Junto Boys

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

It is happening again. I have other things to get done this year and I am getting sucked into the political campaigns.

Ann Coulter again this week on her disgust at Republicans voting for McCain:

Why would any Republican vote for McCain? At least under President Hillary, Republicans in Congress would know that they're supposed to fight back. When
President McCain proposes the same ideas -- tax hikes, liberal judges and Social
Security for illegals -- Republicans in Congress will support "our" president -- just as they supported, if only briefly, Bush's great ideas on amnesty and Harriet Miers.

Republicans who vote for McCain are trying to be cute, like the Democrats were four years ago by voting for the "pragmatic" candidate, Vietnam vet John Kerry. This will turn out to be precisely as clever a gambit as nominating Kerry was, the brilliance of which was revealed on Election Day 2004.

This business about McCain being "the most electable" and "the candidate the Democrats most fear" is a bunch of hooey. It's the same mistake Republicans keep making. You can't beat Democrats by playing their game. Rush has been saying that for 20 years -- the way to beat a liberal is by being a conservative.

I'm just catching up with Thomas Sowell's post-Iowa analysis on the Democrats...

By far the best presentation as a candidate, among all the candidates in both parties, is that of Barack Obama. But if he actually believes even half of the irresponsible nonsense he talks, he would be an utter disaster in the White House.

Among the Democrats, the choice between John Edwards and Barack Obama depends on whether you prefer glib demagoguery in its plain vanilla form or spiced with a little style and color. The choice between both of them and Hillary Clinton depends on whether you prefer male or female demagoguery.

and the Republicans.

When it comes to personal temperament, Governor Romney would rate the highest for his even keel, regardless of what events are swirling around him, with Rudolph Giuliani a close second.

Temperament is far more important for a president than for a candidate. A president has to be on an even keel 24/7, for four long years, despite crises that can break out anywhere in the world at any time.

John McCain trails the pack in the temperament department, with his volatile, arrogant, and abrasive know-it-all attitude. His track record in the Senate is full of the betrayals of Republican supporters that have been the party’s biggest failing over the years and its Achilles heel politically. The elder President Bush’s betrayal of his “no new taxes” pledge was the classic example, but the current President Bush’s attempt to get amnesty for illegal aliens, with Senator McCain’s help, was more of the same. President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon probably cost him the 1976 election and cost the country the disastrous Carter years.

McCain’s betrayals include not only the amnesty bill but also the McCain-Feingold bill that violated the First Amendment for the illusion of “taking money out of politics.” His back-door deal with Democrats on judicial nominations also pulled the rug out from under his party leaders in the Senate.

The White House is not the place for a loose cannon.

I saw some of the Republican debate last night and there didn't appear to be a winner, although Huckabee and Paul were clear losers based simply on the amount of air time. McCain seems to have adopted the Democratic campaign strategy of repeating lies so frequently that they must be true. He also seems to be adopting Giuliani's custom of answering every question with the same answer, in McCain's case that he showed leadership in the military and therefore can solve every problem. His long answer to how he would manage the economy did not mention even remotely how he would manage the economy. I was reminded, however, that he served in the military. Right, and Kerry won three Purple Hearts. I get it. Right, yes, I get it. Yeah, I got it, military experience.

I listened to Bill Clinton making a speech last night and I fear him. He made clear that Hillary loves the children, that she has tirelessly fought for the children with great personal sacrifice, that whatever problem you may have and whatever situation you may find yourself in, with Hillary in charge, government will pay for it, and that Hillary has been instrumental in bringing peace to several foreign lands including Ireland and Senegal. He concluded with a story about a fireman who was serving as a caddy on a course Clinton was playing. On one green, after Clinton's putt, the fireman caddy grabbed his arm "with a vice grip" (I think the Secret Service is supposed to prevent that sort of thing) and told him how Bush didn't care about him, how he can't vote Republican any more, and how Hillary is the only person who really cared about the firefighters and policemen in the wake of 9/11. The way he told the story, it would have taken at least 20 minutes for this incident to play out on the green, while the rest of Clinton's foursome waited on the next tee. In all likelihood, the story is totally made up, or based very loosely on a real event, but I can't prove it, and neither can anybody else, so soon, with multiple retellings, it will be true. The Clintons do that so well. I admire their calculating shrewdness, ruthlessness, and disregard for the facts. I admire and detest it.

This morning I heard her (briefly, for I can't stand the sound of her voice) quoting 1 Corinthians 13: "love is not proud, does not boast, does not envy," etc. The Clintons can talk about love with a straight face and get away with it. That is why I detest and fear them. On another note, I am still trying to figure out why political speech is okay in Democratic congregations and illegal in Republican ones.