Archive for January 4th, 2008
Friday (late) fly-by
January 4th, 2008
Remember Norman Hsu? He was sentenced today in a California Court:
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) – Disgraced political donor Norman Hsu was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after a judge rejected his bid to throw out a 16-year- old fraud conviction.
Over at Suitably Flip (where extensive posts were offered on Hsu), Flip offers his reaction to the imposed penalty:
Fitting (if perhaps a bit lenient), given that it was an agreed-upon three year prison sentence that Hsu skipped out on when he went missing in the early 1990s.
Watergate and its’ relationship to the woman who would like to be President.
Hmmm. Very interesting. Here’s a sample:
Hillary’s main duty on our staff has been described by as “establishing the legal procedures to be followed in the course of the inquiry and impeachment.” A number of the procedures she recommended were ethically flawed. And I also concluded that she had violated House and committee rules by disclosing confidential information to unauthorized persons.
Hillary had conferred personally with me regarding procedural rules. I advised her that Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, House Speaker Carl Albert, Majority Leader Tip O’Neill and I had previously agreed not to advocate anything contrary to the rules already adopted and published for that Congress. I quoted Mr. O’Neill’s statement that: “To try to change the rules now would be politically divisive. It would be like trying to change the traditional rules of baseball before a World Series.”
Hillary assured me that she had not drafted and would not advocate any such rules changes. I soon learned that she had lied: She had already drafted changes, and continued to advocate them.
President Reagan was a man respected and revered by many on both sides of the aisle. I don’t see another Ronald Reagan in the race of 2008. While he epitomizied everything the party and country needed at the time, I would prefer to judge today’s candidates on their own merits.
Check out this piece at Stolen Thunder and see if you agree with the lack of “Reagan qualities” in each of the candidates the GOP has to offer for 2008.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Each of these candidates (except Paul) has qualities which could serve America well, and any of them (except possibly Paul) would be preferable to anything the Democrats could nominate this election. But none of these men rises to the level of George W. Bush, let alone Ronald W. Reagan. It’s disingenuous for any of them to even pretend so.
Just a bit of food for thought..enjoy your weekend everyone!
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Huckabee and Obama Winners in Iowa
January 4th, 2008
Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama had impressive wins in Iowa, but other than more money for Huckabee I’m not sure what it means.
Hillary came in a distant third in the race with Edwards edging her out for second. So much for the inevitably of her candidacy, at least judging by the Iowa caucusers.
Mitt Romney placed in the Republican battle, which probably helps McCain in New Hampshire. Thompson did well for someone who didn’t really campaign in Iowa all that much.
Biden and Dodd have dropped their presidential aspirations for this year.
So what does this all mean? That if the presidential race were held yesterday Huckabee or Obama would be our president in Iowa at least. Iowa. A sparsely populated state that has so much meaning to the presidential aspirations of so many since Jimmy Carter put it on the political map in 1976.
Now the candidates move on to New Hampshire for a showdown next Tuesday in another sparsely populated state that doesn’t really represent a cross-section of America, but will have a big voice in selecting our next president.
Then comes another test in my state of South Carolina, another small state that is not much of a cross-section of America, until we hit the Super Duper Tuesday in which a lot of states across the fruited plain will participate. Then we’ll have a cross-section, but how many qualified candidates will be left standing by then?
That’s what makes politics so exciting. I do know I’m now going to work for a candidate in my state and hope he makes it through New Hampshire to compete here. I don’t want Huckabee or Obama to be our next president, but the will of the people out-weighs my will in any case.
