Republicans, Primaries etc - the Dems have their own thread after all

[OscarGuy]

What a maroon.

I've got ocean-front property in Colorado, I'd like to sell you.

I seriously can't believe you just said that. It's like the past 6 years of irrefutable evidence to the contrary have been completely ignored by you.

National Defense begins AT HOME. You want to stop the terrorists, fix our border issues, freight issues, etc. Implement the 9/11 commissions recommendations in full. If we had spent all that money we wasted on the war in shoring up our homeland defenses (Homeland Security is a crock of shit), then we would be the most security country in the world. And Al Qaeda would have to build a massive naval fleet to take us down. However, we've played right into their hands by weakening our position with our allies, ignoring the recommendations that could have made our borders more secure and provided them with a massive recruiting tool by killing thousands of innocents in our purported war on terror.

And you bought it hook, line and sinker...they say there's a sucker born every minute, but they should say once a sucker, always a sucker.

[criddic3]

Honestly, does this man think there is anything other than war that makes life worth living?

(deleted duplicate article) - OG

If we don't have a country, nothing else matters. National defense and winning the War on Terror is essential to making sure the terrorists don't bring down America. You may think this is warmongering or over-emphasizing the point, but it's not. Osama bin Laden and others have said their goal is to bring down the West. Of course once they get past the west, they'll move to the east and so on. They want the world to be made up of their Radical Islamic group. All others must die. THis is not the same as bring freedom to all people, so they may choose their destinies rather than be oppressed by dictators.

Point is, without a free country nothing else matters. Not the economy, not civil liberties, not racial harmony, etc. All those things are concepts for a free society, which is what we stand to lose if we don't keep up our end of the fight over there. Senator McCain understands that.



Edited By criddic3 on 1205550616

[Big Magilla]

How would a ratcheting up of the war going to tip the election against McCain? Wouldn't it have the opposite effect, allowing him to say "See, I was right. We can't afford to turn our backs on Iaq"?

[Damien]

McCain also criticized U.S. Senate Republicans for not joining him and 28 other senators in a one-year moratorium on controversial spending projects, known as earmarks that benefit specific cities or towns and that McCain considers wasteful.

The Arizona senator said it showed that his fellow Republicans were "not responding to the will of the people."

And he's responding to the will of the people on Iraq? Sheesh . . .

[Greg]

Honestly, does this man think there is anything other than war that makes life worth living?

(deleted duplicate article) - OG



Edited By OscarGuy on 1205520296

[OscarGuy]

And so the fear mongering begins.

McCain says al Qaeda might try to tip U.S. election By Steve Holland
1 hour, 12 minutes ago



SPRINGFIELD, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him.

McCain, at a town hall meeting in this Philadelphia suburb, was asked if he had concerns that anti-American militants in Iraq might ratchet up their activities in Iraq to try to increase casualties in September or October and tip the November election against him.

"Yes, I worry about it," McCain said. "And I know they pay attention because of the intercepts we have of their communications ... The hardest thing in warfare is to counter someone or a group of individuals who are willing to take their own lives in order to take others."

At his campaign event and subsequent news conference, McCain also criticized U.S. Senate Republicans for not joining him and 28 other senators in a one-year moratorium on controversial spending projects, known as earmarks that benefit specific cities or towns and that McCain considers wasteful.

The Arizona senator said it showed that his fellow Republicans were "not responding to the will of the people."

The Senate on Thursday night voted 71-29 against the moratorium. McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, and Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, all voted for the legislation.

McCain is a stalwart supporter of President George W. Bush's troop build-up in Iraq, while sharply critical of the way the war was managed until the increase, and his political fortunes have improved as casualties have declined in Iraq in recent months.

He disagrees strongly with campaign pledges by Clinton and Obama to withdraw U.S. troops speedily if either of them are elected in November.

McCain, soon to depart on a Middle East and Europe trip with two Senate colleagues, said recent deadly attacks in Iraq show that al Qaeda in Iraq is not defeated.

He said is concerned "they might be able to carry out some spectacular suicide attacks but we do have them on the run."

"We have achieved enormous success but they are still a very viable and tough enemy. There is no doubt in my mind that the surge is succeeding. Thank God for Gen. (David) Petraeus, one of the greatest generals in American history."

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

[criddic3]

Of course he waited until McCain was the nominee, silly! When asked about it in interviews during the primaries, President Bush said with great clarity that making an endorsement of any of the candidates could hurt as much as help that candidate. Making the endorsement of the presumptive nominee is symbolic in showing that the party is with him and will support him in the election. His endorsement also helps McCain within the party, as far as fundraising is concerned.

It made sense for him to stay out of the selection process, as most ex-Presidents do. Even Pres. Reagan made the same decision, according to his own diaries, because he didn't want to take sides until it was clear who the party had chosen. Privately, he was rooting for his VP.

For all the opinion to the contrary, Pres. Bush is very smart about politics. After all, he was a huge help to his father in the 1988 campaign and won four elections to high posts, in addition to fighting for his party's nomination.



Edited By criddic3 on 1205470943

[Greg]

For anyone who's interested, tonight's Bill Moyer's Journal is dedicated to the John McCain/John Hagee connection. Check you're local PBS listings.

[kaytodd]

I know who this John Hagee is. [He] said that everyone in the city of New Orleans is going to hell because they practice witchcraft and sodomy,

Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

But, if he is a prominent televangelist, he has probably tried one of those two pleasures :p

[MovieWes]

The Hagee endorsement of McCain has been denounced by Catholic League president Bill Donohoe, who considers Hagee to be an anti-Catholic bigot.

A CRITIC IS CRITICIZED

Catholic Groups Angry at McCain Over Endorsement

HOUSTON -- The president of the Catholic League blasted John McCain on Thursday for accepting the endorsement of Texas evangelist John Hagee, calling the controversial pastor a bigot who has "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church."

Hagee, who is known for his crusading support of Israel, backed McCain's presidential bid Wednesday, standing next to the senator at a hotel in San Antonio and calling McCain "a man of principle."

But Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement Thursday that Hagee has written extensively in negative ways about the Catholic Church, "calling it 'The Great Whore,' an 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ,' and a 'false cult system.' "

"Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee," Donohue said.

Catholics United, a national online group, also criticized McCain. "By receiving the endorsement of an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church, McCain once again demonstrates that he is willing to sell out his principles for a chance to win the Presidency," Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, said in a statement. "We hope Senator McCain will take the principled position of publicly and unequivocally distancing himself from Pastor Hagee's anti-Catholic comments. Intolerance and bigotry do not belong in American politics."

The McCain campaign declined to comment on the statements.


-- Michael D. Shear

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn....31.html

I know who this John Hagee is. He's probably one of the best known televangelists in the San Antonio area. My ex-girlfriend goes to his church, called the Cornerstone Church. A few years back, she dragged me to his church to see Oliver North speak. The guy's a huge nut and a charlatan who owns a multimillion dollar house, drives a brand new Cadillac, and sits on a fucking golden throne every Sunday in a church that he owns. The one time I went to his church (I repeat, because my girlfriend at the time dragged me), he said that gays are going to hell, said that everyone in the city of New Orleans is going to hell because they practice witchcraft and sodomy, said that all American Indians (or Native Americans) are going to hell, said that all Democrats are going to hell, and said that any child who reads Harry Potter is going to hell. I fucking hate this guy.



Edited By MovieWes on 1204825860

[OscarGuy]

He waits until AFTER McCain clinches the nomination.

Como se dice "dumbfuck"?

Bush endorses John McCain for president By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - President Bush endorsed Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain on Wednesday, two bitter rivals from the 2000 presidential race joining together now in hopes of preventing Democrats from winning the White House this fall.

"John showed incredible courage, strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment and that's exactly what we need in a president — somebody who can handle the tough decisions, somebody who won't flinch in the face of danger," Bush said, appearing with McCain in the Rose Garden.

Bush's embrace of the Arizona senator as the party's next standard-bearer comes a day after McCain clinched the GOP nomination by getting the requisite 1,191 convention delegates. Republicans won't officially nominate McCain until early September at the GOP's national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

"A while back I don't think many people would have thought that John McCain would be here as the nominee of the Republican Party," Bush said. "Except he knew he'd be here and so did his wife, Cindy."

With his low poll ratings and an unpopular war on his shoulders, Bush could hurt McCain with some groups, while helping with others.

"If my showing up and endorsing him helps him — or if I'm against him and it helps him — either way, I want him to win," the president said. "This is an age-old question that every president has had to answer, and there is an appropriate amount of campaigning for me to do. But they're not going to be voting for me."

"They're not going to be voting for me," the president said. "I've had my time in the Oval Office."

"It's not about me," Bush said. "I've done my bit."

Bush gave McCain a big welcome at the White House, greeting him at the North Portico entrance usually reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries.

McCain showed up late and kept Bush waiting. The president whiled away the time by dancing and joking and laughing for the cameras.

McCain said he looked forward to campaigning with Bush at his side and said the president could be helpful in states such as Texas. Bush pledged to do whatever he could — even getting out of the way when that would help.

"I got a lot to do, but I'm going to find ample time to help," Bush said. "I can help raise him money, and if he wants my pretty face standing by his side at one of these rallies, I'd be glad to show up."

"But they're going to be looking at him. I'm going to be in Crawford with my feet up," Bush said. "He's going to be sitting in behind that desk making decisions on war and peace."

McCain said he had great respect and admiration for Bush.

"I intend to have as much possible campaigning events together as is in keeping with the president's heavy schedule," McCain said.

"I hope that the president will find time from his busy schedule to be out of the campaign trail with me, and I will be very privileged to have the oppoturnity of being again on the campaign trail with him."

McCain's Washington visit amounted to a victory lap of sorts after a bruising 16-month Republican presidential primary. He was visiting not only the White House he hopes to occupy but also the Republican National Committee headquarters that he essentially assumes control of now that he's the expected GOP nominee.

He was essentially laying claim to the entire force of the Republican Party apparatus as he plots his general election strategy and sets in motion his campaign — and that of the party — to keep a Republican at the White House helm.

For McCain, the general election campaign starts now even though Democrats still haven't chosen a candidate. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton continue a protracted battle for their party's nod, leaving McCain an opportunity to unify his party.

To that end, Bush's support sends a strong signal to GOP critics of McCain to fall in line.

The GOP's conservative base has resisted rallying around McCain, long viewing him skeptically for working across the aisle with Democrats on issues that the right flank detest.

Bush is the head of the Republican Party and he remains a well-liked figure with GOP rank-and-file. Thus, he could be an asset in raising money and rallying the GOP base for McCain.

However, his job performance rating is at a low point and he is unpopular with the general public.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1204743515

[Damien]

WILL AMERICAN VOTERS ELECT THE FIRST GAY VICE PRESIDENT IN NOVEWMBER?

By Bob Norman
Published: February 28, 2008


The rumors about Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the Green Iguana just wouldn't go away.

The story goes that the Florida governor frequented the Green Iguana, a bar in Tampa, back in the early 1990s when he was just starting his political career. He was less careful back then, people say, and during his partying at the Green Iguana, he was openly gay.

When I got Rick Calderoni, the bar's well-known owner, on the phone, I expected him to stonewall me about it.

He didn't.

Calderoni, who is gay, confirmed that Crist came into his bar quite often and that the two of them became friends.

Getting to the point, I asked him if he knew Crist to be gay.

"Yes," he answered bluntly. "I just wish he would come out and admit it. That would be a great thing if he did."

I asked Calderoni if he was certain that Crist is gay. He told me that Crist socialized with a gay clique of friends but conceded that he'd never actually seen Crist become intimate with another man.

So how can he be sure Crist is gay?

"The way he acted," Calderoni said.

How did he act?

Calderoni laughed and said, "Very feminine."

The Green Iguana owner then told me that he knew someone who could provide me more information and that he would have him call me. The call never came.

It wasn't proof. Just more circumstantial evidence that Florida's Republican governor is gay, a prevalent rumor in Tallahassee for years.

The topic may soon, however, get some national play. After helping to deliver Florida in the GOP primary, Crist is widely believed to be on the short list to become John McCain's nominee for vice president.

If he were to be chosen, imagine how interesting this presidential election would be. Not only would the American people be asked to vote for the first black president or female commander in chief, but, at least in terms of subtext, also the first gay vice president.

Are they ready for it? Do they even care?

Most voters will tell you they don't, that they couldn't care less about anyone's sexuality. Of course, they aren't telling the truth. Human nature demands that they at least be curious. But, absent a Jim McGreevy-/Mark Foley-/Larry Craig-type scandal, I don't think the issue would change an election. If anything, the buzz would only bring more intrigue to the candidate and possibly add to his support. Being boring is a lot bigger political sin than having sexual secrets in your closet. Americans knew full well that Bill Clinton was a poonhound before they elected him, didn't they?

Most Floridians had probably at least heard the rumors about Crist before they elected him governor. During the election, I reported about two male GOP staffers' boasts of having had affairs with Crist when he was running for governor in 2006. The stories burned across the internet and got a bit of play in the mainstream press. Crist won in a landslide anyway. Republicans homophobic? Not in Florida.

If McCain chooses Crist, it would be interesting to see how the voracious national press (as opposed to cautious Florida newspapers) would handle the issue. Would the New York Times put a small team of reporters on the story in an effort to dig up the truth?

I think so. Just last week, a writer with a major national magazine called me on the topic. He said he was doing a general piece about the recent spate of Republican outings and scandals, but the V.P. talk surely has given a bit of urgency to the project.

Finding the truth when it comes to Crist, though, is a slippery endeavor. For years, opposing candidates and private investigators have dug into the matter and found scintillating evidence. Just no proof.

My own efforts, as the Calderoni interview shows, have gone the same way. I began looking into the matter about 16 months ago, when a tipster in Fort Lauderdale told me that a young Republican aide had boasted to him at a dinner party that he was having an affair with Crist, who was then Florida's attorney general.

The tipster, who is gay, said he came forward because he found it terribly hypocritical that Crist opposed gay marriage and adoption by gay couples. Not to mention the whole pesky "living a lie" thing. I agreed, and before long, I had found numerous sources who said that GOP insiders Jason Wetherington and Bruce Carlton Jordan had boasted to them about romances with Crist.

Wetherington, who served as a regional director for Katherine Harris' U.S. Senate campaign and as a legislative aide for state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, denied that he'd had an affair with Crist (though, after I started asking questions, he was taken under the wing of Hollywood lawyer Todd Payne and moved to Georgia until the election was over. Payne, a real estate attorney, wouldn't comment).

Jordan's story runs a bit deeper. A member of the pioneering Crum family in Central Florida's Sumter County, he's a longtime Tallahassee political operator, a childhood friend of Harris', and a convicted felon. His most recent political title was executive director of the Florida Funeral Home Directors Association. It was in that capacity that he snagged Crist as a fill-in guest speaker for a convention after then-Gov. Jeb Bush suddenly canceled an event in 2003.

Two years later, Jordan was fired after it was discovered he'd stolen thousands of dollars from the association for personal vacations. He was also convicted of two theft-related felonies.

After his arrest, he went to his old friend Harris and asked if she needed a hand for her U.S. Senate campaign. She quickly hired him as her personal travel aide.

Then Jordan began telling other campaign workers about having a long-term romantic relationship with Crist, who was then running for governor. Among those he told was campaign pilot Jay Vass, who has worked for numerous GOP officials, including Jeb Bush, Tom Gallagher, and Crist himself.

What Jordan didn't know was that Vass was friends with Gallagher, who at the time was running against Crist in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Vass and his girlfriend, Dee Dee Hall, gave Gallagher sworn statements about Jordan's detailed admissions. Hall even sat down for a videotaped deposition, which I obtained, in which she said that Jordan had told her that Crist was undergoing counseling because he was so conflicted about the relationship.

Since reporting the stories, I have spoken with an ex-boyfriend of Jordan's, who said he too had heard of the affair. He told me that even before the affair allegedly began, Jordan boasted of his friendship with Crist. The ex-boyfriend, who traveled in Tallahassee political circles, said Jordan and Crist may have been introduced by a mutual friend named Jennifer Faga, a wealthy socialite from the Hamptons who owned land in Florida and who lived for a time in Tallahassee.

He said that Faga and Jordan both had crushes on Crist and that Jordan apparently won out. I contacted Faga on the phone and asked if she knew Crist.

"I'm going to say 'no comment' because I don't know what you're calling about," she said.

Then I asked her if she introduced Jordan to Crist.

"No comment," she said before hanging up.

Jordan's ex-boyfriend led me to a Florida lobbyist who he said knew more about Jordan's alleged affair with Crist. I called the lobbyist, who commented on the condition of anonymity. He said that Jordan was dating Crist through much of 2006. He said that Jordan shared details with him about what they did together and where they met (at Jordan's rented carriage house in Tallahassee's Southwood development).

He said he was with Jordan on several occasions when Crist would allegedly call. Jordan would tell him "It's Charlie" and then run off to meet him.

But the lobbyist never actually saw Jordan together with Crist. He said that, while he assumed his friend was telling the truth, he couldn't be sure. Jordan, he added, boasted about a lot of things he sometimes couldn't back up, and he turned out to be a thief.

Jordan, for all his blabbing, has been publicly silent on the issue. On both occasions that I reached him, the last time being last week, he quickly hung up on me. When I called Crist about Jordan and Wetherington before the election, he denied not only that he was gay but that he even remembered meeting either man.

So what does it all add up to? Well, one thing that is certain is that Jordan and Wetherington ran in rarefied Republican circles and told numerous people, in some detail, that they'd had romantic relationships with Crist.

I find it hard to believe that both of them were lying about it, but it's possible. Could be that Calderoni was mistaken about Crist as well. Maybe his gaydar was off. Weirder things have happened.

Oh, well. Nobody cares anyway, right?

[OscarGuy]

That is funny. I have to give them a bit of respect.

[Big Magilla]

Catholics United is not a loony fringe group like Bill Donahue's Catholic League or this Hagee nut who I had never heard of before.

Here's what Catholics United had to say about the equally loony Ann Coulter:

Attempting to weasel out of her latest PR-stunt gone awry, Ann Coulter has now set her sights on Catholics United. What an honor! I only wish that in addition to giving Coulter yet another soapbox for her backward views, the authors of today’s one-sided NewsMax piece had chosen to use a little bit more of the interview I gave.

Ms. Coulter can believe whatever she wants about her need for our Jewish brothers and sisters to “perfect” themselves by converting to Christianity. But when she crossed the line into suggesting that America would be better off if everyone were Christian, she defiled the very principles upon which this nation was formed.

As I told NewsMax last week, Catholics and Americans don’t just tolerate people of different faiths like we tolerate a crying child on a plane, we believe that having a society made up of Jews, Muslims, Christians - even Atheists - is what makes our country great.

I wonder if Ms. Coulter would be happier if she lived in a place that shares her disregard for religious diversity. I hear Iran is nice this time of year.

Chris Korzen
Executive Director
Catholics United

[OscarGuy]

Can't all these looney fringes get along? Sheesh. What's this world coming to?