2008 Republican Presidential Candidates

We hear today that the Concord Monitor, in New Hampshire, printed an "anti-endorsement" of Mitt Romney on Sunday, December 23. The paper writes:

When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state's first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we'll know it... Mitt Romney is such a candidate. New Hampshire Republicans and independents must vote no.

OUCH! This is consistent with the observations of the observations of Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson who spoke openly about Romney's flip-flopping [2]. Anderson said,

Mitt’s a great friend. We worked together very closely on the Olympics. We got to know each other very well.... And I must say that I am very surprised that somebody like Mitt Romney, who I always felt had such great integrity and was so reasonable, would have caved into his handlers and flip-flopped on so many issues that he used to say he felt so strongly about, things like choice. His coming out against stem cell research was just absolutely incredible to me.

Rocky Anderson also mentions Romney's comment about doubling the size of Guantanamo.

... you can see very clearly what’s happening—it’s so transparent—that a year before the presidential race, all of a sudden he’s got these new positions on these issues.

The Concord Monitor apparently sees through Romney too.

So, do Republicans turn to Mike Huckabee, or as I call him, "Yuckabee"? Romney got a lot of attention for his Mormon faith, including questions about it's cultish side (Jesus & Lucifer are brothers, planet Kolob, polygamy, etc.) But, Huckabee has effectively said his religion will dictate his policies:

Mike Huckabee: Faith doesn’t just influence me; it really defines me. I don’t have to wake up every day wondering what do I need to believe.

Let us never sacrifice our principles for anybody’s politics, not now, not ever.

I believe life begins at conception.

We believe in some things. We stand by those things. We live or die by those things.

I’m Mike Huckabee, and I approve this message.

The word "YIKES!" comes to mind, and I haven't even gotten into Huckabee's equating homosexuality with pedophilia and necrophilia in a 1998 entitled Kids Killing Kids [3]. This in addition to saying he doesn't believe in evolution. Apparently Huckabee was a baptist pastor. When investigative reporter David Corn tried to gain access to Huckabee's sermons, his efforts were blocked. Corn writes more about Yuck Yuck Yuckabee in a Mother Jones article [4].

OKaaayee. Maybe, John McCain will make a comeback from the political dead. Perhaps I'll have to eat my words on pronouncing John McCain's candidacy dead.

Ah! But many are proclaiming Adolf Giuliani as the heir apparent to the throne. But you wanna talk about baggage? All Giuliani has in his favor is a false impression of leadership in the immediate wake of 9/11. But facts are inconvenient things, and there are plenty of facts that have led the people of NYC give Giuliani the thumbs down: Faulty first-responder radios that had been known since the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, his insistence that the emergency command center be located in... the World Trade Center (a known target), his advancement of the inexperienced Bernard Kerik to from driver to police commissioner over seasoned veterans, Guiliani's persistent lobbying for his nomination of Kerik to be Secretary of Homeland Security... Kerik has been exposed as a fraud who, among other things, had an apartment in Manhattan paid for by shady characters and had sexual liaisons in an apartment near ground zero that was intended to be a rest center for people working on the pile. Republicans would be ill advised to nominate Adolf Giuliani.

I'm sure I've missed someone, but the Ron Paul crowd must be salivating at the self-destruction of the other contenders. Oh yea, Fred Thompson is still in the game... I saw his cherry-picked Iraq war propaganda photos, exploiting the troops/pawns, to the tinkling sound of Christmas music on YouTube. Thompson's little YouTube piece, designed to pull on people's heart strings, is a sad commentary on the State of the Union.

Sources:

1. Associated Press, Paper gives 'anti-endorsement' to Romney, Glen Johnson, December 24, 2007.

2. DemocracyNow! Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson Slams His Friend Mitt Romney for “Flip-Flopping” on Abortion, Stem Cell Research, Torture in Attempt to Win GOP Presidential Nomination, June 25, 2007.

3. DemocracyNow!, Mike Huckabee Equates Environmentalism with Pornography, December 20, 2007.

4. Mother Jones, Huckabee Hides His Full Gospel? David Corn and Jonathan Stein, December 10, 2007.

Photo Credit, Romney Warning, Bob McCarthy, BobMcCarthy.com. Alignment & Design, Inc. specializing in BIG sound systems (like stadiums, symphony halls).