Romney wins CPAC straw poll

Have you read any of Hagel’s stupid foreign policy statements over the past 4 years? He’s a maroon.

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 12:08 AM

LegendHasit, when Barry Hussein sends our troops over to Sudan, or to Kenya to help out his anti-American buddies, I hope your ideological purity is a comfort to you. It certainly won’t be to the wives and children of those troops though.

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 12:23 AM

dang, I failed the quiz. Or should I be happy?

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 12:29 AM

I think I found TOPV

February 9, 2008
Bitter Enders
How are the attendees of CPAC handling the ascension of John McCain to the nomination? For the most part, I’d say fairly well. McCain hasn’t generated wild enthusiasm from conservative activists, but the general sense is that he’s earned an opportunity to partner with conservatives. I chatted briefly with McCain volunteers at their booth, and they say they’ve signed up over 200 new volunteers. That would be a significant number for any candidate at a conference with this kind of diversity.

However, not everyone wants to put the divisions behind them. When I got to Blogger Row this morning, the desks had been papered by Patriot PAC. They have launched a new website, OpenGOPConvention, to urge voters to deny McCain the outright nomination. Headlined “CONTAIN MCCAIN!”, they want Republicans to wait for a “real Ronald Reagan conservative” — as if no one thought of the idea before. They also left copies of a Washington Times column by Terry Michael calling McCain “the John Kerry of ’08″.

Frankly, that’s absurd, and the messenger is even more so. Terry Michaels used to be the press secretary for the DNC. Somewhat ironically, the first flyer warns of a media conspiracy to promote McCain, while Michaels now works for Washington Center for Politics and Journalism, the very nexus of which Patriot PAC warns. Now we have a Democratic press flack warning Republicans not to nominate John McCain — because he’s not Republican enough?

We have had the longest and most open primary in our history. During that period, we talked endlessly about Ronald Reagan, begging for credible presidential candidates who could fill his shoes or at least shine them. If we didn’t get anyone who could pass muster over the last year, what makes anyone think we could produce one now? And who would it be, anyway?

John McCain isn’t a perfect candidate; far from it. He’s the one who has attracted the most votes from the Republican coalition, though, and the various coalition factions have failed to produce anyone better. Being a bitter ender will take the party to a bitter end. It’s time to start working within the McCain team to increase our influence, rather than engage in fantasies about magic candidates and marginalizing the movement.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/016923.php

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 12:59 AM

This is funny.

FEBRUARY 9, 2008
WILL THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY SUCCEED WHERE THE NORTH VIETNAMESE FAILED?
In a characteristically overwrought piece, Dahlia Lithwick looks at John McCain’s recent adventures in jurisprudence and concludes that McCain has sold his soul to the Federalist Society. Liberals like Lithwick will be spinning out variations on this theme constantly during the next nine months, as they attempt to transform McCain’s image from maverick to captive of the far right. Lithwick must have particularly enjoyed developing this theme in the context of her obsession with the Federalist Society.

Lithwick fails, however, to make her case. She bases it on a narrative which starts with McCain getting himself in hot water following credible reports that he had distinguished between John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Reportedly, McCain viewed the former, but not necessarily the latter, as his kind of Supreme Court Justice. To quell the roar of disapproval from conservatives, McCain relied on Ted Olson and Federalist Society co-founder Steve Calabresi. Both assured conservatives that McCain was sound on judicial nominees and, indeed, on judicial philosophy generally. McCain then provided similar assurances in his speech to CPAC. ( Mickey Kaus thinks that this speech leaves McCain an escape hatch, but the statement McCain posted on the Federalist Society’s website is less equivocal).

Thus Lithwick concludes:

The brief furor over McCain’s perceived heresy, and the swift corrective by the true powers that be, signals that on Republican judicial appointments there is no longer any space—politically, institutionally, or theoretically—for moderation or independence. What we saw from the elite conservative thinkers this week is a broad promise to John McCain: “We erased Ms. Miers. We can erase you, too.”

AIEEEEE he’s been captured by the Federalist Society! Better send a rescue squadron, STAT.

Lots of political hysteria about McCain this week.

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 1:10 AM

powerlineblog.com

I enjoy listening to Ann Coulter, partly because I usually agree with 80 to 90 percent of what she says and partly because of the guilty pleasure I get from much of the other 10 to 20 percent. However, watching the replay of her speech explaining to the Young America’s Foundation why Hillary Clinton is preferable to John McCain, I found that those percentages were reversed. Moreover, though I did take guilty pleasure from her attacks on McCain, it became increasingly difficult fully to enjoy the spectacle of Coulter attempting to persuade college-age conservatives that a McCain defeat at the hands of Clinton would be just fine.

Fortunately, judging by the questions, at least some of the college-age conservatives were skeptical. Indeed, Coulter seemed to be backing off by the end of the Q and A session — even to the point of allowing for the possibility of being persuaded to prefer McCain — as it became increasingly evident that her position is untenable.

For example, in response to a question about Iraq, Coulter responded that McCain wants to close Gitmo and end waterboarding. But Clinton wants to close Gitmo, end waterboarding and, more likely than not, get out of Iraq without having won. McCain wants to close Gitmo, end waterboarding, and win in Iraq. How is that even a close call for Coulter?

Similarly, when asked about judges Coulter reminded the audience that McCain was part of the Gang of 14, and added that there was no assurance McCain would appoint judges like John Roberts (whose nomination Coulter was no fan of at the time) and Samuel Alito. But McCain voted in favor of Roberts and Alito, and (though I disagree with the Gang of 14) supported restricting filibusters of Bush nominees to exceptional cases. Clinton voted against Roberts and Alito, and thought there should be no restrictions on filibusters of their nominations and the nominations of like-minded appellate court judges. Again, this seems like a no-brainer for conservatives.

funky chicken on February 10, 2008 at 1:16 AM