PRIMARIES 2008
Or – how Fred Thompson just lost Florida and South Carolina…

FRED THOMPSON
Is he a President in the Making?
According to the NYTimes he is unplaying his schedule. The Carpetbagger Report questions whether he is either lazy or just doesn’t know that much.  I wonder about his health.  Sorry, but when you are living with a cancer, it does take something out of you.

Fred Thompson committed the unpardonable sin in South Carolina.  He dissed the Gamecocks.  Now, having attended Clemson, I don’t care what he said about the Gamecocks, but it’s the principle that counts.  I’m not big into college football, but there are times when one must stand up for one’s school and the rival when they are insulted by outside interests.
Dan Hoover on the subject.

MUST READ: Brad Warthen has an interesting SC take on things today.

RUDY GIULIANI
The onslaught on Hillary continues.
The LA Times hit piece. Or is it –
“…I remember visiting the pre-Giuliani Manhattan. It was like one long episode of "Kojak." The professions then open to young New Yorkers were dealer, hood, hooker, junkie, pimp -- or bent cop. Yet by the time I moved to the city, not long after 9/11, the analysts outnumbered the psychos. "Kojak" had been replaced by "Seinfeld." A large share of the credit for that transformation belongs to Giuliani. His presidential bid is based on the notion that what worked for the world's capital city can work for the world.

America, Giuliani says, must remain "on offense" to win the "terrorists' global war on us." What, like George W. Bush? No, no, no, no, no. In common with nearly all the Republican candidates, Giuliani's hero of choice is Ronald Reagan. But he also makes a point of likening himself to Winston Churchill.

That worries me. It shows that Giuliani buys the idea that since 9/11, the U.S. has been fighting World War III. You know how this routine goes. Al Qaeda is made up of Islamo-fascists; 9/11 was Pearl Harbor; Saddam Hussein was the Arab Hitler; the fall of Baghdad would be like the liberation of Paris. And so on. Now it's Giuliani's turn. "We should try to accomplish [in Iraq] what we accomplished in Japan or in Germany," he says. What, like bombing the place flat?...”

Is he the antidote to Hillary?   

A VERY MINI RANT
Today something horrific happened.  I found myself agreeing with one of my best friend’s Dem husband.  Yep, we agreed on Giuliani.  He’s a yellow-dog Democrat who is as conservative as I am, and possibly more.  We have a tendency to argue politics and wax poetic about them.  Mike is, in many ways, one of the most fiscally conservative person I know.  If anyone is a good bell-weather for Dems for Giuliani it is Mike.  Well, he’s a fan of Fred Thompson and as much of a Giuliani supporter as am I.  His Dem mind thinks that either Hillary or Obama is going to be a disaster for the Dems and that either Giuliani or Thompson will cream them.  

We also had an excellent discussion about the Great American Middle.  No wonder I ended up in the ER today.  Mike and I were agreeing on politics!

TOM TANCREDO
Our 2nd Favorite Liberal Blog – the Tancredo Watch, has come up with another gem.  Seems one of the big conservatives in Denver is on TT’s case!  (We can only hope).

RON PAUL
Can his fundraising up-tick continue?

HILLARY CLINTON
Captain Ed is asking just what did Hsu want.  Good question. Macsmind  references the SuitablyFlip blog – WOW!  Talk about nuts and bolts of the scam. I was going to register a complaint about the extremely unflattering  HC photo Macsmind is using but then I realized she’s a big girl and can take care of herself.  The rest is about Hillary care.

ALAN KEYES
Who is paying for Alan Keyes this time?  Eye on 2008 has an interesting thought on Keyes.  Evidently he is a ‘gun for hire’ open to the highest bidder.  This makes sense with the minuteman scam.

BARACK OBAMA
Wizbang has a piece about Obama and economics – I think.  Frankly I don’t understand Obama-Think so I’m just not quite sure what it’s about.

JOHN MCCAIN
McCain has proved he is a “true” Episcopalian by hedging around the Baptist issue.  This is funny.  He’s is a true Episcopalian the way he attacks immigration, that’s for sure.