Huckabee Resorts to Identity Politics

Peggy Noonan analyzes Huckabee's recent campaigning.

Mr. Huckabee is clever. He puts forth his policies, such as they are, based on a faith-based understanding of public policy, and if you disagree with his policies, or take a hard shot at them, or at him, he suggests the reason is that you look down on evangelicals. This creates a new fissure in a party already riven by fissures. He has been accused by some in the conservative press of tearing the party apart, but it was being torn apart before he got on the scene. His rise is not a cause of collapse but an expression of it.

He plays the victim well. Others want to "trip him up," but he'll "get my message out there." His foes are "Wall Street-Washington" insiders, elitists. On the "Today" show he said his critics are the type who never liked evangelical Christians. When one of them runs, these establishment types say " 'Oh my gosh, now they're serious, they don't want to just show up and vote, they actually would want to be part of the discussion and really talk about issues that include hunger and poverty and things.' "

This is a form of populist manipulation. Evangelical Christians have been strong in the Republican Party since the 1970s. President Bush and Karl Rove helped them become more important. The suggestion that they are a small and abused group within the GOP is strange. It is as if the Reagan Democrats, largely Catholic and suburban, who buoyed the Republican Party from the late '70s through 2004, and who were very much part of the GOP coalition, decided to announce that Catholics have been abused within the party, and it's time for Christmas commercials with floating Miraculous Medals. Does Mr. Huckabee understand that his approach is making people uncomfortable?

Hell, I am beyond uncomfortable. I am disgusted. Playing the picked on victim is a liberal political tactic, making the political the personal, painting his critics as anti-Christian bigots. Conservatives shouldn't let this guy wrap himself in the Bible to use it as a shield to duck his liberal record as Governor and his pandering and protecting illegal aliens and patronage. That the Iowa NEA endorsed him is a big red flag.


I don't care if he is an evangelist; that isn't the point. He is a social policy liberal, for all intents and purposes. His line above claims that he is the only republican "really talking about poverty and things". What a crock. Conservatives talk about hunger and poverty too. Conservatives recognise that the best solutions to those issues don't rely on Government for the answer. evidently Mr Huckabee does. He might as well be Hillary or Al Gore, claiming that big ol mean Republican fatcats don't care about the poor, but Preacher Huckabee does by golly! Screw that. Screw him. Arkansas can keep this populist bozo.

Go Fred!

Giuliani Tryst News Report a Phoney Scandal

The drive-by medias account of Giulianis' alleged financial impropriety involving trips to see his girlfriend turns out to be wrong.

Hey, instead of publishing the phoney charge on the frontpage with nothing actually solid to back it up, maybe they could do the journalism part FIRST, then publish the story, if there is one to begin with.


NNNaaaaahhhh!

Dude...

where's my Consensus?

The Huckster: We Won't be Fooled Again

The American Thinker has a good piece on why Gov Huckabee would be a disaster for the GOP and the Nation.

While advocating what seemed to be an "open-door policy," Huck espoused the Golden Rule, saying,
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
My response? Huck, if I were in another country illegally, I would fully expect its citizens to demand I go home.
But I wouldn't prevail on Huck. This is the man who said that Arkansas needed to cherish diversity in culture and language. He's the man who opposed a ban on providing state services to illegals and supported in-state college tuition rates for them He's the man who criticized an Arkansas measure to require proof of citizenship to vote. Like President Bush, he's a man who would compassionately conserve us into Mexico North.

Exactly. He talks and acts more like a Born Again Liberal. Or a Born Again Whiner.

Have a Merry....uuhm. Have a Happy...errrm

Got this in an email today. What a country!

-+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+- -+-+-
Dear friends, family, and clients (wishee-singularly and plural):
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my (wisher) best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised withinthe most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for thecalendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, wishee is accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law. It is also revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.
This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacementof this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
The wishee further agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the wisher, along withits heirs, assigns, officers, directors, shareholders...
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Celebrating Eid-al-Adha American Style: BBQed Pork!

Just a reminder that Eid-al-Adha is coming up and you might want to partake in the Diversity in America. So make sure you get your ribs order in; baby-backs are nice. Maybe some pulled pork for sandwiches. Sausages are nice too. Celebrate Diversity!

Huckabee: Republican Jimmy Carter

I mean, that pretty much nails it. I love Ann Coulter.

You Could Be Hucked!

If you do not live under a rock, you are certainly aware that Mike Huckabee, Republican Presidential Candidate has recently come up in the polls and is now leading the pack in several states. This has been attributed to his "outreach to Conservative Christians", selling himself as someone they can identify with.

The problem with all this is that, while Mike is certainly a Christian, he is by no means a conservative one where government is concerned. It can be argued that is voting record is solidly big government and he has no qualms about trying to raise taxes to achieve his objectives.

After 8 years of Bush, the Younger's "Compassionate Conservatism", which is just another way of saying "JFK Democrat", I would think that the We of the Right would be looking a little closer at what we are replacing him with.

Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

Yodan

The NIE and the Politicized CIA

Much has already been said and written about the covert intel war of the CIA against the Bush administrations policies. What I haven'e seen is a solution to the problem in the long term.

To solve the problem, I think that you need to look at how the CIA came to be.

The OSS was created in WW2, using military, former military and other intel types and had a distinctly military culture and mission. It was a huge success and led to the establishment of the Special Operations Forces in the Military, which usually were disbanded when conflicts ended. JFK made SOF permanent and at the time, they worked closely with the CIA on various and sundry missions and operations in the 60s and 70s. After the Cold War ended, the CIA was cut back and the operational arm fell into disarray, while the intel arm maintained and expanded its personnel, Alot of the beurocracy has been hired out of our "eleite" schools, going back to the OSS.

But, the "elite" schools have been hopelessly mired in anti-American advocacy and instruction as the 60s radicals entrenched in universities throughout America, proving Communist radical Gramsci's theory of gaining control of educational institutions in order to advance Communisms goals in a slow "boil the toad by gradually increasing the heat" method. In intel terms, the Universities have been compromised. Their loyalties of the faculty and some of their graduates, quite frankly, are suspect.

What I think the best practical solution would be to return to the selection of personnel from proven loyal institutions such as the Military to draw personnel from the ranks. One doesn't need a degree in Poli-Sci or "international relations" to be a good analyst. They could continue to draw operatives from the SOF community and look to the Military Intel community for their analysts. To some extent, the civilian law enforcement community could be tapped for both.

Bottom line: The CIA needs to return to its roots in order to get rid of the type of partisan politics as seen in the Valerie Plame bullshit artistry and the most recent NIE report, which has no real merit, other than another hit piece on W, and return it to its primary mission, to develope good intelligence in order to carry out the orders of the duly elected Government they have sworn to serve.

A Shut the Fuck Up moment

I mean, really. Come on! Shut the fuck up!