The Pink Flamingo :: Political Wrap-Up, No Newt Is Good Newt

POLITICS
Is the GOP NRCP Broke? If so, why?
New SC ARG Numbers are in. I like the ARG polls, esp. state-wide in SC. There’s only a three point margin separating Giuliani and Romney, which is fascinating. The fascinating part is the Gingrich factor. Now that he’s officially out, in many ways this poll is useless.

JOHN MCCAIN
McCain has the courage to say what I believe. No Muslim should be POTUS of the US.

JOHN & ELIZABETH EDWARDS
Edwards debating
Prisons and Blacks
Sister Toldjah’s commentary on Edwards.
If John Edwards is so wealthy, why is he opting for public financing? At least Romney is hungry enough to put his money where his mouth is. Why isn't Edwards doing the same thing?

RUDY GIULIANI
Could he overtake Romney in NH?
Looking good in FL
How will the primary calendar work for Rudy?
Will the Pete Wilson endorsement help or hurt?
The Politico calls Giuliani “Mr. September”
Kyle-Anne Shriver Talk about something that expresses my feelings, this is it!

“…On a purely intuitive level too, I have to stick with Rudy. I disagree with him on the life issues, especially abortion. I’m not at all happy about the way he ended his second marriage, or the fact that his own children feel alienated from their father. But I’m dog-boned tired of seeing our Country torn to bits over social issues that, as far as I’m concerned, have never belonged in the national political arena. They would have never gotten there either except for an irresponsible and overly activist Supreme Court. They would have been settled state by state the way our Constitution guarantees. The fights over abortion, the definition of marriage, the right to pray – or not – in a school – none of these issues belongs in the national dialogue….”

DENNIS KUCINICH
Dennis the Menace wants to push the impeachment of Darth Vadar (i.e. Dick Cheney).

BARACK OBAMA
Outside the Beltway on Obama in Iowa and why isn’t he going after Hillary.
Profile from The Swamp
Newsweek has him ahead in Iowa.
Earl Hutchinson has a fascinating commentary on what a loss in Iowa would do to Obama.

“…Obama has spent some time chit chatting with farmers and local townspeople at coffee shops and diners in Iowa's back country towns. He’s talked about affordable health care, farm support programs, and the war in stump speeches in the state. However, his no-shows on the big ticket events have raised red flags about his prospects in Iowa and tells why Michelle has the jitters about them.

Iowa is crucial to Obama. It has little to do with it being the first state out the presidential primary box and that a win there gives a candidate’s campaign a rocket launch upward. Iowa is a bell weather of how effective a candidate is in connecting with mid-America voters. It’s a state small and folksy enough where voters can look a candidate in the eye and tell if they’re honest and sincere and can speak plainly on the issues. A candidate that flunks that litmus test is dead in the water. A candidate that passes it will front stroke ahead of the pack….”

RON PAUL
Kudos to Wordsmith at Flopping Aces for the most creative post I’ve see thus far during the primary season. Words cannot describe it.
Interesting fund raising numbers

NEWT GINGRICH
Captain Ed thinks Newt may run in 2012. I don’t. I think Sarah Palin is going to leave him in the dust – if the worst happens and Hillary wins in ’08. If not, Rudy will be running for re-election. I think if Gingrich doesn’t get his big ego in this race and split the conservative vote for Giuliani, his time will have come and gone. He is an antiquated, divisive, has-been who is grasping for his last moment in the political spot light. He blew it. Gingrich gets the nomination only guarantees a Clinton victory, landslide.
He won’t run. You wonder how the egos feel when they realize they don't have the support they need for a 'run'. Do they really care or is all the hype promoting a book?

HILLARY CLINTON
Macsmind wants to know if Hillary is the “GOP’s Ace in the Hole?”

TOM TANCREDO
Immigration Law Prof .
Interview

“…To Tancredo, Bush's failure to crack down more on employers who employ undocumented workers and to maintain border security amounts to a high crime.  "If he could be impeached for dereliction of duty, a bill could be brought. Unfortunately, that is not grounds," Tancredo said.  "He has avoided dealing with this issue to a point where we are at a crisis, I believe, and it is just unconscionable."  A six-term congressman, Tancredo said illegal immigration has become the centerpiece of his campaign, due to the role it's played in rising health-care costs, availability of jobs and crime.  "It is the most serious domestic policy we face, it has enormous ramifications for America, legal or illegal immigration, period, because of the lack of assimilation that has occurred," Tancredo said.  Employers need to increase the wages of the low-skill jobs instead of hiring illegal immigrants, Tancredo said. He insisted the private economy cost for such a move would be lower than the costs of educating and caring for those who are here illegally.  Tancredo said an illegal alien serving in the military should be placed on a path to citizenship, but all other undocumented citizens must return to their former home….”

Then our 2nd Favorite Liberal Site, The Tancredo Watch has come up with something that makes even the most anti-Tancredo wonk just plain old give up. Seems some group in CA presented TT with a pitchfork and a torch!

“…TANCREDO: In California, they actually gave me at the end a pitchfork and a torch. I just couldn't get them on the plane to take them back.

SPRENGELMEYER: A pitchfork and a torch?

TANCREDO: Yeah, pitchforks and torches, like storming the castle walls, the whole thing. 'They'll be there with pitchforks and torches.'

SPRENGELMEYER: Is that your new logo?

TANCREDO: It should be. I love the symbolism of it.

Unfortunately, Tancredo either forgot or intentionally misconstrued the true symbolism of pitchforks and torches: the chasing of a misunderstood bogeyman by a whipped-into-a-frenzy pack of rabid, fearful citizens - as so unforgettably depicted in the classic 1930s movie "Frankenstein."…”

MIKE HUCKABEE
Dark Horse?

THE VP RACE
Ruffini gives a hat tip to Sarah Palin.

“…In a small state that generally votes Republican, the divide between Alaska's Republican elected officials could not be more clear. Palin was elected as a whistleblower, and routinely rails against the state's transactional Republican establishment. Don Young has screamed "It's my money!" when conservative lawmakers challenge his pet projects and blamed the Republican loss of Congress on conservatives who want to cut spending. And Senator Ted Stevens' record as a porker is rivaled only by the patron saint of the West Virginia highway system.

With Palin now in office for the better part of a year, we have some data points to evaluate whose brand of politics works better. A poll out last month put Palin's approval rating at 84%, and Fred Barnes has noted that she probably America's most popular elected official in any party.
Not content with Palin's public approval numbers as vindication for clean, fiscally responsible government, the Club for Growth decided to do some polling of its own. The Club found that Palin would handily beat Stevens, a 40-year Senate veterans, by 56 to 32 percent in a Republican primary, a number certainly helped along the by ongoing FBI bribery investigation that has implicated Stevens and his son. When asked about the Bridge to Nowhere, only 25% of Alaska Republicans approved while 66% disapproved. And when Young's own constituents were asked to evaluate his claim that Republicans can only win by bringing home the bacon, they disagreed by wide margins. 71% said it was more important to cut spending, while just 17% endorsed Congress lavishing billions on home state projects.

The idea that more government spending is in the "interest" of the voters back home is being upended by the voters themselves. Republicans need to ride this wave, not fight it as the majority of them do by voting for earmarks on the House and Senate floor. Sarah Palin could be just the leader we need to convince Republicans to return to their roots….”