“Innovation and transformation have been at the heart of America’s success from the very beginning. And if there were ever a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now.” Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney officially enters the 2008 race on the Republican side. Regarding his own “innovation and transformation” in recent years, “Romney has substantially evolved on social matters…tilting away from supporting gay and abortion rights toward a more conservative stance on both.” Funny how that seems to happen.
Category: The GOP Primary
Brownback to the Future?
“Search the record of history. To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation. To embrace Him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.” Not to be outdone over on the Republican side, right-wing GOP Senator Sam Brownback throws his hat in the ring as well. From what I’ve seen of Brownback, which isn’t much other than a few Sunday show appearances, he seems like the scariest kind of cultural and religious conservative — a smart and articulate one. (And, to his credit, Brownback has tried to add such important issues as prison reform and AIDS awareness to the usual catalog of medieval social positions held by the religious right.) The McCain team would do well not to underestimate him.
‘Til the Last Cat Dies.
“In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008.” Americans — and Sam Brownback — rejoice (and the stray cats of Tennessee lament) as former Majority Leader Bill Frist announces he won’t be running for president in 2008. Now he can delve full-time into his favorite hobby: cutting things…
Hail to Hizzoner?
First Vilsack, then McCain…Now Rudy Giuliani looks to be throwing his hat in the 2008 ring. But is the GOP base really of a New York state of mind? Somehow, I’d doubt it.
Formerly Known as the Straight-Talk Express.
Is the McCain Train leaving the station? ABC News seems to think so, although they may be jumping the gun a bit here.
McCain’s Chicanery.
“Sen. John McCain has skidded his Straight Talk Express off the highway into a gopher’s ditch of slime.” As Dubya rejects bilateral talks with N. Korea, Slate‘s Fred Kaplan puts the lie to John McCain’s recent attempt to carry water for the Bushies on the Korean nuclear issue. “McCain’s version of history goes beyond ‘revisionism’ to outright falsification. It is the exact opposite of what really happened.“
Dubyamesticated.
“He’s no longer offering himself as the alternative to Bush. Now he’s positioned himself as Bush’s heir, a turnaround that makes some people, including McCain sometimes, more than a little uncomfortable.” In their Sunday magazine, the WP surveys the sad primary-induced transformation of John McCain from mythical maverick to Dubya stalwart.
Chum in the Water.
“My guess is that something will pass this year. In the end, no one wants to be against decency in an election year.” In order to increase his standing among social conservatives and protect his right flank for those all-important 2008 primaries, Catkiller Frist has started angling for a strict broadcasting indecency bill. The bill “would increase indecency fines on broadcasters and threaten to take away their licenses after three violations.”
Wishful thinking dept.?
“The Bull Moose has temporarily turned into a performing elephant. But the Moose will be back — around March 2008, if everything goes according to plan.” As much of the press hammers John McCain for his blatant re-positioning maneuvers of late, Slate throws a lovefest of sorts for the mythical maverick today, with Jacob Weisberg arguing he’s really a TR progressive and John Dickerson promoting him as the happy crusader. I’ve used this line before, but it fits to a tee. Given McCain’s frequent bouts of water-carrying for the Dubya administration, my view of the Senator’s vaunted independence — until proven wrong — is the same as Sen. George Norris’ take on his progressive colleague William Borah, who indulged a similar maverick reputation back in the teens, twenties, and thirties: He only “shoots until he sees the whites of their eyes.”
The Senate Uprooted.
“There is no issue outside of civil rights that brings out the kind of emotions we have seen.” After a weekend of significant grass-roots protest further suggests the political perils of immigration reform for both parties, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes 12-6 to support a bill by Senators Kennedy and McCain that promotes the more moderate Dubya-backed vision of reform, such as a guest-worker program, over that of the hardline GOP border-security crowd such as Frist and Tancredo. “A confrontation between the Senate and House Republicans now appears inevitable.“