The Huckaboom

It was pretty awesome that Huckabee blew McCain out here in Kansas. That was a boomlet if nothing else. Sure, unless McCain melts down and says something outrageously stupid he's going to be the GOP nominee, but Kansas told him what we thought anyway. Bwah ha ha ha.

I enjoyed his stump speech in Topeka. He's very down to earth. I hope he has a big role to play in shaping the future of the GOP. He has earned it more than anyone else.

Huckabee Coming to Kansas

Mike Huckabee is coming to Kansas on Friday!

Friday, February 8, 2008

8:00 AM Rally

Olathe, Kansas

Mid-America Nazarene University, Bell Cultural Events Center

2030 E. College Way

Olathe, KS 66062-1899

11:00 AM Rally

Wichita, Kansas

Colonel James Jabara Airport

3512 N. Webb Road

Wichita, KS 67226

3:30 PM Rally

Topeka, Kansas

US Bank Building

800 SW Kansas Avenue.

Topeka, KS

6:00 PM Rally

Garden City, Kansas

Clarion Inn Hotel

1911 E Kansas Ave
Garden City, KS 67846

GOP Candidates Coming to Kansas?

Considering I'm still not 100% sure of what I'll do at the GOP caucus on Saturday, I'd sure like for a candidate to show up and convince me.

This report indicates they're going to Wichita. I haven't heard anything about them coming to Topeka.

Brownbacks backing of McCain

Here's the email letter I received from our dear Senator Sam Brownback on his support for John McCain:

Dear Friend:

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I know how important it is for our president to appoint men and women to the court who will not legislate from the bench.

We've seen the consequences of overreaching judges who have created a right to same-sex marriage and even a right to abortion.

The presidential election will determine nothing less than the future of the Supreme Court. We can go from being one justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade to being two or even three justices away. There are also so many other important issues in front of the court- property rights, the Second Amendment, faith in the public square - just to name a few.

I have fought these battles in the Senate with John McCain. He is no recent convert to the cause - John McCain is a consistent conservative you can trust. John McCain and I stood side-by-side to confirm John Roberts and Sam Alito to the Court, and I know that as president, John McCain will appoint justices with a strict constructionist view of the Constitution.

When I raised my concerns at the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court in 2005, few other Republican Senators would join me at that critical time. John McCain was one of them.

John McCain knows that among a president's most lasting legacies are the men and women he appoints to the courts. John McCain knows that we must have judges committed to interpreting the law, not creating it. A sampling of the names McCain supported for confirmation to the federal bench are as follows: Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, Miguel Estrada, Charles Pickering, Janice Rogers Brown, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito. This record of supporting conservative judges speaks for itself.

John McCain made his first major speech after the midterm election losses to The Federalist Society on November 16, 2006. Commenting on the recent election losses suffered by the Republican Party, McCain stated:

"Nor do I believe Americans rejected our values and governing philosophy. On the contrary, I think they rejected us because they felt we had come to value our incumbency over our principles, and partisanship, from both parties, was no longer a contest of ideas, but an ever cruder and uncivil brawl over the spoils of power... The genius of our founding fathers wasn't that they were better people than those who came before them; it's that they realized precisely that they did not have a greater claim to virtue, and that the people who followed them weren't likely to be any more virtuous than they were. That critical insight led them to realize something important about power: if its exercise isn't limited, it will become absolute.

"Power always tries to expand. It's a law of nature, of human nature... Why has the appointment of judges become such a flashpoint of controversy in the past twenty years or so? When you understand our system in the way I've just described, when you see the wisdom in it and the humility it requires of public servants, it's easy enough to understand why we are so concerned that the judges we appoint share that understanding of the nature and limits of power."

During my campaign for president last year, I expressed my deep concern that America is becoming a less democratic nation as unelected judges dictate more and more of our nation's laws and social policy.

I have talked at length with John McCain about these issues, and he not only shares this concern but has actively promoted a conservative view for the judiciary and the nominees we need to get confirmed and onto the bench.

Not only does John McCain stand strong on the issues, but he can win in November. More so than any other Republican candidate, the polls show that John McCain can beat Hillary or Obama in the general election.

I am proud to support John McCain for President, and I urge you to stand with me to send Senator McCain to the White House. John McCain will help us bring to an end to the federal courts' sad chapter of judicial activism.

Sincerely,



Sen. Sam Brownback, Co-Chairman
McCain for President Judicial Advisory Committee

---

Polipundit and the sins of John McCain

PoliPundit.com published the top 8 sins of J0hn McCain and I thought they are worth reproducing here:

Lest we Forget

1. They say God put Republicans on earth to cut taxes. But John McCain was one of only two Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts.

2. McCain was the biggest supporter, and co-sponsor, of McCain-Feingold, the greatest assault on free speech in at least three decades.

3. McCain backs all kinds of anti-gun legislation.

4. McCain attempted to give terrorists at Gitmo various “rights.”

5. McCain supports various intrusive government regulations to stop “global warming.”

6. McCain insulted various Christian leaders during the 2000 campaign.

7. McCain called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth “dishonest and dishonorable” because they dared question what John Kerry had done in Vietnam.

8. McCain championed, sponsored, and repeatedly attempted to ram through a bill to amnesty 20 million illegal aliens, and import tens of millions of poor, low-skilled, under-educated, non-English-speaking Third Worlders.

If Mitt Romney is a “full-spectrum conservative,” McCain is a full-spectrum anti-conservative.

If McCain is selected as the Republican party’s nominee, I will not be able to vote for him, any more than I could vote for Hillary Clinton. I will leave my vote blank at the top of the ticket, or find a third party candidate to support.

Who is John McCain?

This is John McCain's description of himself from his website:

John McCain is an experienced conservative leader in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. He is a common sense conservative who believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values.

Boy, that sure sounds good. It's not really true, but let's not let facts get in the way of a good politician. What is a "common sense conservative" -- is this like the issue of Bush's "compassionate conservatism"? Isn't conservatism by its very nature compassionate? Why do we need to define it like that? Isn't conservatism by its very nature common sense? (well, common sense among thinking people).

Anyway, things I CAN like about McCain:

• He seems to have been consistently pro-life, from what I understand.
• He thinks tax cuts should be paired with spending cuts.
• He gets the backing of people who think protecting our country from Islamic fascists is their top priority.

What I CAN'T like:

• Proud of teaming with Kennedy.
• Proud of teaming with Feingold (to ROB us of free speech rights).
• He slammed us Christian conservatives and makes no effort to reach out with an olive branch (maybe he'll make Huckabee his Veep? I kinda doubt it...I think he'll pick the Florida gov).
• He was endorsed by the New York Times, who certainly does NOT have the best interests of the Republican party at heart.

Sigh. Whatever do we do? As a Christian and political junkie, I'm bummed. I love election years, love presidential campaigns, and just want to get jazzed about our nominee. Now I'm hearing the pundits say that McCain is likely 75% of the way toward the nominee. I am still holding out hope for Huckabee or Romney.

State of the Race

Bemoaning...where oh where did my Republican Party go?

It really started slipping away with our own Sam Brownback endorsing John McCain. No, it started when our elected Republicans began acting like Democrats, but in the actual race for the presidency it started with Sam throwing his own personal convictions into the toilet to support a Senate colleague who brought us McCain/Feingold and McCain/Kennedy and McCain/Lierberman.

Now REAL Republicans, the conservatives in South Carolina and Florida, picked McCain too! You are getting in bed with someone who will be very disappointing to you people! I'd vote for him over Hillary...maybe. My big issue is the Supreme Court, and McCain is too enthralled with pleasing the media and his liberal friends to nominate anyone who will keep the Constitution intact.

With McCain at the top of our ticket, that's when us true-blue conservatives are going to have to make a choice between some third party candidate, holding our nose to vote for McCain (which won't gain us much in the way of court nominees and personal liberties), or letting the Dems have it so they can wreck their havoc for a couple years and we'll be positioned for a come-back in 2 years with Congress.

Do Republicans not remember 1996 when we nominated a cranky old moderate Republican war veteran to go up against a Clinton? Hmmm...what was his name? Oh yeah! Bob Dole!

They think McCain is the only one who can beat Hillary? You're so afraid of Hillary that you will dump your own conservative passions and nominate McCain? Didn't the Dems do that last time with Kerry? They thought HE was Mr. Electable, but there wasn't a great deal of passion on the part of the base...the passion was with Howard Dean.

If you choose McCain, who will not engender any passion on the part of the base, we're doomed...even if he wins. There's no way to win with McCain at the top of the ticket. If he loses, we lose. If he wins, he'll wreck the Republican party even more and we'll lose big...perhaps permanently.

Get serious people!

Local Meetup for Huckabee

Here is a link to the local Meetup.com group for Mike Huckabee:

http://mikehuckabee.meetup.com/322/.

Wallbuilders' voter guide

The 2008 election campaign is reaching the pinnacle of activity in this first stage of the presidential contest. A few states have already held their primaries, but about 85 percent have yet to make their selection, and over half will do so in the next three weeks.

To help cut through the noise and the haze of the campaigns, WallBuilders has prepared a Presidential Voters' Guide that reviews seven positions held by the major candidates.

You can click here to download a copy of the Voter Guide to print for church bulletins or to distribute to your friends, family, and associates.

The next six weeks will largely determine which candidates will continue on toward November and which will go home. Make sure your voice is heard in that selection! Vote in the primary in your state! – and consider forwarding the Voters' Guide to your friends.

Making a Demand for Huckabee and Romney to Come to Kansas!

Kevin Surbaugh, kevinsview.com, has started a viral campaign using Eventful.com to draw major presidential candidates to visit Topeka.

He says:

Don't ignore Kansas, if you want to be president. Please, come to Topeka, the owner of KevinsView.com is undecided and needs that push from a candidate that doesn't ignore the great state of Kansas.

Spread the word! If nothing else, I'd like to see if this kind of viral online campaign can work. It would otherwise take a miracle to get a serious contender for the title to grace us with their presence. But you never know in this mixed up presidential race!

Huckabee wins Iowa

Way to go Huck! Big win tonight in Iowa! The conventional wisdom has now become that he is a one trick pony, and now that he's moving on to less evangelical territory, his victories will be few and far between. I hope these "analysts" are mis-reading things. I'd like to think that a deep thinking person that relates to average people has stronger legs than just among the Baptists of the country.

That said, congrats to evangelicals in Iowa, and thanks for showing up. When Christians show up at the polls, we can make a big difference. Imagine how different our nation may look today if Christians would have gone to the polls in 2006.

Tomorrow's Iowa Caucus

I've been thinking about tomorrow's first caucus and how having a few states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina select the nominees for the rest of the country...or at least weed out candidates before they get to our state...seems a bit unfair. We are supposed to have equal say in who picks our leaders, and we do in the general election (for the most part), but absolutely not in the candidate selection process.

While Iowans are being hammered by phone calls, ads and personal appearances, Kansans will likely never see a single presidential candidate wooing us for our votes. Perhaps a midnight appearance at the Wichita or Kansas City airports.

I think it would be good to break it up into regional primaries, which would have the benefit of keeping candidates working states in a specific area for awhile, reducing their travel expenses and enabling locals throughout the region to see and hear from the candidates, and then the caravans move to the next region. There would be enough delegates in each region to enable someone who does poorly in the Midwest region to recover in the Northeast. The current scattershot approach of Iowa one week, New Hampshire the next, then South Carolina and then a bunch of states on one day means the vast majority of Americans will (a) not have much, if any, say in who their party's nominee is and (b) won't be exposed to them during the selection process other than the soundbites they pick up on the news.

The funny thing is that we seem to look for the next Reagan, which isn't out there, but if someone with his exact same personal and political background (that had seen its share of flopping on social issues) came along now, we would not call him Reaganesque because of the mythology and mystique we've created around Reagan. I don't know who I'd vote for yet, but I guess I don't have to decide. Iowans will pick for me!

And I still like to delude myself with the notion that Hillary is not electable. Aren't Americans tired of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton thing? Do they want that cackle and scandals for the next 4-8 years? Tell me it isn't so! I'm sure she's beatable. Probably the most beatable Democrat out there. I don't think she would wear well during the long duration of the national campaign. She can be as tempered and non-shrill as her advisers convince her to be, but then again someone told her she needed to burst out in spontaneous laughter during interviews. Regardless of how she behaves herself, Republicans will be sure to roll out commercials loaded with cackles and shrill political speeches she's given to remind people what they're really getting.