The GOP Debate

Oh, yeah.  There was a debate Wednesday.  GOP guys.  Up in Iowa.  In the afternoon.  What didja miss?

Reactions to the Republican Debate

“This last debate before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 might best be summed up with a shrug of the shoulders,” according to the New York Times. “All the candidates pretty much stayed on script, broke no new ground and barely engaged with each other. They all looked exhausted, and why wouldn’t they? This campaign has been going on forever.” “But it might have helped the [...]

Hell In Des Moines

God, I’m glad I didn’t sit through that one. I gave myself a flu-pass. But here’s the potted blogreax: “Wolcott: The glossiest domino is Mitt Romney, of course, who does himself no favors by getting testily anal about how much [...]

Going For The Jugular

Think it’s too early for the campaigns to really turn nasty?  Apparently. Not.

Yesterday Obama’s electability, today his drug use

A day after Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign questioned Sen. Barack Obama’s ability to win a general election, the co-chairman of her New Hampshire operation today questioned his past drug use. In an interview with the Washington Post, Billy Shaheen suggestion that Obama’s admissions about drug use as a young man could come back to haunt him in a general election. “The Republicans are not going to give up without a fight … and [...]

Worth Watching

Abrams just might be able to turn this into an hour of watchable television. Heck, given the fact that the writers are on strike and most of the “entertainment” on the tube is reality junk, it might be time to explore the alternatives.  You could do much worse than this:

Bush League Justice: Signing Statements

Dan Abrams continues his fantastic series started yesterday by looking how Bush has effectively subverted the system of government and eliminated any controls or oversight of the executive branch by the use of signing statements.  Jonathan Turley and Charlie Savage join in to assess the damage done [...]

Well, Of Course They Are

His CIA bosses ain’t happy. Not surprising, considered how he unloaded information about waterboarding!

CIA ‘furious’ at Kiriakou for talking about torture.

On Monday, former CIA interrogator John Kiriakou confirmed to ABC News that al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded on orders from the White House. ABC News now reports that officials at the CIA were “furious” at Kiriakou and pushed for “a Justice Department investigation.” A Justice Department official, however, said that no such investigation [...]

Yes, They Support Waterboarding

The Right has the talking points at the ready and bloggers seem to be more than willing to spew them all over the place.

The right’s deranged support for waterboarding

Over the last couple of months, conservatives’ rhetoric when it comes to torture-by-waterboarding has taken a turn for the worse. Not too long ago, the right argued that waterboarding is a necessary evil — torture is wrong, they’d say, but in extreme, Jack-Bauer-like circumstances, maybe the nation should tolerate waterboarding for the worst of the [...]

The Torture Tapes

It appears Mr. Hayden may have been smacked pretty hard during his testimony to congress.  He came out today saying this:

Hayden: “We Could Have Done an Awful Lot Better”

What a difference a scandal makes. Coming out of his briefing to the House intelligence committee today, CIA Director Michael Hayden was penitent: “particularly at the time of the destruction we could have done an awful lot better at keeping the committee alerted and informed.”  It’s a markedly different tone from [...]

Childish Behavior

I’m sorry, but this is not the way I want a presidential candidate to handle himself.  It was a perfectly legitimate question.  Thompson acted like a spoiled four year old.

Thompson On Whether Global Warming Is A Threat: ‘I’m Not Going To Answer’

In today’s GOP presidential debate in Iowa, Fred Thompson refused to answer whether or not global climate change is a “serious threat and caused by human activity.” When the moderator asked to see a show of hands from the candidates, Thompson became combative and declared, “I’m not doing hand shows today.” At least four other [...]

Last night, more fun and frivolity from Fred:

Thompson: ‘I Don’t Care’ What The Intelligence On Iran Says, The NIE Is ‘Foolishness’

On Glenn Beck’s radio show yesterday, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) said he doesn’t care what the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran says. Iran is “undoubtedly intent upon nuclear weapons,” Thompson said, explaining, “I don’t care what this latest NIE says.” The former actor then dismissed the intelligence that Iran has halted its nuclear [...]

Searching for Water

And a way to transport it.  The Western United  States is in trouble.

How Dry I Am….

Within our lifetimes, much of the west coast will be uninhabitable desert.  Don’t believe me?: “SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – By 2040, climate change will have melted the glaciers of Glacier National Park in Montana and the spring snowpack in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, scientists said on Tuesday. “People talk about a tipping point, but [...]

The Oprah Impact

Wouldn’t it be kind of ironic if the whole Oprah deal backfired?  All those people show up, but will they stick with the campaign?

Poll: Oprah’s Campaigning Could Cost Obama Some Of His Audience

Egads, has it really happened? Has you-know-what finally frozen over? The big news on the campaign trail has been TV megastar Oprah Winfrey’s hitting the hustings with Democratic Senator Barack Obama, campaigning intensively for him, making it known to all and sundry that she supported him, believed in him and wanted those who admire her to trust [...]

All About Religion

The Romney-Huckabee battle for the GOP slot has the religion card being tossed back and forth tonight.  It seems to me they need to get off this topic before a lot of people stop listening to anything they have to say.

Romney Defends Faith But Won’t Answer Huckabee Question on Jesus

Mitt Romney this morning deflected questions about his faith raised by rival Mike Huckabee, while maintaining that his religious beliefs should not be the focus of his campaign.  Romney refused to address questions about specific tenets of [...]

Here’s a blogger who, obviously, agrees with my contention that the religion card is worn out.  Already.

Beware Candidates Speaking On God’s Behalf

The Iowa Caucus is soon approaching, and it’s getting ugly. Mind you, while Hillary and Barack are poking around for the jugular, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney seem involved in a religious war for the religious vote. Whatever that is. And they’re not poking, but using Medievil battle gear.  I have to admit that [...]

UPDATE:  Huck says he apologized to Romney after the debate this afternoon.  Romney, he said, was
“gracious”.

Campaign Follies

Ain’t politics fun?!?!?

Could She Come Third In Iowa?

The Clintonites are showing signs of panic, as Marc reports: “In a variety of conference calls over the next few days, in surrogate appearances, and in memos distributed to reporters, the campaign will directly challenge Obama on points of his [...]

Razorbacks

As noted last night, Arkansas has a new football coach.  The barest of details was known last night. 
Tonight, we’re learning more.  And the comments are continuing to roll in.  Let’s catch up together, shall we?

Blockbuster hire!?

At 10:30 p.m. Monday night, Bobby Petrino met with the Atlanta media about his Falcons’ 34-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Twenty-four hours later, he was in Fayetteville speaking with the Arkansas media about becoming the Arkansas Razorbacks’ 30th head football coach. What a strange day it must have been for Petrino and his family? No [...]

Halfway To The Weekend

This is a short week for me – Friday through the weekend will be light on posts as we attend our daughter’s college graduation!  The final tuition bill has been paid, she has a job lined up and I can’t ask for much more!

News-wise, Huckabee and the pardons continue to draw a lot of attention.  Obviously, those who don’t think much of him or his candidacy have been quick to criticize his actions.  Now, those on the conservative side of things are beginning to think something’s fishy, too.

Huckabee’s Pardon Issue

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matt 5:7) If there is anything which can sink Huckabee’s chances as fast as they have risen, it is the issue of his pardons as governor of Arkansas. On its face, it looks pretty bad – a series of pardons based on rather weak reasoning, [...]

Not surprisingly, folks on the other side have their own set of “issues” with Huckabee:

More on the Huck

Ross Douthat has more on the fact that Mike Huckabee is basically just making stuff up as he goes along and plainly doesn’t have clue about most of the things he’s asked about. Economic policy? How about [...]