I Agree With Ron Paul on Something

It's not often the squirrelly little congressman from Texas and I agree but this is one of them:

“He wants to control people’s social lives. At the same time, he voted for Planned Parenthood. I mean, I don’t see how anybody can get away with that inconsistency pretending he’s a conservative. And his voting record is, I think from my viewpoint, an atrocious voting record, how liberal he’s been and all the things he’s voted for over his many years in the Senate and in the House.”

Agreed.

Paul also noted that running on social issues is not a winning strategy and I agree with that as well. Social issues are a distraction and the media knows this. We have the stronger fiscal argument but instead are bogged down in discussions of religion, birth control, gay marriage and abortion. Those issues make the GOP seem extreme and beholden to religious and social conservative groups when in fact the party is shored up by fiscal cons and social moderates.

Instead of presenting our case on getting the economy on track and the exposing the failure Obamanomics has been we keep getting trapped in the minutiae of religion and contraception. If I were running and was asked a social issues question, I'd make it a point to say "my position on that is clear and I would rather discuss the more pressing issue of the economic collapse we've seen under Obama". Every time they broached a social issue I'd say something akin to that. The media knows that Obama's record can't stand up to scrutiny so they avoid letting the GOP scrutinize it.

With the weak field of Santorum, Romney, Gingrich and Paul, I'm hoping more and more for a brokered convention where Rubio or Christie are pushed to get in for the good of the party.

Caucus Prediction

The Paulistinians are out in force so I see good things for Paul, which equals bad things for the country. Talk of going back to the gold standard and 9/11 being an inside job will be rife tonight as well as trying to convince the 0.01% of blacks who venture out into the cold Iowa night that their guy isn't really racist and those racist newsletters put out under the good doctors name were actually written by someone else and not even seen by him.

Should be fun.

Paul 25%

Santorum 22%

Romney 20%

Gingrich 14%

Other Balance

This should be a blast; having to explain why a crotchety old bastard who should have been tossed years ago is a winner in the first pseudo election of the year. Yea, the history of Ron Paul will be written about endlessly attached to the words racist, isolationist and gold standard.

Happy times.

Picture via this site.

Update: Romney over Santorum by 8 votes. Santorum's hopes will fade in NH and be rekindled in SC. Huntsman is banking everything on NH where Romney will win another close one. Perry is headed home to TX while Bachmann says she's hanging around for awhile. Newt faded to the second tier.

Sunday Morning News and Notes

My son is still playing in the USSSA World Series having played four games in less than sixteen hours yesterday. A win this morning puts them in the championship later today.

Here's what's news:

-The New Jersey gubernatorial race is heating up and Republican Chris Christie has a commanding lead in every poll over incumbent Jon Corzine. This may be an outlier for the 2010 congressional and Senate elections.

-Via Jersey Nut, we have this CNN host looking somewhat dumbfounded that the light of The One does not outshine that of the redneck cowboy living in Crawford, TX:



-Obama heading down the Carter highway? When the WaPo asks, it's time to reassess your policies.

-We all knew it and the Paulistinians voraciously denied it but Ron Paul is a Truther.

-Destroying the economy to save it.

It's Good To Be Charlie Rangel

Or to be any Democrat for that matter in the new, open and ethical Obama administration:

The House voted on Tuesday to let Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) keep his gavel while a special investigative panel resumes an inquiry into the Ways and Means chairman's tax practices among other possible ethical violations.

By a vote of 242-157, the chamber tabled a motion to remove Rangel from his chairmanship of the tax-writing panel until an ethics investigation into the congressman has been resolved; 16 members voted present.

The GOP contingent caved and the members who would be investigated pulled an Obama and voted "present".

Amazingly, the smartest and most ethical man in history--Ron Paul--seems to keep siding with the shady representative from Harlem evey time a chance arises.

This garbage explains why we are in the minority and are now forced to watch as Nancy Pelosi decides our economic future.

I Agree With Ron Paul...I Need to Take a Shower.

Ron Paul actually sounds sane (mostly):

Paul praised his fellow House Republicans for unanimously voting against the plan but expressed disappointment that three Senate Republicans "caved in and went with the Democrats."

Vid here:



My debate with Paulistianians goes way back to the AOL days (skip down to all posts by "Scott".

News and Notes

Still busy with work and such.

Here's some stories that caught my eye:

-Congress is starting to understand just how damaging the ethanol sop they gave the agriculture indutry is, or to put it in easy to understand terms:

Scott Faber, vice president for federal affairs at the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), compared lawmakers to late-night revelers who are just beginning to understand the consequences of their actions.

“A lot of lawmakers are wondering who the hell they woke up with,” Faber said.

That "who" they woke up with is coyote ugly and won't leave quietly either.

-Global warming may temporarily "stop" due to falling temps:

Global warming will stop until at least 2015 because of natural variations in the climate, scientists have said.

Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a "lull" for up to a decade while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Al Gore, call your office.

-Armageddon!

Soon to Be Citizen Ron Paul?

He's down by 11% with a few weeks to go in his Texas congressional primary and getting hit hard from the right:

My own source backs this up. Paul's campaign is looking at internal numbers showing Peden with a 43-32 lead over Paul, with the primary just weeks away. Conservatives have been rallying to Peden, including the folks at RedState, in an attempt to oust the anti-war flamethrower. 11 points with three weeks to go. You have to like those odds. Peden has been added to my slatecard of candidates to support, so throw him some love if you despise the Ron Paul anti-Republican contingent as much as the rest of us.

Too bad his band of 9/11 Truthers can't go down and campaign for him or spam a few polls to get him 3-4%, hell, that's all he got in most primaries. You have to admit though; how sweet would it be to see that roving band of 9/11 conspiracy theorist's and nutjobs get their collective asses kicked straight out of Texas into Louisiana or Arkansas?

Adios Dr. Paul and take the troglodytes with you. If you live with the scum, you'll die with the scum.

GOP SC Debate Recap

That was a rather raucous event last night. We had it all, a fire in Fred's belly, Romney looking cruel, Huckabee being hammered, Giuliani not really making any impression and Ron Paul coming off as a cranky, doddering old fool. All in all, the best debate of the entire campaign on both sides. If you read the Inquirer/AP recap, you wouldn't know this of course, was the reporter, Liz Sidoti, even in the building or did she watch it on Fox? Never mind, members of the MSM never watch Fox.

Anyway, aside from Ron Paul, I think Rudy Giuliani turned in the worst performance--uninspired and droll. I think he was just playing it out as he knows there's no chance in hell of winning in SC. Rudy's a Yankee and a Yankees fan, not a good combo in Dixie.

Romney had some moments but again, when he could have taken the high road with Paul stuttering and stammering, he chose to go for his jugular. It wasn't a smart move in my opinion because Paul was already on the ropes. Policy-wise, he to seemed uninspired and going through the motions.

Huckabee had some good one liners but it's like nails on a blackboard when he quotes scripture. That may have worked in South Carolina once but this is the new SC, a state that has had large-scale emigration over the last decade. You've gotta credit Fox for asking the question about his wife "submitting". In Huck's defense, he was ready for it and, while he didn't hit a homer, he at least hit a Texas League single.

On to Fred. The consensus is that Thompson made the best showing of the night. If he did enough to win in SC and ride some momentum to Super Tuesday, anything can happen in this race. He's won raves from some heavy-hitters and left us all wondering where was this guy before?

Now Paul. Ron Paul has had a bad week, TNR revealed that his newsletter contained some serious anti-Semitic and racist language. He denied writing the materials but it was under his name and the facts say that he was at least responsible for some of the content. Last night was the final straw for the public who had heard about this "savior" and what they saw was a flop--a guy who is one-dimensional politically regardless of the Paulians who clapped at his every word like some trained seals in a circus. I was embarrassed for him and I'm sure I wasn't the only one cringing when he repeated he couldn't hear. Don't get me wrong, Paulistinians crawled back out of their holes last night and responded to my posts--and in some cases defended the man, but it's over guys.

Ron Paul Discusses Israel--It Ain't Pretty

The Paulistinian's are there in force and they are cheering their boy as he meanders through his inane theory of Israel being a "stepchild of the US". Dude is having and absolutely horrendous night.

Brit Hume Hammers Last Nail in Ron Paul's Coffin (Video Added)

Wow, Hume hammered Paul when Paul seemed a bit out of touch with what was going on around him. Paul's excuse he couldn't hear was brutal and to be honest, I squirmed watching an old man struggle with the answer.

Romney may or may not have gotten a good line in, time will tell. Paul was an easy target and Romney should have backed down and let it go. It seemed damn cruel.

Yes, I'm defending Paul because he seemed like an old man who was way out of his league.

Line of the night is Fred going to the 72 virgin's card.

A vicious debate by any measure.

Update: Random thoughts from around the 'sphere.

Video!

Is The Ron Paul Phenomenon Over?

The Ron Paul campaign has been a sight to see; he amassed a collection of disaffected folks that ranged from the far right to the the far left and myriad misfits in between. Whether they are "Truthers", white supremacist's or just idealistic students, they were a passionate bunch to say the least and were ravenous at the first sign that someone on the web maligned their guy. They spammed every poll and commented on every post...until now.

It wasn't just the MSM finally researching his past and finding newsletters that contained xenophobic, racist and homophobic musings, no, it was everything involved with the campaign. It was a campaign built on a house of cards--vocal supporters whose sheer volume belied their collective numbers. They screamed that we'd be sorry and that we were wrong, their boy was going to shock everyone and show well in the caucuses and primaries. They were hypnotized by what they thought they were and failed to take a step back and see that the "movement" they claimed they had was not quite one at all. That must have been a hard moment of clarity and I would have my doubts that all have suffered it.

Why am I writing this now? Because I witnessed something I'd not seen in a year, a post written about Paul that didn't attract at least some comments defending the Texas Congressman. Captain Ed is a much larger force in the blogosphere than I and if he's noticing it, it must be a trend although I disagree that with the good Cap'n that Andrew Sullivan "bravely" called out Paul). Every other post I wrote about Paul generated numerous comments--comments that unfortunately are gone since I switched over to the update Blogger.

Click here, here and here to see the knee-jerk venomous reaction from the Paulites every time I mentioned his name while working over at AOL. I admit, he was a bloggers dream who would draw scads of traffic for little input and for that reason only will be missed.

I may be a bit premature in writing his political obituary--he may last until Super Tuesday, but the fire is dimming and the cause is lost for the Paulistinian's. One only can conclude that's a good thing.

Update: The gloating begins. Brutal.

Andrew Sullivan Defends Ron Paul

I started commenting on this at the bottom the previous post but think it deserves a post all its own.

To recap, Andrew Sullivan was at one time a supporter of George W. Bush and when things started to go south in Iraq, he bailed as libs are wont to do. He has been on a crusade against the President under the guise of Bush's opposition to gay marriage.

Last month he came out (so to speak) for Ron Paul and said this:

But the deeper reason to support Ron Paul is a simple one. The great forgotten principles of the current Republican party are freedom and toleration. Paul's federalism, his deep suspicion of Washington power, his resistance to government spending, debt and inflation, his ability to grasp that not all human problems are soluble, least of all by government: these are principles that made me a conservative in the first place. No one in the current field articulates them as clearly and understands them as deeply as Paul. He is a man of faith who nonetheless sees a clear line between religion and politics. More than all this, he has somehow ignited a new movement of those who love freedom and want to rescue it from the do-gooding bromides of the left and the Christianist meddling of the right. The Paulites' enthusiasm for liberty, their unapologetic defense of core conservative principles, their awareness that in the new millennium, these principles of small government, self-reliance, cultural pluralism, and a humble foreign policy are more necessary than ever - no lover of liberty can stand by and not join them.

In light of the words attributed to Paul's newsletter reported in the New Republic, one would think that Sullivan would retract his support. Instead, he wavers and gives Paul the benefit of the doubt:

I don't know enough about the arrangements behind these pamphlets to tell if this is a plausible defense or not. But there is a simple way to address this: Paul needs to say not only that he did not pen these excrescences, he needs to explain how his name was on them and disown them completely. I've supported Paul for what I believe are honorable reasons: his brave resistance to the enforced uniformity of opinion on the Iraq war, his defense of limited constitutional government, his libertarianism, his sincerity. If there is some other agenda lurking beneath all this, we deserve to know. It's up to Ron Paul now to clearly explain and disown these ugly, vile, despicable tracts from the past.

Well I'll be damned, Sullivan hates a President who has done more than any other leader in history for those suffering with HIV and we are now making serious headway in Iraq. But when faced with the words that at the very least were sanctioned and condoned by his candidate and in many cases may have written the vile, racist and anti-gay words that Sullivan quotes, he wavers.

Now I don't know if these are Paul's words but they were put out under his authority. If one of my employee's issues something that is detrimental to my business, I am responsible as the CEO. I would of course fire the employee, I wonder if Paul was so appalled by the words that he gave the author the ax.

Now imagine that a reporter found these words written by Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney or Giuliani, would Saint Andrew give them the benefit of the doubt? That's a rhetorical question of course.

There was once a time that Sullivan was a trend setter in the blogosphere and in many cases his opinions were lucid and well thought out. Those days are long past and as made crystal clear by this latest post, his opinions are not worth the pixels they are written with.

We knew Sullivan had lost his heart, now we have confirmation he has lost his soul.

As for the Paulite's, they make LaRouchians look like they have all their brain cells.

Update: Thanks to the link from Bryan and Allah at Hot Air, among the best sites on the web.

Update: Paul plays the "I wasn't paying attention" card. Yeah, that's what I want in a President, a man not paying attention. Perhaps that's why he is against the Iraq War, he's not been paying attention to the real and present danger presented by Jihadi's.

Note: Thanks, dude. High praise indeed.

TNR Rips Off Freepers and LGF on Ron Paul Story

The New Republic (offline due to a Drudge link)--the magazine that has lost any remnant of respect--digs into Ron Paul's old newsletters and finds that he's racist, homophobic, a liar, anti-Semitic and a conspiracy theorist. Anyone who's been paying even the slightest attention could have told you that long ago. PJM has a capsule of the most damning quotes.

Update: TNR link is working and man are the Paulite's pissed. Here's an example:

hmm..makes me wonder, Kirchick...who's your daddy?? Fox News? Giuliani camp? hmm.... Reality is you and your handlers are losing your grip on the great unwashed. So sorry....NOT! We all got some schoolin' when you weren't lookin'! I am seriously looking to have your job. I think I could probably do just as well drumming up stuff. Maybe even convincingly! Was a nice effort, though. Posted by PAUL102 of 138 warn tnr respond

just more of the same old BS.. another socialist shill who is afraid that his socialist/fascist/commie big government ,give me my handout, is coming to an end.. what a joke,, if people who read this article take 2 hours to do thier own research they will see that the author of this article is full of brown stuff and that his sphincter muscle is cutting off the oxygen flow to his brain because he is being strangled! Posted by Gayle41 of 138 warn tnr respond

Blithering crap. Ron Paul is the most devout moral individualist in the race. He is clear in his perspective and advocates equal rights - natural rights - for all individuals, regardless of the titles we ascribe to people. This piece is worthless rehashes of issues that have already been discussed and dealt with elsewhere. I, for one, am tired of being plundered and attacked by the establishment simply because I am an honest, working individual. How about someone who really cares about me? That's right, I'm not a part of the politically connected, therefore I don't matter. This whole thing is a joke. Posted by brian40 of 138 warn tnr respond

Fact is Ron Paul has the pundits running scared and they will resort to anything to discredit him. Why do you think this popped up on Drudge so quickly? Research your facts next time, I smell a serious lawsuit brewing and I hope Dr Paul takes you for everything you have. Freedom will prevail tonight in New Hampshire. Posted by Furbdog34 of 138 warn tnr respond

And shocka! Ron Paul is...Ghandi:

"First they ignore you, then they make fun of you, THEN THEY ATTACK YOU, then you win." Gandhi. Posted by mjhlaw29 of 138 warn tnr respond

Fuck off Kirchick...just FUCK OFF. Angry enough? Posted by Hunter S.18 of 138 warn tnr respond

And finally from someone named Lucinda who sounds exactly like Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme when talking about Charles Manson:

Horrible photo... Paul looks angelic, not like this ultra-close distortion. Posted by Lucinda11 of 138 warn tnr respond

I had forgot about this but Ann Althouse reminds us that Ron Paul is the candidate of...Andrew Sullivan. That is just too damn good, Sullivan berates Bush because he won't allow gay marriage and his chosen candidate is proven a racist and an anti-semitic twit. Sweet irony, eh Saint Andrew?

Ron Paul Gets the Kiss of Death

Ron Paul has shown an extraordinary ability to raise money from a bunch of disaffected losers and 9/11 Truthers and an equally extraordinary ability to have that much money and not get a major bump in the polls.

Sorry Paulites, your boy just got the kiss of death and it's gobsmackingly ass-kissing:

He's the real thing in a world of fakes and frauds. And in a primary campaign where the very future of conservatism is at stake, that cannot be ignored. In fact, it demands support.

Go Ron Paul!

Let's be clear Andrew Sullivan, Paul is not a Conservative, he's a Libertarian with some conservative leanings on fiscal issues. But hey, why stop Sullivan when he is so excited he's using exclamation points.

Anyway, Saint Andrew is echoing not only the Paulites but the Dems as well:

Let's be clear: we have lost this war. We have lost because the initial, central goals of the invasion have all failed: we have not secured WMDS from terrorists because those WMDs did not exist. We have not stymied Islamist terror - at best we have finally stymied some of the terror we helped create. We have not constructed a democratic model for the Middle East - we have instead destroyed a totalitarian government and a phony country, only to create a permanently unstable, fractious, chaotic failed state, where the mere avoidance of genocide is a cause for celebration. We have, moreover, helped solder a new truth in the Arab mind: that democracy means chaos, anarchy, mass-murder, national disintegration and sectarian warfare. And we have also empowered the Iranian regime and made a wider Sunni-Shiite regional war more likely than it was in 2003. Apart from that, Mr Bush, how did you enjoy your presidency?

Just read those words. Are those the words of a man who once supported the war? Yes they are and they are also the words of a man who turned on the cause at the first sign of things going bad. Enjoy the other side Sully, we find you even more of an ally when you write things like this.

Sunday Morning Link Fest

Lot's of good stuff in the blogosphere this rainy, cold Sunday morn. We we've been spared the snow here in South Jersey but it could turn from rain to sleet to snow later. All in all, a good day to watch football and hope the Eagles can salvage something from their putrid season by knocking off the Dallas Cowgirls.

• JWF reports that Hillary has resorted to begging for votes door-to-door in NH. How the mighty have fallen and the pictures are priceless, especially the miserable look on her face.
• Kurt P posts about aircraft nose art during WWII. It was definitely risque' at the time but war is for men and big boys could handle the un-PC portraits. Let's just say that the art on weapons got a bit more focused during the Iraq war:

• That Ron Paul juggernaut just keeps on a rollin' into oblivion. His supporters are ripe for the picking, they'll hand over large sums of money for a man who appeals to the lunatic fringe and is not in the best interest of our country. Perhaps John Edwards' people should contact them.
• The BBC continues to show why they've become irrelevant. Imagine being forced to pay to support such garbage.
• The NY Times exults after NJ gets rid of the death penalty. The fact that it actually worked doesn't matter.
  

NH Moves Up Primary

In the insanity that is this election cycle, New Hampshire has moved up their primary to January 9, yes, the second week of January. The novelty of new Christmas toys (and the lead paint) will not even have worn off and the good people of the Granite State will be voting for their favorite Republican or Democrat. By the second week of February, we'll know who the candidates are and then the real fun begins. At least the preliminary sniping will cease.

The good in all this is that the candidates will be scrutinized even more than in past years--imagine how much dirt can be dug up on Hillary if she were the only candidate for nine months! The joy.

Imagine how many times we can see the Rudy in drag picture or see the one-thousandth story about Mitt and Mormonism. Good stuff.

Or not.

It's well passed the time that candidates running for office must first resign from any elected office held--Hillary, McCain, Obama, Richardson, Paul and all the rest have not been serving their constituents to the best of their abilities and should have had the decency to step down while campaigning. The election cycle now has no break, immediately after the inauguration, the next election starts and it's an endless cycle, if candidates were forced to relinquish their positions, we'd see that change and we'd see candidates who actually think they have a shot running, not some loser Texas Congressman and his band of roving idiots campaigning while still getting paid for not doing his job. We'd not have a calculating New York Senator with a closet full of more skeletons than a season of CSI traipsing all around Iowa while ignoring her duties in Washington, D.C.

We'll know in a couple of months; is it Hill, Barrack or the Silky Pony. Is it Rudy, Fred, Mitt (please don't allow us to have a prez named Mitt) or Huck. We'll know soon enough and than the real marathon begins. Hooray.

In other news, the 2012 Iowa Caucuses have been moved up to January 21st 2009.

Debunking the Truthers Again

We've all read the Popular Mechanics study on the collapse of the Twin Towers, they painstakingly explained in plain English how the towers fell floor upon floor. That's not been enough for the "Truthers" who still are fixated on the collapse of both towers and WT 7.

Another magazine--Structure (link in PDF)-- has joined in the debunking and shows in perfect detail the "kinking" of the penthouse on the north side and the subsequent dropping of the penthouse that started the entire collapse. I'm no engineer but the explanation makes sense as to why the buildings collapsed inward and down and didn't fall over or fall in some other manner.

Of course the idiot Truthers will not buy into this because, just as global warming zealots have done, they've developed a cottage industry and they aren't about to agree with any rational explanation that would be presented.

Is it any surprise that these morons and Ron Paul supporters have united?

Paul Supporters Go From Cheaters to Felons

Yeah, that Ron Paul guy attracts an eclectic mix, doesn't he? I mean, you have 9/11 Truthers:





people who march in the same parade as Hamas supporters and now he's getting donations from thieves:

(CBS) The presidential campaign of Texas Rep. Ron Paul received donations from overseas thieves using stolen credit cards, reports CBS station KTVT in Dallas/Fort Worth.


Investigators at Frost Bank discovered that the stolen cards were being used to make $5 contributions to the Paul campaign, in an apparent attempt to test the cards.


Frost Bank refunded money from nearly 100 customers and canceled all 500 of the credit cards that had been stolen from the bank. The Paul campaign tells CBSNews.com it has refunded to the bank the donations from the stolen cards, which amout (sic) to about $3,000.

The old "overseas thieves using stolen credit cards" defense, huh? Judging by some of the Paulians I've seen, it doesn't look like they could send much more than $5.

Come on Paulians, at least when Hillary breaks the law, she doesn't do it so blatantly as using stolen credit cards. But I guess that's about what I expected from you poll spammers and Truthers.