Ron Paul

Around the Web

Calvin Freiburger Carter, Church of Liberalism, education, environment, Hamas, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, intelligent design, Islamofascism, Obama, Prager, Ron Paul, vote fraud, Wisconsin
The Weekly Standard’s Matthew Levitt writes on the damage done by Jimmy Carter’s Hamas hobnobbing.
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Green funerals? Because you can’t take carbon credits with you when you go, I guess.
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Dennis Prager explains “How Liberals Lost a Liberal.”
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Debate advice for Barack Obama, courtesy of our friends at IMAO.
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Their crap candidate went nowhere, so now Ron Paul’s sheep are starting their own “gated communities” named after the Holy One. Coming up next: compounds?
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Overall, Ed Morrissey likes the new Ben Stein film on intelligent design and academic freedom, Expelled.
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Yet another activity you need photo ID to do in Wisconsin, aside from voting.

Around the Web

Calvin Freiburger border fence, Buckley, Coulter, Hollywood, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Iraq, McCain, national security, Obama, Ron Paul, treason, video games
The man, the myth, the legend: Ron Paul.
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The “first phase” of the so-called virtual fence will be delayed “for at least three years.” Here’s a simple idea: 1.) Big wall, 2.) Men with guns on wall. Voila! (Hat tip: Ol’ Broad)
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An argument for staying in Iraq from…Angelina Jolie?!
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John McCain’s legally ineligible to be president? (Uh, no.) Boy, Maverick’s goodwill with the Times sure didn’t last.
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Filthy British traitor George Galloway is at it again.
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Terrorist Solidarity Ribbons: and Hollywood wonders why we question their patriotism. (Hat tip: Conservative Grapevine)
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Ann Coulter pays tribute to William F. Buckley.
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“Barack Obama is a U.S. Senator from Illinois who enjoys nap time and finger painting. He is running for president.” Yeah, I really want this guy to defend the nation.
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Use the Force…sort of. New gaming technology reads signals directly from the player’s mind.

What Madness Is This?!

Calvin Freiburger 2008, abortion, conservatism, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Mike Huckabee, moonbats, Norma McCorvey, pro-life, RINOs, Ron Paul, stupidity, War on Terror
“Am I hallucinating?” Allahpundit asks, and if so, then so am I. Y’see, Duncan Hunter has thrown his support behind Mike Huckabee, specifically citing the border fence, national security, and character. Yes, we have just crossed over into the Twilight Zone. So much for Hunter’s much-touted conservative judgment (which I admit, I believed in as much as anyone).
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Unfortunately, he’s not the only one. Norma “Jane Roe” McCorvey is endorsing Ron Paul. I understand that Paul is ostensibly pro-life, but that doesn’t change the fact that A.) he’s a senile crank who doesn’t understand that America has enemies, and B.) he’s not going to be the president, and everybody knows it. McCorvey is a major figure in the right to life, with a compelling story, but I hate to see her call her judgment into question and marginalize herself like this.

Debate Reaction

Calvin Freiburger 2008, conservatism, Fred Thompson, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, McCain, RINOs, romney, Ron Paul
Didn’t we just do this?
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Deja vu aside, I’ve gotta admit that tonight was Fred Thompson’s night. Alert and on target, he stood out from the pack (plus, he gave Huck a much-deserved whuppin’). His performance didn’t by any means overcome his problems on the issues or his disingenuousness, so I still can’t support him in the primary. But the general? We could do far worse.
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My man Mitt did well tonight, and his suggestion that Ron Paul stop reading the Tyrant of Tehran’s press releases rocked. But he didn’t stand out, either. I think he’s trying to compete for the change banner a little too much (though, to be fair, it’s not a new thing for him – he’s always framed himself as the Mr. Fix-It candidate). Just show us the Mitt Romney that blew away CPAC 2006 and delivered “Faith in America,” and there’s no contest.
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John McCain and Rudy Giuliani gave passable, but unremarkable performances. Rudy’s lucky social issues weren’t on the docket, and McCain rightly noted that we don’t trust DC to solve immigration – leaving out the fact that he’s one of our main reasons, naturally.
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The knives were out for Mike Huckabee tonight, and he didn’t handle it well. Did he raise taxes? “What I raised was hope.” Bah. He’s a phony, and on stage he sounded like it. It’s telling that the only time he looked strong was in comparison to Ron Paul (on Israel).
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Speaking of Rabid Ron, why was he even invited (aside from his trademark court jester role)? Did he pout too much about the last one? His foreign policy is disastrous, he flirts with anti-America-ism, and he comes across as an unstable coot. Maybe he was just there to artificially raise everyone else’s stature by comparison. Lame.

GOP Debate Reaction

Calvin Freiburger 2008, conservatism, debate, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Huckabee, romney, Ron Paul, Tancredo
I caught most, but not all (missed the first ten minutes or so), of tonight’s debate. A few thoughts:
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Mitt Romney: A good performance. His gay marriage answer was OK, but I’ve heard him deliver it more eloquently. The rest of his answers came off confident and conservative, and his exuberance in response to “Can Hillary be president?” will likely go over well.
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Rudy Giuliani: Another strong performance overall, but there was one very interesting tidbit. Hizzonor reiterated that he doesn’t support the Federal Marriage Amendment, but then said if judges did start imposing same-sex marriage on the states, he would support it. He says this has always been his stance, but I’ve never heard it before. But Rudy would never change his positions for political expediency, would he? Of course not.
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Fred Thompson: He was awake, and actually had a bit of spark tonight. I think he represented himself well, and his answer about education was especially strong. But his spin on the Planned Parenthood lobbying story was disgraceful. First, he made a distinction between “private practice & public service.” What’s your point—as long as you vote the right way, you’re entitled to make money by helping the bad guys when you’re off the clock? No acknowledgment whatever that what he did was wrong; in fact, he dismissed the whole thing as “Planned Parenthood is now attacking me over this because I’m their worst nightmare.” As some of his thugs just helped me demonstrate, Thompson’s full of it. He should be ashamed of himself.
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John McCain: Good (if futile) performance. I especially thought his line about seeing the letters “KGB” in Vladimir Putin’s eyes was phenomenal. But his claim to be a “consistent conservative”…consistently maverick (read: wrong) on a whole host of oft-cited issues. And his observation about the lack of a GOP majority in Congress; now why do you suppose that is, Amnesty John?
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Sam Brownback: GONE. Good riddance.
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Mike Huckabee: Very polished, and some good one-liners, as usual (especially about the aging hippies & drugs), but seemed to have a problem with answering questions directly.
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Ron Paul: Still demented.
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Duncan Hunter: Not as good as his early debates. He too had a bit of a problem with direct answers.
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Tom Tancredo: Okay performance, and he had some good conservative reminders for the crowd. Still a waste of airtime, though, as are Hunter, Paul, Huckabee & McCain.

Fred Fakes

Calvin Freiburger blogosphere, Frank J, Fred Thompson, humor, IMAO, Internet, moonbats, Ron Paul, stupidity
Liberalism comes in many shapes—most of them putrid—but occasionally one comes across a lefty endeavor so stupid, so unconvincing and so pathetic that you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor saps who conjured it up.
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Welcome to the Fred Thompson Forum, a website that, on the surface, appears to be a forum for Fred Fans to talk up & about their candidate. But after an approximately 5-second investigation, it’s clearly anything but.
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Here’s how Frank J. describes it:
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There seems to be a bunch of posters pretending to be ignorant “neocons” who support Fred Thompson (with over the top names like I LOVE HANNITY and Neocon4Fred), while links and facts to Ron Paul are casually put into the discussion and his supporters are made to seem sane in comparison. The biggest tell is that’s theres a poll up about whether Fred Thompson can beat Ron Paul, and Fred Thompson is losing — on a supposed Fred Thompson fan site.
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Plus, the reader who alerted me to this said he actually had all his sane posts about Fred Thompson removed. So the whole point of the site is to make Fred Thompson supporters look stupid while pushing them to Ron Paul… except I doubt anyone who isn’t already a Ron Paul supporter is dumb enough to fall for it.
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Then again, this is actually one of the more clever things those weenies have done — certainly more clever than the poll spamming. It’s like a dog figuring out how to work a doorknob. Any toddler can do it, but, for a dog… wow.
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Too funny…

GOP Round 3: Full Impressions

Calvin Freiburger 2008, CNN, conservatism, debate, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Gilmore, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Huckabee, McCain, romney, Ron Paul, Tancredo, Tommy Thompson
Now that I’ve had the chance to give the full Republican debate a listen, I’ve got some impressions (I’ll start with the lower tiers just for fun):
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Ron Paul: He only seemed sane because he wasn’t asked about the war as much. But I hear Mike Gravel is looking for a running mate…
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Tommy Thompson: Pi-ti-ful.
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Mike Huckabee: I’ve been surprised at how well he’s carried himself, and Round 3 was no exception. Not amazing (especially when mixing up Reagan’s birthday & anniversary of death), but a good performance. Too bad it’s all for naught.
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Sam Brownback: “Three-state political solution,” “comprehensive reform,” blah blah blah. No thanks.
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Tom Tancredo: Blunt talk, but pretty unpolished. His biggest flaw, though, is that he doesn’t get it on Iraq. Congressman, this war is about preventing the jihadists from becoming Iraq’s dominant force, which would have disastrous ramifications beyond her borders—not merely what the Iraqis will make of our sacrifice. But he definitely had the ‘whoa’ moment of the night when he said, as President, he’d have no choice but to ask George W. Bush not to “darken the door” of his White House. No arguments here.
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Jim Gilmore: I’m sorry, but who are you again?
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Duncan Hunter: Another job well done. If we were to totally throw away the “who can win” factor, Hunter would be my man, hands down (if only Hunter had been the guy to trade DC for Hollywood for a few years!). But he’s gotta be in the running for VP. At 58 years old, he’d be in a pretty darn good position after 8 years of a good conservative White House. (I was disappointed that he didn’t give Scooter Libby’s plight its proper consideration, though.)
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John McCain: I liked his answer about the disastrous alternatives to the troop surge, plus his line about making pork spenders “infamous.” Overall, McCain has managed to lock down the tone issue of his past performances—instead of angry & unhinged, he came across as passionate, confident & in control. Too bad this development comes on the heels of Amnestygate.
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Rudy Giuliani: An interesting show. Once again his abortion answer was indefensible (I’d think long & hard about that lightning, pal), and while his immigration answer was carefully worded to sound harsh, his only beef is with identification—no concern whatsoever for the fence, for the effects of amnesty, etc. But I have to admit I was surprised at how much his answers about the war impressed me. In none of Rudy’s past speeches, TV appearances, etc., have I seen the fiery leader others are smitten with. Last night was the first time I saw a hint of man who takes this fight seriously. He also gets points for his Libby defense. So can you count me among the smitten? Not by a long shot. I still can’t respect Rudy Giuliani the man, and I still believe Rudy Giuliani the nominee will have devastating effects on the party, movement & nation. Hear me, conservatives: THIS MAN MUST BE STOPPED (by the way, did you notice my Stop Rudy sidebar?). But if worse comes to worse, what about Rudy in a general election? He’ll have to do a lot more than this to show me that his terrorism and free-market answers aren’t just a repeat of his immigration answer: all style, no substance.
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Mitt Romney: Well done, but not without a few bumps in the road. What I liked: terror remarks, Libby answer, “I’m not going to apologize for becoming pro-life,” the perfect answer to the Mormon question, immigration sentiments, the “three-pillared stool” analogy for the Republican coalition (free markets, strong defense, & family values), and lip service to ANWR drilling. Not so hot: I bet some viewers will still be understandably-unsure how his healthcare plan differs from Hillarycare, his answer about oil company profits was unclear (I won’t contest his grasp of where they’d be best spent, but you’re not talking about government forcing them to spend their own money a certain way, are you?), and any 6-year-old could’ve told Team Romney that running Spanish ads would come back to bite ‘em before long.
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BONUS CANDIDATE—Fred Thompson: He’s got an appealing demeanor, and I applaud his answer about Libby (even better than Rudy’s & Mitt’s). But did anyone else in the “conservative alternative” crowd notice how weak his abortion answer was? But Fred’s biggest flaw was that his sparring partner was Sean Hannity—not the ten men who, whatever else may be said of them, have dived into the fray and put their reputations on the line in three debates so far. Besides Fred’s other conservative deficiencies (McCain-Feingold, impeachment, etc.), doesn’t anyone else find his lateness in declaring just a bit smarmy? (Apparently not.)

Second GOP Debate

Calvin Freiburger 2008, conservatism, debate, Fox News, Gilmore, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Huckabee, McCain, romney, Ron Paul, South Carolina, Tancredo, Tommy Thompson
UPDATE: Full video here. UPDATE 2: Is it just me, or was the subject of Iran conspicuously absent last night?
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My random thoughts as I watch:
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It seems Fox News is running a far-less scattered debate than the first one: Down-the-line questions focusing on the distinctions between each candidate.
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Iraq: Tommy completely dodged the question on how he could force the democratically-elected government to adopt his proposals, instead going into his preprogrammed speech; Hunter is an impressive candidate, but his shot at the others’ lack of military experience was a low blow; Brownback’s “togetherness” angle was lame.
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Good lines: McCain’s “I never met a drunken sailor with the imagination of the spenders in Congress,” and Huckabee’s “spending like John Edwards at a beauty salon.”
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“Which programs would you cut?” Tommy: Incoherent.
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Uncle Ron Paul: he’d get us all killed, but I can’t really fault his sweeping approach to cutting bureaucracy.
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Tancredo: plenty of the Republicans we hear have themselves moved to expand government. Correct.
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Rudy: “First of all, ‘Rudy McRomney’ wouldn’t be a bad ticket.” OK, not a bad line. Still doesn’t change the lameness of his (also-preprogrammed) list of talking points.
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McCain: “Bipartisanship…blah blah blah…”
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Romney: Good line about Massachusettes being “so blue you can’t tell if it’s black.”
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I’d have to hear his answer again (got distracted by another blog), but did Tommy try to play both ends of the road on embryonic stem cells?
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Huckabee: “We value one life as we value all,” as opposed to Islamofascist “culture of death.” Bravo, Governor. Props to Brownback as well, for his answer on rape abortions.
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Mitt didn’t really answer the abortion question directly. Come on, you can do better. Mitt on immigration: liked the sentiment, but more specific, please.
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McCain: in rebuttal to Romney, ignored the critique of his legislation & instead played the flip-flop card. Smarmy.
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Giuliani on immigration: does this man even know how to speak in anything other than soundbytes?
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Ron Paul talking up conservatism’s non-interventionist history we’re supposed to return to. Guess what, Ron? Something happened. It’s called world war. And now 9/11 is our fault?
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Credit where credit is due: Rudy blasting Ron Paul for his 9/11 line. Bravo, Mayor. But asking for another 30 seconds seemed just a bit much.
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Romney: great answer about preventing terroism, Gitmo & keeping terrorists from US lawyers, but I’d like to know what he thinks the difference between “enhanced interrogation” and “torture” is.
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Duncan Hunter: Simply “get the information.” I agree.
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My reaction to McCain on torture: you think terrorists are gonna be nicer to American captives if we’re nicer to jihadis prisoners? What planet are you on?
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Tancredo: If a nuke goes off in America, I’m lookin’ for Jack Bauer. Indeed.
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Best performances: Huckabee & Hunter. Mitt comes in third (not as strong as the first time around), and everyone else has generally been kinda “eh,” save the highlights I’ve noted. Having all these guys on together is kind of an interesting contrast, but come on: next time, just have Giuliani, McCain & Romney on. That’s the only real choice we have.
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(Oh, and I’m just curious: y’think the commercials are there to give Tommy bathroom breaks?)

First Republican Primary Debate

Calvin Freiburger 2008, conservatism, debate, Duncan Hunter, Giuliani, GOP, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, McCain, Ron Paul, Tancredo, Tommy Thompson
Full video here. Best performances: Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, & Duncan Hunter. John McCain did well, though the almost-angry tone that soared talking about the war seemed a little odd in other places (vowing to follow Osama bin Laden “to the gates of Hell” was a great touch, but his smile afterward was just creepy). The rest of the candidates were fair…except for Tommy Thompson & Ron “Kos-wing-of-the-party” Paul. Just go home, you two. Please.
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Some points of interest:
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One of the things the three who impressed me most managed to do was work in issues that were otherwise on the back burner: for instance, Mitt worked a McCain-Feingold jab into a pro-life answer, Hunter’s now-famous “Yes, and let me use the rest of my time on Iran” answer to “Are you a compassionate conservative?,” and Tancredo getting in immigration repeatedly.
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When asked about churches who ex-communicate pro-choicers, Romney turned the tables on the Left by noting that, thanks to the separation of church & state, churches have the freedom to do what they want. Overall he was passionate, optimistic, & confident; and several have noticed (even Savage?!).
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Tancredo had some nice moments, such as calling Roe v. Wade’s hypothetical overturn “the greatest day in American history,” calling for the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, and noting that their host, the Reagan Library, was in honor of a man who was not a centrist.
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Giuliani may have know the difference between Sunni and Shia, but offered little to match the hype (especially not Michael Medved’s ridiculous description of him as “Reaganesque”). Certainly not his “eh, whatever” reaction to Roe’s future fall. Weak.