Engergy Independence

On CNN Fred talked about the US economy and pushed for a fuel position that keeps us from Saudi caterwauling. His view is that

It's not in the United States' long-term interest to go hat in hand begging people to do things that in the end we know they're not going to do... What we need to concentrate on is diversifying our own energy sources here in this country and opening up what oil reserves that we have here [in places such as ANWR, edited out by Reuters], using nuclear more, using clean coal technology more and all the other things that we can do, [including research, instead of going hat in hand to these OPEC countries, edited out by Reuters]. (via Lexis-Nexis)

Note the omissions of ANWR and entreprenurialship. Fred does not seem to say that we need to drill in offshore oil rigs, and make more domestic refineries. Unless that is what Fred meant by "opening up what oil reserves that we have here in places such as ANWR.

Give me cheap gasoline. Refineries and drilling platforms would be a good start.

Fredmentum - TM

Looks like news of Fred is getting out. Track that to the date when this blog endorsed Fred for POTUS in IA.

Human Events endorsed Fred Thompson for (R) nominee. As they say,

The Club for Growth has praised Thompson as someone who has a strong commitment to limited government, free enterprise and federalist principles... [We say h]e is solidly pro-life. He said that he was in favor overturning Roe v. Wade because it was “bad law and bad medical science... Thompson’s record is solid on voting to preserve gun owners’ rights, cut taxes, reduce government spending and drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has voted consistently against gay marriage.”

Their article also lists his limitations in regards to Clinton impeachment, McCain-Feingold, and pro-trial lawyers.

Now The New York Republican Party endorsed Fred. The state is not exactly a conservative Bastion, (e.g., Rudy G. Michael B., and George Pataki), but it’s a start. Favorite Son Rudy gets a fistful of nada. Maybe because Rudy’s biggest backers were always the Media.

Fred has raised the stakes in SoCo, claming he is “drawing the line”. Go ahead Fred: Rage Against the Machine© or at least, start sounding Conservative themes. He also claims he is going to “draw some contrasts” in the next debate. That should scare the other Republicans, who will hear the hoof-beats of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow behind him. He already started at the last debate. How will Mitt do so? Show that he has changed the most??

While Fred’s YouTube opponents apologize to him, his supporters Blogburst over Fred’s stated goal of 540K. Fred then shows that Huckabee lacks conservative credentials.

In actual news, Fred’s campaign e-mailed that they had to shut the doors to potential voters at a campaign stop in SoCo.

Fred is also a potential hunting partner of VP Cheney, and gives the good ol' stink-eye to taxes.

Way back, on Nov. 13, 2007 National Right to life endorsed Fred Thompson (.pdf).

If the conservatives have truly fallen in love with Fredoso, then look for a swarm of articles and columns in the next week. The same happened with J. Kenneth Blackwell during Ohio’s gubernatorial election. One week they all seemingly portrayed him as a knight in shining armor. Sadly, the result was that his numbers stayed the same: horrible, as in the 35’s through voting day.

You al$o pu$h a few coin$, Fred'$ way: donate to Fred08.

There Goes Reason

Maybe it's because he did not receive the airtime of the other candidates, but seemingly the only Voice of Realism has dropped out of the Democratic Primary. Until he dropped back in, mabye. An erie, haunting echo of 1992 airs its head, there being a slight link between he and Ross Perot. Richardson's wacky stance: Iraq troop withdrawl by 2009.

As of 12:30 a.m. EST his personal website lists nothing in its press releases or campaign blog about his dropping out.

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--

Yogi Berra's Fork

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." So goes the legendary quote of Yankee's catcher Yogi Berra. Thompson has a fork coming in SoCo. It appears from RealClearPolitics that he will finish 4th there in about 12 days, though there is a longshot hope that he will capture and pass Romney.

In Michigan, where the West-side (R)s are conservative, Thompson finishes 5th.

Perhaps this blog should have started sooner.

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--

Hard NH numbers

*Updated*

Here are my hard numbers: Got to CNN for other ones. The totals are that out of the nearly 851,000 (850,836)votes possible in NH, about 517,000 (517,226) were cast, which is about a 68% turnout. The Dems got 54.9% (284,050) and the Republicans 45.1% (233,176).

Fred Thompson received approximately 1.24% of the (R) total (see kook comment below). This means that this blog is more powerful than a Republican Presidential candidate.

P.S. Look for Britney to improve slowly, for now. Who knows, maybe she will be a better Aunt than a Mother. (See Hillary-Britney)

N.B. 3rd party candidates were not counted.

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--

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--

Atlas Blogging

Our endorsement of Fred Thompson helped push him into 3rd place in Iowa. NH is a different mark. Think VP for Fred.

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 --

Michigan Blogging

I came home for the holidays back to Michigan. So far have I heard only Mitt Romney on the radio touting how he cut wasteful spending in MA and plans to do more as POTUS. He also is the only one to air TV adds.

I always look forward to cheesy campaign adds, which means I disagree with Fred's stance supporting McCain-Feingold. Romney is 2nd best outside of Fred Thompson.

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 --

What a Year

After a 10 month hiatus, I return and low and behold, the influence of this blog only magnifies with time.

1) Giuliani's campaign is tanking ten months after the post stripped bare the pseudo pro-life credentials of America's mayor. US News and World reports that he is not even contensting in IA, NH or MI, but is waiting to put all his eggs in SC and the Super Tuesday of Feb 5. They write

As for Giuliani, he is playing down the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire, where he lags badly. He is counting on Florida to give him momentum on January 29, a week before the megaprimary day of February 5. Giuliani's strategy has always been based on his winning a number of the big states that day, including New York, New Jersey, and California, and emerging on top of the delegate tally.

A strategy that focuses on regaining the Big Mo' after a month of bad election returns, will seriously damage to his chances. Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief of US News & World Report, extrapolates on that sentiment in his December 23 column, where he pontificates about the 'US Grant of 9/11',

Giuliani has long led the national polls, [but] His campaign has been seriously weakened recently as the media focus shifted to his personal life. He is hoping to survive the early primaries and then do well in Florida and Michigan before hitting the big-state primaries of February 5.

2) Instapundit now offers RSS feeds, which are available in IE7 format. I lay claim to having sent the e-mail that wore down his defenses. Just like voting, Nag 'em early 'n' nag 'em often.

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 --

A Freudian Campaign

On my Christmas trip back home, I trekked through Iowa and near I-80 saw a John Edwards campaign sign that seemed quite Freudian.

It said http://johnedwardsob.com/. I thought that went beyond the line and was quite offensive, until I got closer and realized it was a campaign slogan that directed me to this website. Humorous.

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 --

Iowa's worth - while or less- caucus

Over at the Washington Post's blog Right Matters, renowned conservative and pro-life commentator Ramesh Ponnuru criticizes the Iowa caucus for not representing American in terms of cultural make-up (mainly Caucasian farmers), numbers participation (only 7% of available voters), accuracy (they picked Reagan in '80), and cost-of-living (ethanol).

My response is to shrug the shoulders rather than rebut his argument or justify the rules of the DNC in Iowa. I write

Think of Iowa as the play-in game during "March Madness." The 64th and 65th best teams of NCAA, Division I, men's basketball compete for the chance to be decimated by the supposedly best team in the country. The winner of this 1/2-round has no conceivable hope of advancing past the 'real' 1st round. They simply play first because those are the rules.

Iowa is 1st because inertia dictates it, not because representation dictates it.

He has a point about the overall worthlessness of having Iowa go first, but so do the other responders that no real alternative exists to replacing Iowa with a better option.

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 --

Guilani: no pro-lifer

I disagree with the American Thinker blogger Kyle Ann-Shiver over what POTUS can do for the pro-life position. She lists 3 main power that a president can use:
1) appoint strict-constitutionalist judges
2) not veto any any pro-life legislation
3)veto any anti-life legislation.

Here she errs. POTUS can appoint a soliticer general and an AG who look for cour cases to prosecute in order overturn Roe v. Wade by fighting for the side of life. The AG & SG are not just defensive warriors reacting to the circumstances of the moment, but rather are proactive litigants fighting for the ideas of the party that put them in power. This is one power of the Presidency and at times why party I.D. is important. This is what happened in 1983 when RR wrote the Abortion & the Conscience of a Nation. The money phrase is

[m]ake no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution... No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.

Second, POTUS can propose more pro-life legislation through influencing various sympathetic members of Congress. After RR wrote his pro-life masterpiece, Jack Kemp and others labored for the pro-life cause. In response to RR's booklet and the famous Baby Jane Doe case. Congress passed the Child Abuse Ammendment and RR signed the bill into law in October, 1984 (The idea of a Christian Statesman is not something that I am necessarily in full agreement with.)

Third, POTUS can cut off US foreign aid for organizations that promote abortions. This is what RR did in 1984 with his Mexico City policy and GWB followed suit in 2001. Clinton had undone this provision in 1993 by supporting the aborting of foreign babies. In 1985 Congress cut off funds to any organization that mandated forced abortions and/or sterlizations.

Guilani has not pledged yet to do any of these. SCOTUS judges are an imporant step, but Guiani still needs to make many more steps to fix the whole problem. I remain unconvinced.

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 --