10.11.06
This month’s poll
Speak up !
09.14.06
John Francois Kerry- Tough Guy
This guy is such a joke…. can’t you just hear him saying this:
Kerry says the only reason he didn’t compete in more states in 2004 was that he ran out of money. He says this was also the reason he did not adequately respond to a series of devastating TV ads by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, a group that questioned Kerry’s service in Vietnam and criticized his later opposition to the war.
“They had money behind the lies, and we did not have sufficient money behind the truth,” Kerry laments.
Asked if he dreads the prospect of being “Swift-Boated” all over again, Kerry counters that he would relish such a fight.
“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he declares. “I am so confident of my abilities to address that and to demolish it and to even turn it into a positive.”
Puh-leaze…. Can’t you just hear that annoying, nasal monotone voice saying this ? He couldn’t kick anybody’s ass anywhere. KISS their ass, maybe.
09.04.06
From the “I don’t give a damn” department
Janet Jackson backs Hillary Clinton for White House
Who. The. Hell. Cares ?
09.03.06
This is actually not a bad idea
FRIENDS of Hillary Clinton have been whispering the unthinkable. Despite her status as the runaway frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president, some of her closest advisers say she might opt out of the White House race and seek to lead her party in the Senate.
She is a shoe-in for the nomination, but she’d never win the general election. She is, however, a somewhat honest broker on some issues that really matter. She’d be great as head of the Dems in the Senate, if she can keep that attitude and not fall into the DailyKos/MoveOn/Wayne Madsen-conspiracy kookiness that Harry Reid has embraced with the zeal of an ass-kissing jailhouse Mary.
She can’t win the presidency. She probably can beat Reid in a challenge for the MINORITY leader. I’m all for it.
08.28.06
The Straw Poll Rundown
I’ll do these one by one. Keep in mind we are still…. (damn) 18 months before the prez campaigns really get ramped up…. but this is my initial impression.
Sen. George Allen (R-VA)
- Smart guy, mostly conservative, decent fella, but he has a bit of a temper. His whole “macaca” fiasco shows me that he just isn’t ready for prime time.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Another smart guy, and dedicated to his causes. Very conservative, but untested. He has yet to make his name known outside of conservative circles, Kansas, and us C-SPAN junkies.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN)
- I am a Frist fan. I really am. But I can’t get my head around the fact that he is Majority Leader, isn’t running for re-election, and can’t show some balls to get some things done. He is the most ineffective leader I’ve seen that I can remember (I know, Reid is partially responsible) and that doesn’t show me much for a potential president. “The Senate is a collegial body.” My ASS. Anyone remember LBJ ? Frist would be better at HHS or something.
Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House, R-GA)
- Newt is an idea guy with a ton of baggage. I think he would be a great prez, but his odds are next to nil. But he will help keep the other candidates honest, and that means something. He engineered the ‘94 wins, and has a lot of use, even if his chances are slim.
Rudy Guliani (Former mayor of New York city)
- Rudy has NYC crime correction, bureacracy beating, and strong leadership all over him. And 9/11. And he shoots straight. He does have baggage, but his credentials on security and leadership overtake those problems. He is a national figure with few nationally-known negatives…. people in Nebraska don’t follow his marital problems. He does have some social-conservative views that don’t exactly jive with a lot of Republicans, but I’m not sure that matters. GWB ran against McCain-Feingold, and then signed it. Presidents must make decisions and prioritize. Guliani won’t be perfect, but he takes care of the important stuff.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
- Chuck wants to be president too bad. He wants to please everyone all the time, and so pleases nobody overall. His positions are all over the place, there are no principles that I can see. He drifts with the wind, has no national presence, and isn’t articulate enough to even fake one.
Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
-
Again, maybe an HHS Secretary-ship. He’s a nice fella (I’ve met him a time or two) and he has decent ideas. But he’s not ready for prime time. Plus, he passed a smoking ban in restaurants in my beloved state of Arkansas, and the citizens aren’t all that happy. Nor am I. If I can’t smoke at Pancho’s, what’s the point of going ?
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
- (sigh) Do I have to ? I think McCain is a decent bet. He’s smart and mostly principled. He does some things that make me crazy. McCain-Feingold violates the Constitution in SO many ways. Some of his activities on the Commerce Committee are just wrong. But he cares about security, and that’s the most important thing. The rest- hopefully his advisors will steer him straight.
Gov. George Pataki (R(ino)-NY)
- Should he actually choose to run, he will be the GOP version of Dennis Kucinich. Not a prayer. Raises taxes constantly, doesn’t agree with the social values of the GOP. He’s a non-starter. And every word he says, every even he holds, there will be the spectre of Rudy standing over him.
Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)
- Another possibility. Not a lot to know about him at this point, but he polls decently for this stage, and any Mormon Republican who can get elected in the Peoples Republic of Mass is worth watching. He’s trying to raise his profile, isn’t running for reelection, so he’ll have two years to work on it.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
- Again, a good guy, but a single issue candidate. Immigration is a tremendously important issue, but not important enough to get you the big leather chair in the Oval. I just don’t see him having the punch needed to cover all the others.
Plus- hate to say it- but the current president got elected in ‘00 largely on charm and Cheney and advisors. It was widely known that Powell would take over State, Rice would be there, Rumsfeld was a stroke of genius… but the confidence in GWB was…. well. I can’t see the country electing another guy who will pick good people. The next guy has to be THE GUY. Bush became THE GUY, but when I closed that curtain in ‘00 the only thing I was sure of was he’d be better than Gore
There are others I’d add to the list, but that requires more thought than I want to give it at the moment.
.00001% of precincts reporting
That poll that I posted earlier, remember this ? (participate if you can)
Just filled it out myself, from this site, and found an interesting result. I was one of two, so far, and… Someone out there has some interesting views.
Someone out there likes Frist, Hagel, Huckabee, and Pataki. That same person doesn’t agree with me on Romney and Tancredo. And that’s cool. No denigration intended. I just find it interesting.
This person likes Pataki AND Brownback. Talk about oil and water. We won’t get into the “first choice” picks. I can take either one. (my vote was Newt, in full disclosure, but there’s a reason…. I tried to take the poll the day I posted it, and got errors. Thought I’d try my tie-for-first pick this time)
I will post later my run-down on all these guys, and then we can talk about it more.
08.25.06
Interesting Straw Poll
GOPBloggers has put together an interesting little deal here. The results are quite interesting as well. (h/t MY Right Wing Conspiracy)
