Watch John McCain at AIPAC

Here are excerpts of Senator McCain at AIPAC:

I gotta warn you about embedding videos from this service…they leave out the </embed> tag, and set the video to play automatically, forcing the embedder to do even more tinkering with the code.

The Hairy Ainu of Appalachia

Too good a post-title to pass up. The details:

May 20, 2008 | WHITESBURG, Ky. — In analyzing the returns from last week’s West Virginia Democratic primary, a phalanx of reporters and commentators have explained Hillary Clinton’s landslide victory by pointing out that West Virginians are a special set of Democrats, white, low income and undereducated. Some, like Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and Jonathan Tilove of the Newhouse papers, have linked the lackluster performance of Barack Obama in West Virginia to a larger Appalachian problem. These writers connect the presumptive nominee’s defeat in West Virginia, his previous losses in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and an anticipated poor outing in Tuesday’s Kentucky primary, to the historical, geographic and cultural imperatives shared by Appalachian mountain people.

The legions of pseudonym-laden online posters who follow in political punditry’s wake are less restrained in describing the shortcomings of Sen. Clinton’s Appalachian supporters. They suggest it has to do with her voters being racist, toothless, shoeless, and prone to marrying their cousins. In short, they characterize these “special” Democrats in much the same terms they used in quieter times to describe Republicans.

Source: Redstate

Commentary

I think that the Democrats really have no clue about the lack of appeal that Obama has to the electorate, and they will have even less when even more is revealed about him…and his beliefs, and the people he has surrounded himself with over the years.

Why Barack Obama Will Not Win in November 2008

Some liberal commentators have downplayed the effect of Barack Obama’s fundraising speech at a San Francisco fundraiser last week. But that’s wishful thinking. Along with the revelations about Obama’s pastor Jeremiah Wright, his remarks in San Francisco will haunt him not only in the upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia, but also in the general election against John McCain, assuming he gets the Democratic nomination.

To win in November, a Democratic presidential candidate has to carry most of the industrial heartland states that stretch from Pennsylvania to Missouri. That becomes even more imperative if a Democrat can’t carry Florida–and because of his relative weakness in South Florida, Obama is unlikely to do so against McCain. Ruy Teixeira and I have calculated that in the heartland states, a Democratic presidential candidate has to win from 45 to 48 percent of the white working class vote. In some states, like West Virginia and Kentucky, the percentage is well over a majority.

Some Democrats insist that Obama need not worry about these states because he will be able to make up for a defeat in Ohio or even Pennsylvania with a victory in Virginia or Colorado. But in Virginia, McCain will be able to draw upon coastal suburbanites closely tied to the military. These voters backed Democrats like Chuck Robb and Jim Webb, who are both veterans, but they may not go for Obama. And in the Southwest, McCain will be able to challenge Obama among Hispanics. So to win in November, Obama will have to win almost all of these heartland states. Which is a problem, because even before he uttered his infamous words about these voters “clinging” to guns, religion, abortion, and fears about free trade, Obama looked vulnerable in the region. A look at the white working class’s relationship with earlier Democratic candidates underscores the various reasons why.

Source: The New Republic

Hat Tip: Race 4 2008

Commentary

It’s gratifying to have some of the punditocracy see what I’ve already seen. It is very ironic that the cross-over shenanigans in new Hampshire that ressurected Mccain also served to put forth our candidate that is most acceptable outside our party. If things had been left alone…we would have had Mitt Romney, a candidate unacceptable to certain ignorant Christians who supported the Huckster…a wolf in shepherd’s clothing. Enough of them would have sat out to give the election to whom ever the Democrats put up.

Rice for Veep, Just Say No One RINO on the Ticket is Enough

I’m hearing noises about Condi Rice being considered for Veep, and some conservatives are cheering. Idiots. Rice is NOT a conservative.

She is a RINO, and is pushing for the destruction of Israel by giving in too much to the Paleostinkians. She has been captured by the evil bureaucrats in Foggy Bottom.

New Zogby Poll: McCain Bests Clinton, Obama in Three Way With Nader

God Bless Ralph Nader!

1. 45% John McCain
2. 39% Hillary Clinton
3. 6% Ralph Nader

1. 44% John McCain
2. 39% Barack Obama
3. 5% Ralph Nader

The introduction of long-time activist Ralph Nader into the mix is having an effect on the race, as he wins enough support to make a difference, the poll shows. Nader entered the race recently, charging that there is little difference between the Republican and Democratic parties and their presidential candidates. Using the same argument eight years ago, his presence on the ballot in Florida may well have tipped the presidential election away from Democrat Al Gore and in favor of George W. Bush. His run four years ago yielded less dramatic results, but the political atmosphere has changed since 2004, and may be more favorable for him again, the Zogby survey shows.

In the McCain-Clinton-Nader match-up, McCain leads mainly because of a significant advantage among independents. Among those voters, he wins support from 45%, compared to 28% for Clinton and 15% for Nader. McCain wins 79% support from Republicans, while Clinton wins 75% support from Democrats.

Clinton leads only among those voters under age 30, while McCain leads among all voters over age 30. Nader also does well among the young, winning 12% support among those under age 30. Among men, McCain leads 51% to 33% for Clinton. Among women, Clinton leads, 45% to 40% for McCain. Nader wins 8% among men and 3% among women.
Nader also does particularly well as a third-party candidate among progressives, winning 15% support from the group that would very likely otherwise go to Clinton were he not in the race. At the other end of the ideological scale, he wins 12% among libertarians. He also wins 6% support among both conservatives and liberals.

Source: Zogby International

And it can only get better the longer Clinton and Obama sling mud at each other!

Good News From MyDD, Or Is It?

No, I haven’t been blasted with a mind-ray, nor has my brain been eaten by rats (get it?).

A diarist over there has noted that since 1972, no party that has gone to their convention without a clear winner has ever won the General Election. Ordinarily, I might tend to agree with them except for one thing…this year has broken a lot of trends. For the first time since 1960, we will see a sitting Senator become President.

On the Democrat side, we have seen the inevitable candidate struggle to stay in the race; and on the GOP side, we have seen a dead candidate rise from the ashes to win the nomination.

On both sides, there are a lot of unhappy campers who may sit out the election or vote very unpredictably.

Ralph Nader
(May God Bless Him with many Democrat votes) has decided to run again.

The actions of the 110th Congress have won them no love (their popularity is half the Presidents dismal polling), and may just prove to cancel out the anti-American war protest vote.

And, there is always hope that the Recreate ’68 crowd can remind the American political undecideds just how unhinged the left are, and send them our way in November. I have friends in Loveland, Colorado, and am seriously contemplating going out there to get some good footage and interviews to bring back with me.

There is also a protest for the RNC Convention as well, but the majority of the protesters will be nuts from the left. There will some nuts from the ashes of the Ron Paul campaign there as well, which should help seal their fate in our party.

All in all, I feel good about the GOP chances to retain the White House this fall. The race is John McCain’s to lose, and the road between here and November is gonna be hard.

**update** 8.14pm
Obama wins Wyoming, putting another nail (I hope) in the coffin of Hillary 2008. Now, if enough Republicans can cross over and vote for her in PA, we might just get that deadly convention showdown. Jim Quinn has been saying since December that there would be an emotional reconciliation scripted for the DNC Convention in Denver. We’ll see.

SurveyUSA Virginia GOP Primary

1. 57% Senator John McCain
2. 25% Governor Mike Huckabee
3. 9%Congressman Ron Paul

1,700 state of Virginia adults were interviewed 02/07/08 and 02/08/08. Of them, 1,470 were registered to vote. Of them, 382 were determined by SurveyUSA to be likely to vote in the 02/12/08 Virginia Republican Primary. All interviews for this survey conducted after Romney withdrew, and after both local and national evening newscasts aired on 02/07/08. Results from partial sample conducted 02/06/08, before Romney withdrew, are available here.

Source: Survey USA

In the 18 to 34 year-old category…interesting to marketing types, since most of today’s advertising seems to be directed at this group, McCain had 50% support, Huckabee had 28% support, and Ron Paul had 14% support (his highest demographic).

Also interesting to note from the survey conducted immediately before Mitt Romney withdrew, McCain had 45% Romney had 22%, Huckabee had 20%, and Ron Paul had 11%. All gained when Romney withdrew except Paul, who lost 2 out of 11 likely voters.

The most important thing the withdrawal of Governor Romney did was to allow McCain to begin raising money for the General Election by giving him a lock on the GOP Nomination. There will be no brokered convention for the Pauleroids to disrupt.

The party will line up behind McCain, albeit some of us under protest. We will be grownups about it, and look to the alternative party, and shudder. We see in Hillary everything we despise about government, and those who ‘know better’ than us about what is good for us. We look upon Obama and see a foreshadowing of the anti-Christ. He is pleasant to the eyes and ears. He speaks of hope, and brings with him the force of government to control every aspect of our lives.

We know where our duty is, and we will do it. But never forget (this is directed at the RINOs) we have your number, and we will be ready to pick up the pieces when you fail at imitating the Democrats. 2012 is not really that far away.

Rasmussen Tracking Poll General Election Matchups

• McCain – 46%
• Clinton – 43%

• Obama – 47%
• McCain – 42%

Source: Rasmussen

Also interesting in the report are some figures from the Rasmussen Markets giving Obama a 57.5% chance of winning the primary, and Clinton a 42.1% chance. The speculation on the Veep selection in the GOP has Huckabee at 26.0% and Tim Pawlenty at 16.5%. The Dem Race is wide open, and the Veep numbers have Obama at 15.0% and Al Gore at 11.7%.

I think it is a little too soon to speculate on the Dem side, and I think McCain is going to provide a surprise for his choice of Veep, at least from this point in time it will be.

Also interesting to report…I have already received a phone call asking me to donate to the McCain Campaign. I told the nice young lady that Senator McCain was going to have to provide some proof to me that he will govern as a Conservative, and not as a maverick. I think the poor girl had been told something similar all morning…she said that I would come to my senses before November.

Wow! Doesn’t sound like the McCain people believe they need conservatives to win, does it? We’ll have to see how this plays out.