The Gay Debate

Not surprisingly, the first Presidential debate solely on gay issues will be a Democrats-only affair. This has been brought to my attention by The Grit, who also predicts the candidate positions on these matters.

I wondering if there should be other Presidential debates based on other minority special interest groups. Any suggestions? The only one I’m sure no group of candidates will touch would be a white, heterosexual male debate.

Or on the other hand, there could just be a campaign based on those things we all have in common. You know, one where no one panders any whiny group convinced that it is somehow disenfranchised, whether by sexual proclivities, or gender, or race, or whatever.

Fred Has What Hillary Lacks

Hillary Clinton apparently has one big problem winning the Presidency: people don’t like her. According to a recent poll 56% of men have the good sense not to vote for her under any circumstances. They may not consciously be avoiding an Isaiah 3:12 situation, but they know a bad thing when they see it. In addition to that, she’s got 47% of women who won’t vote for her under any circumstance either.

She’s lacking what soon-to-be GOP front-runner Fred Thompson has by the bucketful: charm.

Thompson is so nice, even his ex-wife and former girlfriends are campaigning for him. They may not want to live with him, but they sure do like him.

Some commentators have suggested that women might not like the fact that his current wife (who he met many years after his divorce)  is 24 years his junior. Liberal bloggers and their combox choirs call it an “ick factor”. It probably doesn’t help that Jeri Thompson looks like she is 40 going on 25. I think the “ick” factor probably mostly comes down to jealousy. Programmed by TV and magazines, middle-aged women wish they could look as good as Jeri.

Of course the men who would never vote for Hillary would also like to high-five Fred.  Not that Fred would reciprocate, because he’s much to genteel and chivalrous and would not find it becoming of the lady’s honour.

I laughed reading liberal bloggers who otherwise have no moral values saying it looked “predatory” for Fred to have married such an attractive younger woman.  I can’t imagine a 35-year-old woman in a successful political career (she worked for the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee before become a political media consultant and all before marrying Fred) being preyed upon, just because her suitor is in his late 50s.

Fortunately the voting public isn’t particularly swayed by the rants of liberal bloggers. They do like charm, however.

More on Ron Paul

It may not be evident from the comments, but apparently one way to spike viewing figures is to write something about Ron Paul. This is perhaps more evidence of his popularity in the viewing figures.

I like Dr Paul. Anyone in Congress with the nickname “Dr No”  has got to have something going for him. If you are looking for a constitutional strict constructionist you really need look no further.

Does that mean I would vote for him for the GOP nomination? Hmm . . .  Not sure. This is partly because despite the ground swell of support on the internet, I don’t know if he can win it. I’m also not so sure he’s the most electable candidate against the Democrats. I’d also hate to see him give up his Congressional seat in an ill-fated Presidential primary run.

At this point, I’m still with Fred Thompson. I just wish Fred would stop putting his finger in the political wind and just get in the race. He won’t needs as much money as Guilani or Romney, but he needs to get his machine going soon enough.

After that I’m in the anyone-but-Guliani camp.

Being a permanent resident of the UK, I have say I’m jealous that Americans actually have someone (if not several people) worth voting for. Over here, we are trading one socialist for another next week. We have another one waiting should the Tories get elected next time. In fact, if the Tories get elected we will get someone more like Tony Blair than if we keep Gordon Brown.

Ron Paul’s Waves Reach This Shore

It will cheer strong supporters like the young fogey that Ron Paul’s presidential campaign has merited mention in the Daily Telegraph.

Dr Paul is getting a lot of mileage because of internet-savvy aides who have taken the low-budget approach. I don’t think he will manage to get the nomination, because there are still too many people more influenced by the mainstream media and its advertising power. However, he does have the potential to shake things up a bit.

He really irritates the left-wing media, so much so that when viewers overwhelmingly considered him the winner of the June 5th GOP debate, CNN pulled its post-debate blog and re-directed the link to the June 3rd Democratic debate.

Ron Paul is my parents’ congressman and now represents the district in which my father was the GOP candidate in 1976. Ron was in Congress in ’76 representing a different district that included his Lake Jackson home at the time, but like my father lost in November.

The Politics of Sin

We tend to think of Republican administrations as being more beneficial for big business. This is not always the case. There is at least one industry that wants Hillary in the White House.

Old Carpet Bag

Has it ever been the practice of US presidential candidates to change their accents whenever they travel to various parts of the country on the campaign trail?

I know candidates try to identify with the voters, so they might be found wearing head gear or casual shirts common to various areas of the country, as they meet cowboys or steelworkers. They address their regional concerns. But pretend to talk like them?

You would have thought that Hillary would have been embarrassed after the last time this was brought to light by the blogosphere. But no, the woman has no shame. No shame at all.

The sad thing is that any Southerner willing to vote for her might actually be impressed her fake accent. As much as it pains me to say it, there are a few idiots in the southland.

H/T to Grit.

What Fred Said

With regard to the Virginia Tech massacre, we have an oppotunity to find out WWFTD.

Thank to wytammic at Sunflower Desert for reproducing a National Review article by future president Fred Thompson.

I just checked CafePress and it appears that all the WWFTD merchandise is gone. Anyone know what’s happened? I so wanted to get one of those mugs.

WWFTD

Fred Thompson has cancer. This is not good timing.

It’s not life-threatening, as Thompson noted, “I have had no illness from it, or even any symptoms. My life expectancy should not be affected. I am in remission, and it is very treatable with drugs if treatment is needed in the future — and with no debilitating side effects.”

So the problem is not his health, but rather the effect this might have on his Presidential campaign. In an age where appearance is everything, he needs to exude the sort persona that inspired the Frank Facts about Fred Thompson I referred to back in March. But if there is anyone in politics who can make it happen, it is Fred.

I recently found something I need to get to help me make good decisions.

Stating the Obvious

Even her supporters in the blogosphere know the truth.

Hillary is a cold hearted b. . .

The Judgment Seat of James Dobson

James Dobson is starting to get a bit irritating. I hope he doesn’t use his influence to shatter the evangelical Christian vote and divide the Republican Party in the 2008 Presidential election.

Dobson seems to litmus test all the candidates on a variety of issues. But even if they pass muster on the usual social issues, they have to fit Dobson’s test with regard to public expressions of faith.

Dobson has told U.S. News and World Report that he doesn’t think Fred Thompson is a Christian. Dobson never bothered ask Fred or Fred’s people if Fred was a Christian. But since Dobson didn’t have access to sufficient public statements of Thompson’s faith he just concluded, “I don’t think he’s a Christian.”

Thompson’s people immediately responded that Thompson was indeed a Christian and had been baptised in the Church of Christ. Since the Church of Christ practice “believer baptism” this should be good enough for Dobson. Theoretically, Thompson would have had to have made a public profession of faith, even if it wasn’t in front of the Focus on thr Family founder himself. I’m hoping Dobson isn’t getting to the point of having to pray the “sinner’s prayer” with each candidate individually to be convinced of their born again status.

I am curious what Dobson thinks of Sam Brownback, who was an evangelical but converted to the Roman Catholic Church. Will he urge evangelicals to not vote for Brownback because he has forsaken evangelicalism? And I wonder what he would make of an Orthodox candidate who happened to actually espouse Orthodoxy.

It is time for Dobson to focus on the social issues important to most Christians and leave the salvation test to God.

H/T The Original Mud Puppy

The Great Hope of the GOP

If Fred Thompson runs for President, I might move back to the States just to campaign for him.

Oh, and step aside Chuck Norris. The facts are in about Fred Thompson.

H/T: Provoking the Muse

Not in the Right State of Mind

The former First Woman of the Natural State, who now happens to be the Senatorette from the Empire State, was campaigning down in the Palmetto State, telling locals they need to rid themselves of memories of the last time South Carolina was free and sovereign, the way the framers of U.S. Constitution intended.

The Confederate flag on the grounds of the state capitol seems to draw fire from all northern liberals, as Hillary is just chiming in after Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, seeing if she can get a wedge of the NAACP vote. Not that it is going to matter, because she needs electoral votes and she’s not going to get them in South Carolina.

As Grit notes, Hillary would be much happier to do away with the States altogether.

Peter’s (Twp) Pence

It might just swing the election. I’m sure all the major American networks have picked it up. I’m sure Democratic primary contenders and potential Republican opponents are worried now.

That’s right, Peter Hain has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

Peter who? For those Americans who don’t know and don’t care, Peter Hain the South African who is the Northern Ireland Secretary and Welsh Secretary in the British Cabinet. Yes, he’s a member of the same Government that is currently allied with the Bush Administration in the Iraq insurgency operation.

I suppose this is no surprise because last month he referred to it as “the most right-wing American administration, if not ever, then in living memory” and a failure. With allies like that, who needs enemies?

Hain seems to have primarily based his endorsement on gender. He said it would “be fantastic to have a woman president”. I doubt he thought it was fantastic to have a woman Prime Minister. But while Britain needed a Deborah, America hardly needs a Jezebel.

Hain has a history of making endorsements. He doesn’t just base them on gender. For example, he endorsed Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe. He was a vocal supporter of the Mugabe regime until recently. In one way, he is consistent. America needs Hillary about as much as Zimbabwe needed Mugabe. They are not so different, after all. They have similar methods for dealing with people who get in the way.

I would say the sensible thing is to pay attention to Peter Hain. See who he endorses. Then vote the other way.

More Misty-eyed Reflections

Lest I get too misty-eyed in my reflections on the newly-reposed former president, an old friend forwarded an email, noting that in 2002 Gerald Ford served on the advisory group of an organisation working to make homosexuality a non-issue in the Republican Party. It suggested that perhaps Ford was a bit too unifying.

I hope I didn’t suggest that Ford was a perfect man or that I agreed with him on every issue. Of course in 1976, things like the inclusion of homosexuals in the GOP was a non-issue. There were politicians who were, but no one else made a particularly big deal about it and neither did they. So I wouldn’t say that it was an issue that clouded his presidency in any way.

I also got an email from my mother, noting that I hadn’t mentioned my family’s connection with the Fords. Perhaps if I continue to be misty-eyed I should declare an interest.

During the 1976 Presidential campaign, my folks were Reagan supporters. My dad sat with Reagan on the platform as the local GOP Congressional candidate when the future president visited Corpus Christi in a swing through Texas. This is still a proud moment for our family. Reagan ended up with all of the Texas delegates to the 1976 GOP National Convention.

However, when Ford got the nomination, all Republicans stood together so we were Ford people. More importantly, the Fords were Holford people. Betty Ford paid two visits to the 14th District campaigning for my father. Jack (the one who gave the first reading at his father’s funeral) gave up one of two free days he had in the month of October to come to South Texas and campaign for my dad. I still remember attending one of those functions. We have been grateful to the Ford family ever since.

As it turned out, the 1976 campaign season didn’t end in a positive way for the Fords or the Holfords. Even Ron Paul (the current incumbent in the 14th, who at that time represented the 22nd District and had signed a fund-raising letter for my dad) lost his bid for re-election.

Twenty-two years later Ford acted as an advisor to the Republican Unity Coalition, but according to the link sent by my friend, he refused to sign an op-ed piece calling for an end to sodomy laws, though he did write in a private letter to a friend that he supported the Defendants/Petitioners in Lawrence v. Texas.

Unlike the former president, I would agree with Justices Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas that Lawrence was not a good decision. But then the problem is not that sodomy laws have been overturned, or adultery and fornication laws quietly eliminated from state criminal codes in the 1970s. It is the shift in the way society looks at enforcing certain areas of morality.

Jerry and Jesus will have to work out whether it was a good thing to advise the Republican Unity Coalition or support the outcome in Lawrence. Who knows, Jerry might have have made some bad decisions or supported a morally impaired position while in the White House. Overall, I would still have to concur with the general view that Gerald Ford was a good man who always tried to follow his conscience.