posted: 02:15 PM ET

From CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby, CNN's Dana Bash

Tensions within the McCain-Palin campaign are spilling into the public. A McCain aide told CNN that Gov. Palin is a 'diva.'

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) – With 10 days to go until election day, long brewing tension between Sarah Palin and key aides to John McCain has become so intense, it is spilling out into the public.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin “going rogue” recently, while a Palin associate says she is simply trying to “bust free” of what she believes was a mishandled roll-out that damaged her.

McCain sources point to several incidents where Palin has gone off message, and privately wonder if they were deliberate. For example: labeling robo calls “irritating,” even as the campaign was defending the use of them and telling reporters she disagreed with the campaigns controversial decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source tells CNN she appears to now be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign. - CNN

How about the New York Post on this same issue?

This is refreshing news that the media should pick up on. Governor Palin has done nothing wrong in this campaign for President other than following the advice of the handlers in the McCain campaign. She isn’t a national politician and has never claimed to be one. She is the Governor of a small electoral state where you can run rough and tough and she fits that image in a state that lives on the last frontier of America. Sarah Palin is ten times the Maverick of John McCain and has earned the Governors office the hard way, she fought for it. Love her or hate her, she is still the Governor of the great state of Alaska.

So why is Sarah going rogue in the campaign? Is she not buying the sales pitch she is supposed to sell? Is she pissed off that the McCain campaign is telling her to dummy down on the issues? Why is Sarah Palin going rogue? 2012 is the answer. She sees the future and knows where the battleground will be after a Liberal President, Liberal run Congress and Senate will be. Governor Palin is painting the background for her run in 2012 and God bless her for it. Barack Obama and the coming Congress of Democrat led seats has two years to fix many problems. They need to start working on day one and keep working till all of the problems we face are confronted, discussed, legislated, fixed, investigated, or whatever it needs to be done to get America back on the right tracks.

If the Democrats as the polls all indicate come into power and abuse it as the Republicans did, then Sarah Palin is front and center in 2012 as the Republican nominee for President. One fact is sure, she does not believe in her heart that McCain and company can win this race. If she did, she would not go rogue in the last week before the election. How that effects her 2012 bid is up to her own political party but she has bucked them before and probably will do so again in the future.

I’m guessing that Governor Palin will be either Congresswoman Palin or Senator Palin from Alaska in the coming years. Her eyes are no longer on Vice President Palin. When I see Sarah Palin, I don’t see a second chair in her personality. I do see her making a run for the President in 2012 or 2016 and having a damn good chance at it if Obama and the Democrats screw us all over.

All I can report is if Sarah Palin does not believe the message John McCain is selling, is being told to shut up, held back, cloistered from the media, or pretty much told to follow the campaign talking points only , is that not the same as woman should be seen and not heard? I honestly can’t picture Governor Palin saying that she needed $150,000 in clothes and makeup? That just does not make sense to me and that leads one to think of only political handlers out of control in the McCain campaign.

John McCain didn’t pick her as a Maverick as much as he picked her to be a pretty face, a woman, and after that he wanted her to shut the hell up. That was how his generation treated woman, we live in the present Senator McCain. Woman are not a trophy prize, they are people too! Smuck!

Congrats to you Governor Palin for going rogue too! You just won the hearts and minds of many people across America for the next Presidential election.

Papamoka

The Republicans Might Try Making History, Too

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

It with with foreboding that I witness the acceleration of "Identity politics." There are great dangers in this; for while pundits gleefully fine comb election results showing who is voting for who, they are leaving a window open to a very nasty draft.

For example, in the Democratic race the buzz is that Hillary Clinton "has" the Hispanics and women. Barack Obama, on the other hand, "has" the young and blacks.

This is assuming that people vote FOR something all the time. They don't, and in fact vote against certain things when they have the opportunity. So, one could fairly conclude that women and Hispanics hate blacks and men, and that the young and blacks hate women. And whites, of course, hate everybody, including themselves.

Who knows? It's ridiculous to say the least. But identity politics is here and it's not going away anytime soon since it seems to "work" so well. This may sound quaint, but eventually elections will no longer appeal to Americans so much as selected "groups" of voters. What a shame.

The Republicans are apparently now experiencing that sinking feeling that Democrats have gone through for some years now. Their party somehow is not in sync with the voting public any more. People want a change. And right now their candidate is going to be facing either a highly qualified woman or a highly qualified black, or both, in November.

Suppose that John McCain wins the nomination. Democrats are going to find out exactly how conservative John McCain is within a few months. They are also going to learn that six years in the Hanoi Hilton somewhat immunizes someone from intimidation, to say the least.

He will choose a running mate. And that's where Condoleezza Rice comes in. If identity politics is the proper path to power, then why not use what is in your arsenal? There are two things that I can't help noticing about Dr. Rice...she's black and she's a woman.

More importantly, she has experience. Yeah, yeah, I know she has been serving the wrong boss, but that in itself should not be a disqualification. She has experience; deep experience. Many years from now I'm sure we'll hear the story of how to tried to educate and ineducatable president.

Like Hillary Clinton, she is a lady in public. In private I'm sure she's just as capable as the New York senator at peeling paint off the walls in expressing her displeasure. I could never over-emphasize that the human brain being carried around in a female body is a brain nonetheless. Some are bad ones while others are good. Sen. Clinton and Sec. Rice both are blessed with excellent ones.

Republicans need to stop despairing over the thought of a McCain nomination. They need to go outside that box and make as bold a political move as the Democrats. Secretary Rice is more than qualified to serve as vice president, or as president. Such a running mate would also totally skew the current assumption that all black and women voters are going to automatically gravitate towards the Democrats.

It's a suggestion, not an endorsement. There is that question as to whether or not Dr. Rice would be willing to serve. I figure if she could stand eight years around George W. Bush she wouldn't have a problem serving a McCain or a Romney. The idea is that she serves her country, and my feeling is that Condoleezza Rice would have no problem with that.

Without such a move, the Republican effort to retain the White House will be, as Lincoln once said, " like shoveling fleas across the barnyard."
****************************
Cross-posted at Michaellinnjones.com

"Ask Not What I Will Do For MY Country; Ask What My Country Can Do For Me"...Hillary Clinton's Mantra

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

Hillary Rodham Clinton has now won the New Hampshire Primary. 8,000 voters put her 3% over Barack Obama. The MSM, despite pulling another 1948 poll debacle, is continuing its sandbox gossiping. Mainly by not concentrating on a few facts.

It was NOT a two-person race. John Edwards pulled 48,000 votes. Bill Richardson, 13,000. It is a fair question to ask what the result would have been if those two candidates' voters had only Clinton or Obama to choose from.

However, Hillary Clinton is back in the saddle, thanks to something that while not exactly intangible, doesn't smell so good. In fact, it stinks. Maureen Dowd hit the nail on the head when she wrote:

Her argument against Obama now boils down to an argument against idealism, which is probably the lowest and most unlikely point to which any Clinton could sink. The people from Hope are arguing against hope.

Dowd is among many who have questioned the whimpering "woe is me" scene that showed Clinton as "human." So Holy mother of pearl, after all these years the iron maiden produces tears in public. All I saw was an iron maiden who can produce tears.

For the core remains, and that core is so Clintonesque, so predictable, that I have a hard time with people not seeing it. Bill and Hillary Clinton are political siamese twins; inseparable, joined at the hip in a life-long pursuit of political office and the power (and money) that accompany it. They are particularly skilled at converting YOUR hope into their goals.

Here's what's really weird about our political situation as it stands: the Republican Party is far to the right of where it was 40 years ago. Thanks to the Democratic Leadership Council and the Clintons, the Democrats are far to the right of what they were 40 years ago.

So in essence, Hillary Clinton is a moderate Republican wanting to be president. But there are exceptions; there always are. When it comes to authoritarianism and using the power of the state to control the private lives of citizens, then Clinton is on the barricades with the rest of the self-righteous Constitution shredders.

The pundits are saying that women put Clinton over the top; that gender is a factor. Some hint that there might be a "closet" anti-black vote in New Hampshire also. I do take hope that in lily-white Iowa race did not matter. And being so close to Dr. King's birthday, and the unfortunately beaten into the ground "I have a dream" speech, it IS worth remembering his words on content of character instead of the color of one's skin.

Or their gender. To ignore character is foolish and a great disservice to the republic. And voters should take a long, hard look at the choices they have, while they still have them.

This nation is heading for the shallows, if not the shoals. Rough times are ahead, and if the Democrats nominate a candidate who cannot stop thinking of themselves long enough to think of their country, then God help us all.

One thing is for sure; Hillary Clinton may have shed a few tears in New Hampshire, and those tears may have garnered her those critical 8,000 votes. But once she is seated in the Oval Office not one tear will she shed for four years.

No, you and I will be the ones crying.
***************************
Cross-posted at Michaellinnjones.com

Huckabee Preacher or President?

Don’t get me wrong because for the most part I think Mike Huckabee is probably one of the more genuine candidates over on the Republican side of the election. His sense of humor is realistically enough suited to him when it comes to the non stop religious questions thrown at him. Being a Republican candidate for President you pretty much need to be wearing your religion on your sleeve and if you are not then you better be explaining yourself. Which brings me to the thought process of why Mike Huckabee is not giving a JFK speech like Mitt Romney did just a few days ago? After all, Mitt is only a Mormon faith member, he was never a religious leader of his flock like Mike Huckabee was.

Is Mike Huckabee not concerned about all the people of the Jewish faith that just might also be a Republican. How about all them Catholic Republican’s like Bill O‘Reilly? Skip the Catholic’s, we gave up on Bill O’Reilly when he signed his pact with the devil but don’t tell anyone. Everyone knows that being a Catholic and a Republican too is like taking scuba diving lessons by jumping out of a plane at ten thousand feet, those two things just do not go together.

Is it possible for a preacher to go from the religious pulpit to the Presidential podium? Granted Huckabee was Governor of Arkansas but that is in the midst of the bible belt and in those states having the right religion can be the gold card of politics.

Over at MotherJones.com they have this very interesting read on just this subject…

Huckabee Hides His Full Gospel?

Washington Dispatch: Is Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate shunning Mike Huckabee the preacher? Before entering politics, he was a pastor at two Baptist churches. Now his campaign tells Mother Jones it won't make his sermons available to the media and the public.

By David Corn and Jonathan Stein
December 10, 2007

Now that he has his moment in the political spotlight, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee does not want his days at the pulpit to be scrutinized.

As Huckabee has surged to the front of the Republican pack in Iowa, his religious views have drawn media and voter attention. After all, Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, has been campaigning as a "Christian leader." But he has vacillated on how far to interject faith into politics. At an early debate, he indicated he does not believe in evolution, but at a more recent debate, when he was asked by Wolf Blitzer if the creation of the Earth occurred six thousand years ago and only took six days, as stated in the Old Testament, Huckabee said, "I don't know. I wasn't there." During a question-and-answer session with students at fundamentalist Liberty University last month, he asserted that his rise in the polls has an explanation that is "beyond human" and is due to the power of his supporters' prayers. Afterward, he backtracked slightly, adding, "I'm saying that when people pray, things happen.... I'm not saying that God wants me to be elected." (At a victory rally held after Huckabee won a 1993 special election for lieutenant governor, Huckabee told his supporters that he had only won because God had intervened, according to the Texarkana Gazette.) - MotherJones.com

It perplexes me why the topic of religion is so heavily debated among the Republican’s in the race for the Presidency and it never ends. Fractures in the political party of the current President are rampant from state to state and it will not end until the last vote is cast. If the thinking behind the votes cast is solely based on a candidates religious belief then the voters do not see what politics is really all about. Being President is not about what God you believe in or how many times you attend services. It’s about making decisions for the greater good of all of our people. Current President exception. There are decisions to be made that frankly, yes religion and your personal faith can and will have a bearing on but there is also the fact that as President you have to defend the Constitution of the United States of America to the best of your abilities over any other vow you have ever taken in your life. There is no exception written into the oath that you must take once elected President of this nation. Again, current President exception.

Thou shall not kill, one of the biggies of the ten commandments is pretty relevant if you are the Commander in Chief of our nations military. Can the preacher break this commandment by using military force where many lives could be lost as President of our country to defend our people? If not, then how does he defend our nation and prove that America is not to be messed with by all the little dictators that think they are the next toughest kid on the block? Could he direct the CIA to find and kill terrorist leaders around the world that are intent on the ultimate destruction of America? Could Huckabee put the bible down to make these kind of decisions and live with it or not?

There is a large difference between a Sunday sermon and the highest political office in the land. Sermons are easy enough, running a nation is not about words and phrases that can roll off the tongue. It’s about actions that President’s have to take and in some instances it runs counter to whatever religion you have under your belt. Once more the current President exception.

Papamoka

Cross posted over at Michael Linn Jones and Bring IT ON!

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Our Nation Once had Leaders

Picture Courtesy of Fred08

In politics today it is more of public opinion and stardom than it is about what you actually can achieve once elected. Fred Thompson proved that fact by wiping out what was said by the debaters at the actual Republican Presidential debate with his five minutes of fame on Jay Leno last night. Welcome to the elections run by timing and an audience larger than a boring political debate.

I give Fred the actor prop’s for knowing how the tube works and how the mains stream media works. Fred announced his Republican bid for the Presidency to an audience of ten to twenty million viewers. Over at the debate they were lucky to have seven million viewers. Scales of justice and the main stream media proved out today who really won the debate and he wasn’t even there!

Some folks say that Freddy is a horrible public speaker and some say that he isn’t about the presenting of the idea as much as he is about getting the battle won to make the message law. Others say he could not handle the non stop back stabbing that is our nations gentleman halls of government.

That fact perplexes me? Why did he quit the Senate? Did he or did he not say that nothing could be accomplished in Washington, D.C.?

If I were given the choice of anyone opposing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barrack Obama, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden or John Edwards then I would definitely cast my ballot for the Democrat over Fred the actor Thompson. Better air time on the networks does not make you fit to lead. It only makes you television savvy.

I was listening to talk radio today and they were pointing out the leaders of the election and I was sickened by the fact that they were declaring certain people the only ones that could win. I’m not saying that Fred Thompson is out of the running but does anyone know what he really stands for? All of the contenders on both sides have spoken and been heard. How can you say that somebody out of the blue might steal the race? You can’t!

This race for President has not even started yet and the people are not paying enough attention to it yet. I’m following it as best I can and even I think it is to early to declare the White House for any party. The people will decide that fact when the votes are counted in 2008.

Leaders of our nation are born through life trials and not by the offices they have served in or held. Our nations Presidency is not decided by the media, it is decided by one vote cast by many people that becomes the office of President.

Papamoka