A short campaign roundup

Now McCain Must Convince The Right: "John McCain has a problem. After winning South Carolina's primary last Saturday, he should be the overwhelming favorite to capture the Republican presidential nomination. He's not, at least not yet, and the reason is that he's alienated so many conservatives over the past eight years... His victory speech in South Carolina marked a new step. Rather than dwell on the hardy perennials of his campaign message, national security and patriotism, Mr. McCain spoke more broadly about his conservative goals. "We want government to do its job, not your job," he said, "and to do it with less of your money." He praised "free markets, low taxes and small government." Moreover, Mr. McCain intends to go beyond conservative boilerplate and actually campaign as a conservative. His congressional voting record is predominantly conservative (ACU rating 82.3%), qualifying him to do so. He's already stepped outside his comfort zone on taxes, endorsing a cut in the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%... Another point to stress: "Winning in November" is crucial to putting conservative judges on the Supreme Court." .. The McCain campaign claims that it's only a handful of conservative luminaries who oppose him. Not true. Complaints about him are rife among grassroots Republicans."



The blind leading the blind: "During a "Good Morning America" interview aired Monday, Obama said, "Bill has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling. He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts. Whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. This has become a habit and one of the things that we're gonna have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate'." Hmmm "Statements that are not factually accurate." Well, this is almost a humorous development. Suddenly, Democrats have discovered the truth?"

Obama's Clinton Education: "One of our favorite Bill Clinton anecdotes involves a confrontation he had with Bob Dole in the Oval Office after the 1996 election. Mr. Dole protested Mr. Clinton's attack ads claiming the Republican wanted to harm Medicare, but the President merely smiled that Bubba grin and said, "You gotta do what you gotta do." We're reminded of that story listening to Barack Obama protest his treatment by the now ex-President Clinton on behalf of his wanna-be-President wife... Now he knows how the rest of us feel. The Illinois Senator is still a young man, but not so young as to have missed the 1990s. He nonetheless seems to be awakening slowly to what everyone else already knows about the Clintons, which is that they will say and do whatever they "gotta" say or do to win. Listen closely to Mr. Obama, and you can almost hear the echoes of Bob Dole at the end of the 1996 campaign asking, "Where's the outrage?" This has been the core of the conservative critique of the Clintons for years. So it is illuminating to hear the same critique coming from Mr. Obama"

Bill Clinton's dream: "The campaign is taking its toll on former US president Bill Clinton. He fell asleep yesterday during a ceremony to honour Martin Luther King Jr at a church in New York. Mr Clinton was seated behind a speaker delivering a speech on the inspiration of Dr King. He was caught repeatedly nodding off, fighting the urge to nap and checking his watch" What an uproar the media would have created if a conservative did that!]

Hillary in the pocket of the Arabs: "Should the Saudi monarchy be permitted to purchase an important equity position in some of America's leading banks? How can Hillary be objective when the very same monarchy donated $10 million to the Clinton Library and Foundation? Should the UAE be allowed in? How can Hillary decide fairly when Bill - and therefore herself - have been getting a reported $10 million per year from a fund that administers the investments of the Emir of Dubai, the largest component state in the UAE? The Dubai Ports deal compromised our national security by putting key points of entry in that nation's control. But the infusion of capital and the acquisition of equity in our key banks has the potential to make that encroachment on our sovereignty seem piddling by comparison."

Posted by John Ray