Republican Candidates: Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee is a strange duck. At first I paid him no mind. I thought his stage presence and quick wit was interesting, but his record indicated he likes to raise taxes. With that, I ignored him as a possibility of becoming the presidential candidate for my party. We simply cannot raise taxes.

However, the primary campaigns have held many surprises on both sides; one of the most interesting is Huckabee's rise from nobody to somebody. Ed Rollins, an old pol, has signed on to his campaign. That's how much ground Huckabee's gained.

Huckabee successfully took on Mitt Romney, bringing himself up in the polls to even. In addition to good campaigning, his other opponent, Fred Thompson has indeed lived up to his too laid-back image. Also, Giuliani has been fairly invisible the last few weeks due to something we've yet to hear about, I'll bet. He may just be taking cover.

That leaves Senator John McCain and (it's difficult to use their names in the same sentence)Congressman Ron Paul, an aberration, a gnat, a pest, just another distraction. There is great hope for McCain who has become a factor after his endorsements from key primary states newspapers. He's pulling out of a hole he was in over the summer, mostly from his ridiculous stance on immigration. He said he's sorry. His I've-learned-my-lesson ads are especially compelling in light of his heroic performance as a PO. In comparison to the rest of the candidates, excepting Rudy, Senator McCain is probably the most moral of the group.

An acerbic commentator suggested that Huckabee wasn't running as a moderate, or a conservative. "Huckabee is running as a Christian."

I agree. The governor has made religion the issue while he has ignored more germane discussions. I thought Reverend Huckabee was harmless.

I've rethought that. I'm still bothered by the ease at which he, a Baptist preacher, moved on from the cross issue.

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Huckabee: Using the Lord's name in vain?

Thousands of years ago, God handed down to Moses a couple of tablets which displayed His Ten Commandments. One of them exhorts us never to use the Lord God's Name in vain.

This discussion isn't about using the GD phrase when you've hit your finger with a hammer while hanging a picture or utilizing the Lord's name when expressing your discomfort sitting on the front porch in the hot sun on a still, humid afternoon.

That mysterious "moving" cross
Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist preacher, knows better, yet he did it anyway.

A powerful, not-so-subliminal message in the form of a cross glows behind GOP candidate Mike Huckabee as he delivers last week's "Christmas message" via political advertisement. The first time I saw the commercial, I wasn't sure how I felt. I didn't want to believe that the cross imagery was intentional. I've decided here's what happened: The cameraman starts with the predictable upper right shot (which the human eye perceives first), then it slowly moves lower-middle and left. To say it was coincidental insults every professional production designer's, director's and cameraman's intelligence.

A prideful, defensive Huckabee then answers his critics flippantly: "...and later we'll be sending secret signals to other Christians...be sure and watch for them...to say that it was intentional is ridiculous...if you play the ad backwards, it says, 'Paul is dead. Paul is dead.'..."

In other words, "Kiss my holy butt."

This is one example of how divisive religious arguments break our unity and democratic purpose. Preachers, imams, rabbis, monks and others would do America a favor by opting out of our democratic politics. Render unto Caesar, and all that.

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Hillary's old? According to Limbaugh, she's almost dead.

The Drudge Report published an unfortunate, unfixed photo of Senator Clinton today with the caption, "The Toll of the Campaign." Her picture didn't look like the Hillary we see on TV. She looks her age.

Then I read that Rush Limbaugh took out after her with this paraphrased question, "Is America ready to stare at a woman as she ages?"

No wonder he's had so many wives.

Bad manners, pal.
Just because you can say something doesn't mean you should. To attack Mrs. Clinton in this way shows a hatred that is proportional to the Left's Hate Bush Syndrome. If these men (Limbaugh and Drudge) want to be like the greatest generation, which they each say they revere so much, why can't they at least have the class and manners their grandparents had?

Did the Brits carry on about Lady Thatcher getting long in the tooth? No. How about Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Chase Smith?

Simply asking the question is unfair and sexist, ageist, silly and appeals only to fourteen year-old male brains. There is little respect for older people as it is; now, we have a pleasure-bent, spoiled boy like Rush Limbaugh, who must represent a large segment of brash men--those who are only interested in a person's ability to age well, not how she will govern.

I guess the next obvious question is: are Americans ready to stare at an aging man in the White House? Start with Washington and work your way up.

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Hey, Dr. Laura! How many families did you break up today?

The tough love, indecent advice that Schlessinger gives some of her callers needs to be looked at very carefully.



Remember, this is the woman whose mother was found practically mummified in an apartment just a few blocks from Schlessinger's broadcast center, where she presumably works every day. I suppose she just couldn't spare the time to check up on the old gal. As a Jew who professes to believe in the Ten Commandments, I suggest she check the one about honoring one's mother and father. However, I am told that she defends her actions, then touts her abyssmal human failure as an example.


In our easy, non-defined media centric culture, someone like Schlessinger succeeds because there are enough mad, self-righteous, narcissitic and naive young people to listen. Her whole schtick consists of telling young men and woman that if it's perfectly fine to cut people in your family out of your life if they're not displaying the "correct" amount of mea culpas for mistakes and past sins, no matter what. It makes me wonder how she can be so easily believed considering her own background.



This woman has a Ph.D degree in Physiology, the study of the function of systems in the body. Does her CV contain advanced psychiatric, psychological, sociological studies or other germane disciplines? Surprisingly, yes. She is a certified MSFC and claims to have twelve years of clinical experience. I'm sure her peers winced when she hung out her shingle spewing her own guilt-driven crap so that she can justify and feel better about her obscene treatment of her own mother. That tells me volumes about her inability to empathize and deal with real issues using thoughtful and effective methods. In addition, her defference to men in general and her preoccupation with her father and the "care and feeding" of husbands says to me she's probably in competition with most woman. It's clear she dislikes the company of other smart women.

Schlessinger's radio presence is hardly new, just modified to demonstrate her gimmick. This is the same woman whom I listened to during 1979 though about 1980 whose schtick THEN was be your own woman, to hell with the kids (of course, then she didn't have any) and look how wonderful she is. I was struggling as a single mother trying to work and go to school for my degree at this time and listened on my way to class every day. My mistake. Her tremendous lack of understanding of the daily realities in other people's lives became apparent too late, but I still listened. I was striving, after all, for normalcy for my family.

Today, of course, we find out she stopped speaking to her own mother, posed for nude photos (as if everyone did) and other outrages that question her ability to provide advice for anyone. What a freaking liar.



So, at age 60, she has the gall to castigate anyone who's made errors in judgement in raising their kids, has no tolerance for what is for many people extended families, issues that can be worked out if shown a forgiving and charitable attitude. She hides behind her conservative facade, her only child paratrooper son (that hoowa thing she does every day is ridiculous), ignoring the impact her past and lack of accountability has on others, then spouts her "common sense."

Who really knows what her family was like? It couldn't have been much of a model because she does everything she can to tempt people into terrible actions which affect and break up entire families. It matters not the circumstances (she simply doesn't have the airtime to explore those minor details); she's a mean old woman with no grace. It makes me wonder if she's turned into exactly what she hated about her mother. Many of us do, you know. The good news is as we mature, we find the old dolls weren't so bad after all.



I've boycotted Laura Schlessinger because I've heard her too many times discount the real problems, take as gospel the family complaints she hears from her callers and even one time told a woman who had just lost her child that she was basically responsible for it (she wasn't). To paraphrase, her response to the woman who called to get some comfort instead got told she's an idiot and deserved what she got.

If I want irrelevant, mean and angry post-menopausal craziness and edginess, I'll look in the mirror.



Thanks for the read.

Mark Cuban: just another technocrat blowhard

The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a basketball team, has branched out into movie distribution. The film, "Redacted," is anti military and crudely put together showing one-dimensional characterizations of our soldiers. It depicts drunken soldiers raping a 14-year old girl and killing her family. The soliders about which this picture was made are currently serving life sentences in military prisons.

Saying it doesn't make it so
Cuban actually says that this horrible film doesn't affect our troops and that the film won't be used by our enemies against us. Is he kidding? Is he really that stupid?

One more time I had to find out what makes a person like Cuban, who was given so much by his country hate his country so much that he would become the 21st century equivalent to Jane Fonda and her visit to Hanoi. I doubt that a betrayal this huge can just be shrugged off as he did in his blog, http://www.blogmaverick.com/. As he becomes more human through these types of humiliations, one of which is ageing, his psychic pain and guilt will be unbearable when he looks back over the years. I can say that from experience. Nothing gets unnoticed in this life. Nothing.

The reviews actually are pretty sad for Mark's maiden voyage into the Hollywood whirlpools and eddys. Poor dear. I guess he really did think that his money could buy him anything, including art and patriotism, and most importantly, girls and Hollywood. This traitorous, arrogant little man is about to see the true reaction of people when his movie bombs, which it will.

I have to also wonder why the Maverick fans would support this twit and his team, especially in Dallas. Is basketball really more important that one's principles?

I would ask those fans to do the following: Close your eyes and think of Mark Cuban prancing around the basketball floor, yelling at referees and then place another picture of our soldiers in Iraq next to it.

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Once again, Iowa states its mind...and the rest of us lose ours

Rudy's lost ground in the Iowa primary race. Pundits believe he's behind because of his personal life and his indifference to changes in abortion laws. I guess they also don't like his association with Bernard Kerik, the NYPD ex-commissioner, what with the timely arrest of Kerik. I know nothing politicians do is unplanned, so whoever thought Kerik's problem would distract Iowa's voters was right. Moreover, he's said to be behind in advertising. Someone said it may be too late for him to regain his ground.



The bad news is if Rudy is beaten in Iowa (he's in third behind Romney and Huckabee) as well as in a couple of other states (New Hampshire and South Carolina), he could very easily lose the national nomination. That is the worst case scenario.



Anyone out there know who can beat Hillary Clinton? Well, it ain't Romney and it sure ain't Huckabee, as it's said in Iowan. Giuliani and McCain are the Republican's trump cards. Why can't Iowans swallow their pride, get over their inner anal cranial inversion and realize this?



Pride! Ever see the Music Man? See it and weep. These folks are as hard as nails and stubborn as mules. Nothing gets them moving and that's why they're in Iowa. Whether a man or woman isn't conservative enough for a voter in these times is terribly pigheaded and kind of irresponsible, when one thinks on it. Mitt Romney is just another Republican failure waiting to happen in foreign policy while Huckabee is an ordained Baptist preacher and inexperienced; but, most importantly, both are unelectable and cannot overcome the Clinton machine.



First of all, Romney and especially, Huckabee are both way too nice. Neither of them have shown me a killer instinct I think is a prerequisite required of the president; it comes from experience with the bad boys of this world, like Rudy's with the mob and McCain's with his VietCong captors, his fellow senators and American progressives.



I am again baffled as to why some people like these conservative Iowans can't really accept we're at war and thus need a strong president who can't be buffaloed. In fact, they probably don't know they need someone a lot like themselves. I can assure all Iowans neither Romney nor Huckabee will fulfill their conservative expectations. No one can these days. One more time, the Right's timing stinks. They'd rather be right than alive, evidently.

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One year later: Pelosi's congress overreached...and failed!

How time flies when we're having fun. I wrote a piece titled "Michael Moore's Bitch Slap" that appeared here on 11/20/2006 as a response to Moore's post-election euphoria.The other piece, "Pelosi's Coronation," was posted on 1/4/2007. Click on the archives and find them.

How did I know the Dems would overreach? Experience, Baby, experience! Remember that I have a few national elections under my old belt.

Enjoy the crow.

Thanks for the read.