Letters to the Editor
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What a day!!
Republicans are going to win this thing. I am sure of it now.
The Christian Right, so critical to the success of the Republican Party had effectively asserted itself. The party brass will have to see this, ergo Guliani is toast and Romney will have to bow to them if he wants to succeed.
The Democrats proved last night that they are still in denial. We are winning the war. The economy is the most powerful in history...deficit falling, GNP rising, interest rates and unemployment bouncing of zero.
The Republicans will win this...they will appoint the next 2 Supremes. Then the social issues will continue to move in the right direction and will continue for a generation.
Conservatism has been on the march for the last 30 years and, a few bumps in the road aside, still continues its forward march. What a day!
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Good article
I thought that this was an insightful and interesting analysis.
I don't believe for a moment that Barak Obama will be the democratic candidate. Iowa represents a tiny fringe of the party, and his candidacy in the south, the west, and the northeast is doomed. Democrats are hungry for victory, and they aren't going to waste their time with a precocious upstart with little legislative experience and no foreign policy experience.
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Iowa is nutty
The Right in Iowa loves loony fundamentalists, as it's choice of Huckabee last night & Pat Robertson 4 yrs ago demonstrates. The money conservatives will thank them for their votes & then steer the candidacy back toward a 'proper' money republican by the end of the primary. Business as usual.
Obama's victory is good news for Edwards. Democrats can be extremely idealistic in early primary states, but ultimately they will cave out of fear of losing the general election. This time around the fear will be that no Red State will ever vote for a black candidate. That (justifiable) fear won't lead them to turn to the only woman on the ticket, no matter how ready she is. The Dems will cave & turn instead to the straight, white, anglo, male candidate as always. So much for idealism.
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Saltypappy
Just...wow. I knew the Repubs were not exactly realistic, but just...wow.
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I was watching Faux news last night. . .
And it was clear that the Republican spokespods were shocked that their boy Mitt didn't win (and also as amusing as hell). Why they were so shocked, I'm not sure. The Republican party has been courting Christian evangelicals for at least a couple of decades now. It comes as little surprise that, when given the chance to vote for one of their own who, unlike Bush, has actually read the Bible, they'd come out for him in droves. Plus, Huckabee is charming, has a sense of humor, and speaks and interviews well, which is more than can be said for Mitt, who comes off as nothing so much as a pompous stuffed shirt.
If McCain can pull off a decent victory in New Hampshire, and Huckabee can win again in evangelical friendly South Carolina, then Romney is toast. All the money in the world won't buy him the nomination.
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Congrats to Mr. Huckabee
Seriously, I'm glad he spanked Romney and the rest so severely.
However, I still firmly hold the belief that Evangelism + Governance = Doom for our nation.
My apologies, but I'm going to be getting up on a soapbox here:
There is no place in our government for anyone's religion, or lack thereof. There was never intended to be. That the GOP still is beholden to the religious political "conservatives" simply demonstrates that it is not fit to govern.
Now I know a lot of religious people (specifically the ones who call themselves 'Christians') are now going to say something like "What, we don't get a voice in our democracy?", but that's a disingenuous argument. Of course everyone gets a voice. Our democracy was built specifically to allow everyone a voice in how we are governed - but it was also built to specifically remove religion from the equation. Whether you're Hindu, Shinto, Christian, Buddhist, whatever, should not matter.
What it comes down to is that your judgment should be informed by your faith, not defined by it.
So that said, my message to all the Evangelicals reading this - you're welcome to believe what you want, but be aware that the Constitution of the United States was written to specifically forbid you from using the government of this country as a vehicle for your Evangelism. You can use other paths, but if you keep trying to get the government to spread your story, you will either destroy this country, or your cause itself will be destroyed, or both. History should be your biggest clue here: religion has always ended up as an abusive and corrupt taint when mixed with government.
Ignore that history (particularly the most recent seven years' worth) at your own risk.
T
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beware Huckabee
He's as charming and slick as they come, can effectively downplay the importance of his faith when needed, and has crafted enough "populist" cred to draw away independents from whoever gets the Democratic nod -- especially Hillary (who's far from out of it, I'm afraid to say). The only thing standing in the way of him getting the GOP nod is the business wing of the party's refusal to accept him -- and even that will fall away if he can manage to remain competitive in New Hampshire and Florida.
If there's one thing the GOP likes it's one of their own winning, even if that candidate isn't one of their hand-chosen golden boys. And when it comes down to it, I'm sure the party apparatchiks think they can control Huckabee enough to get what they want.
Witness his national sales tax proposal -- that's right out of the Grover Norquist playbook. It's also patently insane -- this is a consumption-driven economy, and you're gonna heavily tax consumption?! -- but a quick glance at the last seven years proves that insanity is no deterrent to rightwing ideology and the money that supports it.
If Huckabee keeps winning -- and the weakness of his competitors indicates he certainly can -- it's only a matter of time before that money reluctantly lines up behind this so-called "Republican populist." And once they invest their money, they will see a return on their investment, you can bet on that. So dismiss him at your own peril.