Posted on 11/06/2007 7:05:11 AM PST by Calpernia
U. S. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, has spent the better part of the last decade running for president. He actively sought the office in 2000 and lost handily to George W. Bush. Since that time, he has done everything he could think of to antagonize the base of his own party.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-TN, acts as if the thought of running for president just occurred to him five minutes ago. Some days he acts as though it still hasn't occurred to him.
For very different reasons, these two men, with their totally different approaches to politics, have probably slammed the door on their chances for winning the Republican presidential nomination.
In 2000, McCain was the darling of the mainstream media. Back in those days, he was the anti-Bush, which appealed to them. This year his worldview is anathema to theirs because he has unapologetically defended "Bush's war."
But McCain's unpopularity within his party stems from two other issues: illegal immigration and campaign finance reform.
On immigration, McCain seems to have learned his lesson. In what radio host and bestselling author Laura Ingraham would call a "Power to the People moment," McCain (along with a lot of other members of Congress), has gotten the message loud and clear: border enforcement first.
"I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain said to reporters after being grilled by voters in South Carolina. "I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."
Too bad it took a meltdown of the congressional phone lines last June to convince the senator of the common sense of the American people. Until he saw his poll numbers sink to single digits, McCain seemed absolutely oblivious to - nay, defiant of - the people's will. Nevertheless, those of us who have been incredulous to the deafness of the president and far too many members of Congress on this issue welcome Sen. McCain into the bright light of reason on this issue.
While "comprehensive immigration reform" (better known as "amnesty"), is dead, the legislation for which John McCain is best known is still alive and festering within our political system. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the president will be haunting us for years, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has struck down certain provisions of the law. For that reason, it has left the base of the Republican Party with a permanent bad taste for McCain's brand of politics.
Fred Thompson's alienation from the GOP activists who comprise the nominating block of the party is much more recent. In fact, it unfolds like a wet blanket of sad disappointment day by day. Desperately seeking a candidate to rally around, social conservatives keep waiting for Fred Thompson to show them p something.
His recent underwhelming performance on "Meet the Press" did not help. Asked about his positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, Thompson, who has a respectable record on both issues, managed to flub his answer. He told host Tim Russert he opposes to an amendment to the U.S. Constitution on either issue, preferring to leave these two crucial social issues to the individual states. As Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has pointed out, Thompson endorses the idea of fifty different definitions of marriage. The same is true, it seems, on the definition of life, since Thompson simply wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned and the issue returned to the states.
In addition, Thompson seemed muddled and indecisive about his opinion on water boarding as a technique for dealing with terrorist detainees.
With less than two months remaining until the Iowa caucuses, it is likely that Fred Thompson and John McCain will both continue to decline in the polls, while former Governors Mitt Romney (Massachusetts) and Mike Huckabee (Arkansas) will continue to gain on the current frontrunner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. So be it.
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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a political speechwriter and public policy advisor. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web sites, including Human Events Online, TheConservativeVoice.com and GOPUSA.com, where he is a senior writer and state editor.
I guess you missed my point. Never mind.
“I’ve seen you Duncan Hunter supporters seek comfort in this poll”
Also, that poll is not comforting. It’s sad that so many conservatives are letting the liberals (undecideds, independents) choose our candidate.
I did too!
LLS
But what in the world would be the motive?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Governor "Good Hair" Perry was the very last RINO I'll ever vote for.
I'm going to vote FOR someone and not against somebody.
In other words I'll vote for the conservative and let the chips fall where they may.
I made a ton of money the last time the Clintons were in office and they helped revive the conservative movement. My son is 9 1/2 years from having the option to join the service and depending on his grades, work ethic and athletic ability may have other options.
I could care less about Rudy or "Good Hair" Romney..... their positions on freedom are bad. If you trust your citizens, you allow them to have weapons in order to defend themselves and God forbid if needed, our country. You allow your citizens to keep more of their money in order to make their own decisions and not those of some faceless needle d#cked bureaucrat telling you how to live your life.
Finally, if you want to stick a tube into a baby's head or inject a toxic solution into your body in order to kill your baby, good for you. You'll have to live with that and answer to someone else for that....just don't make ME pay for it and don't encourage that in my kid's schools.
Oh and finally, the idea that it's "normal" for a man to find another man's rear end so tantalizing that he can't control himself , isn't..... normal that is.
It's a mental disorder with low impulse control, poor sexual identity maturation and narcissistic behavior. In other words I doubt that i want that crammed down my kids throat at the elementary school level or before I can talk to them about sex and it's role in relations with the opposite sex.
In other words, "I don't care how you do things in New York or Massachusettes. They're sh#t holes and Texas is just fine by me. Leave me and my family alone."
sorry for the rant....
You are 100% right!!! I am as far South as one can go... any further South and my feet would be in Salt Water. rootie will not win in the South... not even in SC where the media’s latest lies are trying to bolster him.
LLS
I wouldn’t know the motive definitely. But I can add info that falls into the history. The information on the POW sightings would kept the embargo from being lifted.
In October 1990 John McCain said on the floor of the Senate: “Mr. President, I am anxious to construct a new relationship with our old adversary (Vietnam)”. He, who was in a Vietnamese prison camps for five and a half years, was pushing hard for normalized relations with Hanoi long before anyone else was.
Between when Clinton said that he would not normalize relations with Vietnam until there was a full accounting and the time he lifted the Trade Embargo only two Americans had been accounted for in Vietnam.
Lifting the embargo opened the door for the multi-billion dollar corporation, Lippo Group with American business partners, such as Stephens Investment of Little Rock, AR to conduct business in Vietnam. Mr A. Vernon Weaver, at that time the Vice-President for Operations in the Pacific Rim of Stephens Investment and a member of the Board of Visitors at the U.S. Naval Academy was instrumental in arranging an upgrade of the position of Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy from two stars to four stars.
Former U.S. Navy officers, Senators John Kerry and John McCain supported this reorganization.
http://www.usvetdsp.com/billbell.htm
An indication of just how deep and subtle Red Chinese roots run in U.S. business and government affairs deals with McCain and Kerry. Both McCain and Kerry fought long and hard to provide the political cover Clinton needed when he made the controversial decision to normalize relations with Vietnam. McCain’s wife, Cindy, is the daughter of James Hensley, who is the second largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the United States. McCain is an officer in Hensley & Co. and Cindy is a vice president. The McCain family owns several million dollars in Anheuser-Busch stock. As a part of an aggressive campaign to enhance its international standing in the beer market, Anheuser-Busch has had signned contracts and invested hundreds of millions building brewery operations in China and Vietnam. I can’t link any of those contracts involve Lippo. Some docs retrieved from the net revealed that Riady’s Lippo is the holder of a license for Sea World in Indonesia and that Anheuser-Busch owns all the Sea World themeparks in the United States as well as some overseas. Is there a connection between Anheuser-Busch and Lippo?
http://www.usvetdsp.com/billbell.htm
SeaWorld/Lippo Connection:
Old URL: http://www.lippo.co.id/Main.htm Internet Cache: http://web.archive.org/web/19980530014836/http://www.lippo.co.id/Main.htm
Net cache shows Lippo holds/held the license on Sea World in Indonesia.
“Today I am lifting the trade embargo against Vietnam because I am absolutely convinced it offers us the best way to resolve the fate of those who remain missing and about whom we are not sure.” Two things happened between November 1992 and February 1994 which bear on this issue. One was that Senators John Kerry and John McCain lobbied the president to drop the embargo. The second thing was that in September 1993 the head of the Lippo Group, Mochtar Riady, led a trade mission of Asian bankers on a trip to Vietnam to (in his words) “size up business opportunities there.” Lippo helps, among other things, to finance trade deals. It therefore stood to benefit enormously from expanded trade between Vietnam and the United States;
Old URL: http://www.empower.org/html/policy/misc/roadmap3.htm See Internet Cache: http://web.archive.org/web/20000816001233/http://www.empower.org/html/policy/misc/roadmap3.htm
Every time I’ve seen McCain’s name in reference to legislation, Kerry’s name pops up as well. It is like they are two peas in a pod. So I checked out Kerry to see what his connections were:
KGB-ASSOCIATED SPY PAID DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Military secrets on infrared detectors, drawings of rotors for Sikorsky attack helicopters and documents on stealth technology. Subrahmanyam M. Kota was a spy that delivered to the KGB. He sold U.S. military secrets to the former Soviet Union. Yet he paid some of the proceeds, $5250, to the Democratic Party and to Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. When he was finally brought to justice in Massachusetts, he was allowed to plea bargain his charges down to mere tax evasion on his espionage windfall.
Old URL: http://www.federal.com/jun16-97/Cash See Internet Cache: http://web.archive.org/web/19990209005109/http://www.federal.com/jun16-97/Cash
Frances Zwenig, John Kerry’s (D-MA) chief of Staff for the now defunct Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs, was given a position at Commerce in the Vietnam Interests Section until some genius decided it may be a conflict of interest. Ms. Zwenig coached the Vietnamese on how to testify before the SSC in order to show that Hanoi was cooperating; an obstacle in the way of lifting the embargo or normalizing. . . Zwenig had headed a US based organization that lobbied American business to invest on Vietnam.
In order to follow the money trail, involves the various business and 527s of Senators:
John Forbes Kerry (D-MA)
John Sydney McCain III (R-AZ)
Jesse Helms (R-NC)
Frank Murkowski (R-AK)
This involves the political contributions and the relationships connected to the companies that made the contributions. This involves searching the 527s relationships that these guys are into. Then the links to Riady/Lippo. It gets messy on a home computer. But the involvements show in Google searches.
http://www.ojc.org/powforum/editor/lippo.htm
Kerry’s cousin, C. Stewart Forbes, is CEO of Colliers International, real estate.
In Dec. 1992, Vietnam granted Colliers a contract designating Colliers the “exclusive real estate agent representing Vietnam.” Colliers has since written contracts in Vietnam worth billions, upgrading Vietnam’s ports, railroads, highways and government buildings.
Colliers is involved with Lippo in multimillion contracts in Indonesia. Kerry, who has a blind trust run by members of his family, claims he knows nothing about his cousin’s business deals or affiliations.
http://www.ojc.org/powforum/editor/lippo2.htm
Lifting the embargo opened the door for the multi-billion dollar corporation, Lippo Group with American business partners, such as Stephens Investment of Little Rock, AR to conduct business in Vietnam. Mr A. Vernon Weaver, at that time the Vice-President for Operations in the Pacific Rim of Stephens Investment and a member of the Board of Visitors at the U.S. Naval Academy was instrumental in arranging an upgrade of the position of Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy from two stars to four stars.
October 12, 2000 Riady Invites Clinton to Lippo Board Indonesian tycoon James Riady has invited U.S. President Bill Clinton to join the board of Lippo Group when he steps down from office early next year, according to business people who have met Riady in Jakarta recently. Riady has been telling business contacts in Jakarta that he expects Clinton to accept, even though the U.S. president has been dogged by allegations that Riady funnelled illegal foreign donations to Clinton’s 1992 and 1996 election campaigns. A former Lippo Group employee reports that as far back as the mid-1990’s Riady was said to be trying to recruit Clinton to the board as soon as he left office. Jakarta police are currently helping the U.S. Justice Department in its investigation of the alleged campaign contributions.
Lippo Group
* A 12 billion dollar Indonesian financial conglomerate.(1)
* Lippo has a business partnership with China Resources Holding Company, which is owned by China’s government and staffed with Chinese military intelligence officers.(2)
James Riady
* Indonesian billionaire.(3)
* He and his family run the Lippo Group.(4)
* An acquaintance of Bill Clinton since the 1980’s.(3)
* Former permanent green card holder who worked in Arkansas.(3)
Soraya & Arief Wiriadinata
* Daughter and son-in-law of a Lippo partner.(4)
* As of 1996, Arief worked as a gardener in Virginia. (4)
John Huang
* “Long time” friend of Bill Clinton.(4)
* Former director of Lippo Group USA.(4)
* Former Commerce Department employee.(4)
* Former DNC Vice Chairman of Finance.(4)
Laws:
* 2 U.S.C. 441(e) It is against the law for foreign nationals to directly or indirectly contribute, solicit, or receive campaign contributions.(9)
* 18 U.S.C. 1956 It is against the law to solicit or receive campaign contributions that have been laundered in an effort to conceal the actual source of the money. (9)
* 18 U.S.C. 600 It is against the law for a government official to reward or provide a benefit to someone based on their political activity.(9)
* 18 U.S.C. 595 It is against the law for government employees to use their office in any way to affect federal elections.(9)
* It is legal for foreigners who are permanent residents and for individuals who work for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations to donate to political campaigns, but the money must be generated inside the U.S.(3)
What They Gave:
Lippo Group
* The Lippo Group made consulting payments to Webb Hubbell totaling between $100,000 and $250,000 after Hubbell had promised to cooperate with Whitewater investigators. Hubbell did not cooperate and no recommendation for leniency was made at his sentencing. (5)
James Riady
* Riady has donated over $475,000 to the DNC, Clinton Inaugural Fund, and related Democratic candidates. An August 1992 memo to Bill Clinton says Riady “will be giving $100,000 to this event and has the potential to give much more.”(3)
* Bank statements, memos, and checks show that one of Riady’s 1992 donations was directly covered by foreign funds and the rest came from a personal bank account that appears to have received foreign money before and after donations were made.(3)
Sonaya & Arief Wiriadinata
* Illegally contributed $450,000 to the DNC.(8)
* Arief is heard on videotape (at a White House coffee) telling Bill Clinton, “James Riady sent me.”(4)
John Huang
* Has raised over $3.4 million for the DNC, approximately half of which, has been returned.(4)
* At a 1996 Los Angeles fund raiser, Bill Clinton said, “I’d like to thank my long time friend, John Huang, for being so effective. Frankly, he’s been so effective, I was amazed that you were all cheering for him tonight after he’s been around in his aggressive efforts to help our cause.”(4)
What They Got:
Lippo Group
* The Lippo Group has investments in the coal mining industry in Indonesia. The leading export of Indonesia is a new form of clean burning, low sulfur coal. This is the only type of coal that meets the U.S. Clean Air Standards Act.(6)
* The largest known deposit in the world of this coal is located in Southern Utah.(6)
* The coal in Utah was slated to be mined when Bill Clinton declared 1.7 million acres in Southern Utah as the “Grand Escalante National Momument.” This declaration made the coal mining project infeasible and locked up over a trillion dollars worth of this coal. (6)
* Bill Clinton never discussed his decision with Congress , Utah officials, or the Democratic Congressman who represented this district until the midnight before the declaration was made.(7)
* The head of the Council of Environmental Quality (Kathleen McGinty) stated in an email that the lands were “not really endangered.” The associate director (Linda Lance) stated in an email that the lands were “not threatened.”(6)
* The surrounding 29 Utah counties have filed suit to overturn Clinton’s declaration.(6)
James Riady
* James Riady was an occasional visitor to the White House and had direct access to Bill Clinton.(3)
* Clinton spokes people told reporters that visits with James Riady were “social visits.” A videotape of a July 1996 dinner for James Riady shows Bill Clinton discussing the deployment of U.S. aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait.(4)
John Huang
* Huang was hired at the Commerce Dept. in 1994. His supervisor (Jeff Garten) testified, “He was totally unqualified.”(1)
* When Huang left the Lippo Group for the Commerce Department, he was paid a $780,000 bonus by Lippo.(1)
* Huang received Top Secret Security Clearance before, during, and after his tenure at Commerce.(1)
* According to a memo dated January 31, 1994, the chief of security at Commerce (Paul Buskirk) granted Huang “a waiver of background investigation.”(2)
* While at the Commerce Dept. Huang received intelligence briefings from the CIA, had access to top secret reports, visited the White House at least 67 times, and met with Bill Clinton at least 15 times.(2)
* According to telephone records, Huang made at least 261 phone calls to Lippo Group offices during his tenure at Commerce.(2)
* Huang received 37 classified briefings on China and Vietnam from the CIA. According to the testimony of a CIA officer John Dickerson, Huang had access to “extremely sensitive sources.”(1)
Obstruction / Cover Up:
* In March of 1997, the House Resources Committee requested documents detailing President Clinton’s decision to designate the 1.7 million acres in southern Utah as the Grand Escalante National Monument. The White House supplied over 100 documents and withheld 27. The House Committee subpoenaed the 27 withheld documents and they were produced on October 22, 1997. (7)
* James Riady has left the country.(4)
* Sonaya & Arief Wiriadinata have left the country.(4)
* John Huang is pleading the Fifth Ammendment.(4)
* Attorney General Janet Reno (Clinton appointee) heads the Justice Department, which is responsible for investigating campaign finance violations. The head of the FBI, (Louis Freeh, Clinton appointee) and the lead investigator (Charles LaBella) have recommended the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate this matter. As of July 1998, Janet Reno refuses to appoint an independent counsel.(10)
Sources:
1) “John Huang: In His Own Words.” Fox News, October 24, 1997.
2) Judicial Watch Newsletter, 1998.
3) Associated Press. “Memo shows Riady got ride with Clinton.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, June 15-21, 1998.
4) Editorial: “Those many former FOB’s.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, October 28-November 2, 1997.
5) Seper, Jerry. “Hubbell, wife indicted on tax evasion.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, May 4-10, 1998.
6) The Citizens Presidential Impeachment Indictment, Citizens for Honest Government, 1998. Source cited: Washington Times
7) Larson, Ruth. “Panel gets papers on Utah land decision.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, October 28-November 2, 1997.
8) Editorial: “Dealing with the Suharto crisis.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, March 31- April 5, 1998.
9) Levin, Mark R. “Commentary: Want reform? Make politicians obey the law.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, November 8-14, 1997.
10) Seper, Jerry. “Reno refuses to turn over memos to Burton committee.” Washington Times National Weekly Edition, August 10-16, 1998.
Sources:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/players/huang.htm
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/players/riady.htm
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/players/lippo.htm
Rant on... heck I was screaming “RIGHT ON!” through the entire piece!!!
LLS
There are many ways polls can be skewed. DH supporters could have voted for DH even though he is their primary candidate. Poll cookies can be deleted. People can access the internet from a variety of sources nowdays. Then there is always the simple "Hey, do me a favor and freep this poll" request to friends and relatives. Several on-line polls have been taken down lately due to spamming by RP supporters, FR polls are not immune to this and should not be considered "scientific".
Finally, that was a "second choice" poll and by no means indicates that DH is in any kind of lead, as all professional scientific polls such as Rasmussen have him at less than 3%.
Who knows, maybe the front-runners for both parties haven't even entered the race yet. As far as who I'm voting for, it will have nothing to do with the polls, and everything to do with me. When the dust clears, I just hope it's not McCain or Paul running for President or VP.
And the rest of my post said....
“If you think it has been hacked in someway, don’t you think they would want to know? I would want to know if any of my sites were hacked.”
I agree with you. Those three are what we consider Republican these days? This is the best we can get? No thanks.
I didn’t say it was hacked, I said it could have easily been hacked and gave you examples of how that could happen. You quote that poll like it actually means something...when in reality, it doesn’t mean a thing. DH will never break 3% in the polls that count much less 30%.
Copy and paste where I quoted that poll please.
Sounded like you thought it was hacked here:
Copy:
How many times was that poll spammed by DH supporters?
I’m going to start a “no third party” party.
There's not one particular type of conservative on FR. If there were, then there'd be no disagreements on which candidate to support in the primary.
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