presidential candidate

The Mittser's Comback?

The rumors are flying that it could be true:

Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney's five sons, says it's "possible" his father may rejoin the race for the White House, either as a vice presidential candidate or seek to become the Republican Party's standard bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.

The 60-year-old Romney, who "suspended" his campaign for the GOP nomination after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday and a week later endorsed McCain, was taking a break from politics this weekend on a skiing vacation in Utah with his wife Ann, according to his 32-year-old son.

This would turn the political world upside down. I wonder how long before the Romney's start a whisper campaign trying to pin McCain down even more? I wouldn't be shocked one bit if that happened.

Tops trading cards is going to put a card of a Presidential candidate in every few packs. This is kind of a neat idea to get kids more involved in politics. TSG has the full story. You can click the Obama card above to see the full size, complete with back.

Obama Wins Support Of MoveOn

And by a rather large margin:

Today Barack Obama earned the endorsement of MoveOn, one of the largest grassroots membership organizations in the United States, after clobbering Hillary Clinton by 40 percent in Internet balloting. Obama led the final tally 70.4% to 29.6%, clearing the supermajority required for the endorsement. MoveOn, which has never endorsed a presidential candidate before, boasts that it has 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states. The group has over half a million members in California alone – roughly one out of ten primary voters in Tuesday's largest state.

This is actually big news and I am sure some talking heads will be hitting on it sometime over the next few days.

Rudy Camp Shook Up Over Crist Endorsement Of McCain

The shorter version. Charlie Crist was originally vowing support to Rudy in the fall and then made the surprise announcement last night that he was endorsing McCain. This news has rattled the cages in the Rudy camp.:

The news is a definitive blow to Giuliani, and a sign of his fading prospects in the Sunshine State. Giuliani has gone out of his way on numerous occasions to praise Crist, and each time suggested he would be a viable vice presidential candidate.

It would probably be an appropriate time to mention an old proverb of "putting all your eggs in one basket", but I doubt that would have any effect on Rudy. We already knew he didn't listen to sound recommendations of other.

GOP Backstabbing

This is a sign of how bad things are in the GOP

Under pressure from fundraisers and friends, Sen. Mel Martinez has decided not to endorse presidential candidate John McCain, who was planning to campaign Monday in Miami with the popular Florida Republican to help win crucial votes in South Florida's Hispanic community.

A big factor in Martinez's decision: He feels badly for McCain's opponent, Rudy Giuliani. After all, the former New York mayor was a Martinez supporter, and thought he had a shot at Martinez's support.

[SNIP]

''Mel's a tower of Jell-O,'' said Republican operative Roger Stone, a McCain backer. ``He was committed to McCain, and given McCain's role in the fight over immigration and given the fact he's going to win South Carolina tonight, Mel Martinez should have done what he said and gone with the guy who will be president.''

Ouch - sounds like some people are upset with old Mel. I love watching a good cat fight.

McCain Blames Economy Problems On Over Spending

Interesting argument and mostly true, but wasn't it McCain's party that was responsible for most of that spending?

John McCain blamed overspending by the federal government in part for the nation's economic troubles as South Carolina voters Friday received the sobering news that the state unemployment rate had hit 6.6 percent, the largest one-month increase in nearly 20 years.

"As a Republican, I stand before you embarrassed. Embarrassed that we let that spending get out of control," the presidential candidate told voters on the eve of the state's GOP primary.

"The economy is not good. The stock market continues down. And the indicators are not good. I'm not too astonished. ... We let spending get totally out of control, and it continues today, and I'm sorry to tell you this," McCain said at a town-hall style meeting at the Carolina Hospital East Campus in Florence.

If Rudy's Counting On Florida Then He Might As Well Quit

Because he is thought of the same there as he is in New York:

Rudy Giuliani's plan to ride in a Miami-Dade firetruck in Sunday's Three Kings parade has outraged some firefighters who say the presidential candidate has ''lied'' about his 9/11 record because he did too little to equip and protect emergency workers.

The controversy -- unwittingly set in motion by County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa -- has politically pitted firefighters against one another in Miami-Dade as well as in New York. To quiet the feud, the IAFF's local Miami-Dade chapter, 1403, will cover its numbers on the union-owned firetruck by draping it with an American flag.

Hey Rudy - firefighters stick together. It don't matter which part of the country they are in. I am saying that not as a blogger, but as a former firefighter.

Nataline Sarkysian And Corporate Greed

These insurance companies are monsters. They put profit above human life, and that lead to the death of Nataline. This is also the reason why I support John Edwards. He is the only Presidential candidate who has the balls to go out there and take them on:

"Are you telling me that we're gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?" asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. "We're gonna take their power away and we're not gonna have this kind of problem again."

What I find interesting is the eerie silence from the right on this whole issue. The people who brought us Terri Schiavo and are the supposed champions of "right to life" have not said a peep on the horrible tragedy of Nataline. Now isn't that interesting? My only guess is that they are torn between the issues of corporate greed and right to life. Amazing how those two issues can blend together in totally opposite ways as we now see, and the sensible people have warned and talked about for years.

We need legislation and strong regulation of the insurance companies. Your doctor no longer makes decisions of your health care - some monkey answering a phone at an insurance company does. This is the great healthcare George Bush talks about. So we need to come up with legislation for cases like Nataline. If their inactions leads to the death of a person, then the heads of that company should be tried for murder. Let the CEO of Cigna face murder charges and see how quick the insurance companies start reevaluating their policies

If that isn't enough then perhaps we should classify insurance companies as terrorist organizations. They kill through their greed. I can somewhat swallow killing for religious beliefs, even though I don't agree with it, but killing for greed - that's something that can not be stomached.

Dodd Succeeds!

Harry Reid has pulled the FISA bill until the first of the year. It was great to see Chris Dodd stand up for the rule of law today and put an end to this pampering George Bush has received under this Democratic Congress.

It's also worth mentioning that Chris Dodd was the only presidential candidate that chose to stay off the campaign trail today and fight for this. Biden, Clinton and Obama all chose their own campaigns over our nation as a whole. They should be reminded of that.

Support From Unusual Places?

Al Gore, the man I really want to be our next President, just got an endorsement from someone we might not expect:

Throwing a curveball into speculation about both his - and Al Goreâ€™s - political future, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a provocative comment today about a possible Gore presidential run.

â€œI hope Al Gore enters the race; I think it would be good for the country,â€ the mayor said.

Mr. Bloomberg this week moved to establish his chops as an environmental mayor by proposing congestion pricing for those who drive into Manhattan. While many have speculated about the Mayor himself running for president, could he be open to directing some of his fortune, and political clout, to Al Gore?

Please Al - you now got Republicans pulling for you. The water is great in the presidential candidate pool; come on in!

I Never Knew Indiana Was So Dangerous

Josh found this article:

The latest massacre of Iraqi children came as 21 Shia market workers were ambushed, bound and shot dead north of the capital. The victims came from the Baghdad market visited the previous day by John McCain, the US presidential candidate, who said that an American security plan in the capital was starting to show signs of progress.

So was Mike Pence saying that the same thing happens in Indiana with his cute little analogy on Sunday? It really sounds like Indiana has some problems and it is time to change their representatives.

Iraq - A Success According to McCain

John McCain was saying yesterday how safe Baghdad is now and that even General Petraeus can walk down the streets of Baghdad without security or armor. Of course Michael Ware quickly debunked this latest round of lies from McCain, saying Petraeus travels the streets in a heavily armored Humvee, complete with snipers, other vehicles and attack helicopters.

So how close to success is Iraq? Let's look at what happened over night:

Shiite militants and police enraged by massive truck bombings in the northwestern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there Wednesday, killing as many as 60 people, officials said.

The gunmen began roaming Sunni neighborhoods in the city, shooting at residents and homes, according to police and a local Sunni politician.

Ali al-Talafari, a Sunni member of the local Turkomen Front Party, said the Iraqi army had arrested 18 policemen accused of being involved after they were identified by the Sunni families targeted. But he said the attackers included Shiite militiamen.

So this is success - a town where the police go on killing rampages? Well if that is success, I would sure hate to see failure. If this is what a presidential candidate gauges success on, then God help us if we becomes President.

Right Wing Bloggers Speak Out

A number of right wing bloggers are speaking out about Ann Coulter and are even telling the CPAC they do not want her to appear again. Here is the letter that they are sending. Ed from Captain's Quarters has more:

Conservatism treats humans as they are, as moral creatures possessing rational minds and capable of discerning right from wrong. There comes a time when we must speak out in the defense of the conservative movement, and make a stand for political civility. This is one of those times.

Ann Coulter used to serve the movement well. She was telegenic, intelligent, and witty. She was also fearless: saying provocative things to inspire deeper thought and cutting through the haze of competing information has its uses. But Coulter's fearlessness has become an addiction to shock value. She draws attention to herself, rather than placing the spotlight on conservative ideas.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2006, Coulter referred to Iranians as "ragheads." She is one of the most prominent women in the conservative movement; for her to employ such reckless language reinforces the stereotype that conservatives are racists.

At CPAC 2007 Coulter decided to turn up the volume by referring to John Edwards, a former U.S. Senator and current Presidential candidate, as a "faggot." Such offensive language--and the cavalier attitude that lies behind it--is intolerable to us. It may be tolerated on liberal websites but not at the nation's premier conservative gathering.

The legendary conservative thinker Richard Weaver wrote a book entitled Ideas Have Consequences. Rush Limbaugh has said again and again that "words mean things." Both phrases apply to Coulter's awful remarks.

Damn Those Cut and Runners

This is very interesting and it will be even more interesting to see how the wingnuts try and spin it:

Just before noon today, a petition signed by about a thousand members of the military will be delivered to Congress by about 50 active-duty officers. The petition calls for the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

According to Liam Madden, spokesman for the affiliated group Iraq Veterans against the war, the petition will be received on behalf of the "out of Iraq caucus" by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a 2008 presidential candidate, however "all appeals are getting faxed to the representatives of the districts of the signatories."

It is starting to look more and more like only Laura and Barney want Bush in Iraq. He better wake up and realize the meaning of "a government by the people, for the people". This is not a government by Bush, for Bush. Hopefully Congress will remind him of that.

Playing Politics With Children

So images should be illegal, but someone actually pursuing a minor for sex shouldn't?

Millions of commercial Web sites and personal blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000, if a new proposal in the U.S. Senate came into law.

The legislation, drafted by Sen. John McCain and obtained by CNET News.com, would also require Web sites that offer user profiles to delete pages posted by sex offenders.

In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, the Arizona Republican and former presidential candidate warned that "technology has contributed to the greater distribution and availability, and, some believe, desire for child pornography." McCain scored 31 of 100 points on a News.com 2006 election guide scoring technology-related votes.

Child pornography is wrong, as the children are getting hurt. Children also get hurt when someone pursues them via the internet trying to arrange for sex, especially when other people tell them not to say anything. Sound familiar Mr. Foley?

If McCain is serious about this legislation then he must look within the halls of Congress first and come out and chastise those who KNEW Mark Foley was going after children and did nothing. He must also blast the House Ethics Committee for saying there was "no wrong" in that disgusting act.

So why doesn't McCain's legislation address things like Foley was doing? Because he really doesn't care. He thinks this is a good measure to try and woo the Christian conservatives. If he was really concerned, his legislation would include language to make sure another Mark Foley never surfaces in Congress. Of course the leaders of this country are held to much lower standards than the citizens.