RIP Tony Snow

Tony Snow was my first Sunday show host. He wasn't the first sunday show host I watched (Tim Russert had that honor) but he was the first sunday show host I felt ownership over. He was MY guy. He read the news, prodded politicans and made the news clear for ME. Reporting from historic homes throughout the nation, I can remember being enthused by his reporting, even when I disagreed with his guests.

He will be missed.

Veepstakes! Update: Palin Around and other updates

Looks like I got on the bandwagon just before the train left the station (How's THAT for a mixed metaphor!) as CNN's Political Markets have placed Palin fourth in the race for #2, behind only Romney, Crist and Pawlenty. That's pretty good odds for the darkhorse from Alaska!

I'll reiterate here that Palin is a brilliant candidate that would really shake up the race. She's got the poise, the integrity and the personality to make a great Vice President, and of course a great president one day. I can't talk her up more highly. Tell your friends (particularly if they voted Hillary)

Some other facts have emerged in the race that bear weight on the odds as I had them. Here they are in short...

• Mitt Romney has emerged as a Top McCain Surrogate and apparently has made nice enough for McCain insiders to say he's currently the top contender. (Boosts Odds)
  
• Bobby Jindal gets in a fight with the state legislature of Louisiana that reminds people just how green he is. (Drops Odds)
  
• Tim Pawlenty, McCain's supposed odds-on favorite, gets dumped from that spot while polls show his home state out of reach for McCain even with T-Paw on the ticket. (Drops Odds)
  
• Charlie Crist gets engaged and changes his positions on Offshore drilling effectively but stays way too orange for his own good. (Boosts Odds)
  
• Rob Portman raises massive amounts of cash for McCain, actually gives a pretty good speech. Who knew? (Boosts Odds)
• Bloomberg's popularity in NY drops, he fights with state goverment. (Drops Odds)
  
• Huckabee goes... somewhere. Says... something. No one cares. (Drops Odds)
  
• Palin mania breaks out among the GOP chattering classes. (Boosts Odds)
  

And so we are left with this-

Ex-Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)- 4 to 1 (Good Pick)
Gov. Sara Palin (R-AK)- 5 to 1 (Best Pick)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)- 6 to 1 (Bad Pick)
Gov. Charlie "Supertan" Crist (R-FL)- 8 to 1 (Mixed Bag)
Hon. Rob Portman (R-OH)- 10 to 1 (OK Pick)
Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK)-12 to 1 (Good Pick)
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)- 15 to 1 (Good Pick)
Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN)- 30 to 1 (Good Pick)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)- 35 to 1 (OK Pick)
Mayor Micheal Bloomberg (I-NY)- 40 to 1 (Mixed Bag)
Hon. Colin Powell (R-CA)- 100 to 1 (Good Pick)


I'd be happy with either name on the top of that list. Governor Romney is a great Republican on economic issues (his one consistent front) and Governor Palin is the new face of the GOP.

Hey if McCain looses what do you think? Palin-Romney 2012? Romney-Palin 2012?

Obamacricy on Phil Gramm, McCain dose the unfortunate thing

Today, the ever-brilliant (and foot-in-mouth-desies prone) former Texas Senator Phil Gramm said this unflattering comment-

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners."

Of course our dear dear friends in the media have left off the "sort of" part (thus making the comment more harsh sounding) leading to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Of course his full comments paint a different story, making it seem as if his "we" refers more to the media's influence then a dour outlook by the great unwashed masses.

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline," said the former Texas senator. "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession."

Gramm also said the media was responsible for fostering unnecessary anxiety over the state of the economy. "Misery sells newspapers," he said. "Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day."

The O Show's response was to say that Senator McCain clearly didn't understand the economy. This comes from the Boy Wonder, who has been in Washington for fewer days then the Washington Nationals will win games this season (sorry Nat fans). How can a senator who's only distinguishing legislative characteristic comes from voting "Present" more time then any other as a member of the Illinois state legislature, and who's Washington carrier never started because the moment he was sworn in he started running for president, dare impune the credentials of a man who's passed more legislation on the economy then he's even read!

Aside from team "0 for 0"'s rambling, McCain (due to the flap over "Bittergate") has been forced to disavow the man everyone has been tapping to be his eventual Tres. Sec. Another one bites the bus...

Unfortunate Things

I've not posted in a while, things are a bit crazy as of this moment, but soon I'll be back at full strength. In the meantime if you need to be reminded of why B-Rock can't be president lets remind ourselves-

"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English... you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish"

I'm going to go with "no" as my response to that one. More reaction to this tommarrow.

My personal moment of Zen

To steal a line from John Stewart, I now give you your moment of zen... well your 30 minutes of zen. 30 minutes of 90's cartoon Openings.

Kristol: Palin for VP

The video to go with the post below.

For the record I agree. Sarah Palin IS the VP candidate for us.

Veepstakes! Update: An interesting comment on Fox News Sunday

Watching the "Power Panel" on the wonderful Fox News Sunday broadcast, there was some discussion of Flip-Flopping- including McCain's own on offshore drilling. The host, Chris Wallace (the Dean of the Sunday Shows after the passing of Tim Russert), asked the brilliant William Kristol the following-

WALLACE: Bill, how important are the Clintons? And will Bill Clinton stop sulking in his tent like Achilles and behave?

FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR BILL KRISTOL: Psychoanalyzing Bill Clinton is a tough task. I think Hillary Clinton was gracious. She's put behind her the horrible sexism and misogyny that Democratic primary voters demonstrated, which I'm appalled by, personally. Never would have happened in the Republican Party, you know?

Republicans are much more open to strong women. And that's why McCain's going to put Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, on the ticket as vice president.

WALLACE: Is that your prediction?

KRISTOL: I'm moving from Jindal to Palin. She's fantastic. You know, she was the point guard on the Alaska state championship high school basketball team in 1982. She could take Obama one on one on the court. It would be fantastic.

Anyway, I do think -- I actually think Sarah Palin would be a great vice presidential pick, and it would be interesting to actually have a woman on the Republican ticket after Hillary Clinton has come so close and failed on the Democratic side.

FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR JUAN WILLIAMS: Well, how about Colin Powell on the McCain ticket? Don't you think that would be a winner?

KRISTOL: No, no, no.

WILLIAMS: No?

KRISTOL: That's, again, misogynist thinking, you know?

WILLIAMS: Misogynist thinking?

KRISTOL: You have to go for the gold here with Sarah Palin. She's great. She's a reform governor.

WILLIAMS: Mother of five, I believe.

KRISTOL: Mother of five. Ethics, incredible record of cleaning up -- she took on her own corrupt Republican Party in the state, cut spending.

WALLACE: Of course, they'd have a problem on ANWR, since she's for drilling in ANWR and he's against it.

KRISTOL: And she could persuade McCain to take the last step to the sensible position on energy and gas, which is to be for drilling...

WALLACE: Can we please get off Sarah Palin?

KRISTOL: ... for drilling in ANWR.

Later on Wallace asked Kristol this-

WALLACE: But to be fair, Bill, let's bring in McCain, because he has made a lot of changes. And the one point I disagree with with Brit, some of them are recent -- for instance, drilling. He has flipped on that in just the last couple of weeks.

KRISTOL: Voters tend not to blame candidates if they adjust their views, A, based on a plausible notion that circumstances have changed. If gas prices are $4.50, the relative value of preserving a pristine -- in a pristine way this worthless wasteland up in northern Alaska, ANWR, changes...

HUME: But he hasn't flipped on that.

KRISTOL: No, he hasn't flipped on that. That's the next flip, when he puts Sarah Palin on the ticket.

Sounds like the good folk at Draft Sarah Palin are going to have another name to add to there list of endorsers...

In any case such a high-profile endorsement gives her a nice bump in my odds

Sarah Palin ODDS- 12 to 1

Clever Counter-Arguments Pt. 1- Iraq Pullout

the first in a continuing series on how to argue with people (mostly liberals) about the issues of the day, I hearby give you the easiest way to argue why we shouldn't pull out of Iraq-

Don't bother arguing it was the right thing to do to invade. You can't get someone who believe it was wrong to go in to believe otherwise. Rather take that belief and warp it on them like so-

"So you're saying it was wrong to Invade Iraq? That it was a mistake? You do? Thats even more reason to keep our troops there! If you accidentally run someone down in your car, leaving them badly injured, do you leave the scene because it was an accident and you shouldn't have run them down in the first place, or do you stay behind and make sure they're not going to bleed to death on the sidewalk? If it was a mistake it's even more our responsibility to fix it by stabilizing the country."

Ta-Da. Argument Won.

You want a Bush Legacy? I got your Bush legacy right here!

There names are Samuel Alito and John Roberts. The term "The Roberts Court" are the three second most important words in Bush's presidency (the first most important three being "War on Terror").

Even if the Obamanics and there far-left friends get into office, the chances of them undoing the rock-soild 4 conservative votes on the court would be near impossible, baring a tragic death. The two oldest member of the court are liberals, and the most liberal member is also the oldest.

Justice Kennedy, or as he's called around the house "Sandra Day O'Connor 2", may be squishy on many issues, but on one of the most important rights of our time he came out for freedom and a constructionist interpretation of the constitutions. Sure, he screwed us on the Gitmo ruling, giving terrorists the same rights as average citizens (something we didn't do for the Nazi party at Nuremberg, but I digress), but thanks to those 4 rock-ribbed cons we now know, for the first time, that the constitution protects the rights of all law-abiding citizens to own a firearm.

I'll continue to file the Supreme Court under reason 1 that we should vote for McCain.

On a separate note, Justice Antonin Scalia (AKA the best justice) and I attended the same High School. Small world eh?

The uselessness of polling

Many have pointed out to me two recent polls that show the Obamessiah up over J-Mac. I'd argue that 2 similarly timed surveys have put them either tied or within the margin of error, but to truly point out the uselessness of public polling I'll point you to this- According to the Pew survey, 21% of Atheists believe in God.

Heaven help us.

Who is the Puppet Master?

After reading my post below about Obama's "cunning", Patrick of Right and Reason (you should go there now, his post on oil exploration is a must-read) expressed to me the commonly held belief that Obama is nothing more then a charismatic empty suit and pondered who was holding the strings. Wonder no more! If Obama is not in control of his own destiny, one of these men is

David Plouffe- The churlish Obama campaign manager, David Plouffe is a top candidate for the puppet master to Obama's Grover on Sesame Street. He's smart and sneaky, and has the top position in the campaign (at least from an outsider perspective). He was a Deputy CoS to former Democratic Minority Leader Gephardt, and helped run his wildly unsuccessful 2004 campaign for president

The Far Left Netroots- A good suspect back in the day, but Comrade Markos and his ilk have learned that no promise from B-Rock is worth the paper it's printed on. The Far left has standards (AKA a manifesto that if you deviate from you're EEEEEVIL), and Obama can't let a little thing like his principals get in the way of winning now can he?

Tom Daschle- Former Senate Majority Leader, T-Dash has been out of the loop for a while but he was the man who convinced Obama to run for Preisdent in the first place (breaking his pledge not to run) and has provided the intellectual heft along with the establishment connections Obama needed to get the campaign off the ground. As a Co-Chair of Obama's campaign he wields no real power, but has the subtle influence to move Obama in any direction he wants.

Austan Goolsbee- Ok, theres no reason to think Obama's Econ Guru is pulling his Muppet-like strings. Sure he's got some behind the scenes heft (remember the infamous Canada/NAFTA meeting?). I just have him on the list because of how much fun it is to say is name. Say it with me now- AUUUUUUSTANN GOOOOOOOOOLSBEEEEEEEEE!!!!

David Axelrod- Look no further for the mastermind behind Barry O's current life. He was a consultant for the show "The West Wing" and created the character Matthew Santos based on Barry (Who ironically ran against a character based on McCain). He's the media master, and crafts the Obama message to somehow turn the heads of young, old, black, white, middle aged and everyone else you can think of. He ran the Obamessiah's 04 senate campaign and has been the dark man with the mustache in the background ever since. If Obama is a manufactured man, Axelrod is the person who owns his patent (he even has a second model of Obama out there in Deval Patrick, governor of Mass, a man who's campagin was run by Plouffe and Axelrod).

McCain's Buzzwords

It's been apparent in the last few weeks that Obama has purchased the copyrights on two words- Change and Hope. They appear in every speech, every flier, every thought by the campaign. In order to combat that kind of branding, McCain needs his own words that will define his campaign. Might I suggest a few?

Fix.

Reform.

Unify.

Rebuild.

Regenerate.

Transform.

These 6 words can be used whenever. McCain should pick two and distribute to his staff and surrogates that those two words need to be worked into every speech or statement given in the next 6 months. The only way to win is to out-brand, and we need to be coherent to do so. Come on Mac! Fix/Reform/Unify/Rebuild/Regenerate/Transform your campaign and kick big-eared rear!

Obama's Brilliant Campagin for Total American Takeover (and what we can do to stop him).

I dislike Barack Obama. I think he's a shifty political operator, and I can't totally trust he'll do anything he says he will (this distrust is the only reason I'm not cowering in fear of his presidency, he might just be lying to get elected by the far left). But to give credit where credit is due, he ran a campaign in the primaries that was brilliant and all signs point towards him running a campaign that'll be just as good in the fall.

Obama today announced he's going to be targeting 14 states bush won in 2004. Why? well some states are just good politics, Virgina, Ohio, Colorado- states that have started to trend Democratic (partially due to local issues) since '04. But some of these states (like Texas) are not going to vote democratic in 2008. They just aren't. So why spend the money? well, aside from the basic "make McCain contest everywhere because we have more money then God almighty", there is the brilliant idea that they'll be able to affect down ticket races, SPECIFICLY state legislature races. The State Legislatures control redistricting after a census- particularly after 2010, which happens to the the same year as our next midterm elections. If Obama can control redistricting in these states, he can pad his congressional majorities by 10-15 seats. It's a brilliantly devious plan, but one that might ultimately cause him to spend more money on getting other people elected rather then him.

One of the keys to the Republican takeover of 1994 was that in 1990 the republican party took over a majority of state legislatures, allowing us to control redistricting in those states. In order to maintain a viable party nationwide, we need to control redistricting, to control redistricting we need to control the state legislatures, to control the state legislatures we need to stop Obama from this sort of influence. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to point out Obama's political maneuvering as much as possible. In order to maintain his rational front, he'll have to openly admit he's trying to affect redistricting, thus harming his attempts to affect it (paradoxical, I know).

Obama is a cunning political creature and his campagin is sharp and crafty enough to prove this. Luckily for us, his message runs counter to this central truth about his character. We just need to hammer it home