Huckabee goes macho with pheasants and detainees. Edwards puts wife first. Hunter courts Christians in casino. Paul wins straw poll.
The following piece was produced through the Huffington Post's OffTheBus. Edited by Richard Riehl and Denise Wheeler. Reported by Kirsten Anderson, Ken Bank, River Curtis-Stanley, Jodi Lampert, Julie Pierce, Debbi Plummer, and Theresa Weathers.
Hunter invites supporters to join him in den of iniquity to discuss Christian values: This from the no-chance candidate's email invitation to this evening's event at the Gold Dust West Casino in Carson City, NV: "Congressman Hunter will be discussing issues such as immigration and border control, 2nd Amendment rights, trade with China, national security and Christian values." There won't be any drinking, gambling or prostitution around there, will there?
Too bad he didn't bring Cheney along: The Huckster was in Iowa shooting birds to prove he was a gunowner's best friend. "Each of these birds gave their lives for the campaign," Huck quipped to reporters as he laid out three dead pheasants. There was a time when candidates kissed babies; now they shoot animals.
The palookas are at it again: In the ongoing boxing match between Clinton and Obama, the Clinton camp has now registered Votingpresent.com and Votingpresent.org to note when Obama has voted "present" instead of "yes" or "no" on controversial legislation. As a counterpunch, the Obama camp registered the domain name desperatehillaryattacks.com. At this rate, it's the voters who may be registering next with: who'sthemostgrownupcandidate.com.
Chain gang Huck: During a campaign stop in Iowa, Huckabee commented on the conditions at Guantanamo Bay. "The inmates there are getting a whole lot better treatment than our prisoners in Arkansas," Huck said. "In fact, I hope our guys don't see this. They'll all want to be transferred to Guantanamo." He also responded to Romney's charges that he's soft on crime. "If someone tries to tell you that I'm soft on crime, well that would be real news to the sixteen people whose executions I carried out. They didn't think I was being real soft," Huckabee said. It sounds like better food isn't the only reason the inmates would want to transfer.
This ain't the prom, John: Word has it there's a handmade banner in the Manchester, NH headquarters of the John Edwards campaign that reads "New Hampshire [heart]'s Elizabeth + John." We know we're a little blurry after all the holiday festivities, but we were certain Edwards was running for the presidency of the United States, not student council president.
New Hampshire bumper sticker report: While chasing after presidential candidates in NH, a blogger for the American Spectator reported that he saw several cars on the highways that still had Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers, but only one sticker for a current presidential candidate and it was Ron Paul. Either there's a shortage of bumper stickers in NH or a shortage of candidates worth messing up your bumper for.
The Paulites have landed: Let's face it, Las Vegas has a better chance of landing a major sports franchise than Ron Paul has landing the presidency, but he actually won a straw poll last week, albeit a completely unimportant one in Aiken County. "I don't necessarily know if our results will hold come Jan. 19 during the state primary, but I do think the poll reflects the opinions of those that are very active in the party," said Andy O'Bryne, party chairman. O'Bryne then reportedly slammed a twelfth Jolt Cola and screamed about the little blue aliens in her head.
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your "neener neener" banters will be met full-on in the next few days.
Why is it that anytime a Republican enters a church or campaigns before any kind of religious based organization it is scrutinized in the media as pandering to the religious zealots?
Why is it that when a Democrat enters a church or campaigns before any kind of religious organization nothing is said in the media in a derogatory way?
Why is it that when Hillary stands in front of a black congregation and starts to speak in a southern black drawal no one condemns her for it? Instead she is hailed for trying to connect with the members of the congregation. If any other candidate especially a Republican would have done this they would be tarred and feathered, then called a racist and biggot.
Dr. Paul wins ALL the straw polls - where have YOU been? He also won the spam-proof poll at AOL, getting more votes than any other candidate, EVEN THE DEMOCRATS. They stopped taking bets he'd win at the online casinos. Think maybe they know something you don't?
It is amazing how much we spend time overanalyzing poll numbers, listening to political pot shots, discussing who is soft on crime, who is more conservative etc, etc. I do know one thing is for sure and that's that Americans aren't falling for the political platitudes they once were. The "I'm for a strong America", "I.m for a strong defense". "I am the best at this or that" statements don't hold as much water.
The number one concern among Republicans is the economy but we haven't seen any basic reform packages except Huckabee and Ron Paul. However, Huckabee wants to implement a national sales tax but turns around and wants to double defense spending. That leaves Paul. He has discussed ways of saving billions of dollars, which in turn could save the social security system which is now in essence bankrupt. These are bold reforms but we are facing even bolder problems. Record dollar crisis, record foreclosures, record debt on and on.
By the way, yes I did see the utterly inane comment about Paul's candidacy and his straw poll win. I could spend paragraphs arguing his abilty to win on sheer poll results alone including recent increases in Iowa, and South Carolina. However, I think it would be fruitless. If you are hard up for an opinion I guess you could always fall back on some parroted criticism like "well...er...well...he is a kook. There take that!" Truly inspiring.
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Posted December 28, 2007 | 09:21 AM (EST)