Wednesday, August 20, 2008 |
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Winning Reagan's Way |
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
9:27 AM |
The Lieberman boomlet --Ed Morrissey's reaction of "Disaster" sums up a lot of the reaction I received on my show and in my e-mail box yesterday (HT: RobinsonandLong.com)-- reminds me of the push for a Reagan-Ford ticket in 1980, when Beltway sharpies told the Gipper he couldn't win without a major shake-up of the dynamics of the race, one that would be provided by picking former President Ford as a running mate.
Reagan was tempted but ultimately went with George H.W. Bush and drove straight-ahead to a blowout win over then President Carter. Reagan won because he persuaded millions of Americans he had the right vision for the country, and that the voters could trust him --and his party-- to govern well though Watergate was only a short six years in the past,
Senator McCain has the same choice ahead of him. He doesn't need any bank shots or game-changers. He needs what was on display Saturday night at Saddleback --a confidence in the rightness of center-right ideas across a range of issues and of course a deep belief in American exceptionalism. A conventional but base-energizing choice --Romney or Pawlenty-- will keep the momentum going and reveal no deficit of confidence in McCain's ideas or the core ideas of his party. Such a choice will also say that while the Congressional GOP was seduced by spending and Beltway ways over the past few terms, the party's ideals remain the right ones for governing, and that its social agenda of protecting and strengthening families while seeking to protect the unborn remain at the core of the party and its nominee.
Yesterday I interview Mitt Romney (transcript here) and Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput (transcript here.) Monday I interviewed author David Freddoso about his new book, which will air today.
All three conversations reveal that the country remains divided over some major issues that simply don't admit to bipartisan approaches: Should we pursue victory in Iraq and the wider war? Should we go and explore and produce as much of our own energy as possible? Should life in the womb be protected? Should taxes be kept low? Does America still represent the best hope for the planet? Senator Lieberman has put aside his party's position on victory in Iraq, but he has not done so on many of these other crucial issues, and for those people who fight day in and day out for such things, the veep selection matters a great deal. "Would John McCain ever pick a running mate in favor of retreat in Iraq," a pro-life activist asked me yesterday. "Of course he wouldn't," was the obvious answer, and the activist's point was made: If Senator McCain genuinely cares about the life issue, he won't pick a pro-choice running mate.
McCain won big on Saturday and the polls across the board are shifting his way because a solid majority of the country isn't ready to abandon the idea that America is the world's leader and is fundamentally a good nation doing great things, as it has been for the past two hundred plus years.
The GOP has championed these core ideas since 1980 and there is no need to apologize for them though the leadership on the Hill failed to execute well in the past few years. Picking a leader within the party as a running mate underscores Senator McCain's commitment to the ideas that powered the Reagan Revolution, and a bumbling, fumbling, inexperienced Barack Obama has no response to these ideas.
The big shift in the Reuters poll (yes, I know it is Zogby, but the direction counts) is just the latest indication that the public has begun to really examine the four year senator from Illinois and to conclude that it isn't going to gamble the country's future on the most radical major party nominee in modern American political history, especially one who has taken to whining about imaginary unfair attacks on his patriotism while dissembling about his record and his associates.
As noted, David Freddoso will be on today's program discussing his book, The Case Against Barack Obama.
And Archbishop Chaput's book, Render Unto Caesar, is doing very well on Amazon.com. Get that along with Freddoso's and save on shipping. Archbishop Chaput, btw, is conspicuously not being invited to bring his pro-life message to the Democratic Convention convening in his Diocese. (Perhaps Father Phleger will be the Roman Catholic representative?)
 
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 |
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Rumors on the Internets ... |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
7:57 AM |
For what it's worth ...
1). I'm hearing that tensions were high recently when veteran actor Robert Duvall was taping a voice-over for a video to be played during the Republican National Convention. Apparently, the veteran actor objected to the direction he was receiving from Republican media guru Fred Davis. According to my sources, Duvall said something along the lines of: "F-you Fred! If Scorsese couldn't give me direction, what the hell makes you think you can?" Though this blow-up is actually recorded on tape, my guess is it's in everyone's best interest for this to not leak out ...
2). A source tells me Secret Service agents were all over the Minnesota State House yesterday. Is this a hint that Tim Pawlenty will get the veep nod? Maybe, or maybe not ...
3). As MSNBC continues to cast itself as the "anti-Fox," the NYT is reporting that liberal Rachel Maddow will replace Dan Abrams.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008 |
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Spiffing Up the Homeless |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
7:33 AM |
A Denver salon is trying to beautify their surroundings by offering homeless people free hair cuts in run up to the Democratic convention.
The salon's co-ownder Ghandia Gohnson said the salon was doing it to "make them all spiffed up for the Democratic National Convention, because they are part of our community as well."
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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The Beauty of Keeping Lieberman in the Mix |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
10:20 PM |
News reports say that John McCain is keeping Joe Lieberman in the running for VP.
That's fine with me. Not because I think McCain will pick Lieberman -- if he does, he's so openly disrespectful of the policies and priorities of his base, and so dismissive of his need for their support, that his judgment is in question.
McCain surely understands that his VP pick will send a huge signal to the base about where he sees the GOP going. It doesn't even make sense for someone who's identified himself as an admirer of President Reagan and as a "conservative" to choose someone who could comfortably run with Al Gore eight years ago.
But keeping Lieberman in the mix, even as conservatives like me reiterate our strong opposition to a Democrat as veep on the Republican ticket plays well for McCain. It's designed to send a message to independents -- just as his supposed openness to a pro-choice running mate was supposed to reassure PUMA's. He's using the veep process to re-establish his credentials as a "maverick" who may not always toe the GOP line, without actually moving left on any policies . . . and if talking up Lieberman helps him in Florida, he's not averse to that, either.
At least, I hope that's what's happening. And I hope that if and when McCain wins the presidency, he remembers that the allegiance of independents can be fleeting -- and isn't the basis for a stable governing coalition. But with someone as left -- and as inexperienced -- as Barack on the other side, there's nothing to do but take my chances with McCain.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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A Heartbeat Away |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
5:14 PM |
Family Research Council just sent out this in their daily email:
"Last night, we received disturbing reports that McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis had been making phone calls to state leaders to gauge their reactions to the selection of a pro-abortion running mate. Most signs pointed to former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. Big problem! Governor Ridge is not only aggressively pro-abortion, supporting measures like the Freedom of Choice Act, which would have overturned most state laws on abortion, while serving as a U.S. Congressman, he was well known for publicly opposing many of President Reagan's policies relating to national defense and siding instead with liberal Democrats. This afternoon Fox News is reporting that officials at the Republican National Committee are knocking down the reports of a pro-abortion running mate for McCain. If so, the Arizona Senator has averted a misstep that would not only have cost him the ground he gained over the past week but probably assured him of defeat this November."
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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Obama to Text VP Pick Friday Night |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
4:32 PM |
CBS is reporting the Obama campaign will blast out his VP pick via text message Friday night and hold an event with his choice Saturday morning in Springfield, Illinois.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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Tom Ridge is Out? |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
4:30 PM |
According to Fox News:
"As speculation grows around who John McCain will select as his vice presidential running mate next week, Republican National Committee officials said Tuesday that McCain is no longer considering former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge."
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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Obama's Double Standard |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:47 PM |
In front of the VFW, Barack Obama complained that Senator McCain was impugning his patriotism -- conveniently, of course (and typically), he doesn't disclose just how John McCain committed this heinous act. It's becoming Dems' stock in trade to complain about assaults on their patriotism -- as though merely criticizing them for weak or feckless foreign policies is tantamount to calling them traitors.
When will Democrats "get" that this kind of behavior turns off normal voters? Nobody likes a whiner, and it already makes Barack look weak to be begging his opponent to "acknowledge" that he, too, cares about the national interest.
This kind of whining seems to be an emerging trend on the Obama team. Last night, on Larry King Live, Claire McCaskill was begging Tim Pawlenty to have John McCain denounce Jerome Corsi's book. Really, is this what it's come to for them -- they have to keep on supplicating John McCain or his surrogates to say something on their behalf? See how that strategy works out with Russia, folks.
But the amazing irony is that even as Barack bemoans the supposed impugning of his love of country, he's perfectly willing to turn around and tell audiences that John McCain doesn't care about anyone but the rich:
So I want to see a show of hands everybody making more than $2.5 million raise your hand -- you should, you know, you might want to think about voting for John McCain, because he is going to be looking out for them but he is not looking out for most of the people in this auditorium.
How desperate is it, by the way, that he's basing his attack on a remark from McCain that was clearly not serious -- as McCain clarified at the time?
Thank heaven that McCain is man enough not to, himself, or through his surrogates, run around "calling on" Barack Obama to clarify that he, John McCain, "cares" about the less fortunate.
Just another instructive contrast.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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Spending Addiction |
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Posted by:
John Campbell at
2:30 PM |
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According to a recently released report by Taxpayer’s for Common Sense (TCS), House members will receive $290 million more in earmarks this year, than in last. This increase is also accompanied by an increase in approved projects, which will swell by about 200 this year.
These spending projects are included in the appropriations bills approved by the House, and so far we have only passed one of these spending bills. Current House leadership is hoping that a Democratic President will be friendlier to member earmarks, so it is unlikely we will pass or even consider anymore appropriations bills until after the first of the year.
Overall, $5.12 billion accounts for all the earmarks in the spending bills we have seen thus far. That takes into account these bills before conference reports, however conference reports are notorious for being stuffed with pork before being sent off to the President.
Earmarks are the gateway drug to overspending, they must be reformed to help temper Congress’ addiction.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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McCain up by 5 in Zogby Poll |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
12:56 PM |
I'm hearing that a new Reuters/Zogby National poll (that has not yet been released) has McCain up by 5 points. McCain leads Obama by 8 points among likely voters in terms of who can best manage the economy.
Update: This poll is scheduled to be officially released tomorrow morning.
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008 |
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A "Clean" Slate? |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
12:12 PM |
As Jonathan notes below, Joe Biden seems to be the flavor of the day when it comes to the Dem veepstakes. Given that he's seen within the Democrat ranks as a foreign policy solon, it may well make sense, given Russia's invasion of Georgia and other ominous international developments.
But it seems to me that a Biden pick does nothing so much as highlight the weakness of the Democrat bench when it comes to foreign policy. After all, Biden is remarkably gaffe-prone -- remember his description of Barack as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy"? How about his memorable comments about Indians and 7-11?
If there's any advantage to a Biden pick as veep, at least it means that he won't be Secretary of State. Anybody this gaffe-prone has no business in a job where the merest use of one word over another can be construed as having a distinct diplomatic meaning . . . unless, of course, he's just mouthing the words of someone else -- something of a pattern with Biden, it seems, judging from this and this.
I'm actually rooting for a Biden choice. It would make the campaign a whole lot more more entertaining.
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