But we have a new strategy and a new general. And these young men and women are committed to winning.

So, if we are still seeing the insurgents killing at the same rates they are now..will Johnny McCain take it in the shorts for this comment a year from now?

I thought McCain said he was for stem cell?

Wifey's a Rudy fan, but she said Mitt came off the best.

How come I'm not hearing much about how Tommy Thompson committed political suicide with his "Homophobic employers can fire their gay workers and it's ok with me" gaffe?  

I never voted for Reagan and was happy we survived his presidency. Those that have him on such a high pedestal prove how low the bar has been lowered. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but so did Captain Kangaroo. 

(From dailykos) Welcome to the Large Primate House at the Simi Valley Zoological Gardens.  No pointing at, or making eye contact with, the candidates.  No flash photography.  No feeding the candidates.

Use this as an open thread to discuss the preening, posing, grooming, and feces flinging.

UPDATE 1:  In the running contest for Stupidest Statement of the Night (SSOTN), Howard Fineman takes an early lead, gushing about "the regality of the event."

UPDATE 2:  Interesting.  Fineman definitely states that Fred Thompson is getting in the race in July.  More talk about the non-candidates than the candidates in the pre-game show.

UPDATE 3:  No opening/closing statements.  Too bad -- that would've been a great place to spot SSOTN candidates.

RUDY:  Only 28% of Americans support the Bush Admin?  You gotta have hoooope!  Optimism!  That's the ticket!  (And it does take a strange breed of optimism to say that American has "the greatest health-care system in the world.")

McCAIN:  "War has been terribly mismanaged."

TOMMY THOMPSON:  Nothing much to say other than that he sounds like a heavy breather.  Icky.

MITT:  God, he's got a terrific tan/hair combo.  Unforgettable, unremarkable, but well-modulated answer.  If he loses (and he will), he ought to bump Brit Hume at Fox News.  He really is an anchorman.

HUCK:  Would've fired Rummy before the midterms.  Should listen to soldiers rather than "civilians in silk ties."  I note that Huck has a nice red Perry Ellis on tonight.

RON PAUL:  You have to imagine that he's been spending the entire night wondering what the hell he's doing in a Republican presidential debate.  Arguing for a non-interventionist foreign policy.  Somewhere in the dirt in Ohio, Bob Taft is applauding.  No one in Simi Valley is, though.

McCAIN:  Should have decided against wearing the candy cane tie.  Looks awful.

TANCREDO: Manages to answer a question without mentioning "Mexico,"  "a wall," or "immigration."  Stutters a lot, not ready for prime time.

REAGAN UPDATE:  Giuliani has the most references so far.

MITT:  Apparently just read Thomas Friedman Presents Bernard Lewis For Dummies.

MITT:  Loves America, Reagan.  Hates answering questions.

TANCREDO: Relatively deft handling of bizarre question about organ donation.

RON PAUL:  I'm surprised he wears a suit.  You figure that he'd be in a bear skin -- better prepared for return to the state of nature.

ROE v. WADE:  Rudy punts, all others want it repealed.  Tancredo says the day that Roe is repealed would be the greatest day in US history.  Creepy mofo.

MITT:  What a weasel on abortion.  If I were a Republican who genuinely was anti-abortion, I would never consider voting for the slimeball.

McCAIN:  Jesus.  He makes Dole '96 look young and connected to reality.  He wants to be president to smite our enemies, or something.

HUCK:  Opposing abortion is what separates us from Islamofascists.  Wow.

THOMPSON:  Employers should be allowed to fire gays for being gay.

HUCK:  Points out the absurdity of Mitt's Conundrum ("my faith is so important to me, but it doesn't influence my decisions").  This really bugs Tweety, for some reason.  I guess Mitt's got a boyfriend.

BROWNBACK:  I love Jews!  Why, Joe Lieberman's a Jew!

HUNTER:  Seems determined to outflank Tancredo on immigration.  Which is hilarious.  It'd be like trying to out-stardust Kucinich.

BROWNBACK:  We're not any more corrupt than Dems, 'cause someone had cash in their freezer once.  And I believe in the family.

TANCREDO:  Reagan is proof that a fringe rightist can become President.  I am that fringe rightist.

McCAIN:  Increasingly reminiscent of your aged grandfather.  The one that you didn't like, with bad breath and that funny laugh.

HUCK:  Is this what helps him start to break through?  He's been really good, at least compared to his fellow travelers.

MITT:  He makes me sick.  I mean, I'm as pro-choice as they come, and I'm appalled by his flip-flopping on abortion.  I can't imagine how a committed anti-choice activist could vote for him.

RUDY:  Mealy-mouthed attempt to make people forget that -- historically -- he's to the left of Joementum on abortion.

HUNTER:  Acknowledges the existence of global warming.  !

MATTHEWS:  Say what you will about him generally, he's moderating the shit outta this thing.  Keeps it moving -- and tough, but fair, questions.

GILMORE:  Tries to remind folks that he was Governor of VA on 9/11.  Somehow, I don't think he's gonna cut into Rudy's hero status.

ROMNEY:  Weasels on embryonic stem cell research!  He truly is the most repellent of the bunch.

MCCAIN: Wins the stem cell question, damn him. (mcjoan)

BROWNBACK: "Taken behind the barn and killed with a dull axe." Even his "folksy" is creepy.

MCCAIN: TAXES EAT PEOPLE!!!!

MCCAIN: Aw, isn't that cute. He loves him some Joe.

HUNTER: Scary brown people.

GILMORE: You do have to give him credit. He has been consistent in his craziness.

PAUL: How 'bout we just send him and Gravel out on a roadshow?

RUDY: What a sense of humor. And ridiculous question.

BROWNBACK: Will he stab Rudy in the back? Do it! Do it.... Nah.

HUCKABEE: Damn. Standing up for worker's rights. He could get some Independents.

Last round. Thank gawd.

BROWNBACK: Fences!! It is a little weird that these guys are all so anti-privacy. There goes all the libertarians.

ROMNEY: Only the brown people have to be carded. Rudy agrees.

GILMORE: Good answer. President has to make the case for a pardon of Libby. And Tancredo turns it back to immigration. The man is obsessive.

BROWNBACK: What a gruesome little man.

TWEETY: Bad, bad question on Clinton. I don't care what they answer. That's a bullshit question.

MCCAIN: I don't think "activist judges" means what he thinks it means.

ROMNEY: Blech, just blech.

MCCAIN: I'm Reagan! Not Bush!

BROWNBACK: Actually pretty reasonable on Iraq, for a Republican. I guess that's why Biden is working with him.

RUDY: Get that last 9/11 in there.

PAUL: He actually respects habeas corpus. They'll have to kick him out of the party.

Today’s housing bubble. Is a repeat of Reagan's housing crisis..

"RON PAUL:  I'm surprised he wears a suit.  You figure that he'd be in a bear skin -- better prepared for return to the state of nature."

Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!

Runner-up: "ROMNEY: Only the brown people have to be carded. Rudy agrees."

" I don't think "activist judges" means what he thinks it means."

"Activist judges" -- translation: judges who overturn laws that violate your Constitutional rights.

The far right is completely monopolizing the debate on this deadly important issue, and not one Dem is taking this on, or even taking the trouble to patiently explain that respecting the primacy of the Constitution is the job of the courts.

Sometimes I even think I'm the only one on this blog who gets it and appreciates the gravity of it, because it seems that I'm the only one who ever talks about it.

Our means of recourse for redress of grievances is in danger of disappearing for the foreseeable future, and I'm the lone voice in the wilderness.

I did, but maybe it needs an update.

http://people.bakersfield.c...

Hey, did anyone else catch Gravel on Colbert the other night? Goddamn that guy is a blast. Crotchety, batshit insane, but fun. I really hate to see a guy that is so right on every issue stuck at 1%. I'll be rooting for him in the next debate.

The antics of Abu Gonzales and the US attorneys is just another symptom of the relentless drive to kangaroo our courts.  While Abu's actions are very short-term when compared to lifetime appointments to federal courts, the motivation is basically the same.

I understand that different critics of the adminstration (and of the GOP leadership) have different priorities, but it enrages me that nobody, but nobody who is in a position to deal with this issue in a high-profile manner is doing so.  Come on, just one cable talking head or Democratic official to beat this particular drum on national TV.

A link to my essay appears above, Anglo.

And the pundit or official with the balls to take up this issue will not succeed if they insist on talking entirely about Roe v. Wade -- a common mistake.  You don't rally up support for the Constitution and the courts by focusing on its least agreed-upon decisions.

You point out the much more troubling fact that if they had their way, state and local governments would not have to respect the Constitution at all.  One such dangerous nutjob -- possibly two -- is currently sitting on our Kern High School District board.

That sentence alone, state and local governments would not have to respect the Constitution at all, should have us rioting in the streets.  But it is not.

WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms.

Backed by the Justice Department, the measure would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales, licenses or permits to terror suspects.

In a letter this week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, NRA executive director Chris Cox said the bill, offered last week by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., "would allow arbitrary denial of Second Amendment rights based on mere 'suspicions' of a terrorist threat."

"As many of our friends in law enforcement have rightly pointed out, the word 'suspect' has no legal meaning, particularly when it comes to denying constitutional liberties," Cox wrote.

Tom wrote, "H4F, there are a lot of things that should have us rioting in the streets.  Have you heard the news on Lautenburg's bill?"

Well, I'm not sure which side you're taking on this one.

The NRA guy is basically making the same point that anti-war folks have been making about the rights of "suspected terrorists" when the issue is Gitmo or habeus corpus.  As I said, I'm not sure what side you're taking, but when someone endorses a subjective exemption to one part of the Constitution, they're creating the pretext and the precedent for subjective exemptions to all the rest of it.

I'm really nervous about countenancing an abridgement of the Second Amendment when we've defended the rights of "suspected terrorists" under the rest of the Constitution.  It's inconsistent and, from the looks of it, hypocritical.

If anything, this should be a shot across the bow of gun rights supporters that Bush and the neocons are not interested in your Constitutional rights one iota. 

(I know all the arguments in favor of gun regulation.  That is a different topic.  But for the purposes of my point, the belief abong the far right that Bush and the GOP leadership is your friend where guns are concerned, the support of the Bush administration for the Lautenberg bill, well, shoots a hole in that myth.)

I think the NRA guy is being entirely consistent.

(Oh, and sorry about all the gun metaphors in this comment.  They weren't premeditated.)