Tuesday Night Recap of the 2008 RNC Convention

For those of us that missed the proceedings last night, here are the video highlights of some of last night's sppeches in St. Paul Minnesota:





In Memoriam and President Gerald Ford Tribute



As the second hour of the second night of the 2008 Republican National Convention began, delegates were welcomed to the Xcel Energy Center with an inspirational video narrated by actor Robert Duvall.


U.S. Senator Norm Coleman



The winner of the Wave the Stars and Stripes contest, Victoria Blackstone, before the Pledge of Allegiance at the 2008 Republican National Convention.


Tribute to President Teddy Roosevelt


Tribute to President Abraham Lincoln


President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush address the 2008 Republican National Convention.


Former U.S. Senator Feed Thompson


U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman


There are more videos, but they deserve posts of their own, and I will add them as I find time. I am editing the video of the Speech and Q&A Session Congressman Heath Shuler had yesterday afternoon at Western Carolina University.

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Fred Thompson Is Back !!!

Yaaay!!!

Spending some time on the campaign trail has confirmed a couple of thoughts I’ve had before I entered the Republican primary race.

First, conservatism is alive and well in America; don’t let anyone tell you differently. And by conservatism, I don’t mean the warmed-over “raise your hand if you believe …” kind of conservatism we see blooming every election cycle. No, I’m speaking of the conservatism grounded in principles based upon enduring truths: an understanding of the importance of human nature in the affairs of individuals and nations. Respect for the lessons of history, the importance of faith and tradition. The understanding that while man is prone to err, he is capable of great things when not subjugated by a too-powerful government. These are the principles that inspired our Founding Fathers, and resulted in a Constitution that delineated the powers of the central government, established checks and balances among the branches of government and further diffused governmental power by a system of Federalism.

Second, change – whether it “real change,” “bold change” or the “change we can believe in” variety others are selling – isn’t itself an innovative policy or a particularly strong leadership stance. In fact, from Burke to Buckley, there has been an acknowledgement that change in the political arena is inevitable and necessary, and we in the U.S. tend to experience it in regular, 2, 4 and 6 year intervals, so 2008 is hardly our first rodeo. The challenge for conservatives is calibrating whether the change being proposed is consistent with our principles and our philosophy, and whether that change is appropriate.

Source: Townhall

Commentary

Be sure to read the whole thing, and check out the Townhall magazine.

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My Man Fred Drops Out of the Race

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Thompson said in a statement.

Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.

Source: Breit Bart, via an on-air announcement by Rush Limbaugh.

I guess that makes me an orphan. I'm thinking Romney is gonna be Plan B.

God Bless you Fred Thompson. Thank You for running, and your mother is in my prayers.

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The Problem With John McCain I

First, let me clear the decks on his wartime service...he served our nation well. He behaved honorably during his imprisonment, and torture, at the hands of the Communist Vietnamese. [There are those who claim otherwise...I will not link to them because most of them are 9/11 Twoofers, and I do not consider anyone who is a twoofer to be menatlly competent.]

During his years in the Senate, he has championed pork-busting, denying pork projects for his own state, and stopping some pork projects for other Senators. [According to the St Pete Times, that is a lie.]

That is about all the good things I can say about him.

If he is the nominee of our party, I will find it very difficult to vote for him, and I will not lend him any material, or psychological, support. I will not give his campaign one dime, I will not make one phone call in his behalf.

In fact, I believe I had promised during the Shamnesty debate that I would man the phones for Moveon.org if they had a phone bank I could get to at some point during the campaign.


Here are some demographic numbers based on exit polling in South Carolina:

Veterans: McCain 36, Huckabee 25, Romney 20, Thompson 13
Evangelicals: Huckabee 41, McCain 27, Thompson 14, Romney 11
Independents: McCain 37, Huckabee 23, Paul 15, Romney 14
Conservatives: Huckabee 32, McCain 26, Romney 19, Thompson 17


Source: Race 4 2008

Defeating McCain

The first thing I garner from the above numbers is that either Romney or Thompson must withdraw from the race if we are to deny McCain the nomination. The Thompson Surge began too late. Even though I like him over Romney, the numbers do not support him remaining in the race.

He should withdraw, and throw his support behind Romney.

I see a Romney-Thompson 2008 Ticket as the best I can hope for at this point.


Reason Number One

There are many reasons McCain must be denied the nomination. Here is the first:

1. McCain-Feingold [1] [2] [3]
   

Senator John McCain co-wrote, and championed a piece of legislation that did severe damage to the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Should I ever be ruled to fall under it's provisions, this is one law I will not obey, even under force of arms.

...there will be more forthcoming...

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Spain Faces Terrorism Despite Fleeing Iraq

The Civil Guard detained the suspects in Barcelona as part of a joint operation with Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI).

Several premises were searched and, as the operation is ongoing, more arrests have not been ruled out.

Spain suffered at the hands of Islamist militants in 2004 when 191 people were killed in the Madrid train bombings.

Source: BBC

Shortly after the 2004 Madrid Bombings, the Spaniards elected a Lefty, and they fled the field of battle. Not surprisingly, the terrorism has continued, putting the lie to the claim by Lefty Democrats, and Lefty Ron Paul Supporters that if we just leave Iraq, the terrorists will be okay with that.

Riiiight!

I have said time and again that this is a World War, and I have called it World War IV for several years. The objective for the Muslim Terrorists is control of the Earth. Since we don't have any moon bases or colonies on Mars, that kind of leaves us with no where to go, doesn't it?

I've always believed that the best defense is a good offense. And we civilians should do what we can to clear the decks for our leaders in the government, and in the the military, by exposing the harmful politicos in our own system, and getting them out of office.

First, we should identify, and get behind candidates who support our war effort, and elect them instead of Quislings [1] [2] and Dhimmis [1] [2] who are either in league with, or are afraid of the enemy.

Here are the candidates in the Presidential Race I feel are best suited for such a thing as taking the fight to the enemy:

1. Fred Thompson
2. Duncan Hunter
3. Mitt Romney
4. Rudy Giuliani

There are no others beside them. The rest are cowards, or worse.

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Human Events Endorses Fred Thompson

I guess this was the big announcement Fred was referring to on the blogger conference call yesterday:

The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years. It’s been more than five decades since such a race didn’t feature an incumbent President or Vice President. Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election at a time when the stakes were higher. Conservatives have to win this election, and to do so, we have to identify a candidate around whom we all can rally.

Fundamental Beliefs

We begin by recalling the profound words of Ronald Reagan at the Conservative Political Action Conference Feb. 15, 1975: “A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” We believed that then, and we believe it now. The issue for us -- and for the conservative community -- boils down to which of the candidates is most representative of the fundamental conservative principles we believe in.

The answer is Fred Thompson.

Read the rest at Human Events

If Fred keeps doing what he did last night, then he'll stay alive in the primaries. He is my first choice, as well.

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SC GOP Debate Coverage and Crazy Ron Paul

Real Clear Politics Graph

First, here is a playlist clip of the highlights:

playlist of debate clips

And here are what people are reporting:

It seems that most pundits agree that Fred won, and I wonder if the blogger conference call had anything to do with lighting a much-needed fire under him.

Here is a Blog talk Radio coverage of the debate vis this embedded player:

Gateway Pundit has a good roundup, and lays into Ron Paul for the Gulf of Tonkin insanity. Ron Paul has been listening to too many conspiracy nuts and lefties!




And finally (finally!) the Media starts picking up on the racist past of Ron Paul, and his associates.

Ron Paul claims he didn't know what was in his own newsletter...and he thinks he can become President? No, if George Allen cannot say "macaca" one time...then Ron Paul cannot have years of newsletters with his name on them and not get knocked around.


And, here is a recent video requesting that we leave Ron Paul alone:

If Ron Paul, or the Democrats can't handle Fox News, then how can we expect them to handle the thugs in the United Nations and elsewhere in the world?
THe Democrats and Pauleroids are a binch of crybabies.

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Iowa Caucus Results: Winners & Losers

Results:

Democrats

Barack Obama....38%
John Edwards.....30%
Hillary Clinton....29%


Republicans

Mike Huckabee....34%
Mitt Romney.......25%
Fred Thompson...13%
John McCain.......13%
Ron Paul...........10%



Winners

Barack Obama

He succeeded in getting out the youth vote, and energizing support for him.
Just watch this victory speech below...





Mike Huckabee

He also got the youths, as well as the Evangelicals, and a lot of other people. His speech...



Fred Thompson

He was late to the game, and raised less money than Tancredo, and still show in 3rd, a hair's whisker ahead of John McCain. His speech...


Losers

Hillary Clinton

What can I say? She was going to skip Iowa, then she wasn't. This removes the feeling of inevitability for her assumed nomination.

Mitt Romney

He spent millions for second place. This video shows the result...


Ron Paul


A fourth place finish exposes the lie that the scientific polls were wrong, and the internet polls were right. His rabid supporters have been playing a very childish game of gaming the results of polls on the internet, calling for people to come vote on websites they would never ordinarily visit so that Ron Paul could win in the poll.

11, 598 Iowans voted for Ron Paul last night. Over 100,000 voted for someone else. That should be the end of the story...

...it won't be. Allow me to let Ronald Reagan address the problem...

And I have even more coverage at West Carolina Report.

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Mark Levin Interviews Fred Thompson

The Great One interviewed Fred Thompson on his radio show last night, and here it is, divided into 2 You Tube Clips:



part one


part two

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Our Judicial Despotism

As this year comes to a close, I find myself waxing philosophic.

Who we choose as our next President will be crucial in determining whether or not we can walk the dog back from the Living Constitution back to the Written Constitution.

If it is true that a construction of the Constitution by the Supreme Court, no matter how spurious or absurd, no matter how damaging to the organic life of the country, is eo ipso "the law of the land," unchallengeable even by a law made by the people's representatives...then, where, in all candor, are we?

If a judicial interpretation of the Constitution is, by definition, the Constitution, why then we are in the grips of a judicial despotism.

L. Brent Bozell, "Warren Revolution" pp 110-112

Thus began the Republic's Second Great Crisis, the first having been the Civil War.

I can guarantee one thing: If Ron Paul recognized the danger posed by The Third Great Jihad, and supported our efforts at stopping it over there before it comes over here, he would be the next President of the United States. His refusal to acknowledge that threat keeps 60% or more of the GOP vote away from him, and unreachable.

This is truly sad, and a great tragedy for the Republic.

At this point, my only option is to support Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter.

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(VIDEO) Meanwhile, Fred Thompson was on Hannity & Colmes

While I am no longer serving on the local Fred Thompson Committee, I still like the guy, and would like to see him the White House in 2009. (I resigned over the flag flap.)

He was on Hannity and Colmes last night whilst I slept:

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(VIDEO) Rush Limbaugh on Fred Thompson

How can I add to what Rush said?

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(VIDEO) Fred Thompson is not a Third Grader

This was Fred at his best! The only way it could have been better was if he had left the debate at that point.

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Thunder Pig Withdrawing Support for Fred Thompson

I have been an enthusiastic Fred Thompson Supporter from the time it was rumored he would join the fray.

Due to his contempt of my heritage, I am withdrawing my support for him, and have requested that I be removed from various blogrolls promoting him.

I will have more later. The family is throwing a celebration for my grand parents today on the occasion of their 62nd Wedding Anniversary.

I still like him, and most of his policies, but cannot support someone who hates the symbol of the south, and of the portion of my ancestors who bled under that flag of battle.

As a side note, my growing admiration for Governor Mitt Romney has been quelled.

This again leaves me with Congressman Hunter and Congressman Tancredo as the only "real" conservatives in the pack, and their chances are slim, now that the faux conservative Governor Huckabee is finding his way into the hearts of RINOs everywhere.

I will likely vote for the nominee of the GOP, provided it isn't Ron Paul or Julie Annie, in 2008. My primary season just opened up, now that I won't be part of the Thompson Surge planned for South Carolina.

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Fred on Hillarycare

Fred Speaks Truth to Socialism!

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I'm With Fred

I'm throwing my lot in with Fred Thompson for President, and I would like for him to choose either Mike Huckabee or Newt Gingrich as his running mate.

I will also be active in my community campaigning for Fred, and am glad I have decided to take a sabbatical from work this winter so I can devote a few hours a week working for various GOP Candidates.

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Video: Hunting For a Red November

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Why Fred Thompson is Possible

I have watched this earliest of Presidential Election Cycles with interest, and with growing dismay as the Media has focused almost exclusively on the "Big Three: GOP candidates, none of whom can claim they are conservative without eliciting a belly laugh from me.

Arizona Senator John McCain may have been a conservative at one time, before I started paying attention to politics, but he is not now. My biggest beef with him is the unconstitutional McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform. That criminal piece of legislation has Congress restricting the First Amendment, and so far, the Supreme Court has provided an amen chorus. My second biggest beef with him are his incessant attempts at collaborating with Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy on "Comprehensive Immigration Reform," a piece of legislation that seeks to "legalize" illegal behavior, and would, if passed, cause vastly more harm to this country than McCain-Feingold.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has never been a conservative. Some of his views may coincide with conservatism, and other views have undergone the playdough oven treatment to dress them up for the Primary.

My biggest beef with Rudy is his support for Abortion. The Playdough Oven Treatment has transformed this into, "I support a woman's Right to Choose; but I will appoint Justices that will limit that Right to Choose." The Cognitive Dissonance on that one issue is enough to threaten a rip in the space-time continuum.

His position on the Second Amendment is similar. He supports the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; but not in a "Big City" like New York City, where the rules of normal space-time do not apply. As someone who has possessed, and used, firearms in a major city, I can assure you that group of armed citizens can, and will, do a better job of policing their neighborhood than the police ever will.

Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney is not a conservative. Many in his faith are, he is not, unless he has experienced a genuine change of heart.

My biggest beef with him is his support of the Mandatory Universal Health Insurance signed into law by him while Governor.


I am one of the "43 million" uninsured Americans. I am uninsured by choice. I do not play lotteries, nor subscribe to the reverse lottery of Health Insurance that only pays if you lose, and then pays someone else from a common pool. No.
I have used money that would have gone toward premiums, and have invested that money, along with money for my retirement since 1986. When big expenses come, I trade some of my investment for money, then pay for my own care.


That one issue is enough to remove the governor from my short list.

There is one conservative running for the GOP nod, and that is California Representative Duncan Hunter. If he were given the same coverage as the Three Princesses of the GOP, there would be no contest, and no need for Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson to be "drafted."

I am told he is charismatic, and "of the Reagan Mold." He also has played a character on Law & Order. I am probably one of twelve people in America who has never seen a complete episode of that show. I dislike lawyers, and "courtroom dramas" even more. I also believe that people who watch Court TV of their own free will should be shot as a service to humankind.

The Media have overplayed the candidates that are not palatable to the rank and file of the Republican Party. A candidate like Fred Thompson cannot be ignored by the media, and the charisma factor is necessary to make up for the biased media coverage. The Media played along, and vastly underestimated the man who became the 40th President of the United States, and may fall for it again.

My personal Preference is for Duncan Hunter, with a big possible for Newt Gingrich, who has been playing coy with getting in the race. If Fred gets in the pool with the others, Newt will have zero chance. I'll have to support Duncan Hunter in the hopes that a strong showing will get him the Veep slot beside a Presidential Fred Thompson. I guess I should order those Thompson/Duncan bumper stickers now.

Like it or not, I'll have to start covering the 2008 Race as more than something of a diversion.

/sarcasm

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