The Pink Flamingo :: Stop the Insanity? What Fun Would That Be?

I’ve been compiling this long entry for about four days now. I think by letting something go so long we get a better ‘long view’ on how things are going. Quite frankly, I don’t know what good my observations are. I am not egotistical enough to think anyone is going to read my dribble and come up with any great epiphany (it’s that time of year to use that word) from what I write. As I’ve said many times, I’m not a member of any little group. I’ve never met another blogger, and I don’t care to do so. I’m not a part of the little popularity click that demands I scrape and bow to the blogsphere’s elite. I do think, though, by maintaining my ‘independence’ I can see things a bit differently.

I don’t like what I see. I don’t like the way seemingly intelligent individuals sacrifice their uniqueness and individuality to be part of the collective. By staying apart from the others a person can see trends develop. I would love to know how these things happen. I want to know why suddenly all the “top tier” conservative bloggers suddenly have banded together for Fred Thompson, who really doesn’t have a prayer.

Why?

Two weeks ago Mitt Romney was the chosen conservative one. He was the 2nd coming of Ronald Reagan. Now, he’s not much more than chopped liver.

Why?

Who decides these things?

Is it the same genetic trait that demands lemmings mass migrate to a group suicide? Is there some superior Borg programming that sends out some signal and suddenly everyone starts thinking with one brain? Even more fascinating is how they’ve all turned toward the one candidate who endorses the most extreme position on immigration.

This leads me to ask if Immigration is the only issue?

Several weeks ago Rush Limbaugh showed how abjectly petty and thin-skinned he is by completely over-reacting to a comment about his inside the Beltway talking points. A person doesn’t over-react like that unless a nerve is pinched. The way he went nuclear so quickly makes me wonder if it wasn’t one big nerve. So, just who is issuing his talking points? Are they then distributed to all the good little conservative foot-soldiers who have sold their souls for blog ranking?

I can say this because I don’t give a rip if my blogging colleagues like me or not. I demand respect, but affection is not part of the equation. I would rather be independent of Group Think. I am not part of the crowd. I am a Republican. I do not choose to be a common (wo)man.

IS FRED THE FAIR ONE?
I think I’ve mentioned how fascinating I find the fact that suddenly a number of the “Top” conservative bloggers are turning to Fred Thompson, who stands about a snowball’s chance in Hades chance of winning – anywhere. I’ve been wondering if, now that Huckabee has slit his own throat this week (NOTE TO RUSH LIMBAUGH – just leave people alone – they take care of themselves) is Romney the next target? It also appears as though the Sun Myung Moon owned, white supremacist leaning WTimes is trying to talk up Thompson, which makes perfect sense.
The WTimes even reports the following

“…Meanwhile, former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas are firing off back-and-forth attacks, while Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani signaled yesterday they are essentially folding their efforts here and moving on to New Hampshire….” I don’t think McCain is ‘folding’ in Iowa.

Or is he quitting?

SOMETHING GOING ON
For the past few days I’ve been wondering if something wasn’t going on here. Take a look at the main page of Hot Airand check out the anti-Romney pieces. Then there is the “Blogburst” for Fred to raise money. GOP Bloggers hit on Romney today started me really thinking about the whole thing and wondering if new conservative talking points have been issued from on high. Mark Kilmer posted a note on Red State about Romney’s Ronald Reagan Problem (which I’ve discussed forever it seems). In fact, at Red State there seems to be a general movement toward Thompson.

National Review is still sticking by Romney.

“…Some of Romney’s critics allow that all politicians change their positions over time, but say that Romney stands out for changing his very political identity. Supposedly he ran as a moderate technocrat in Massachusetts, but is running as a culture warrior in the Republican primaries. We think both halves of this characterization are overstated, but in any case it is not a critique that John McCain’s supporters can credibly make. McCain was a reliably conservative legislator for 15 years. Then he moved left for three years, so much so that liberals began urging him to change parties. Then he zigged back to the right. For us, the most important question about a flip-flop is whether the movement is in the right direction. We are glad that Romney has changed his mind about abortion and McCain has changed his about taxes, although we prefer Romney’s open admission that he was wrong in the past to McCain’s evasiveness. We hope McCain comes around some more on immigration, and campaign-finance reform, and a lot of other issues — and we will not attack him as a flip-flopper if he does. Voters who hold flip-flops against politicians, however, should be warned: McCain is every bit as much of one as Romney is, and all the bile of New Hampshire’s editorialists cannot change the fact….”

MITT THE BULLY?
I find the above rather amusing considering the history of campaign dirty tricks and abject flip flopping Romney has been doing. I’ve been watching Mitt’s exploits in SC via The Palmetto Scoop, which today chronicles yet another chapter in the McCain v. Romney battle. Adam at Palmetto Scoop just basically calls Romney a “bully”, which I think he is. (The Slate piece) As EyeOn08 points out, Romney is completely out of credibility. Flap also thinks he is disparate. Most of the problem is with the “ad” attacking McCain, which seems to be back-firing on Romney.

DID MITT PAY FOR TANCREDO
The Prowler suspects that one of the reasons Mitt was able to secure Tom Tancredo’s questionable endorsement was the possibility that it was bought and paid for.

“…Rep. Tom Tancredo yesterday afternoon endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney after one of Tancredo's senior advisers, Bay Buchanan, pressed him to make the endorsement. Buchanan is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As well, rumors were swirling in the media pool covering the press conference that Romney had made a personal commitment to assist Tancredo should he choose to run for office again in the near future…”

THE MITT & HUCK SHOW
(Thanks to Sally)
The Spectator has more on the Mitt & Huck show. If you want my humble opinion, I think it is starting to take on Mark Twain proportions, fodder for satire, humor, and SNL. I think they are both proving neither one is ready for prime time. Novak says Huckabee is slipping and Romney is now a few points ahead of him.

“…A private corporate interest commissioned a phone bank survey of 15,000 Iowans who say they will attend Republican presidential caucuses Jan. 3. It showed Romney with 30 percent and Huckabee at 26 percent. Sen. John McCain was third with 12 percent and Rudy Giuliani fourth at 9 percent. Fred Thompson had only 1 percent, with slightly fewer votes than Rep. Ron Paul (also at 1 percent).Numbers for both Huckabee and Romney dipped sharply when Iowans were asked their second choice. In contrast, McCain was the leading second-choice candidate for both Huckabee and Romney voters….”

Captain Ed points to the Novak piece and the fact that Thompson could be tanking. What does it all mean?
John McCain is leading both Mitt & Huck supporters in that all important 2nd place slot in Iowa.
Flap shows just how absurd this whole thing is becoming.
Sister Toldjah thinks Huckabee is insane.
Huckabee is responding to Romney’s negative ads.
Oh, and Huckabee is demanding Romney apologize. (yea right)
Is Romney desperate?
Giuliani is trying to stay above the fray. It also looks like he has joined the battle again. Good. We need him.
According to EyeOn08, Huckabee is drawing much larger crowds than Romney. Does this mean anything?

MCCAIN?
Bob Novak thinks McCain is going to be the ‘last man standing’.

“…But when Republicans get together privately, they tend to agree that McCain is the Republican most likely to defeat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Even while some consider the old naval aviator as cranky and hot-tempered, he has not exhibited those negative characteristics in debates. Rather, he exudes a heroic aura that goes beyond managing New York City or the Utah Olympics. That quality is shown in his Christmas card television ad depicting a North Vietnamese prison guard making a cross in the dirt. McCain has managed to support the invasion of Iraq while criticizing President Bush's management of the invasion, and he maintains his fiscal integrity in a pork-driven, spendthrift Republican Party….”

From Hotline – Huckabee and McCain

HATING MCCAIN
Ruffini seems to be firing the first salvo with his piece today stating that McCain was going to switch parties a few years ago. He has enough nasty innuendo in his piece to keep the Rush Limbaugh Hate McCain ego pontificating for days. Trust me, if McCain makes the kind of showing I am hoping he will make in Iowa and New Hampshire, he will be feeling the Wrath of Rush, and it isn’t pretty. In fact, it is down-right cruel, petty, vindictive, and completely lacking in rational thought. I absolutely dread the Group Think Conservative-Brainless Talking Points feeding frenzy that is going to overtake talk radio and assimilate all the petty little group think multi-millionaire pundits.

I honestly think John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are conservative radio and blogspheres worst nightmare. They are what good REPUBLICANS once were – independent thinkers capable of making up their own minds without being manipulated and terrorized by the petty dictatorship of special interest groups. They are good honorable individuals who have the ability to use their brains and not have them clouded by the amnesia that seems to affect more and more people within the GOP.

John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are the worst case scenario for the Rush Limbaughs, Michelle Malkins, and Laura Ingrahams of the world. If, by some cataclysmic disaster, one of them were to be elected President of the United States of America, it would signal the beginning of the end of their stranglehold over the conservative electorate. One day it is going to happen. I'm just hoping and praying 2008 is that year.

DIRTY TRICKS
According to The State (out of South Carolina) our erstwhile candidates are up to the usual SC shenanigans. Evidently there is something about the water (polluted) or air (polluted) that just begs for dirty tricks. It never fails. Campaigns that are abjectly perfect until SC, just get downright nasty. Maybe it is the ghost of ol’ Uncle Strom, who wrote the book, trained the late great Lee Atwater (who trained moi). They just do things in SC they don’t do anywhere else.

“…Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, was the target of an anonymous flier in Iowa painting him as a tax-loving softy on crime. A similar flier surfaced in Greenville earlier this month. An anti-immigration group is using a push poll to tell Iowa voters Huckabee, U.S. Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani favor amnesty for illegal immigrants. Iowa Democratic voters also have reported calls from supposed pollsters who asked about “holes” in U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s health plan and whether the Illinois Democrat’s acceptance of special interest money is troubling. South Carolina has seen push polling before. During the 2000 S.C. Republican Presidential Primary, prospective Republican voters reported getting calls from supposed pollsters about McCain, who was challenging then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The callers would ask if voters knew McCain had an “illegitimate black child” and if knowing that changed their opinion of McCain. McCain and his wife, Cindy, adopted a child from Bangladesh…”

The anti-immigration group doing the push-polling in Iowa is probably ALIPAC.

Someone is sending a bogus Christmas Card from Mitt Romney saying all sorts of nasty things about the LDS church.

“…South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson said he intends to "contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Elections Fraud Division and other appropriate authorities, provide them the copy of the mail piece delivered to South Carolina Republicans and ask for a thorough investigation into this matter." There was no indication how many of the cards were mailed, but Dawson said he got calls from several people who reported receiving them. "I think it would be nice if somebody got to the bottom of this," Hutchins said.

The card contains passages that underscore some differences between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and those of denominations that are prevalent in South Carolina. "We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first born, and another being upon the earth by whom he begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world," reads one passage from Orson Pratt, cited on the card as an "original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles." The card also cites a passage on Mary's virgin birth that underscores her race. "And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white." On the card, "fair and white" are in a bolder, larger font and on a separate line.

Hutchins said the mailing hurts his temple, which, like the parent Mormon church, stays out of politics. "They have no business using that name or referring to the temple," Hutchins said. "It's a very hurtful thing and creates a misleading impression in peoples' minds." Hutchins said he alerted Tagg Romney, one of Romney's sons, and church authorities about the mailings. Romney's faith has been a recurring issue in South Carolina, where Christian conservatives dominate the GOP primary. Romney overcame some of those doubts this fall when he picked up an endorsement from Bob Jones, the chancellor of Greenville-based, Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University. Such a mailing isn't surprising for South Carolina politics, a state known for political mudslinging and backdoor maneuvering….”

THE RON PAUL FACTOR
And then there is Ron Paul. There are indications that he could pull off something of an upset in New Hampshire. Andrew Cline in the Opinion Journal sees a way he can sneak in and come out third. From what I’ve been hearing, it all depends on if the Dems are excited about one of their own candidates and do not cross party lines. If they do cross party lines, Paul has a good showing. If not, he probably won’t.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Is It Just Me?, Rosemary's Thoughts, Adam's Blog, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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