First Mike Huckabee's de facto VP candidate Chuck Norris calls John McCain too old and adds that he might not live very long.
I beat his North Vietnamese captors thought the same thing.
Then Mike Huckabee tries and fails to round up the pro-secession vote by bringing up a settled issue over the Confederate Battle Flag ( if you don't know the difference read this Christopher Hitchens article that will be sure to add fuel to the fire) in a blatant appeal to divide people.
Oh, I almost forgot his "this is the negative ad I am not running stunt".
( turns out he was actually running the ad.)
Is it time to put him up there with Romney for the award as running the most negative campaigns?
Many people will point out that other candidates hit hard too. I agree, but the difference is that Mike Huckabee claims he isn't like the rest of them.
John McCain looks older than his age partially because of serious injuries he obtained fighting for our nation. To attack him for his age seems crass. It would have been better to have him as president when he was eight years younger but we got W. instead. Voters will judge if they seem his as fit for the job but raising it as an issue should be above Huckabee's campaign.
I don't see a realistic path to the nomination for Huckabee. John McCain's best hope is that conservatives don't stop him by rallying around one candidate like Mitt Romney. it would almost seem like Thompson and Huckabee are supporting McCain. Do any of you see a way Huckabee pulls this out?
I think the race is now between John McCain, Mitt Romney, and to a lesser degree Rudy Giuliani ( losing delegate race to Ron Paul).
Do you think it is time we start calling Mitt Romney ( most delegates) and John McCain ( higher in polls) front runners? They need to have a battle of ideas for the future of the country without the distractions of marginal candidates.
( Instead of appealing to the worst in people, like believing in bigotry filled e-mails, we should support a candidate that appeals to the best in us.)
Way I see it, the GOP has the unenviable job of getting enough voters to the polls in November to prevent a wipe out in the House & Senate. I dont think the White House is as important to them as is maintaining the means to block Dem legislation. So their job is to NOT alienate religious conservatives, political conservatives and social conservatives so much so that they'll stay home in Nov.
My guess is that GOP leaders fear what may happen to the religious vote if Romney is the nominee, they'll probably have a hard time justifying Huckabee to the social conservatives and though they may not embrace him with a smile but the political conservatives will probably NOT stay away from the polls just to spite McCain (they'll place congressional seats above ideology). I'm thinking the GOP will stiffen up and get behind McCain as the best (or least-worse) choice for the Party.
I saw on the news yesterday that a Vietnam vet is accusing McCain of selling out POWS in Hanoi. I wonder if there is any truth behind it.
Brian:
Do you agree with Hitchens on journalism's AWOL on this?
Is this the "base" Republicans need to win? Along with the Minute Men?
There has been talk that McCain's father, Commander of the USNs Mediterranean Fleet, pressured Washington to have his POW son transferred to Hanoi's top hospital to care for his extensive wounds. Contact with the Hanoi regime would have been handled by neutral diplomatic officials, not US personnel. Any story of McCain selling out POWs is probably a SwiftBoat-type effort.
McCain is an American hero, Chuck Norris is an actor that plays a hero on TV, what a poser. Norris should be ashamed!
I'm voting for McCain! I would bet on McCain's mom against Norris on the mat!
McCain is the real deal. I like Chuck Norris, but he should go back to selling the Total Gym.
I'm sure you guys all know that if you don't vote for Huckabee Chuck Norris will personally come to each and every one of your houses and snap you like a twig!
Chuck Norris is washed up 68 year old "action" star.
He should stop attacking American heroes.
Everybody thinks it's cute when a minister like Mitt Romney makes comments like "where to stick the poll" in regards to the Confederate flag issue. When they are behind the pulpit they get a big cheer and the donations flow into the Church out of the ignorance and self-righteousness of the followers.
These comments by pastors or ministers do not glorify Jesus. These comments do not praise God. They are said to glorify the person saying them. They want that cheer from the crowd for themselves not for the Lord. These political religious figures are false prophets and the Republican false prophets eat it up.
Goodness me, who's this whacko?
Mike Huckabee, not Mitt Romney is the former church leader.
Now get back to your 2 minutes of hate.
Chuck Norris is still old.
Speak of the devil!
Our resident blog psychologist Mongo Flamo with another diagnosis!
If I made the comment Chuck Norris made in the course of employment I would be vulnerable to a age discrimination lawsuit.
If this is an example of the decision making abilities of Huckabee it's a real big red flag.
If Huckabee was around during Biblical times he would have told Moses he was too old to climb mountains.
Bottomline is that all the GOP Presidential candidates are losers! If you like what is happening in the stock market and at the gas pump vote for anyone of these GOP losers and you will keep getting it, if you know what I mean!
Certainly it should be obvious to all that the neocon theories of governance are just that, theories. The net of the past eight years of neocon application and Republican governance resulted exactly like they did the last time they got their hands on the reigns of power: financial fraud, ruin, excess, war, vast enrichment of the ultra wealthy at the expense of the middle class, and a degradation of the social safety net together with respect and funding for science and art. It's always the Democrats who have to clean up after the mess created by the Republicans, you would think that the public would recognize this by now.
The constant denial of Global Warming and its consequences has proven to be a bankrupt policy as well, although there are still random ideologues positing their own Oil-company funded research. Maybe politicizing the environment and demonizing the green movement wasn't such a good idea after all. We could have had eight years of progress towards alternative fuels under our belts now if we hadn't handed the keys to a couple of oil men with war industry ties.
Bottom line, no matter who the Republicans put up, the effect of their hypocritical moral stands that they trot out every two years to try to get votes, and the constant fearmongering just aren't working like they used to. You can only hide the naked statue with drapery for so long; people still remember what it looks like.
Whoever ends up the Republican nominee, they are more the sacrificial lamb this time around. So the question is really "Do we really care"?
Check out McCain's website. Here is a video which begins with him in a body cast, being questioned by the North Vietnamese. He was 31 years old.
I like his politics, and I'm in awe of his bravery. Mac is the Man!
http://www.johnmccain.com/bvid/
Hey, nobody, the interesting part about it is Huckabee is only 52, but he looks 62!
Senator John McCain has taken a strong stand against his party on global warming. Feel free to keep attacking him but he does admit it is real and that we should do something about it.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/02/13/the_turning_point_on_global_warming/
Too bad more people in his party don't follow his lead.
He has shown real courage in the Republican primaries ( global warming, Corn subsidies, Immigration reform).
And when this doesn't work, he's going to try Cruz Bustamante's "I lost a 100 pounds...vote for me!" campaign.
McCain can win it all if Republicans would stop shooting themselves in the foot McCain loses - "say hello to my little friend Hillary"
John McCain was just announced as the winner among GOP candidates fielding delegates in the Louisiana caucuses. The pro-life slate, without identifying a candidate, in addition placed first, and most of those delegates can be expected to opt for McCain as well.
McCain runs circles around the other candidates on the campaign trail, and if anyone doubts his physical prowess, all I can say is let them try to keep up with his pace day after day and week after week for months on end in this kind of campaign. If you have never been a candidate in a hard fought campaign, you have no idea of the physical and emotional toll it takes. John McCain has been on the campaign trail for more than a year and continues to hold forth strongly, leaving the reporters and others exhausted in his wake. Mike Huckabee is showing the strain after a few months. Chuck Norris wouldn't be able to finish a week on this kind of schedule. Give me a break! As Ronald Reagan once famously quipped, "I won't hold my opponent's youth against him." McCain is in as good or better physical condition than any of them. Huckabee literally carries the weight of his history of obesity with him and it doesn't magically go away just because a lot of the past weight is lost. Guiliani has a history of prostate cancer.
As for the efforts to "swift boat" him, it ain't gonna happen. John McCain's heroic story is too well documented for the lies to take hold.
Well, I guess you're not biased, huh? One of McCain's campaign representatives in Ventura...
McCainVentura,
Do you think McCain is right about global warming? What about campaign finance reform? Immigration reform?
Mongo Flamo calling someone bias... and Bill Clinton calling people liars...