The pretty boy

So the pretty boy is back. The 50 something Senator is taking a stab against a fierce competition.

The Senator for North Carolina used to be a trial lawyer. Jerk.

So I admit, which makes my fellow GOP'ers cringe is that in early 2004, I was planning on voting for him. Yes, it's true.

I tend to try to give everyone a fair shake at things and he was the only candidate from the "other side" that was actually being positive and not bashing his fellow party members for a half of a percent poll increase.

Issues aside, he seemed to me like a great guy. So when he finally conceded and we were left with the flip-flopper, I thought, OK, maybe this guy can actually get Kerry to be positive and I'll actually vote on other side this year for the president.

That never happened.

I hope he'll stay positive towards his campaign, I may actually listen. It's doubtful after he bashed Cheney's daughter for being a carpet muncher that I'll consider him.

This election, his wife is facing cancer. What's ironic is that it seems that if this would happen on the other side, the "peaceful" leftists would be cheering on her death. But people seem to respect both of them because since he's a democrat, it's totally different.

Edwards is for eliminating poverty, universal health care, and fighting global warming. So instead of the poverty line in the US being 2 televisions, I guess he'd like to give them three. Universal health care means that we'll double our taxes, get worse service and have to wait 50 months for a heart transplant. It's working in Canada, isn't it? Then there's the global warming myth.

Seems like another chicken little kook liberal.

Good luck.

Odds of winning the dem nod: 1000 to 1

Odds of winning the presidency: Same as Larry Bird's word that another Pacer wont get arrested.

Tancredo Is Ready for Road Show...

...Stating that none of the GOP's current candidates are willing to speak about the issue of illegal immigration (presumably because they have yard work that needs to be done), Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo has officially entered the race to spread his message of exclusion and hate of all things non-WASP.

“The great tradition of the melting pot in America is not working,” Mr. Tancredo said. “The melting pot is cracked.”

Tancredo's Wikipedia entry shows a man devoted to his wife of 27 years and hell bent on ridding Colorado of illegal immigrants, unless they are working on the basement of his house. In which case he has adopted President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Tancredo's stance on immigration has gotten him into fights with Bush advisor Karl Rove to the point of where each has accused the other of being a traitor and Rove telling Tancredo not to "darken the doorstep of the White House" or he will treat him like a soldier at Walter Reed Hospital.

Tancredo's other controversies include referring to Miami as a "third-world country" and other general forms of hatred to people of color. He should be a welcome addition to the race!

Only in Indiana

As I start out my typical day, I do a good 30 to 60 minutes of web surfing to catch up on all the latest news, sports, etc. Typically once a week I'll check out Gary Varvel's blog on my hometown newspaper website, The Indianapolis Star. Typically his political cartoons are support of our local politics, the same inner bickering that goes on between our governor and the house majority leader, but he'll also go into national issues as well.

What caught my eye this week was this:

This is typical Indiana for you. Then I got to thinking, this is your democratic candidate Al Gore. I started going through some of the comments, and sure enough, there were pissed off tree-huggers. You rarely see comments for local issues but when you bash Al Gore, game on!

Gary Varvel is very entertaining, yet, dead on. Are there just a bunch of hippies that are living in their parent's basement that frequent message boards because they're too afraid to go out and actually live life? They'd rather sit back and support a hypocrite like Al Gore because the sun's rays will surely give them a little sunburn.

Inner Bickering Continues

It's just like sitting back and watch the people you don't like eat each other up. It's somewhat funny actually.

At this point, I'm trying to stay Neutral to who I'm going to vote for in 2008. I'd like to think I can keep an open mind, and so far, I am up in the air. Hell, it's so far away I really don't want to make a decision anyway.

Come to think about it, there's really no point into who I like. I can wait for Iowa or New Hampshire to narrow it down. Now other states are waking up. Is the solution just a National Primary?

It seemed to me in 2004 that we didn't get cranked up until the fall of 2003 for the dems to start declaring themselves. Maybe I just didn't care back then since we were all recovering from the first National Attack in over 50 years. If you're a fat cow who is on an estrogen show, simply put on a tin foil hat and start blaming Bush.

Good luck to you dems. We'll be back if you keep this up.

Air America Throws Hat in Great Debate

The steady-but-surviving Air America Radio has made an offer to host a GOP Presidential debate in the light of Fox "News" recent attempt to lure Democratic presidential nominees onto their stage, the fledgling radio network has offered to give GOP presidental candidates an opportunity to talk to a different voter or as Rudy Guiliani calls them "his constituents".

Paraphrasing the letter:

[This debate] would allow Republicans to differentiate themselves from Democrats – embracing a debate hosted by a progressive media outlet after Nevada Democrats canceled a debate scheduled to be hosted by the conservative Fox Cable News Channel. The MoveOn organization spurred 265,000 people to complain about the original plan, calling Fox a “mouthpiece for the Republican Party.” In reply, Fox’s Mort Kondracke called the Nevada Democratic Party's rejection of Fox a “Stalinist” violation of “free speech and free debate.” So should you accept Air America's offer, Republicans would both embrace free debate and stick it to Stalin at the same time.

Come on GOP, what better way to represent America than on Air America? :)

Hagel Ready to Run...

...According to CNN.com it appears so.

Hagel would be the first real outspoken war critic to enter the race from the Republican side. Right now his numbers are severely low (barely getting 1%) but expect him to draw quite a few moderates away from the Guiliani camp if/when he officially announces.

Know Your Candidate: John H. Cox

Despite the recent revelations of John McCain's campaign of survival, I have decided to go for my original plan and profile Illinois candidate John H. Cox.

A quick gander at Cox's history will show you two things -- He's a neo-con and he's a highly unsuccessful candidate.

His record in elections is a very "A-Rod-in-the-playoffs" worthy 0-for-3.

In 2000 he lost in the Republican primary to replace an outgoing Congressman (losing to the former Congressman's aide).

In 2002 he lost in the Republican primary for the Illinois Senate Seat.

In 2004 he lost a bid to become the Cook County Recorder of Deeds to the incumbent Democrat. Cox ran under the platform that he was going to abolish the position (although I'm wondering if he was going to keep the paychecks).

It's really hard for me to handicap Cox's candidacy since he probably couldn't win an election in a Neighborhood Watch Association, but I move on.

A quick gander as Cox's website (when it's not down) shows that he is a conservative's conservative.

-- War in Iraq? Cox is down with it even going as far to mention the old rubbed out slogan "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here."

-- Abortion? Cox believes life starts at the thought of conception (not really).

-- Gun Control? Hogwash. Every family should own four and if they can't get a license, he has connections.

-- Tax Control? Cox wants to do away with the IRS because all those numbers and additions get confusing. He's down with the "Fair Tax" which I can safely say I don't have an opinion on yet. However, I'm very worried about the people who support it.

He also wants to repeal the "No Child Left Behind" Act and promises to veto any budget that isn't balance. Cox supports marriage between a man and woman and says that the family farms are the backbone of this country.

His videos are pretty slick but he's asking for donations to keep them on air. Dude, why not try YouTube, it's free and more popular.

As for odds of victory. Well that would be nil. However, if they let Cox in the debates he could be entertaining.

Know Your Candidate: Mike Gravel

I picked this guy first because, hey, his name says Gravel.

Let's see how it sounds:

"President Gravel has again decided to finance his hippie reform by taxing the working man."

"In other news, President Gravel met with the French Prime Minister to talk about how to be a big wuss."

Okay, not too bad....

So this guy is from Alaska. That seems like a pretty conservative state to be such a whino democrat. I personally have been to Alaska, and I'll say, it's probably the prettiest place I've ever been.

So this guy supports an immediate withdraw of troops, A National Health Care System, and Eliminate the Income Tax. Hey, 1 out of 3 isn't bad!

I'll give this guy a fair chance:

NATIONAL HEALTHCARE

Medicine and medical technology in the United States is the finest in the world. However, it is also one of the leading causes of bankruptcies. With the rising cost of healthcare, it is time to rethink our approach. The solution to the healthcare crisis is a national, universal single-payer not-for-profit U.S. healthcare system.

So let's see, rising costs of health care, the solution is to do a single-payer not-for-profit system. So in other words, we'll just keep raising taxes each year. Great plan there gravelman. Sure, it works well up north. Just ask the people who are dying for transplants.

WAR IN IRAQ

The Senator was one of the first current or former elected officials to publicly oppose the planned invasion of Iraq in 2002. He appeared on MSNBC prior to the invasion insisting that intelligence showed that there were indeed NO weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq posed no threat to the United States and that invading Iraq was against America’s national interests. Since declaring his candidacy for President, Senator Gravel has called for an immediate and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq combined with aggressive and skilled diplomacy to end the sectarian violence currently consuming Iraq.

"Given the extreme importance of any decision to go to war," he continued, "and I am anguished to make this statement, that anyone who voted for the war on October 11th based upon what president Bush presented to them is not qualified to hold the office of the president of the United States." [LINK]

Well, that should make for an interesting election. At least he didn't vote for the war before he voted against it.

THE FAIR TAX

There is only one one entity in the U.S. that pays taxes; the individual. Business and corporations do not, they merely collect taxes from the consumer and pass it on to the government. The Fair Tax proposal calls for eliminating the IRS and the Income Tax and replacing it with a progressive national Sales Tax of between 19 and 23 percent on newly manufactured items. To compensate for necessities, such as food, there would be a “prebate” for families below the poverty line. An average family of three that lives below the poverty live would receive an additional $3,000 a year.

I actually agree with something like this. This would help people save more money, etc, but who knows how that will work.

Gravelman states that Education is in shambles, but fails to point out the problem. Why is Washington DC first in funding, but last in Academics? Quit focusing on standard of living and focus on the damn parents!

I give this guy a 200 to 1 shot to win in the spring of 2008. So that means he'll fail to raise any cash and throw his support to some other guy who has no chance.

Know Your Candidate: Michael Charles Smith

This is the first in an extended series to get to know your Republican candidates.

Dave and I have decided to give nice and slightly cynical background checks on all the candidates for the Presidency in 2008.

I've decided to work my way from the bottom up because if I wait on a candidate like Michael Charles Smith, he might drop out.

To Smith's credit, the Oregon native is hopeful that he'll just pick up enough electorates to be a delegate at the Republican National Convention a.k.a Caucasian Freaknik '08.

Smith also has other positives including a pretty solid website URL -- http://www.smithforpresident.com -- this is the type of website that he could sell for big bucks in case there's a "Smith" that ever runs with a realistic chance to earn the presidency.

A quick check on Smith's MySpace page shows that this Republican is deeper than his wide collection of t-shirts and apparel.

Smith lists great presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower as his heroes and guys who stood up for traditional Republican values like individual liberty and opportunity for all, not just those already successful, but the poor and minorities. He isn't anti-tax as he believes that there is good value in a government that provides good education, clean streets, etc. etc.

Basically today's Republicans would describe Smith as a "pussy" and would probably discredit him by claiming he's fathered a hispanic child or something.

Smith is undeterred by these potential pitfalls and goes even farther by attacking the neo cons at their core, questioning their true intentions and saying they have fueled paranoia and catered to big business.

Before you think Smith is getting all soft and a little too left-leaning, he also has disagreements with the Democratic Party, saying they look to government too much to solve problems and states his belief as the government who governs best, governs least.

At the end of the day one could classify Smith as a moderate....The type of candidate that everyone wants but no one ever votes for. I don't understand why people like Smith even bother running for a party that hates every pro-liberty, anti-big business bone in his body. He has zero chance of winning and less chance of actually getting into a party debate without a ticket and proper identification.

And that's not a good thing.

Time: Pro-Gay Republicans Are The New Thing...

...Time confirms it.

Despite being pro-gay rights, pro-choice and a proven filanderer who used his cancer treatment as a excuse for boning some office staffer (who is now wife No. 3 or maybe his more recent ex-wife, I forget), Republicans love their man!

Note: I don't mention Rudy's social stances because I disagree with them, quite the contrary. I point them out because this is the first sign that the extreme right is losing the country they've held hostage for the last 8 years.

McCain Makes It Official...

...on the Dave Letterman show.

Let's see if he can stay awake during the debates.