The Rise of Fringe Candidates

Let me add my two cents worth to the debate as to why the Huckster & Paulus have so many votes. Many of my acquaintances are Firm Protestant Calvinists (FPCs). They fit every profile of normality and are totally family-oriented. They do their best to walk the straight-n-narrow and attend two church services, morning and evening, 'bout every week of the year.

The FPCs vote mainly to keep Democrats out of Power. Their #1 issue is Pro-Life. The #2 issue is that at least (R) party will give some sort of freedom to religious organizations. #3 & #4 are a mixed bag between foreign policy & taxes. (R) candidates will try to keep taxes lower and will at least fight a war to keep some of our enemies away. The Democrats are pro-abortion, pro-murder, pro-racism, pro-homosexuality or pro-hedonism, in short.

The 2006 elections showed the corruption of (R) candidates on almost every issue from greed, to adultery, to gov't spending. Now, the FPCs have done the Google searches, seen impressive websites, and watched the Youtube videos from the kook fringes of American Society. They slowly start to believe that our Presidents, Bush & Clinton, knew of 9/11 in advance, actively participated in it, or worked in some sort of cover-up. The behavior starts to border on irrationality. The chief explanation lies in the fact that the Gov't and now the party of Reagan are corrupt through and through.

Then comes a barrelful of (R) candidates: one is Mormon and maybe no friend of Christianity; one is NY Republican or Liberal; one is not conservative on most issues having lost to Bush in 2000; one is unheard of and not doing well, probably just another (R) candidate; one is very open about his Christianity, very pro-life, humorous, and has a new idea about taxes; and one is very small-gov't and wants to do something about the mess in Iraq.

The last two seem Fresh & Different without ties to the formerly corrupt (R) party. They also probably did not participate in the 9/11 conspiracy. That's it.

Sweeping up after

It remains to be seen whether Fred Thompson's NH vote total can score more votes than this blog has gotten hits. So far, he's not winning. On the plus side, he placed second in Wyoming, a Red State, though Romney walloped him by nearly 40%.*

One reason why he performed badly, is that he did start way too late to become familiar in a crowded (R) field. Second, he said so many times that he did not want to run or really become President that the voters finally said, 'O.K., we believe you.' They pulled the lever to vote for others. Third, he is not a maverick or kook like all others in (R) field, excluding Romney, so Thompson is more normal, which doesn't appeal to the NH voters. Fourth, his flip-flopping on abortion did not help. Fifth, his hot wife is matched by John McCain's, so that negates the 'chick' factor.

*Odd how the Dinosaur Media made no bones about the Wyoming race. Of course, B. Hussein Obama was not running, nor Hillary Rohdam. They figured that it was just a vote in flyover country. Better wishes for Fred in SoCo

My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. -- Ronald Regan Farewell Address--

Mitt & flip-flopping

It seems to me that the (R) candidates are going about the flip-flopping the wrong way.

Q: Who ran for the Senate as a Whig candidate in 1856, as a Republican in 1858, and for President in 1860, having flip-flopped his way to the White House?

A: The very same person whose 1860 advisers compromised on a number of stances and when told to stop by him, "Make no contracts that will bind me", said that they were winning him the White House "Lincoln ain't here and don't know what we have to meet... [H]e must ratify it". This gave AL culpable deniability, i.e., he was freed from any guilt by association. He never tried too strenuously to rebut those agreements.

A: The very same person whose flip-flopped from his earlier slave position, moderate abolitionist wherein he had said on Dec 24, 1860 to the Senate Committee on Crisis that the Constitution should be amended never to interfere with slavery, unto full abolitionist with the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863.

In short, say that they are flip-flopping to the moral and right answer. Mitt Romney's lack of support in 2003 for GWB's capital gains' tax deduction is five years removed from 2008. Lincoln flipped twice each time about 2 or 3 years removed from his former position. Romney looks staunch anti - compromiser in comparison to AL.

Bring up Winston Churchill's changing of parties from Conservative to Liberal and Liberal to Conservative to fit the times. Later on in life WSC was never a full conservative, who repealed all of Clement Attlee's socialistic programmes.

Relate how Ronald Reagan flip-flopped on taxes after having raised them once early on in his first term to his having seen the light. Tell the voters about RR's writing of the most liberal abortion law to his having characterized that bill as his biggest mistake. Explain about RR's change of parties and then say just as cleverly as he, without plagiarizing, that the (D) party left him.

Else NRO and Ramesh Ponnuru print pre-primary articles focusing on flip-flopping.

My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. -- Ronald Regan Farewell Address--

This crazy season

A front-runner who really isn't, but is, in a way.

My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. -- Ronald Regan Farewell Address to the Nation --