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Another Important Romney Quality 2007-12-06 23:56:00 Poll: Mitt Romney Is Candidate Most Voters Want To Get Into Bar Fight WithIf the video doesn't work, try this link.It's from The Onion, for Pete's sake!! ...

The Same Speech? 2007-12-06 23:09:00 I was served a reminder tonight of why I seldom visit Townhall.com. Hugh Hewitt there reviewed some speech that Mitt Romney made this morning, something about faith and freedom and so on. I just can't really resolve in my mind that it was the same speech I heard. If it was the same one, then, according to Hewitt, I should just close this blog down.Mitt Romney's "Faith in America" speech was simply magnificent, and anyone who denies it is not to be trusted as an analyst. On every level it was a masterpiece.O.K., so much for my non-existent-anyway credentials. Let's assume that he is talking about the same speech. Hearing it was clearly a "religious experience" for Hewitt. He further effused:Americans watching the speech were listening to a great communicator talk with pride and obvious skill and passion about America and its long history of freedom. This is a much loved and too infrequent thing: An American leader talking with unashamed love and reverence for the country and its ...

That Romney Speech 2007-12-06 15:07:00 I'm probably late in getting this posted. I suspect that every other political blogger in the country has already written on this topic today. So here is my obligatory article.It was not a bad speech. It even had moments of eloquence. Whoever wrote it for Romney should probably get a little something extra in the pay envelope this week. Still, there were things that bothered me. [surprise!]First, although I completely expected them, the John Kennedy references irritated me. Romney tried to invoke JFK in every fashion he could think of, from his choice of a site for the speech (Texas, where Kennedy was when he delivered his speech on religion) toAlmost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for President, not a Catholic running for President. Like him, I am an American running for President. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith. ...

Stress Positions 2007-12-06 14:19:00 They're part of our repertoire of "enhanced interrogation" techniques, remember? So there's no chance it could be anything like torture, right? Right?This film shows a performance artist undergoing, for real, interrogation techniques permitted in the CIA handbook.The Directors approached the making of the film in a way that has never been done before, choosing to show the reality of Stress Positions in as authentic a way as possible. They filmed a person being put into Stress Positions over a 6 hour period. There is no acting on the part of the "prisoner" -- his pain and anguish is for real.Amnesty International released this powerful film to coincide with the official launch of the unsubscribe campaign. "Waiting For The Guards" is the first of 3 films commissioned by Amnesty to highlight the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA in the "War on Terror".Warning: Some viewers may find this disturbing. It is probably unsuitable for those under age 14. Please turn your speak ...

Food Porn - 00003 2007-12-06 14:00:00 Trust me, real men DO eat this!Kale and Smoked Bacon Quichefrom Taste Buddies. ...

Get Them While They're Hot 2007-12-05 22:06:00 "Them" meaning Mike Huckabee poll numbers, and "hot" meaning before they start cooling down. Today could possibly be his apogee, his zenith. Huckabee has never pulled higher numbers, but his campaign is doubtlessly holding their collective breath in anticipation of the next polling cycle to see how much the current Wayne DuMond case inspired frenzy may cost him. But for now, here are the most current figures.According to Rasmussen Reports on Monday, Huckabee has pulled to within a single percentage point nationally of Hillary Clinton (Huckabee 45% Clinton 46%) in a hypothetical General Election match up, and does almost as well against Obama (Huckabee 41% Obama 45%).As of today in a poll of Arkansas voters, the former Arkansas Governor Huckabee has pulled ahead of the former Arkansas First Lady Clinton by a margin of 48% to 42%. Huckabee is viewed favorably by 66% of Likely Voters in Arkansas and unfavorably by 31%. Clinton is viewed favorably by 50% and unfavorably by 45%. For Clinton ...

Rove's Counsel for Republican Candidates 2007-12-05 14:18:00 Hat-tip to Crooks & Liars for this from yesterday in response to Joseph Curl's article in The Washington Times:Karl Rove, who still seems to believe he’s a credible prognosticator, insists the GOP field is making a mistake keeping Bush at arm’s length.President Bush, down and all but counted out by friend and foe alike just three months ago, is rising like a bloodied but unbowed prizefighter, and Karl Rove predicts peril for Republicans and their presidential nominee if they shun the lame-duck president on the campaign trail. […]“Nobody can risk looking disrespectful to the president without paying a price, and they need to understand that,” said Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush’s former top political adviser.I appreciate the fact that Rove is too often detached from reality, but urging Republicans to embrace the least popular, least successful president in modern history is about as smart as assuring Republican candidates in 2006 that Dems couldn’t possibly win back both chambers ...

Happy End of Prohibition Day 2007-12-05 09:35:00 Seventy-four years ago today, on December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution was fully ratified, replealing the Eighteenth Amendment and ending Prohibition......a failed social experiment that supposedly taught our nation the impracticality of trying to legislate morality.Cheers! ...

Huckabee Fumbles NIE Question 2007-12-05 01:42:00 Well, maybe fumbled is a little bit too harsh, but he certainly got caught flat-footed.From the Chicago Tribune [h/t to Politico]:Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday he was unfamiliar with the National Intelligence Estimate that reported that Iran had not had a program to develop nuclear weapons since 2003, and he questioned the intelligence work behind it.Asked by reporters if he had been briefed on the summary of the report, which was declassified and released Monday, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said "No." Informed of its content by reporters, he said he agreed with President Bush, who said that Iran remains a threat.I don't want to be cast as a Huckabee-apologist, but this should be given some perspective. The former governor was wrapping up day two of a two day visit to Iowa, his first in weeks, and I'm reasonably sure he spent most of those two days out on the hustings, pressing the flesh rather that keeping one eye on CNN for breaking politica ...

Maddow on the NIE 2007-12-04 23:17:00 I'm developing a serious case of like for Air America Radio talk host Rachel Maddow. In the beginning I simply caught her now and then guesting on Countdown with Keith. More recently I've been listening to her show on occasion (via streaming audio, no station in the area here cooperates). Tonight I was pleasantly surprised to see her on CNN with Lou Dobbs. I was also pleased to discover that Dobbs can actually discuss topics other than illegal immigration for minutes at a time, and when he's on one of those other topics he hardly foams at the mouth at all.Here's the good stuff from tonight, transcript courtesy of CNN... typos and all:DOBBS: The idea, by the way, [that] we find out [this] week that -- that the national intelligence estimate was kept from a president for three months, and that it reveals that Iran is not pursuing a bomb. Seemed like something of a bomb to me, and the Washington press corps was dealing with it as if it was business as usual. Your thoughts, Rachel?MADD ...

A Little Huckabee Roundup 2007-12-04 14:36:00 I'm going to have to be careful or people will start accusing me of being a Huckabloger. But what the heck, he's interesting to talk about right now.The Mike Huckabee snowball continues down the mountain apace, as shown by both positive and negative indicators.First, the negative. The mud-slinging has officially begun. He has already been the target of attack ads by both Romney and Thompson, but last night saw something new.A mysterious group calling itself Iowans for Some Semblance of Christian Decency has begun waging a campaign against former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, insinuating that not only is the Republican presidential candidate not a true conservative, he's not a real Christian.In fliers put under the doors of reporters at the Marriott in Des Moines, where Huckabee was staying Monday night, the organization, whose members are unknown, lays out its interpretation of how the former Baptist minister's views run contrary to the Bible.Huckabee's support of educational oppor ...

Kudos Down Under 2007-12-04 13:47:00 The NYT reports:Kevin Rudd, the new prime minister of Australia, said on Monday that he had signed the paperwork to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, making good on an election promise that overturns a decade of opposition to the international global warming pact."This is the first official act of the new Australian government, demonstrating my government's commitment to tackling climate change," Rudd said in a statement issued hours after he and his Cabinet were officially sworn in after Nov. 24 elections.Rudd said that he had signed the "instrument of ratification" of the Kyoto Protocol and that it would come into force 90 days after the paperwork was received by the United Nations. Nicely done, Kevin Rudd. Bush's buddy John Howard was hardly out the door before you had this item of business handled.Now, where does that leave the United States? Oh yes, standing alone as the sole remaining industrialized nation on the planet that has not ratified the accord. It's no wonder we're held in ...

The NIE: Good News, Bad Lies 2007-12-04 08:19:00 Yesterday afternoon, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley held a press briefing on the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, which expresses the consensus of the 16 branches of the intelligence community. The report (which the White House has reportedly delayed for about a year in an attempt to make the final draft more palatable to Dick Cheney) indicates that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure.Interesting news considering that the Cheney-Bush administration has been trying to gin up a war with Iran since at least 2005, with the saber-rattling becoming quite intense during the third quarter of this year.But in typical Bushie fashion, Mr. Hadley insisted that this did not mean the administration had been wrong about Iran.Q It is troubling that the United States was so wrong about what Iran was doing or what its intentions were?MR. HADLEY: I don't think we were wrong about what it's doing or what its intentions were. Ou ...

The Huckabee Hop 2007-12-03 16:25:00 Some are calling it the "bounce" that Mike Huckabee received from a good performance in last week's Republican presidential "debate." Call it what you will, his numbers have never looked better than they do today.In Iowa, he has gone in a matter of days from a statistical dead-heat with Romney to his first (slight) lead. According to the Des Moines Register's survey of likely caucus-goers, Huckabee is at 29% compared to Romney's 24% and Giuliani's 13%.But it's not just Iowa where he's seeing good news. Via USA Today:National support for ... Rudy Giuliani significantly eroded over the past month [. . . .]Meanwhile, Republican Mike Huckabee's standing in the national poll has shot up -- to the point where he leads a group of four GOP contenders basically tied for second place behind front-runner Giuliani.Of course these rising numbers translate into increased attention and increased attacks from the competition -- Romney and Thompson in particular. But so far, Huckabee is not lett ...

On a Much Lighter Note 2007-12-03 15:55:00 Sometimes the things I blog about here really depress me. I'm not saying they shouldn't. There's plenty of darkness in the world today that absolutely should not be ignored. Dealing with that, though, makes me exceedingly grateful for the bits of levity that I stumble across.It's no secret that Rudy Giuliani has had a rough past few days. First there was the one-two punch of his less-than-stellar performance in the last "debate," coming on the same day that Politico broke the story of city funds being spent for security during his trips to the Hamptons for trysts with his mistress and all the things he had the police do for her. Then today, new poll numbers out showing him slipping farther behind Romney and (shudder) that Hillbilly Preacher!So it's no surprise that he had his masters of spin toiling non-stop through the weekend. Without further ado, here's the latest proposed TV ad for the Giuliani campaign. [h/t to Richard Blair at ASZ]If you have trouble with the video, try o ...