- Posted by Christopher Estep on August 28, 2008
As far as Romney being qualified and capable to be President of the United States (POTUS), I think he's the most qualified and capable of any of the candidates of either party, including my own first choice of Fred Thompson. The only other candidates that come close as far as qualifications are Mike Huckabee and Bill Richardson, with Richardson's qualifications being the best (even better than Romney). I'm not saying I'd ever want either one in the oval office, just that both are qualified.
Having said that, I sincerely hope that McCain doesn't choose Romney as his veep choice. I think that would be a mistake on a variety of levels. It's an unfortunate reality that "ready to be President" is so easily overshadowed by political considerations. In order to BE vice-president, you have to get elected vice-president, and Romney is unelectable.
Boring White Guy
I realize that any white guy that is selected by McCain will fit the "boring white guy" mold. It's just that Romney is the poster-child for "boring white guy".
Class Warfare
The democrats have already started the "out-of-touch rich guy" theme and Romney would only add to that perception. It's more than a little ironic that it is the fact that he's a rich guy that makes Romney a good candidate and at the same time a bad candidate. The democrats and their media puppets are good at painting republicans as out-of-touch and let's get real here. Middle America really isn't going to easily relate to the rich white Mormon from Boston.
Mormonism
Romney's religion is the elephant in the room that people wish they could ignore. Being a
Latter-day Saint (
Mormon) myself, I understand better than most that it is BECAUSE of his faith that he would be a good POTUS. Mormons are raised being taught the value of serving your fellow man and have been loyal patriotic Americans for over 150 years. Likewise we are taught to respect diversity of opinion, even if some in Utah and elsewhere forget that from time-to-time. As a bishop and a stake president, Romney has worked with people from all stations and walks of life it triumph and tragedy and on a very personal and individual level. So make no mistake, Romney's religion helps his qualifications even though many don't see it. However...there's always a however...
Mormonism is still widely misunderstood and maligned by others who think they do understand it. Without turning this into a list of reasons why people oppose us, it's sufficient to say that these misunderstanding lead to us being called racist, cultist, polygamist, anti-christian, brainwashed, and so forth. Whether these characterizations are accurate or not (they are not), is wholly irrelevant.
Whether we like it or not (that is, Mormons or Romney supporters), the perception is there and the controversy is there. In the land of politics, truth amounts to a retraction on page 5 of section C while the damage of the front page headline has already done it's work. Every rumor, slur, accusation or wrongdoing that has ever been alleged against the LDS Church or a leader will be thrown out. There are religious bigots in the conservative movement, too. Some are just misinformed, others are wilfully bigotted. Regardless, the numbers are not inconsequential. We, as a party, cannot afford to have a candidate who will drive
away parts of its base, any more than it already has.
My Recommendation
As odd as this may seem, I think the most sensible choice for a VP would be Mike Huckabee. Huckabee may not be conservative enough for many, but he's more conservative than McCain and he's definitely pro-life and pro-second amendment. He also isn't rich, which takes away one more reason to criticize the ticket. He's a "typical white guy" but Huckabee has something that a lot of politicians don't have and that's an easy rapport with average people. Huckabee also has a quick mind and a great sense of humor. Yes, it gets him in trouble at times (like at CPAC) but as a VP candidate that can be brushed off.
Huckabee can do something that no other potential prospect can do and that's bring religious conservatives on board. He's an excellent speaker and I think can really help at the grassroots level. While he may not be the fundraiser that Romney is, he can excite people.
It won't happen, but that's my take.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on May 13, 2008
Michelle Malkin is quoting numerous sources that are indicating that Huckabee is at the top of McCain's short list.
I can say this is plainly as I can. There is no circumstance in which I will vote for any ticket with Mike Huckabee on it. None whatsoever. I will not hold my nose and pull the lever and I won't say, "well, McCain's better than Obama" and I won't say, "he's better for the troops". Just as I would never vote for Obama for the same reason, I will not participate in putting a bigot two heartbeats away from the Presidency. It's not going to happen!
If McCain is so stupid as to put Huckabee on the ticket, I will begin making preparations against the inevitable Obama administration. I'll buy guns until I can't afford any more. I'll put investments off-shore or in precious metals and I'll make certain that my food storage is up to date before January.
So I'll reverse course from what I said yesterday and support Barr, right? WRONG! Barr's a narcissistic hack who still takes it personal that Clinton beep-beeped his way through the fake tunnel that Barr painted on the cliff wall. Further, I may not vote for a Republican, but to vote for someone not in the two parties is only encouraging the Perot-Nader spoilerama that keeps showing up.
No, I'll support issues and candidates for other offices. But if Huckabee is on the Republican ticket, the GOP is screwed anyway.
Michelle Malkin » McCain-Huckabee: The GOP immigration drag queen ticket
- Posted by Christopher Estep on April 8, 2008
You did it.
It's your fault.
You voted for Romney, McCain, or even Ron Paul.
I tried to warn you, but nobody listened.
And now, with Huckabee out of the race, Chuck Norris is wandering the Internet like a retarded kid stumbling around a shopping mall shouting, "WHERE'S MY HAT?" In other words, it's just pathetic and sad.
Even Townhall.com feels sorry for him because they're letting him keep on publishing his (and I use the term loosely) "writing". What's got Chuck thinking today? Death. Oh, there is a surprise! A has-been like Chuck Norris ruminating on death. I'm just stunned.
Let's be honest for a second. Is there anyone on this planet (who is employed) that ponders, "I wonder what Chuck Norris thinks about that?" Nobody wakes up in the morning saying, "I can't wait to read Chuck's latest prose on death or maybe even liver spots!"
But it's our own fault. Because while we were all trying to keep Huckabee from selling consulates for pennies on the dollars to Mexicans or setting rapists and murderers loose on the streets, nobody was thinking about what that would do to Chuck.
And now we're paying the price.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on March 21, 2008
Apparently, Huckabee is upset about being even less relevant than he was during the campaign because he had to chime in on the whole anti-semitic, America-hating church to which Obama belongs and contributes:
As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say ‘That’s a terrible statement’ — I grew up in a very segregated South.
That's all well and good, Hucky, but they didn't. For all of Obama's anger at white America, he grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii. I don't know if you've ever been there, Huck, but brown people are pretty common. As for Jerry Wright, he grew up in Philly, another city well known for it's large minority population. It's no Detroit, but it's no Arkansas, either. So quit talking out of your "aw shucks" butt about things you really don't know.
Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon.
Shut up. They weren't. Give an example. Any example! Even Obama didn't cite "context". He may have accused people of cherry-picking certain sermons, but he never said that they weren't in context. Further, many critics have played as much as 10 minutes uncut of some of his choice sermons. 10 minutes is more than enough to understand the context. Further, under what context (aside from quoting someone else) is it ok to say "god **** America"? Is there any way that saying it in a different context would make it sound better?
Sermons, after all, are rarely written word-for-word by pastors like Reverend Wright, who are delivering them extemporaneously and caught up in the emotion of the moment. There are things that sometimes get said that if you put them on paper and looked at them in print, you’d say, ‘Well, I probably didn’t mean to say it quite like that……’
What do you mean, "by pastors like Reverend Wright"? Do you mean, anti-semites? Do you mean Black Liberation theologians? Do you mean anti-American conspiracy theorists? Or are you just referring to racists in general? In any case, how would you know? Do you have a lot of experience preaching these sorts of things or are close friends with those who do? I sincerely doubt it. No, you're just once again trying to present yourself as relevant and an expert because you hate white people too if they're Mormons used to be a Baptist preacher. *yawn* Give it a rest. You're a has-been already.
But let me address the substance of what you said. Have you even watched him deliver those sermons? There is plenty of video of it, but obviously you have not. Because if you had watched him preach, you'd see him looking down every few seconds to read his notes. Every few seconds. That indicates detailed notes. You see, Reverend, when you have detailed notes that you are reading from and referring to constantly, you are not speaking extemporaneously.
Further, show me a single case where Jerry ever said, "I didn't mean to say it quite like that." If he didn't say that why are you saying it? It is precisely what he meant because he's a Black Liberation theology pastor.
And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this,
Except that you aren't a conservative. No amount of repeating it is going to make it true. Being more conservative than a Democrat doesn't make you a conservative. Conservatives don't raise taxes like you did, kowtow to illegal immigrants like you did, and they certainly don't get murderers and rapists released from prison so they can rape again and then try to justify it! I'm not trying to digress, I'm just reminding you that you aren't a conservative any more than Barack Obama is a black man. He's both.
...we’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie, you have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant, you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.
No we don't! I never made a single person sit in the back of the bus. I actually preferred to sit in the balcony when I was a kid. I ate in the same restaurants, saw the same doctors, went to the same hospitals, ate the same food, sat in the same part of the classroom and was taught by the same teachers, many of whom were black. The town in which I grew up has a very high black population, relative to the rest of Michigan. I, as a white male, suffered emotional abuse, intolerance, and discrimination as the only white boy in a class of 30 with 3 white girls and taught by a black teacher. I was constantly told that I was going to fail and that I was stupid, even though my test scores showed me as reading at what they then called a "Grade 15 reading level". If you can't count, that's a 3rd year college reading level as a 4th grader. But she told me I was dumb. She accused me of swinging my crutch at a (black) kid when I didn't. This woman made me sit in class for 6 hours with a foot swelling so badly that they had to cut my shoe off in order to put on the cast!! I was regularly required to stay after school for no reason other than she needed something done. I was even disciplined because I wouldn't accept the grade I got when I said Rice Krispies weren't made of corn and was marked down. I often heard the phrase, "you white kids..." prior to one of her tirades. I became the first student in that school system to ever be moved out of a class that wasn't due to the school's needs or student misconduct.
Should I get some slack, Governor??? Should I demand special treatment because I was regularly beaten up by black kids in my school because I was small and white? Should I get preferences because of the abused of that black teacher at a very formative stage of my life? I had a second grade teacher (who was also black) throw something at me. Should I ask for consideration for that, too? Do I now have license to call for the lynching of blacks like this teacher or Wright or Obama? Don't I also have permission to be hateful toward any black I meet because they are black and I was abused by blacks in my childhood? No, I don't. And neither should they. Don't assume that just because someone isn't black that they haven't suffered discrimination, too. Don't assume that abuse entitles me to hate anyone who shares traits with my abusers.
And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment, and you have to just say, ‘I probably would, too.’
So?!?! What does that have to do with anything?! Should anyone who's ever been a victim (or descended from a victim) be held to a lower standard? Do you believe that blacks are so devoid of self-control that they shouldn't be held to the same standards as other minorities?
This is one of the biggest problems in society today! People are willing to allow certain groups to abdicate their responsibility for their actions simply because they are victims, or more likely as in this case, are perceived to be victims. We are a compassionate society. We allow for extenuating circumstances in determining the punishment for crimes. That's where the "self-defense" plea comes from. It's even where the insanity defense comes from. But lets be clear.
The color of your skin is neither an extenuating circumstance nor is it a license to do wrong.
Source: AJC
- Posted by Christopher Estep on March 4, 2008
Sorry about not getting the other stickers available for sale. I'll try to get it tonight. It's been a heck of a weekend.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on March 4, 2008
All of the Republicans supporting McCain have been urging Mike Huckabee to drop out for the "good of the party" since he can't possibly win. They accuse the Huckster of being selfish and narcissistic. But there's one question that nobody's asking.
What about Chuck?
Chuck Norris was plucked from the Happy Acres Home for Has-Beens by Huckabee and has been supporting the Huck ever since. His life, once empty, now has meaning again! Chuck gets to travel the country with the former governor where he's been able to eat some of the finest table scraps and sleep in some of the cleanest bathtubs he has seen in years. He's even been allowed to write columns like his opinions matter, or are even coherent.
Where is the compassion? Do you think it's easy being a has-been? Do you think Chuck likes cutting the ribbons at new "karate studios" in rural America? (No, I don't mean dojos. I'm talking about places like 'Kicks backwards-R us'). Do any of you know how hard it is to get people to buy Walker Texas Ranger on DVD? Have you even given any thought to the reality, Chuck's reality, that most of his viewers are actually dead?! Do you even know what Alpo tastes like?! Chuck does! Did you ever think of THAT?!
You didn't. Of course you didn't. Nobody ever does.
Stop thinking about what the Democrats can do to you. Stop thinking about McCain preparing for November. Stop thinking of yourself just once.
Think of Chuck.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on February 5, 2008
I had thought that when Ann Coulter said that she would campaign for Hillary if McCain got the nomination that she was just using hyperbole to make a point. I wondered how any conservative could make such a suggestion.
And then John McCain rigged an election in WV:
But before Huckabee’s surprising turnaround at the convention, McCain delegates told FOX News they had been instructed by the campaign to throw their support to Huckabee.
McCain delegate John Vuolo said former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer approached him and other McCain supporters at the convention and told them he had spoken to McCain, and that the best thing to do was to support Huckabee in the hope that Huckabee could beat Romney in this winner-take-all state.
I'm still in shock that McCain would stoop to such a level. And don't even try to tell me that this isn't rigging an election, because it is. He's manipulating the outcome to hurt his opponent. Had McCain actually dropped out and threw his support to Huckabee, that would have been different. But he didn't. Instead he colluded and conspired to throw the election.
McCain's supporters weren't convinced that Huckabee was the better man! They thought nothing of the sort! Their only motive was to hurt Romney because they know Huckabee can't win! In business, this is illegal. It is the sort of things that people get indicted for and sent to prison. You can't hurt yourself in order to hurt your opponent more. It's anti-competitive and highly illegal.
Thanks to this little scumbag maneuver, there is no possible way that I will ever vote for McCain. I would vote for Ralph Nader first. This sort of manipulation of an election is something that I would expect from a third-world country, not from someone who thinks he should be called a hero. I said yesterday that I didn't think Barack Obama would disgrace the office of President of the United States, even though he's a flaming liberal bent on creating a totalitarian fascist liberal utopia. I can't say that anymore about John McCain because McCain already has disgraced the office of the President even before he gets a real chance to get in.
I can't even contemplate the crimes he would commit during a presidency when he would do this now, when he's ahead in the polls and the delegates. It's the kind of behavior that makes me literally fear for the safety of this country. Who's to say that he would start whacking foreign leaders or diplomats who disagreed with him? I can't even begin to consider the danger he now poses.
I knew McCain probably had some lingering issues due to his captivity and torture, but I never thought he would ever go this low. It's erratic, rash, and in one fell swoop he has shown himself to be the most dangerous person in the entire race. With judgment like this, it is no wonder he never made Admiral. They likely knew that he was erratic and couldn't be trusted with that kind of authority.
John McCain is a disgrace to his office and to the very uniform that he throws in everyone's face.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on January 29, 2008
John McCain has been crisscrossing the state of Florida at an urgent pace, so when McCain stopped suddenly without warning, Mike Huckabee's head became lodged in John McCain's rectum, forcing the permanent placement of Huckabee's nose in Senator McCain's upper colon. Whether McCain will have Huckabee's nose removed from his pooper is still unknown.
I've been saying this for a couple of weeks. There's no question that the Huckster has been angling to be John McCain's veep if McCain gets the GOP nod. Everything he's been doing since New Hampshire shows this. Now, Fox News has realized this:
While campaigning in Birmingham, Alabama, Huckabee came to McCain’s defense. Romney called McCain dishonest yesterday and Huckabee was quick to defend McCain. Is he trying to secure the Veep position in a McCain Administration?
Gee, Carl...YOU THINK?!
Huckabee scares me a lot. There's something about him that is very smarmy in the same way that Bill Clinton is. He has a charisma that is undeniable, but when he smiles I find myself wondering what he's really up to. He is a sneaky politician and he's very driven by power, his history in AR proves that. Put him in a position where he can actually influence policy (or succeed the President) and it's a whole new level of fear.
McCain would be an idiot to select Huckabee as a running mate if he gets the nomination. If he gets the nomination and wanted to keep conservatives at least interested in the race, he'd need to select someone like Romney (never happen) or Fred Thompson (more likely) or perhaps Sonny Perdue (Gov. GA). Personally, I think Jeb Bush would be a great running mate for any candidate but people won't put up with another Bush on a ticket.
Watch Huckabee become even more of a sycophant over the next week.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on January 28, 2008
Obviously, I wasn't able to liveblog Thursday night, nor have I been able to blog at all since then. Sorry about that. I'm back on track at least and here are a few comments on the debate in Boca.
- Mitt Romney - He was on message and didn't make any gaffes. I was particularly impressed that he stated plainly that he is prepared to hit back at Clinton and it wouldn't be pretty. I like seeing his backbone like this.
- Rudy Giuliani - He stunk up the place. He's circling the bowl along with Huckabee.
- Huckabee - He had the best night of all of them. He was typically funny, but I thought he shone best when he cogently explained the Flat Tax (twice) and especially didn't allow Russert to get him off message.
- McCain - He was worse than Rudy. Everything out of his mouth was "Rumsfeld" and it's getting old. He looked the absolute worst when he was humiliated by Ron Paul who asked him if he was going to abolish a certain advisory committee and McCain obviously had no clue what it was and circled his wagons by saying, "I have good advisors" and so forth.
I don't think the debate will have had much effect by tomorrow, but it was still a good debate.
- Posted by Christopher Estep on January 24, 2008
I'm going to try my hand at liveblogging for the first time tonight with the GOP debate being broadcast on OlbermannTV MSNBC and streamed at msnbc.com. I don't know how it will go, or even if I'll ever do it again. Regardless, it's worth a shot and it could be fun.
I would encourage anyone remotely interested in politics to watch it. It promises to be a very good debate, regardless of who's running it. Brian Williams isn't too bad, thought Chris Matthews will be doing the after-show McCain Party analysis.
Why it will be a good debate:
- This has to be the debate of Rudy's entire life. His political career literally hinges on this debate because he put every egg he has in Florida and he doesn't have the cash to continue long without an infusion that a Florida win would give him.
- Rudy's in 3rd place.
- McCain is now in 2nd place in some polls.
- Romney is actually gaining support.
- Huckabee is also fighting for his life. If he can have a good showing in Florida, it will help his money situation. He knows he's going to lose there so there is no delegate to be gained, but he's showing his followers that he hasn't given up. In a sense, the Florida campaign for him is partly designed to hold his organization together.
- Clinton/Obama have set the stage for debates to be "taken up" another notch.
- John McCain and Huckabee both have nasty tempers. Conversely, Romney and Giuliani are both very measured.
My predictions for the debate:
- McCain will begin to lose his temper if Romney (or the moderators) start calling his immigration plan "Amnesty".
- Huckabee will try to look relevant, but the candidates will largely ignore him.
- Romney will be said to have "won" the debate because there's really very little anyone can say to rattle him. The economy is the big issue and nobody is better on it than Romney