Thursday, January 31, 2008

Another for Mitt: Mark Levin

It's no secret I'm probably in the top 5% most conservative of conservatives. That doesn't stop me from an extreme dislike of the Mark Levin Show on the radio. Basically, you take Sean Hannity, crank up the nasality, add a bunch of hyperbole and hyperventilation, and pile on a heaping helping of poorly crafted metaphors and juvenile puns. That's Mark Levin.

But Levin does, as other media conservatives appear to, have a good head on his shoulders, and is endorsing Mitt Romney. Are all these endorsements too little, too late? It's too bad they couldn't have come to the same conclusion a week earlier. Even so, it's another good development in the week leading up to Super Tuesday.

From Levin's statement:
Let’s face it, none of the candidates are perfect. They never are. But McCain is the least perfect of the viable candidates. The only one left standing who can honestly be said to share most of our conservative principles is Mitt Romney. I say this as someone who has not been an active Romney supporter. If conservatives don’t unite behind Romney at this stage, and become vocal in their support for him, then they will get McCain as their Republican nominee and probably a Democrat president. And in either case, we will have a deeply flawed president. [Emphasis added.]

Sean Hannity Voting for Romney

I was listening to Sean Hannity on the way home today. I have to say, I've never been much of a fan. Sure, I agree with him on most subjects, but I find his conversations less than insightful, more like a constant repeat of conservative talking points. But, it's either that, staticky NPR, or 24-7 traffic and weather.

Anyway, Hannity revealed that he's voting for Romney on Super Tuesday, which is significant since he has plenty of listeners that like him much more than I do. Now if only Rush would get off his duff and throw down as well.

On an unrelated note, Romney clearly won last night's debate--basically a two-man match with Huckabee and Paul becoming nothing more than significant than the former Air Force One that shared their background.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mormon President Passes

Gordon B. Hinkley, 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died at around 7pm this evening--old age being the cause.

It's not really all that surprising considering that Hinkley was 97 years old. Even so, the simple fact that he has been at the forefront of Church leadership for my entire life makes it feel strange. I'm sure he is delighted to be reunited with his wife, who died several years ago.

In my mind, Hinkley was one of those prophets who truly stands out in his generation.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

And the Detroit Circus Continues

Cirque du Soleil is coming to Detroit. That was pretty big news here during the last couple days. But once again, the circus that is Detroit city government has taken the spotlight.

Who is at the center of it this time? Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, of course. Yes, the guy who is ground zero for annual scandal--yet whom a moronic voting public continues to keep in office. From charges of wild stripper parties at the mayor's city-owned mansion to nepotism to misappropriation of resources, the story never seems to end.

Yesterday it was revealed that the good mayor lied under oath in last year's highly publicized trial where he was accused of firing cops who knew too much about his extramarital affair with his chief of staff. The cops won upwards of $9 million from the cash-strapped city for wrongful dismissal, though the mayor repeatedly denied under oath that he had had an affair.

So what appears yesterday? A bunch of text messages between the mayor and his lover, directly contradicting both their testimonies. And now they could each face up to 15 years in prison. It's no wonder people have long been saying that Detroit is run by thugs. It's hard to clean up a crime-infested city when the infestation starts at the top.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Unsung Service – the Mitt Way

Back in November 2007 Mitt Romney was making campaign stops in California, where his son Matt lives in Rancho Bernardo. Matt was taking him on a morning tour of the devastation from the recent wildfires, and ended up at his friend's house, which had sustained damage. From Matt Romney's blog:
I’ve been helping a friend of mine, Reed, whose house sustained damage in the fire. We’ve been working on removing a stump from a big tree in his front yard that burned down. My dad joined me and a few others (my co-worker, Greg, my uncle, Jim, and Reed) to put some more work into it.
No press. No news release. Just three unsung hours of hard labor for his son's friend before heading to an interview with Carl Cameron. And a short entry on a blog.

It's certainly not something worth campaigning on. But it does speak volumes to the character of the man in question.

(BTW, I was forwarded an email from the recipient of this service project, along with pictures. I'll post them as soon as I get permission to do so.)

UPDATE:
Got permission from the homeowner to post his email, given that I emphasize that it wasn't a staged media event. Here is an excerpt:

Remember that big pine tree right in the front as you walk out the front door? It pretty well got cooked in the fire. In fact Brian Brockbank, Steve Chidester, Chris Odenwalder and Jeremy Dixon cut most of it down the first day we were allowed back in the neighborhood. But the trunk and the stump was too much to handle that day. Last week a brother in the Del Sur ward sent me an email and said he and some others would like to do something to help. I told him that one of the things on my 'to- do' list was to remove a tree stump from my front yard, but it was a pretty big job! He said they wanted to come and do it. I reluctantly said OK, but, 'I do not expect you to really get it out because it is a big root. It has been there for over 20 years.' So he called me to confirm and said that they were coming at 7am on Wednesday morning and his DAD might come too. I decided to go to Los Primos and get some breakfast machaca burritos and orange juice for the crew coming to work on my stump..so I was late in arriving.

I drove in from Cabela because it gives me a better feeling entering our street as none of the homes at the top of Luz Pl were burned. As I drove up I looked and saw several men down in the hole around the tree. They were really going at it with power saws provided by the LDS Church . Then I got a Big Surprise. First I saw Matt Romney, then beside him with chain saw buzzing away was a candidate for President of the United States !!! You guessed it!! Matt Romney was there with his DAD, 'MITT ROMNEY', former governor of Massachusetts and republican presidential candidate. He was actually in Levi's and a blue T shirt and tennis shoes, with leather gloves and goggles.

He was really sawing away at my stump! Others who were there working were LDS Bishop Jim Davies, Greg Davis and 6 LDS Missionaries. Oh and I almost forgot the Secret Service bodyguards were nearby standing guard. The Mormon Missionaries were there because they have been reassigned to disaster relief projects all over San Diego where the fires burned. They got assigned by their leaders to come to our home at 11372 Luz Place that morning. There were no local news media. Mitt and Matt Romney were just being good neighbors helping neighbors.

Mitt was in Southern Calif for some meetings later in the day up in Riverside/San Bernardino. I can really tell that the Romney's know how to work and to work really hard. I looked over my shovel at one point and sweat was running down Mitt's face. When I suggested we stop for a breakfast burrito, I got a polite 'maybe later, gotta get this root out.' Mitt told me that this reminded him of taking out a stump on the ranch with his father. After it was too much his Dad (George Romney) said get some dynamite! Well, Mitt attacked that old stump, cutting as many of the big roots as he could until it was well time past for he and Matt to leave for their meetings up north.
And a couple photos that came with the email:






Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Prank Call to Romney...from Schwarzenegger

Nice use of the Ah-nold soundboard.

Thompson, Ledger Are Connected

For some relevant trivia to today's events, note that Fred Thompson and Heath Ledger have two degrees of separation in the movies:
Fred Dalton Thompson was in Feds (1988) with Rebecca De Mornay

Rebecca De Mornay was in Lords of Dogtown (2005) with Heath Ledger
By the way, each of these actors has a Kevin Bacon number of 2 as well.

Fred Thompson for President

There goes another one. Thanks for playing, Fred. Hope to see you soon back on Law & Order.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Add Nevada to the Mitt List

Friday, January 18, 2008

Bobby Fisher, 1943 - 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

From Deep Right Field - Coulter Endorses Romney

Characteristically caustic and coherent, Anne Coulter has thrown her support behind Mitt Romney. Her latest column highlights her specific reasoning. My favorite part:
One clue that Romney is our strongest candidate is the fact that Democrats keep viciously attacking him while expressing their deep respect for Mike Huckabee and John McCain.

This point was already extensively covered in Chapter 1 of "How To Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)": Never take advice from your political enemies.

Turn on any cable news show right now, and you will see Democratic pundits attacking Romney, calling him a "flip-flopper," and heaping praise on McCain and Huckleberry -- almost as if they were reading some sort of "talking points."

Who knows? Maybe other media influentials (i.e. Rush, Hannity, etc.) will come to the same conclusion. Because at this point, "Anybody but Hillary" just doesn't cut it.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

It's Out Of My Hands

Well, I worked the phones for a couple hours for the Romney campaign on Saturday, and this morning I was voter #4 in my precinct, so I've done just about all I can on my end here in Michigan. The rest is up to the remaining electorate – in whom I don't hold a lot of faith. I mean, they keep electing people in favor of more taxes in a depressed economy. Detroit City Council is a circus. The Michigan legislature is the embodiment of malaise. Not the most enlightened voters I've seen.

Will these people break from tradition and nominate a non-lame-o? We'll know tonight!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Romney Leads in Michigan

I spend a couple hours at the Mitt Romney phone bank yesterday, urging people to "get out the vote" (I've always hated the grammar of that statement). It was a new experience for me, and it was completely boring. The outbound telephone research I did while in college was more fascinating. Nevertheless, I must have made an impact, because the latest polls show Romney ahead of McCain in Michigan by five points.

The polling on the Republican side has been very accurate over the course of the primaries. Let's hope it holds!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Rush on Romney

Rush had an interesting answer today for the people who care to declare somebody (in this case, Mitt Romney) "finished" this early in the primary process.
Romney, by the way, you want to hear the delegate count after two states? On the Republican side, Mitt Romney, 24 delegates because he won Wyoming, which has as many delegates as New Hampshire. In number two the delegate race is Huckabee at 18, and number three is McCain, at ten, McCain, because of the margin of his victory in New Hampshire. So Romney, after three states, leads in delegates. Now, I know this is all going to change, but you can't come up and say, "Well, if he loses New Hampshire, he's out. If he loses Michigan, he's done." This is mindless! It's irresponsible! It's not even based in any kind of thought. It's just a bunch of individuals predicting things on one particular event after one particular event. This is not a momentum election, folks, this is important to understand. This is not a momentum election, because nobody has any momentum right now. The momentum shifts, we've had two states, we've had two sets of winners in both states. Where's the momentum? It's impossible to say that there is any momentum.
So Romney has the most Republican delegates so far. Doesn't sound like a bad position. If he can take Michigan, or even get another strong second, it sounds like he won't be much worse off than any other candidate. Just wait for Florida. That's when I think we'll start seeing a trend worth basing predictions upon.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Wyoming - Romney's Consolation Prize

Even if he lost Iowa to Huckabee, Mitt Romney took the Wyoming caucuses, easily securing six of its eight convention delegates. It's a little momentum he can use going into New Hampshire this week.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Glenn Beck is Funny

Glenn on the Iowa event.


It Ain't Over Yet

Yes, yesterday's Iowa caucuses were disappointing to Romney supporters around the country. But he's not dead yet – not by a long shot. As Romney heads into his next battle, the CNN article points out that "Iowa is no New Hampshire."

In Iowa, entrance polls of caucus-goers showed that 3 out of every 5 Republicans were self-described born again or evangelical Christians. Huckabee beat Romney by better than 2-to-1 in this voting bloc. Among the rest of Iowa's Republican electorate, however, Huckabee finished a distant fourth behind Romney, McCain and Fred Thompson.

In New Hampshire, social conservatives are not as influential. This potentially opens the door for Romney to regain the upper hand or for McCain to repeat his 2000 victory.
It's comforting to remember that even with all the media hype surrounding the Iowa event, many victories there are merely flashes in the pan. To win nationally, Huckabee will have to do a lot more than win over the "self-described born again or evangelical Christians."

Meanwhile, I bet Mitt's more worried about McCain, who won the New Hampshire primaries last time around.

Regardless of how it turns out, it's strange to think that in about a month, in all likelihood we'll know who the nominees will be. Then the fun will really begin.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year



A clean white slate for two thousand eight.