'Tardette bile eruption takes form of endorsement

Big surprise. A bland, connect-the-dots, yet successfully putrid piece boosting Ron Paul's Congressional primary opponent issues from 'Tardette. It's unclear whether this sad little crew will ever get over witnessing a phenomenal, long shot, but burgeoning challenge to correct social regimentation. They may realize that Ron Paul's run this past year has been, in bizspeak, almost all "upside" for his supporters. This would explain anti-Paul types being keen to help find some "downside."

Is murder unconstitutional?

In her opening statement at tonight's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton stated:

I want to stop the health insurance companies from discriminating against people because they're sick. You know, it's unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of race or gender or ethnic origin or religion, but it's okay to discriminate against sick people and we're gonna end that, because it's time we said, "no more."

[Applause]

So, is it reasonable to ask which part of the Constitution forbids private parties, like insurance companies, from discriminating "on the basis of race or gender or ethnic origin or religion?" And, if that section doesn not turn up, is it reasonable to question whether Hillary Clinton has a firm command of the basics of our founding document? Or maybe it was a simple slip-up. Maybe Hillary Clinton does not equate laws with the Constitution. Perhaps there is some other explanation. It would be nice to know the answer. [Disclaimer: if the U.S. Constitution is merely an antiquated document preserving historically interesting but outdated ideas, please disregard these questions.]

Bad experience

Much is made of McCain's vast experience, Clinton's modest or non-traditional experience, and Obama's comparatively thin experience. But quality, in the case of choosing a president (which, today, has so much more power than quaint American presidents of the past), looms large. If it's bad experience, it wouldn't seem to be very beneficial to a candidate's resume. Quite the opposite.

Put defending preemptive war, promoting unconstitutional legislation, and pursuing seemingly endless increases in the scope and scale of government in the "bad experience" column.

Not the Taliban

It's worth seriously asking what kind of regime we are supporting in Afghanistan. Consider the frightening case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, sentenced to death for distributing a report critical of treatment of women in some Islamic societies. From Wired:

He was tried by a sharia court (which oversees Islamic religious law) and was not allowed legal representation, according to news reports. The Afghan Senate passed a motion this week supporting the sentence, according to the British newspaper The Independent.

More...

Fourth Be$t Day Ever

Paul seems to be headed for his fourth $1 million+ fundraising day:



He raised more than any other Republican last quarter.

Three little "typos"

Yes, just a few trivial errors in today's New York Times Politics Blog entry about Ron Paul's new adviser.

#1: The first time he is mentioned (on the fourth line of the entry), he is given the wrong first name. The name is Peter, not Paul, Schiff. Oops.

#2: Grammatically, the third paragraph states that Peter Schiff is the author of "The Federal Mafia" and other books. He's not. His father, Irwin, is. Whoops.

#3: The author states that Ron Paul "wants to eliminate income and estate taxes and taxes on tips, imposing instead a consumption tax," when, in fact, Paul has repeatedly explained (on television and elsewhere) that he does not want to replace the income tax with a consumption tax nor any other new tax. Umm...

Just nitpicks really. I'm sure the rest is fine.

AP's Selective Memory

"Texas Rep. Ron Paul has made no move to withdraw even though he scores in single digits in voting." - Associated Press, 1/30/08

"Nevada - 1797 of 1797 Precincts Reporting...Paul , Ron...14%" - Associated Press, undated article

"Iowa results...Ron Paul 10 percent" - Associated Press, 1/4/08

Wait, what?

Are we really going to add to our $9,200,000,000,000 national debt to send checks to every couple earning less than $174,000, etc.!? It's looking that way, sadly. What's next, self-esteem classes for supermodels? More cold water here.

Standard Error

Newcomer Kevyn Peak tangles with The Weekly Standard (whose article tries to throw out principle and run with "virtue" alone):

"Sure, 'men must govern men'--FDR, Nixon, Clinton, Ted Stevens...the lot of them! The trillion-dollar question is: govern how much? Excessive governing, often sanctified by moral authorities of the day, has proven to be far more noxious than run-of-the-mill weak virtue. Better a hungover neoliberal than a lucid authoritarian."

Full article.

I couldn't have said it better myself! ;)

around every corner...

Terrorism, not Starbucks. On tonight's Hardball with Chris Matthews NY Congressman Peter King, "homeland security advisor" to Rudy Giuliani, arguing with McCain's national co-chair Tom Ridge, says that his boss "knows that Islamic terrorism is everywhere." Not worries, not suspects, but knows...everywhere! How's that for a realistic, cool-headed commander-in-chief?

Thompson is out

So here is a refresh of the list of Republican candidates, ranked by success so far:*

1. McCain
2. Romney
3. Huckabee
4. Paul
5. Thompson
6. Giuliani
7. Hunter
8. Tancredo
9. Brownback
10. Tommy Thompson
11. Gilmore
12. Keyes (?)

* as judged by VoxPolitico.com--based on votes and sticktoitiveness

former NM Governor endorses Paul

Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003, has endorsed Ron Paul for President.

kicking in another million or two

Ron Paul is having his 3rd best fundraising day of the campaign...

GOP Rankings, part 2

Here are the % totals from Iowa + NH:

Romney: 57
McCain: 50
Huckabee: 45
Paul: 18
Thompson: 15
Giuliani: 12
Hunter: 1

Jay Leno on Fox debate snub of Ron Paul

"I thought it was blatantly unfair."

Video here.

Part 1.