Raising McCain

The Congressional Disadvantage may be moot if McCain wins the GOP nomination. Then it will probably be senator versus senator. That would be the first time that’s happened for at last 100 years according to my post referenced above. With the Democratic race reduced to two players effectively, the unlikely McCain would be at an advantage. But there’s a lot of ground between now and the RNC not the least of which is upcoming Super Tuesday. What will the election 2008 landscape look like after next Tuesday? I grow weary of 2nd guessing. Who’s your daddy?

McCain Rips off 2004 Bush Ad

Oh those original GOP guys. Here is McCain’s ‘Mittsurfing’ ad.

Funny, it looks very much like George Bush’s 2004 ad against Kerry.

Couldn’t McCain’s ad people at least come up with a different tune to play than Blue Danube? Double F minus – 1 for lack of originality and 1 for stealing from the President. It was a pretty funny and original ad (in 2004). Did McCain think no one would notice?

Romney Kisses Bush Arse

While most politicians (even on the GOP side) these days are distancing themselves from Bush, Romney suddenly starts kissing up to him. I wonder if that’s going to be the ‘ass kiss’ of death for Mitt? Romney has tried to bill himself as an agent of change and wanting to fix a “broken Washington” but Bush is a very LARGE part of that problem. Licking up to him is not looking very good and it particularly doesn’t look good when Bush is one of the least popular presidents EVER. It further looks bad when you are supposed to be talking change. Now that’s what I call talking out of both sides of the mouth! At least he can get the backing of the few Bush loyalists left.

Romney praises Bush

Tax Rebates Dubya – One Trick Pony

Ok, here we go again, another year another recession. This one seems hazardous due to the subprime issue as added factor. So here comes George to the rescue again. I smell another Tax Rebate. You might say, hey Stuck N Middle, do you look a gift horse in the mouth?

There are bigger issues at stake here than a temporary check. At least this time, here are tax incentives for Small Businesses being discussed although there are no detail. Why do I smell a rebate? Because of this:

Bush also said the economic package must include “rapid income tax relief” for consumers to “lift our economy at a time when people otherwise might spend less.”

In other words, here’s some money, spend it. Gotta love it. The people that need it the most, will likely use it on their debt. At least the prudent people will. Those other people are the ones Georgie is hoping for. So since he added something about tax incentives for Small Businesses this time, I guess we can’t call him a one trick tax rebate pony anymore. So pony up to the pony everyone: get ready to spent that rebate!

Bush calls for quick, temporary tax relief to spur economy

Associated Press Disses Romney

This article called ‘Key Tenets of Mormon Faith‘ appeared in yesterdays mainstream news roundup. My what timing. On the heels of Romney’s win in Michigan, we get this article which doesn’t mention Romney by name, but goes out of its way to point out the differences been Mormonism and Christianity. It should be called: Mormon Faith versus Christianity. By way of this well timed article, the Associated Press effectively stabs Mitt Romney in the back. Now that’s fair journalism! This article is just plain bad taste and journalistic manipulation. Its purpose it is clear: scare Christian voters away from Romney.

Huffington Illustrates Free Press Pass for Obama

Arianna Huffington wrote this scathing post on Hillary Clinton’s sudden shift to defensive position.

She takes six talking points (made especially for an anti-Hillary piece) and blows them up. Now I don’t necessarily disagree with a criticism of Hillary (after all she is a portrait in cynicism), but this article illustrates the ‘free press pass’ that Obama has been getting. “Where’s the Beef” indeed? Where’s the criticism of Barack Obama? It’s completely lacking from the mainstream media of which I consider Huffington Post to be part of.

Is Barack Obama above criticism? I doubt it. There are some valid concerns when looking at Barack Obama, most notably his lack of leadership experience. This issue continues to get brushed under the rug by Obama’s starry eyed supporters and Democrats in general. But I hardly ever see mainstream media articles that draw a negative slant on Barack Obama (outside of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and other conversative sources.). I can say this: Barack Obama had better enjoy his free press pass while he has it. Now that he’s front runner status, the Republicans will be taking aim and I can guarantee they won’t conveniently cover up the lack of experience with Obama.

Barack Obama’s 2nd Fiddle?

Well the excitement of Iowa is over and Obama shows some resilience there. I wonder if John Edwards is going to be willing to play ‘2nd fiddle’ again and go with a Vice President ticket. Memory serves me right, he was runner up in Iowa to Kerry in 2004 and they ended up a team.

Obama and Hillary have had too much friction to team up. And aside from that, I doubt Hill wants to be Vice President – 2nd fiddler – at this point. People have also been tossing around Richardson as a possible VP. All in all, I think if Obama takes it all the way, Edwards might be a good teammate. The two seem to go well together, but then who knows. The Democratic side continues to be interesting.

Michael Bloomberg Rumors

Rumors have been swirling about Michael Bloomberg jumping in the [already crowded] presidential ring as a possible 3rd party candidate. Just yesterday, this article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Is the time right for a 3rd party candidate?

History says it’s not very likely. The last time a 3rd party candidate took the presidency was 1860 when Lincoln and his Republicans supplanted the Whigs. At the time, apparently, the Republicans were a minor party. Hasn’t happened since. There’s been some attempts recently: Jesse Jackson 1988, Ross Perot 1992, Ralph Nader 2000, to name a few. But we know how those ended up. In those cases, they got some recognition and perhaps a footnote in the history books. If that’s all you’re after, Mr. Bloomberg, then fine, because that’s probably all you’ll get.

He is billing himself as a Centrist. Trouble is, he’s been a Democrat, a Republican, and now an Independent. While he says he’s had trouble with both parties (which I can understand), this might be seen as a weakness. An indecisiveness.

Well the other thing you get from running as a 3rd party of course is the “spoiler effect”. Such as was the case with Nader in 2000. But where these rumors keep coming from who knows? Bloomberg himself very specifically denies that he plans to run:

“I’m not going to be a candidate,” he told NBC’s “Today Show.” “I am not a candidate.”

There, doesn’t that end that? Doesn’t make the Bloomberg about as likely as a Gore run?

Bloomberg says not presidential candidate

Why so Complex?

Since I don’t live in Iowa (I think I drove through it once) I didn’t know much about the caucus rules. I ran across this article which describes them in some detail. Basically, the Democrats use complicated, arcane rules to govern their proceedings:

What you’ll do is get up out of your seat and you’ll go walk to the corner or space by the wall designated for the candidate of your choice,” Chelsea Waliser, an organizer for Sen. Barack Obama, told potential caucus go-ers during a recent Obama rehearsal caucus.

This is describing the so called “Visibility Threshold”. By contrast, the Republicans use a simple straightforward (tried and true) methodology: secret ballot. Why do the democrats have to make this so bizarre and complex?

Democratic caucus rules also make polling very difficult. Unlike a regular election, when a voter can immediately leave the polling place after he or she casts her ballot, a caucus go-er may have to spend hours caucusing before his or her vote counts. Plus, caucus go-ers without a viable group may end up switching their support to a candidate who had been trailing in standard polls.

Here’s a little rule that applies to most things in life: if you want people to do something, make it easy for them to do. This sounds like a lot of trouble and it looks like a time consuming game. Who has time for games, O Dems? I suppose it does make the element of surprise stronger but it did John Kerry no good in 2004.

Arcane rules have huge impact on outcome