The New York Times endorsed John McCain for the Republican nomination:In 2006, however, Mr. McCain stood up for the humane treatment of prisoners and for a ban on torture. We said then that he was being conned by Mr. Bush, who had no intention of following the rules. But Mr. McCain took a stand, just as he did in recognizing the threat of global warming early. He has been a staunch advocate of campaign finance reform, working with Senator Russ Feingold, among the most liberal of Democrats, on groundbreaking legislation, just as he worked with Senator Edward Kennedy on immigration reform. Why not just hang a lead weight around the McCain campaign? Well, say no more. The Old Gray Lady is for the "maverick" Arizona Senator, which gives … [Read more...]
Mitt for President
Sadly - but arriving with an increasing sense of inevitability - Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race to be our next President. A classy departure worthy of an honorable man who ran an honorable, if less than inspirational, campaign. Most telling is his lack of endorsement: a non-endorsement that has to hurt John McCain. Yes, my predictions for South Carolina clearly were wrong, altogether too much made from the heart rather than the head. I'm not ashamed of holding out hope for Fred while hope was still there. Nor should my blogger friend Steven be ashamed of holding out hope for his man Huck (though we disagree on his candidacy). I share the sentiments of Dr. Rusty Shackelford at The Jawa Report (H/T Hugh Hewitt):Dear fellow … [Read more...]
Romney Wins, Now What?
Mitt Romney recorded an impressive win in the Michigan primary tonight. Hats off to him. Now here's hoping that Fred Thompson surges back to take South Carolina and Rudy makes a comeback with a Florida victory. It will drive all the pundits mad, simply mad - especially those in the MSM beginning to mourn McCain's demise. Can you imagine it? The phrase "Republican frontrunner" will set off unending fireworks on all the cable news programs. So should the word "momentum," which professional and amateur prognosticators appear to have put too much stock into this far. Huckabee's Iowa win got him what? Back-to-back third-place finishes. And McCain went from one week as the New Hampshire darling to badly beaten in Michigan the next. So who … [Read more...]
Brief Iowa Postmortem
Update: Other members of the Rocky Mountain Alliance have weighed in: The Daily Blogster Best Destiny Exvigilare Thinking Right And one from another great conservative Colorado blogger: Slapstick Politics I have neither the time nor the inclination to weigh in on all the vast amounts of political analysis following yesterday's Iowa caucuses (or as Red State colorfully put it, the Hawkeye Caucii). But I will observe how troublesome it is for our nation and its two great political parties that (a little more than 6+ years after 9/11) last night's winners - Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee - are the respective Democrat and Republican candidates most unqualified in matters of foreign policy and most unserious about national security … [Read more...]
Tancredo’s Romney Endorsement Suggests Future Political Plans
As expected, Rep. Tancredo officially has bowed out of the presidential race, and is endorsing not Fred Thompson but Mitt Romney. Since Romney is favored by many of the state's leading Republicans, this tells me that Tancredo has his eye on running for office again in 2010. Conventional wisdom is that he will plan to take on Senator Ken Salazar. How far Tancredo's endorsement of Romney will go in corralling the necessary support for a Senate campaign remains to be seen. But it certainly cannot hurt. … [Read more...]