This is a good article on some of the protest going on about McCain being the GOP nominee.

Virtually all the nation’s political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.

But in the meantime, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.

Just take a look at recent Republican primary results, largely overlooked because McCain locked up the necessary 1,191 delegates long ago. In Indiana, McCain got 77% of the recent Republican primary vote, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who’ve each long ago quit and endorsed McCain, still got 10% and 5% respectively, while Paul took 8%.

On the same May 6 in North Carolina, McCain received less than three-quarters of Republican votes (74%), while Huckabee got 12%, Paul 7% and Alan Keyes and No Preference took a total of 7%.

Pennsylvania was even slightly worse for the GOP’s presumptive nominee, who got only 73% to a combined 27% for Paul (16%) and Huckabee (11%).

As Politico.com’s Jonathan Martin noted recently, at least some of these results are temporary protest votes in meaningless primaries built on lingering affection for Huckabee and suspicion of McCain.

Link to full article.

Good grief what has happened to our party? Any student of history will recognize the value of the two party system; this primary race demonstrates that the system is only a safe-guard and not a solution. The safeguard has likely failed us, leaving our country with the worst two candidates in the history of our nation.

We can still hold out hope that the remaining states realize McCain is an unacceptable candidate. This is not likely, but consider the delegate math. McCain needs roughly 37% of the remaining un-pledged delegates, this includes non-committed delegates from states that have already held their primaries. That’s a bigger chunk of the vote than he’s been getting in most contested states. We still have time for voters to wake up to the threat of a McCain candidacy. There is little hope for Romney or Huckabee to wrap up the vote prior to the convention, but it isn’t too late to take out McCain.

Should McCain win the nomination what is a principled conservative to do? McCain is a much bigger threat to conservatism than any liberal Democrat, but is it ethical to vote for somebody that is still an enemy to what you believe? Some conservative talking heads preach that we need to vote for McCain for no other reason than the courts, which only raises more concerns with McCain. I predict that should we be so unfortunate to see McCain elected, he will lecture us on why we need justices with moderate political views that believe the constitution is a living document.

The one compelling reason I’ve heard for voting for McCain is his age. If he were to bring on a true conservative as VP, we could hope his current diet of donuts and more donuts would relieve us of his leadership in short time. I’m predicting moderate Republican Governor Charlie Christ of Florida will be the VP nominee, so this won’t be an issue.

One last thought:
Placer County has a reputation of being a conservative area, but if we look at returns for the last few elections, this area is not actually very conservative. For example: in 2006 only 53% of Placer County voters supported parents having the right to know when a school takes their 12 year old daughter to have an abortion, Placer County’s only supervisor with a reputation of being conservative has endorsed a liberal candidate for congress, and yesterday McCain won here.

Perhaps the leftists in our party are correct: If the Republican Party is to remain viable, we need to accept the liberal ideas of the democrats and abandon the principles of Ronald Reagan.

Excerpt from the WSJ written by Peggy Noonan 1/25/08

“On the pundit civil wars, Rush Limbaugh declared on the radio this week, “I’m here to tell you, if either of these two guys [Mr. McCain or Mike Huckabee] get the nomination, it’s going to destroy the Republican Party. It’s going to change it forever, be the end of it!”

This is absurd. George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.

Were there other causes? Yes, of course. But there was an immediate and essential cause.

And this needs saying, because if you don’t know what broke the elephant you can’t put it together again. The party cannot re-find itself if it can’t trace back the moment at which it became lost. It cannot heal an illness whose origin is kept obscure.

I believe that some of the ferocity of the pundit wars is due to a certain amount of self-censorship. It’s not in human nature to enjoy self-censorship. The truth will out, like steam from a kettle. It hurts to say something you supported didn’t work. I would know. But I would say of these men (why, in the continuing age of Bill Clinton, does the emoting come from the men?) who are fighting one another as they resist naming the cause for the fight: Sack up, get serious, define. That’s the way to help.”

WSJ article

World Net Daily – Posted: January 17, 2008

With a divided GOP field going into South Carolina, voters have a chance to make the Second Amendment an issue in this election. And they should.
South Carolina holds a distinctive place in our presidential nominating process. As the first in the South primary, its focus on faith, family values, military service and American traditions makes it one of the most conservative states in the country.

Anyone who’s ever campaigned in South Carolina will tell you that it’s worlds apart from many other parts of the country. And while Second Amendment rights are a sizeable factor in many states’ elections, in South Carolina you cannot win a general election if you’re seen as hostile to firearm freedoms.

That’s in general elections. In the GOP primary, you don’t even want to show your face in a crowd of Republicans if you aren’t ready to protect their gun rights.

Both Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson have a perfect record for supporting Second Amendment rights. They’ve both talked about that in South Carolina and should make an issue of this latest development.

Is anyone listening? To all the Romney bandwagon jumpers…Where’s Mitt’s name here???

Mitt Romney really must take this opportunity to explain exactly where he stands on the Second Amendment. He angered gun owners in December by endorsing and promising to sign into law the Clinton gun ban and the Brady Bill on “Meet the Press.”Those were two of the worst anti-gun laws in American history. He should forcefully take a stand on this Justice Department brief, and while he’s at it he (Romney) should retract his support for these anti-gun laws.

-The writer of this article is the immediate past president of the NRA and a longtime member of the NRA Board of Directors.

Question: Why are Murders rarely solved in Iowa?

Answer: Everyone’s DNA is the same and there are no dental records.

My guy came in second in Iowa and this is posted with a tad bit of frustration. It is frankly surprising that Governor Huckabee was able to convince 34% of Iowas Republican voters to pull the lever for him. I could understand an honorable man like Fred Thompson, a hero like John McCain, or even the fanatical Ron Paul winning. What I can’t understand is how Huckabee was able to advertise himself as the “christian leader” and say, “Merry Christmas”, and have 34% of Iowa voters ignore his record of economic liberalism and dangerously questionable judgment. Nevermind, I couldn’t forgive letting McCain be our nominee either; Call me closed-minded but I’m partial to the 1st Amendment, tax-cuts, and a competent judiciary.

The only relief tonight is that 66% of the Republican voters in Iowa weren’t fooled into voting for a guy simply because he had a fish on his tailgate.

“To hear Mitt Romney tell it, Republican Mike Huckabee shares more with Democrat Bill Clinton than a hometown in Hope, Ark., and a stint as Arkansas governor.”

“Both men, Romney suggests, have left-leaning governing philosophies, particularly on taxes and spending.”

Full article

“Mike Huckabee vowed in Iowa on Saturday that one of his first actions as president would be to review what he called the “absurd” convictions of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean — and suggested he might pardon them immediately.”

““Our president has sided with the drug dealers and the criminals over law enforcement,” Rohrabacher said. “The president’s stubborn and heartless side is all too evident in this case of Ramos and Compean.” “

Article

Republican White House contender Mike Huckabee refused to apologize Sunday after a rival accused him of insulting President George W. Bush by describing his foreign policy as “arrogant.”

Huckabee butted heads with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney after publishing a foreign policy paper calling for American foreign policy to change its “tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.”

“The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad,” the former Arkansas governor wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs.

“My administration will recognize that the United States’ main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists,” said Huckabee.

Romney, who has seen Huckabee surge past him in opinion polls with just three weeks until the first nominating contest in Iowa on January 3, expressed outrage at his rivals criticism of the Republican president.

“That’s an insult to the president, and Mike Huckabee should apologize to the president,” Romney told NBC television.

Full Article

Check out the funny mail pieces here

“Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee hold 9-point leads in Iowa with less than three weeks to go before the Jan. 3 caucuses, according to a new poll conducted for the Quad-City Times and other Lee Enterprises newspapers.”

Story

Huckabee shows again he’s soft on the illegal alien issue. Tancredo was the clear winner here by avoiding this debate altogether. I wish the rest of these guys stayed home as well. The voting/political process is starting to become a real joke in this country.

“It looked like a hostage take. ... [The candidates] were trying to say, ‘You should go home,’ without saying, ‘I hate you,’” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which favors combining tough border enforcement with an onerous legalization path for those already in the United States.

“But he clearly has developed a case of Romney-itis, the affliction that causes a top-tier Republican to turn from centrist to conservative to avoid political punishment by the party’s base.”

“During the forum, Huckabee called for a “reasonable window of time,” for an illegal immigrant to return home and get at the back of the line to legally reenter the United States.”

Article

And the “voters” backing Hillary actually are backing her due to Bill himself. Wow, I didn’t think people were that stupid. With this recent development and with the subprime mess, I’m going to have to rethink my position.

NY TIMES 12/10/07
G.O.P. Voters Are Uninspired by Candidates

“Three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republicans voters across the country appear uninspired by their field of presidential candidates, with a vast majority saying they have not made a final decision about who to support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.”

“None of the Republican candidates is viewed favorably by even half of the Republican electorate, the poll found. In a sign of the fluidity of the race, one candidate who had barely registered in early polls several months ago, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, is now locked in a tight contest nationally with Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.”

The poll found that former President Bill Clinton could be an effective campaign weapon for his wife. Forty-four percent of Democrats said Mr. Clinton’s involvement would make them more likely to support Mrs. Clinton.”

The latest Iowa polls…

By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek Web Exclusive

“The new NEWSWEEK poll shows the former Arkansas governor now has a two-to-one lead over Romney, while Barack improves against Hillary.”

“The ordained Southern Baptist minister now leads Romney by a two-to-one margin, 39 percent to 17 percent, among likely GOP caucus-goers.”

Article

A good article by World Net Daily Founder Joseph Farah who talks about Huckabee’s view on the government’s role in social issues. He makes some great points that Christians as individuals are responsible for helping the poor, not the US government.

“The first troubling discovery is that, as governor, Huckabee was a tax-raiser to put Bill Clinton to shame. Worse than that, now he tries to tell audiences the courts and legislature twisted his arm to sign that tax hike. But there is just no evidence to support that interesting revisionist view of reality.”

“The second troubling finding is his support (there is really no other word for it) for illegal immigration. As governor, he helped Arkansas serve as a magnet for illegal immigrants who wanted jobs in the Tyson chicken plants or in-state tuition rates unavailable to American citizens from neighboring states or a Mexican consulate generously offered up to the Mexican government for free.”

“As Christians, they are confusing the role we as individuals are assigned as followers of Jesus with the role of government. When Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, He is not suggesting we transfer that personal responsibility to government. He is not suggesting we transfer that responsibility to our neighbors. He is not suggesting, as the old saying goes, we rob Peter to pay Paul. This is a personal, individual responsibility of the believer.”

Article

“National support for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani significantly eroded over the past month,” USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page writes.

Meanwhile, Republican Mike Huckabee’s standing in the national poll has shot up—to the point where he leads a group of four GOP contenders basically tied for second place behind front-runner Giuliani.

Poll link

”...new polling data released today shows that Huckabee has pulled to within a single percentage point of Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up. Huckabee is also a frontrunner in Iowa and essentially tied for second in New Hampshire.”

H-SURGE