Oh Yuck, Huck

Friar Huck is done. I was surprised that he did not do better in Southern Baptist dominated Texas. He had won in SBC territory before. It's a good thing for GOP hopes in the fall that he did not give McCain a black eye in a state as critical as Texas, which he could have done by even running close. Wonder why he did not do better? Was it because mainline Republicans thought it was time to close ranks and get behind the apparent nominee? Was it because Texas isn't all that conservative after all, what with the steady migration of outsiders from the U S ("yankees" mainly) and from Mexico? Did his votes crossover to vote for Hillary? Texas is also a state where the SBC splintered into three denominations virtually, a conservative group, a liberal group and the regular SBC folks -- was Huckabee seen as belonging more to one of those groups and unable to bridge to the others? Did his campaign run out of money? Or did folks just finally see through the rhetoric and figure him out for the big government, higher taxes, pro-war politician that he really is?

Ron Paul Wins Big

Ron Paul fought off the challenge of a well-funded, GOP backed challenger in his own congressional district in Texas. The ten-term congressman drew 70% of the vote in his re-election bid. The champion of The Constitution and Ben Bernake's biggest headache returns to Washington! Sadly, Ron Paul is almost the only congressman who fights for the value of your dollar and for your liberties at every opportunity. Paul now turns his focus back to "The Revolution" and the national campaign trail.

Obscure Passage

B. Hussein Obama on Sunday had this to say about gay marriage:

"I will tell you that I don't believe in gay marriage, but I do think that people who are gay and lesbian should be treated with dignity and respect and that the state should not discriminate against them. So, I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other. I don't think it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state. If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans. That's my view. But we can have a respectful disagreement on that."

The Long Bomb

On the day that Brett Favre announced his retirement, Hillary Rodham Clinton is hoping for a long bomb - a Hail Mary - that will keep her from retiring from the 2008 race for the Democrat nomination.

Only minutes from now the results will begin streaming in from Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island. Some weeks ago, HRT claimed that she must and would win both Ohio and Texas. Lately, her campaign has said that she will significantly erode Obama's momentum with the results of Texas and Ohio. (By the way, this is a more sane moment of the campaign overall because unlike earlier when there was the completely exaggerated focus on New Hampshire, today Rhode Island will be completely irrelevant.) If polls can be trusted, she looks to be in good shape in Ohio and in a real battle in Texas. If early exit polling is to be trusted the huge turnout of Hispanics in Texas has got to bode well for her there. Still, some argue that even wins in both states will not be enough to overtake BO's lead or to stop his march to the nomination. Perhaps not. I join Rush Limbaugh in hoping for a huge Hillary comeback that keeps the Dems spending money and fighting among themselves all the way to the convention - then at the convention over the Wisconsin and Florida delegates.

Hoping for the long bomb to connect tonight.

Whore Religion

Coming Soon

We are already getting some previews of what's coming in the fall campaign between (presumably) John McCain and B. Hussein Obama. John McCain said on a stump speech that he had "news" for B. Hussein Obama that "al qaida IS in Iraq." This in response to a moment in the most recent Dem Debate when B. Hussein Obama said that he would reserve the right to bomb sites in Iraq, "IF al qaida was in Iraq." So, in B. Hussein Obama's speech tonight, he fired back by saying that he had "news" for Mr. McCain. He said that he knows that al qaida is in Iraq and that he also knows that they were not in Iraq until McCain and Bush invaded Iraq instead of fight them in Afghanistan. "McCain said he would follow Bin Ladin to the gates of hell but so far McCain has only followed Bush into Iraq."

My sense is that (1) McCain will be the rhetorical underdog by a long shot and that (2) 'the war,' which has carried him among Republicans, won't be a winning topic for him against Obama. He will have to move the topic to a weakness for Obama.

Traders Cheer

Reaction to Bernake's crazy testimony before Congress.