Electoral Torture

Rudy Giuliani:

Mel Martinez once told me something about John McCain and these elections, he said, 'if you've been through the Hanoi Hilton, this is a breeze.'

If you have tips, questions, comments or suggestions, email me at lybberty@gmail.com.

New York Times: Playing (Republican) Politics

The big theme of this election is identity politics. Whether the voters is a woman, African-American, or Evangelical, it is automatically assumed that the voter will vote for the candidate that matches their minority profile. (we've mentioned it here and here)

But only some of these assumptions are somewhat true. As with any generalization, these broad brush strokes miss many of the other factors that play into a voters decision for whom to vote.

African-American voters in this election will tend to vote for Barack Hussein Obama to a greater degree than women will for Hillary Rodham Clinton or Evangelicals will for Mike Huckabee. MSM focuses many of their articles on the supposed breakup of the conservative coaltion less because it is an actual reality than because it is what they see in their own party of choice. If there is this much discontent and dissension in the Democratic party, then there must be the same thing going on with the Republicans. And even if it's not, they will play up any little bit of drama they can because, well, they can't afford to lose another Presidential election.

This is the same reason they play up an overblown division between the Republican presidential candidates. It is no secret that Mitt Romney is not John McCain's favorite person. Supposedly Mitt forgot to call McCain after his win in New Hampshire, or something. You'd think this was the party of teenage girls. It's also worth noticing that supposedly the "ill will" was precipitated by Mitt's money. This is taking populist class warfare to a whole new level. Now, not only do we have John Edwards "two America's," but we also have the New York Time's "two Republican parties." Right.

With the Democratic parties propaganda machine, er, the New York Times, even if there is no smoke, there's still a fire. And if they can report that money or religion or whatever is splitting Republicans, they will.

What they forget (and this is where we get back to indentity politics) is that most Republicans are not just social conservatives or fiscal conservatives or foreign policy hawks. Many, if not most, fit more than one of these categories. We, for example, fit all three. That said, when it comes time to vote, people will naturally gravitate to the party that answers the call of their highest order political priorities.

Peggy Noonan may be right; George W. Bush may have frayed the Reagan coalition. At the very least, they were disillusioned during the 2006 Congressional elections. But this does not mean that those principles ceased being important or that they wont turn out when they find a conservative candidate strong fiscally, socially and on social policy.

John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney are all capable of rallying these three groups. On one or more issues, they may have less appeal than another of the candidates or conservative pundits would like, but by and large they will be able to do what is necessary to appeal to those voters--especially when matched up against Hillary or Barack.


If you have tips, questions, comments, suggestions, or requests for subscription only articles, email us at lybberty@gmail.com.

Here's Romney!

With the ineffable Fred Thompson out, the Mitt Romney surge is on. And the pundits said it couldn't or wouldn't be done.

Real Clear Politics shows Romney in a close second behind John McCain in Florida. And the thing to keep in mind here is the trend: Romney is trending upwards while McCain is holding steady or declining slightly.

Looking ahead, it seems Romney may win simply because of his wide appeal:

Giuliani and McCain both appeal to foreign policy conservatives (read: hawks), fiscal conservatives (McCain to a greater extent than Giuliani), and independents.

Huckabee appeals to social conservatives.

Romney appeals to foreign policy hawks (less so than either Giuliani or McCain). All three would follow similar courses in Iraq and the War on Terror.

Romney's business experience and tax cutting ways while governor in Massachusetts make him appealing to fiscal conservatives--maybe moreso than either McCain or Giuliani.

Perhaps most importantly, Romney established his social conservatism bona fides. Pro-lifers and the defense of marriage crowd may not believe him the way they believe Mike Huckabee or believed Fred Thompson, but they will certainly prefer him to either Giuliani or McCain (less so with McCain).

On Hannity and Colmes tonight, Alan Colmes asked Romney if he felt like emphasizing his social conservatism had been a waste of time. 'With the economy on a precipice,' Colmes asked, 'wouldn't it have been wiser to have highlighted his business acumen as a unique qualifier?' Romney pointed out that social issues were important in early states, but admitted the economy may be the dominant issue going forward and, fortunately, he was strong there.

We agree (and wrote as much last week) that saving the economy could be a winning message going forward. But it was important to Romney's campaign that he distinguish himself from Giuliani (the longtime frontrunner) and to a lesser extent McCain as a social conservative. By splitting the social conservative vote and winning the fiscal conservatives, Romney might be able to winnow off enough of the foreign policy independents to win the Republican nomination--especially in states which limit voting in the Republican race to Republicans.


If you have tips, questions, comments, suggestions, or requests for subscription only articles, email us at lybberty@gmail.com.

Farewell Fred

Yesterday, we were sad to learn that Fred Thompson had exited the race for the Republican nomination. Fred Thomson, we hardly knew thee.

Of course, part of the reason we hardly knew Fred Thompson was because he didn't do a very good job of selling himself to voters. That part, we wont miss.

Thompson held the promise of being the conservative Republican voters could rally around once they soured on the politics of Rudy Giuliani or John McCain. It was not to be.

We read almost daily that the current crop of candidates is a poor one. We heartily disagree. John McCain, the "maverick" (the MSM loves Republican "mavericks") Senator from Arizona brings strong principles (with which we sometimes disagree) and a strong track record of leadership on foreign policy and fiscal policy. He was a war hero.

Rudy Giuliani is America's mayor. When 9/11 shook us to the core, we took strength from his strength.

Fred Thompson was on TV. Ronald Reagan was also an actor. We loved his traditional conservatism.

Mike Huckabee is an incredible speaker and dynamic politician.

Mitt Romney, well, Mitt saved the Salt Lake Olympics, rejuvenated Bain & Co., and brought health care to the masses in Massachusetts, whatever.

The Republican field is a talented one. And, feeling generous today, so is the Democratic field. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, (not John Edwards) and Bill Richardson all strike us as more capable and talented candidates than John Kerry, Vietnam war veteran.

(true, that is not saying much).


If you have tips, questions, comments, suggestions, or requests for subscription only articles, email us at lybberty@gmail.com.

Giuliani & Abortion

Last night we finished reading Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' memoir, My Grandfather's Son. Thomas has always been our favorite Supreme Court Justice and reading his memoir has made us admire him even more. He is very honest about his struggles with depression, alcohol, divorce, education--everything.

But the thing that stood out to us, and the reason for this post, was his description of his Senate confirmation hearings. We remember watching these hearings on TV. It was where we first learned about sexual harassment. We remember asking our father (though we doubt he'll remember) why the guys on TV seemed to be attacking then Judge Thomas. Our father, who'd voted for Bush Sr. and supported his nomination of Thomas explained that some people had said things about Thomas that weren't true and that before he could join the Supreme Court, they needed to make sure everyone knew it. We'd never watched C-SPAN before, didn't really understand what they were talking about, but we recognized a good man when we saw him (Thomas) and what Thomas in his book calls a "high-tech lynching" when we saw that, too.

As we read the book, we learned what it cost Thomas, his wife, family, friends, the Bush Administration--everyone who supported him--to be drug through the mud by the cabal of liberal Senators, groupthink Civil Rights organizations, pro-choice women's groups, and their willing echo chamber/propaganda machine, the mainstream media. "Ludicrous" does not even begin to describe the shameful event that played out on C-SPAN and in the press.

Suffice it to say that My Grandfather's Son is one of the best books we've read in some time.

The next President will nominate 1-2 new Supreme Court justices. If nominated by a Republican, they could conceivably change the future of American jurisprudence--abortion, property rights, affirmative action--all these and more could and probably would be reconsidered by a newly conservative Supreme Court.

Rudy Giuliani has admitted that his personal beliefs are pro-choice. In order to placate social conservatives and win the Republican nomination, he stated that he would nominate judges in the mold of Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia. While somewhat comforting, the experience of Judge Thomas illustrates why this may not be enough. The most recent justices nominated to the court--John Roberts and Samuel Alito--replaced conservative William Rehnquist and nominally conservative Sandra Day O'Connor. Though they were opposed by Democratic Senators and the aforementioned interest groups, because it wouldn't change the balance of the court, they largely got through without a fight.

However, if a Republican somehow manages to win the next presidential election, John Paul Stevens, who seems to be awaiting a Democratic president, may not live long enough to see one and could be replaced by a conservative judge. As this would upset the "balance" of the court, you can expect a fight on the scale of Clarence Thomas, with the same amount of dirty politics. Such a fight requires especially a President who principally believes in and would support a nominee who would face the sort of character assassination faced by Clarence Thomas.

Giuliani has made no secret of his personal pro choice beliefs. We're afraid that when push comes to shove, a President Giuliani would quickly back away from his justice "in the mold of Alito & Scalia" and instead nominate someone more palatable to the angry lynch mob of liberal interest groups.


If you have tips, questions, comments, suggestions, or requests for subscription only articles, email us at lybberty@gmail.com.