Romney @ MindSay

Romney has dropped out of the running.

This pretty much seals the deal for McCain....

I'm still pretty sick today.  Sick enough in fact that I'm skipping some class to rest and recover.  I was actually in my car, halfway to the school this morning, when I realized I just couldn't do it.  I turned around and came home.  There are a couple of rehearsals that I just can't miss later this afternoon, so I'll go over for those... but for now, I'm resting.  As I was hanging around the house this morning, I started browsing through headlines and saw this: "Romney, McCain call each other 'liberal'".  Now, I usually refrain from political commentary on this blog, but are you kidding me!?!  Is it any wonder that we continually have an incompetent, self-centered government in place in this country when our presidential candidates are resorting to third-grade, playground name calling?  Last week it was Obama and Clinton, and now this.  I imagine it went something like this:

Romney: "I'm going to win Florida and you're not!"
McCain: "Are not!"
Romney: "Am too!"
McCain: "Oh yeah!?  Well you're a... a... a... LIBERAL!!!"
Romney: "Takes one to know one, you LIBERAL!!!"
McCain: sticks his tongue out
Romney: runs home crying
etc.
etc.
ad nauseum

No good can come of this election.

Why is it that when I look at what the republican party has to offer almost every presidential election, all they're able to produce as a top candidate pick is a scary old white man?  Oh sure, there are exceptions.  George W. Bush can hardly be described that way.  He's more of the fratboy-in-denial-of-his-aging type.  But for the most part, the Democrats seem to be the only party that offers "diversity" candidates.  This primary season, the Democrats have a woman, an african-american, and a hispanic-american in the mix, while the republicans are just seeming to stick with the "old, rich, white man" formula.  Huckabee, Hunter and Romney are not that old, but still old-looking enough to count.  Guiliani looks like that one frightening grandpa of yours with horrendous teeth and stale, coffee breath.  Ron Paul, who is the only candidate I like on that side, John McCain and Fred Thompson are also quite up there in years.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the Republicans for this.  They did, after all, have Alan Keyes as a candidate in the 1996 primaries.  I realize that sometimes this is how it rolls.  My point is, though, the youngest-looking guy they have, Mit Romney, still has those J. Jonah Jameson racing stripes.  I look at this guy and half expect him to launch into a rant about how Spiderman is a vigilante menace who should be thrown into prison.

As much as I hate to make an early prediction, I think Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee.  Why?  Because he's young and good-looking.  If a black man with a muslim-sounding name can win an election in a mid-western bible belt state with a 97% white majority, I think he can win just about anywhere.  The Democratic ticket for '08 is going to be either Obama/Edwards or Edwards/Obama.  Clinton I don't think has a chance.  She doesn't have a chance because of the fact that she lacks charisma and she is a woman.  It's not that I don't think a woman could be president, it's just that I don't think women would vote for a woman president.  It may make me sound like a jerk but getting women to organize and come together in mass quantities on anything other than the safety of children is harder than herding cats.  Hilliary is simply not a likable candidate.  The way she carries herself comes across as arrogant, and her monotonous tone of voice makes it seem like she is completely devoid of emotion or conviction.

National polls have already confirmed that Hilliary would lose to a republican candidate, so the Democrats I think know that their only chance is an Obama/Edwards ticket.  It's risky, and edgy, totally out-of-character for the Democrats I know, but Obama still has a real shot at defeating any of the candidates on the other side, for one simple reason: he's young, and good-looking.

Every since the presidential process began to be televised, looks have been a top factor in deciding the commander-in-chief.  Starting with Kennedy vs. Nixon and every election since that pitted young against old; the young, good-looking guy has almost always beat out the curmudgeonly old man.  Clinton beat Bush in 1992, and then Bob Dole in 1996.

Personally, I think it's sad that only about 10% of voters actually vote on the issues.  Ask any right-wing evangelical what they like about Huckabee and you won't get a clear, specific response.  What you'll hear is a lot of hemming and hawing about how he "shares [their] values" or how "he's one of us."  You'll never hear anything about his policies, likely because most Huckabee supporters don't actually know what his policies are.  They just hear that he was an evangelical minister and they're off to blindly support him.

            Here’s a perspective on the U.S. elections that may not have occurred to many of us.  From the Jerusalem Post:

             

“When Arizona Senator John McCain took the stage the night before the first-in-the-nation caucuses to be held here Thursday night, he thanked several fellow senators who had joined him on stage to show their support. But then he also mentioned another senator - Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut - who wasn't present because he was campaigning for him in New Hampshire.

 

McCain promotes his alliance with Lieberman, an independent senator and Orthodox Jew who campaigned in 2000 as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, to show off his bipartisan credentials, and his reference to his ‘favorite Democrat’ before the conservative Iowa audience who had braved the cold to greet him elicited cheers. But those weren't the only Iowa voters pleased at the reference.

 

Iowa's statistically small but politically active Republican Jewish constituency has been pleased by McCain's relationship with Lieberman, among other things that have attracted them to the former naval aviator and POW.

 

McCain has never been expected to win Iowa, but his numbers have been creeping up following strong debate performances and endorsements by a string of newspapers, including the influential local Des Moines Register.

 

‘The fact that Lieberman affiliated with [McCain] brought him up with a certain quadrant of the Jewish community,’ said a Jewish leader in Iowa in explaining Jewish support for McCain.

 

A strong third-place showing behind Iowa frontrunners Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, the former governors of Massachusetts and Arkansas respectively, could help build momentum for McCain as he swings into New Hampshire, which will hold the first primary on Tuesday. He pulled ahead of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the latest Pew poll and is gaining strength in New Hampshire, where he trounced George W. Bush in 2000.

 

To do well, McCain needs support from groups such as Jews, who are more open to entertaining alternatives to Huckabee and Romney. Both have focused on faith and emphasized the importance of Christian values in their campaigns. Romney gave a landmark speech in which he defended religious freedom in America following attacks on his Mormon faith, referring to his belief that, ‘Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind’; Huckabee, who used to be a Baptist preacher, has run ads referring to his Christian credentials and often speaks on religious themes.

 

‘The candidates that are speaking a religious language are alienating to the Jewish population,’ said the Jewish leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

He described the issue of the separation of church and state as ‘the number one’ issue for the Jewish community, explaining, ‘A society that's [focused on] religiosity tends to overlook minorities, and we're a minority.’

 

McCain also said he supported the notion that America is a ‘Christian nation’ in an interview that raised Jewish ire, but has made religion less a focus of the campaign, and has in the past inflamed the evangelical community so supportive of Huckabee by calling some of their leaders ‘agents of intolerance’ and other slights.

 

Giuliani, a Catholic, has been the least focused of the top tier candidates on religion, but he opted not to campaign in Iowa and is expected to fare poorly. He is likely to get more support from Jewish Republicans than other Iowa constituencies, however, as they tend to be more moderate.

 

Bud Hockenberg, a long-time Jewish Republican activist in Iowa, would not discuss which Republican candidate would be most favored by Jews, noting that just about all of the competitors had backers.

 

He said, though, that Jewish voters were looking for candidates who are staunch supporters of Israel, had robust national defense priorities and were committed to fighting Islamic extremism. He estimated Jewish Republicans at about 30% of the Iowa Jewish community, consistent with the number nationally.

 

Hockenberg said that he personally would be strongly supporting whoever won the Republican nomination.”

 

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517292703&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Romney Is the Real Deal

 

n an effort to keep Mindsay balanced and well informed (;) )

I hereby present this information.

What you do with it is up to you!  :)

 

So ... so many to choose from, hmmm?