More Than a Little

I am more than a little frustrated with MSM, particularly CNN. CNN invites comments on the Ticker, their political blog, BUT comments are moderated and good luck getting a thoughtful comment approved. In the meantime, any crackpot who wants to take a shot gets their comment posted. So on the question of a GOP debate, there are lots of "give up" comments, lots of "support McCain" comments and not a few Ron Paul type comments. A comment like the following was (who knows why) not approved:

I would very much like to see a debate between the remaining Republican candidates. John McCain does not have the nomination wrapped up and it disenfranchises voters when we are told we must rally around the presumptive candidate. It is a disservice to the other candidates that they are expected to drop out of the race at this point.

Mike Huckabee has won primaries and caucuses in states that Republicans must win to take the national election and was second by the narrowest of margins in South Carolina, Missouri, Washington and Oklahoma. Governor Huckabee would most likely have won SC by an overwhelming margin but for the presence of Fred Thompson, who dropped out the next day. More people have voted against Senator McCain than those who have voted for him. That is telling. The voters deserve to be allowed to make their own choice without pressure from the national party or from the media.

Let the debate happen!

I thought it was a reasonable comment ... CNN did not approve it.

Obama, Paul Confirmed For MTV/MySpace Dialogue - News Story

Mike Huckabee will participate in the MTV/MySpace discussion Saturday, February 2 at 5 PM CST. Other participants are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Ron Paul. The event will air on MTV (as well as MTV2 and MTV Tr3s, with highlights on mtvU), stream online at ChooseOrLose.com and MySpace.com, stream on mobile devices via MTV Mobile, broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio, MTV and AP radio, and be distributed live and on-demand through the Associated Press Online Video Network, which has more than 1,800 media sites, including nearly 600 media outlets in Super Tuesday states. Invitations to this latest Presidential Dialogue have also been extended to John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

read more | digg story

Debate Redux

I watched both debates this week and come away from the experience with a sense of urgency as to how we get people to realize that they are throwing away their votes unless they vote for a candidate who really will address the issues that are affecting their lives.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are advocating a new round of Big Brotherism when we already have too much of that from our government.

Mitt Romney doesn't have a clue about what is needed to put America back on its feet. His much touted business experience is that of a corporate raider, who does whatever it takes to get the maximum profit from each deal without regard for the chaos he leaves in his wake. Ask the many who are left without jobs and holding worthless stock if they want more of Mitt.

Ron Paul, the perennial candidate holds some reasonable positions but will never get his message across to the country because of his presentation and the tactics of his supporters. It leaves one with a distinct fear of Paul which is probably not justified, but is a reaction to any interaction with his supporters.

John McCain is an honorable man, but is perhaps too limited in his perspectives. He is as polarizing in his own way as Hillary. To his credit, he is able to garner support from Independents and Democrats, which may work in his favor in the primaries to come.

After watching it all and weighing it impartially, I am still a Huckabee supporter. Mike Huckabee is the only candidate who really understands the needs and hopes of the American voter. He knows that government which is unresponsive is government doomed to fail. He is for a strong military, a responsible foreign policy and sound fiscal policies. He believes in small government and that the federal government should not try to take on the responsibilities of the individual states. As a former governor, he understands the impact of laws passed at the federal level which must be implemented at the state level. He is an excellent communicator and will bring back a sense that government is responsive to the people. We need Mike Huckabee!

Here's a good article: Mike Huckabee's Baptist Roots

Audacious

The American Conservative has a good article online: The Audacity of Huck. I so wish the Beltway prophets and talking heads would get a clue.

I watched the debate last night on MSNBC and felt that the nature of the questions addressed to Governor Huckabee was deplorable. I could say the same about Congressman Paul. Tim Russert seemed to think they were there for his comic relief. To give Ron Paul his due, he stayed on message better than I have seen before. And Governor Huckabee was not deterred by Russert's sarcasm. When Russert attacked on the fair tax, Governor Huckabee suggested that he read the entire proposal and said that we need to be willing to look at new things because the same old system just wasn't working.

Tucker Carlson thinks Governor Huckabee won the debate.

The Weekly Standard

The Weekly Standard weighs in on the Fox South Carolina debate.

From National Review

Wrapping Up the Last Debate Before the New Hampshire Primary

"I applaud ABC for the style of this debate.

But just as we get a great format, many of the candidates seemed off their game. Maybe they had gotten so used to Nurse Ratchet newspaper editors demanding shows of hands and 15 second answers, or talking snowmen and Bible-waving David Koresh-lookalikes. No huge winners tonight, just a spectrum from ‘good’ to ‘pretty good’ to ‘okay’ to ‘not enough’ to ‘I think he’s in trouble.’

John McCain: He played it safe. Under the usual rules, if you go in as frontrunner and nobody lays a glove on you, you won. Still, I kind of miss the old, “I will hunt Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell” King Leonidas-style gleeful battleaxe that started this campaign. He actually had one moment of that, when he stuck Romney with his, “when you have so many positions, it’s easy to get misquoted” and “you can spend your whole fortune on those attack ads, but that doesn’t make it true.” Will New Hampshire-ites mind? I don’t think so, and I can understand how much he may want to pound away at Romney for running those negative ads. But he shouldn’t do it, and I think the one way he may drop the ball between now and Tuesday is if he goes too negative, considering how he’ll need to unify Republicans quickly if he’s the nominee.

Mike Huckabee: I think there will be a familiar split in reaction to his performance. Pundits, and folks who know these issues backwards and forwards, will find his answers glib, lightweight, paper-thin. Voters will like it. I don’t know how much of a splash he’ll make in New Hampshire, as he’s an odd fit for the state, but everybody else in this field ought to be going to Red Alert, because this guy is going to play the Pied Piper, and a lot of folks are going to line up behind him.

Rudy Giuliani: A solid night, but not a lot of moments to shine. By now, we’re getting more or less what we have gotten from Giuliani from the beginning, and either it does it for you, or it doesn’t. I like his combativeness, he seems very well prepared, he can show a bit of humor, and he pretty much always hits the points he wants to make. But he’s sliding in New Hampshire, and he’s not in anybody’s cross hairs right now.

Fred Thompson: I don’t think it was enough tonight, even though he’s expected to be in asterisk territory in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Few of his answers were bad, and I like the indifferent dismissal of the question from the local TV guy on oil companies’ profits.

During his moment of “If you are rewarded for your illegal behavior, by being allowed to stay in the country, then it’s amnesty” – I jokingly called him Arthur Branch. Still, it summed up what is likeable about Thompson – direct, clear, and logical. He occasionally rotated his chair, and when he did speak – almost only when directly asked – he seemed like a trusted adviser. Is he running for president? Or consigliere?

Ron Paul: As usual, Ron Paul is playing his own game. He’ll get his share of the vote, but I don’t think he’s dislodging any other candidate’s supporters and bringing them into his own cause.

Mitt Romney: At first I was going to say, ‘hit and miss,’ but I think his answers were hit and miss. (I thought his answers on health care were the most understandable of the evening.) I think he came out of tonight a little wounded; everybody else in the race smells blood.

I think the dynamics of the evening were tough for him. He must have felt like a piñata – one moment he’s getting whacked by Huckabee, then McCain, then Thompson. Romney never quite got completely thrown off, but I think the assessment in the Corner is accurate, he doesn’t defend himself well enough. He whines about personal attacks, or says candidates shouldn’t talk about others’ views, which is pretty nonsensical.

If you went into tonight hearing he was a flip-flopper, you heard several other candidates say it tonight, and you saw Romney say it was a personal attack… and then move on to policy points. Whoever’s left undecided might conclude, based on the lack of effective refutation, that the charge is accurate.

01/05 09:01 PM"