Cracks in the Facade

I think we all saw this one coming. Our favorite GOP Governor, former beauty queen, sportscaster, airborne wolf hunter, and current GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin is going off-script as the McCain campaign lurches towards the finish line. Rumor is that she has a strong image within the Republican Party (even though she couldn't even get an Anchorage-based newspaper's endorsement), and will likely be the most-liked Republican after this election. She's evidently focused on distancing herself from McCain, simultaneously stabbing him in the back and fleeing for political safeground, like a rat fleeing a sinking ship. So much for "Country First," right Sarah? Especially when you're ambitious.

My first thought is that if you didn't think Obama had a strong chance to win on Nov. 4th before today, you should think so now. She's clearly pulling a John Edwards (in the political sense, not the sexual), and that's not a good sign for the McCain folks. My second thought is that if she's about to become the standard-bearer for the Republican Party, I feel very, very sorry for the GOP. As much as I can anyway. As Bill Maher said this weekend, the GOP used to be a bunch of old, white guys who were just interested in managing your money, and that was okay. I can be fine with patricians. Now, it's the party of anti-intellectualism, rightist evangelical Christianity, and hawkish global intervention. It's sad, really.

What this might me in the long run is rather interesting. US politics don't translate easily to a multi-party system. Third parties work short-term, but have never had long-term viability. What will happen to the GOP after this election? Will the various factions fight about the future of the party, or will they fragment into two distinct brand of American conservatism? I foresee one version modeled after the UK conservative party and another that is a wholly American social conservative-only brand.

What do you think? Does anyone care?

Feeling Inspired...

This video really made me stop and think...

Then I sang "God Bless America", had some whiskey, and decided to change my affiliation to the Good Ole Boy club of the GOP.

Enjoy...

Dews Super Tuesday thoughts...

Wow, what a strange and interesting turn of events last night was huh?

On the one hand, you have an increasingly obvious candidate in McCain on the GOP side that can't seem to win the GOP states, but on the other you have Clinton and Obama dicing up the electorate (with Clinton still holding a lead despite what the Media seems to be telling us in some not-to-subtle ways).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Clinton (Hillary anyway), but does anyone else find it just a bit suspicious that despite her victories last night all you could hear was how much more traction Obama "seemed" to be getting and how much better his chances are going forward then Clinton's because of this "momentum" he apparently got?

On the Democratic side, it certainly seems like the Media has already anointed Obama the Democratic candidate regardless of the reality of the situation, but by all means feel free to chime in and point me where I should be looking to think otherwise.

On the GOP side, I gotta say I don't think McCain is nearly as strong a candidate as people are making him out to be. He is supposed to be the "staunch independant" mind running for the nomination, but he has a long list of enemies he's accrued over the years that have done their damnedest to rally conservative America away from his campaign.

That being said, doesn't McCain have to pick Huckabee now as his running mate? Is there any other way for him to win the states that the GOP has no business losing (ie, the south and midwest)? There is no way Romney would get the nod, being the only person hated more by the GOP establishment (and being richer then God of course), so I'd have to believe that Huckabee is the only way McCain can solidify the base at this point. Question is, would Huckabee take such a job? He certainly has the opportunity to be the voice of Conservative America after this election, whether as a Radio host, or maybe even a third party candidate (viable one at that I might add), so why hitch a wagon to a guy that doesn't share your views?

Really shaping up to be a fascinating finish though for us political geeks... Looking forward to the continued media spin on Hillary and whether it does finally give Obama that edge he needs to finish strong.

That is all...

Breaking News:

Governor Mike Huckabee is apparently still very much alive as a spoiler at the very least in this election, as he has taken West Virginia in quite the upset!

Huckabee bested Mitt Romney, who entered the Mountain State event with the largest bloc of pledged convention-goers. Both men and Ron Paul made in-person appeals to the more than 1,100 convention delegates attending Tuesday's convention.
But the former Arkansas governor beat his Massachusetts counterpart after delegates for John McCain defected to his side

Things still looking pretty interesting for the field, as I can't imagine anyone predicted this to happen.

I blame Chuck Norris :)

Dews Caucus thoughts...

Well it has finally come and gone...

The long awaited test for Clinton/Obama/Edwards/Others and their partners Romney/Giuliani/Huckabee/McCain/Paul in Iowa has come and gone with yours truly watching (quite amused for the most part) from our very own command center in Capitol Hill (complete with 42 and 50 inch behemoth HD TV's).

Immediate thoughts are that I was not at all surprised about Huckabee's running away with the GOP side, as they kept mentioning over and over about the power of evangelical influence in the caucus that year. That being said, it was surprising to see Fred Thompson garner so much support when he had mentioned as recently as yesterday that he wanted to help support his friend McCain if he could not secure a good finish (consequently he had beaten McCain based on the last numbers I saw).

Obama's clear victory was honestly a surprise though.

From the early returns I got the sense that Edwards may have finally gotten that traction he's needed, but eventually did lose ground, though a second place finish for him in Iowa is damaging it may not be the end of the road.

The real clear loser in this was Hillary Clinton...

Not really sure where this puts her in the grand scheme of things, as she obviously hasn't shown as much ability as Obama in the fundraising, nor the "charm" aspect, so honestly I'm ready to write her off at this point as a serious candidate...

She needed to win Iowa to prove their was something there I feel... She didn't do it... Her speech was the most telling part of her entire failure when she was preaching progress and a change in direction while surrounding herself with Washington insiders that everyone would recognize (including that unemployed husband of hers, whats his name?).

Anyway...

My picks for New Hampshire for the moment are Obama and (wait for it....) a close finish between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney!

You laugh, but just wait...

Huckabee unstoppable?

Granted I started writing about Huckabee as the interesting former Governor that was speaking his mind about several topics that I quite honestly was shocked to hear any politician say in public, but it seems that every time I look at the news now he's gained so much traction in his campaign that he has "pulled to within a single percentage point of Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up."!!!

Today, in the first full round of national polling completed since last week’s “debate” among Republican Presidential hopefuls, Huckabee has pulled to within three points of the frontrunning Rudy Giuliani. Heading into the debate, Giuliani led Huckabee by twelve.

Really is shaping up to be a fascinating primary on the GOP side between the Cyborg Romney, Cross-dresser Rudy and now the seemingly unstoppable Huckabee. Should at the very least provide us political geeks some much needed entertainment after watching the Hillary/Obama "He's looking at me, ya but he's on my side of the seat!" childish crap.

Ideally I'd love to watch an Edwards vs Huckabee election though, given the wild-card nature of both those candidates, but I guess beggars can't be choosers :).

Amazing developments...

Don't look now ladies and gentlemen, but we've got ourselves a whole new race in the GOP primary!

Latest numbers from a Rasmussen report show none other then Governor Huckabee taking the lead in Iowa over well kept, reserved, mormon Governor Mitt Romney!

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts
Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind. National
frontrunner Rudy Giuliani gets just 12% of the vote in Iowa at this time while
former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the only other candidate in double
digits at 11%.

Really is a pretty shocking turn of events as Huckabee has truly come on strong recently as his visibility seems to go up by the week. He certainly has distinguished his views and his persona from the rest of the crowd at this point, but maybe this is a sign of the GOP electorate wanting someone that won't base all their responses off the latest polls?

Should be an interesting race to watch now...

Especially for our good friend that will hook us all up if he wins the Presidency :).

Update: Senate Fixture to retire

UPDATE 11/27/07: Granted this was via Keith Olbermann (love him to death, but he's not exactly "fair and balanced" either), but it makes sense.

As of January 1st the rules for former "members" becoming lobbyists (members being any member of congress, whether Senate or House), will state that there is a 5 year waiting period for them before they can become a lobbyist...

This obviously would put Lott in a tremendous position to become a lobbyist BEFORE that cut-off date, as he still holds enormous sway with both sides of the aisle.

Apologize if I've "bumped" any articles...
-------Old article underneath-------

Thats right, the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, former GOP figurehead in the Senate for years, will be retiring before the end of the year.

Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in his home state later in the day
to reveal his plans. According to congressional and White House officials, who
spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to
resign effective the end of the year.
No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health. The senator has "other opportunities" he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating.

Obviously this comes as a bit of a shock to anyone connected to the workings on "The Hill", otherwise known as political geeks, but the reasoning behind this is still puzzling.

Obviously no reasons have been given yet except the generic "to pursue other opportunities" (slightly better then the "I want to spend more time with my family" crap that is usually dished out though), but let the speculation begin!

Just throwing out my two cents here, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him with a sweet analyst job on Fox sometime soon. He is quite the smooth talker and could very easily make the jump to network "talking head" pretty easily. Something about the southern accent just makes it easier to believe that whomever has it actually believes what they're saying. Maybe thats just the naive Vermonter in me though?

Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated...

Ahh, finally have access to a machine with internet access!

My journey through DC has been fraught with many perils, but I have survived "The Hill" complete with savage Whale monsters and am currently avoiding catastrophe amongst the Mole People of Crystal City...

Anyway, I have been away from news of most any sort (except political, you cannot escape it on the Hill), so I shall have to do a quick rundown of the events most troubling to me.

Quite honestly one of the funnier moments to me was sitting in a Bank of America watching our president say how he is going to fix delays at airports... If you haven't heard of of this, here's a snippet:

Declaring that "business as usual is not good enough for American
travelers," Bush announced at the White House a series of detailed technical
steps to reduce air traffic congestion and long delays that have left passengers
stranded and turned holiday travel into "a season of dread for too many
Americans."

Honestly I'm glad he has so much free time to think this stuff up. We have apparently hit the pinnacle of efficiency in every other aspect of our lives and how we go about business (especially foreign policy and military management). All Hail that who has allowed us to reach the zenith of our potential, President George Dubya Bush.

In more important news, the woman that was told by Southwest that she needed to change, has of course been punished in the most American way possible. She was asked to pose for Playboy for an undisclosed sum. Poor girl...

Thankfully things are getting a bit dirtier on the GOP side though to take some attention off of Option 1 Clinton and Option 2 Obama. There are targeted campaigns of phone banks telling people throughout New Hampshire and Iowa all kinds of wonderful anti-mormon things and of COURSE all camps are denying any involvement here.

Residents in New Hampshire and Iowa have received phone calls raising questions about Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, his Mormon faith and the Vietnam War-era military deferments he received while serving as a missionary in France.

(Always nice to see the "Good ole boys" play nice nice)

Oh yea, and in minor news, a whole buncha people died overseas from some weather thingie...