Redstate

sent me another fundraising letter.  I wrote her a note before saying I am having a hard time supporting her ONLY based on electability.  Any suggestions?

because of the Senate race?  Ala Martinez??  Even paranoids do have enemies at times...

Porter is a brown ale.

Goss is derived from the German word giessen -- to pour.

It's like naming your kid Spuds MacKenzie.

Also:

Patrick Kennedy realized he had a problem when he found himself on the way to the Capitol Hill Club for a nightcap.

In From the Cold

MacsMind

connection to the Mary McCarthy story going anywhere?  How much internal reaction Agency reaction is there to the "witch hunt" for leakers?  I would think that career CIA staffers would be up in arms over their new inability to spill the nation's secrets over martinis.

Absolutely not.

...he and Dubya probably would have announced the resignation in Florida and simultaneously announced his bid for the Senate.

Bense is Bush's puppet in Florida this year just like Martinez was in 2004. We'll see how tight the Bushes strings are on Bense.

Speaker of the Florida House Bense's people in Tallahassee were cleaning out their offices in order to prepare for a run at Katherine. Now, they're not. They're putting their stuff back.

This is a bolt out of the blue at Nelson. The DSCC now has to defend a previously safe seat.

that speaks volumes to the Power of Prayer, for one of mine has been answered.

Are your sources anywhere near as good with things outside of SCOTUS nominees? What's next for Porter Goss? Senate? Retirement? C'mon...we know you've got the goods. ;)

I hope that when he is instead imbroiled in the Duke Cunningham scandal  - as Bill Kristol is predicting, probably correctly - (which might involve protitutes at the Watergate Hotel, of all places...does it get anymore salacious than that?) that it won't cause you to undergo a crisis of faith. LOL

Who is next over there?

Why did Bush and the national GOP leave Harris out to dry since day one of this race? Maybe there were people who'd make better candidates, but all of them said they weren't interested. Harris took a trainload of below the belt personal abuse for sticking to her guns in Bush-Gore. If she had caved, maybe we'd be In President Gore's second term right now. Seems like she deserved a hell of a lot better treatment than she got. What am I missing? She sure as heck wasn't going to win with her own party stabbing her in the back.

Now if Goss or any other Johnny come lately joins on the GOP side and loses to Nelson, the GOP looks like a total bunch of clueless idiots. If whoever it is beats Nelson then maybe it was a brilliant strategy, but it still looks to me like Harris got shabby treatment.

and still haven't heard a good reason for such treatment.

I think that I've already made it quite clear where I stand on this. I'm glad to hear some other people say the same thing, though. I was feeling disoriented, thinking "this is the website for conservatives??"

We won't be beaten that easily today, guys.

to hear about the viability of Porter Goss from the point of view by some of RedState's posters that reside in Florida.  But from my point of view, Florida voters really like Porter Goss, and anything short of complicity in the actual Cunningham bribery scandal would have no bearing on his candidacy or their willingness to vote for him.

FTR, my prayer was for a viable candidate to oppose Sen. Nelson.  I had no real preference, except maybe Jeb.

to be my next Senator.  But from all appearances that isn't happening.

Yes, this is a website for conservatives.  Just a reminder that KH is not the only conservative Republican in FL tho.

Since Harris has proven time and again that she will stick to her principles no matter what, she'd be a poor fit in the Senate GOP.

...all of the indications point to the insinuation that Porter Goss, during his career in the House, got caught up doing to the same things that Duke Cunningham did. Bill Kristol opines that this is why he only offered to stay a few weeks instead of "until his successor is confirmed," which is customary. I wish it weren't true because I think he's done a very good job at the CIA, and I wish he would continue there.

That said, if he weren't involved in this scandal (which I think he is), he would probably be my second choice in the race - far ahead of Alan Bense, Tommy Franks, or even that backstabbing son of a gun Jeb Bush at this point.

Katherine Harris' viability will become readily apparent as soon as the May 12 filing deadline passes and the GOP finally rallies around her (even if it's because they have no other choice.) It would be infinitely more apparant right now just how viable she is if the GOP Establishment had come out in support of her instead of trying to knock her out from the very beginning. Unfortunately for the GOP Establishment and puppeteers, Katherine Harris looks like she will beat all comers, so recruiting someone to take her on and then take on an incumbant is a pretty steep hill to ask someone to climb. Only someone slightly insane or with nothing to lose would take on that suicide mission.

Harris' loyalty to the GOP has not been reciprocated, and personally, I like her.  But from a purely political perspective, Harris can not defeat Nelson - even with the full backing of the party.  A viable candidate to oppose Nelson offers a real chance for a GOP pick-up in '06, and that's the bottom line.

It's as simple as that.  Harris' only qualifications are her loyalty to the party and her connections to the good ol' boy days of corrupt back room Florida politics.  I have no idea why she wants to run for the Senate anyway.  Her family money can probably keep her in the House seat forever, why squander that on a doomed (IMO) run for the Senate?  I'm a Republican from Florida, and she is one person I couldn't in good conscience support even if she did manage to get on the ticket.  and I suspect there are plenty more like me.  Hence the lack of support and why she's such a weak candidate.  If we want to concede the seat to a relative nonentity like Nelson, then let Harris run, but don't waste any money or effort on her campaign.  The party and the state would be much better off if Katherine Harris permanently retired from the public view.

So I just watched Special Report with Brit Hume on TiVo and Pat Roberts SAYS that the step down had nothing to do with the rumors of impending scandal and everything to do with clashing with Negroponte.

I'll accept that for now, even though the way it went down is still kind of fishy.

I'll say this...Porter Goss - if his closet is clean of the Duke Cunningham scandal - could obviously best further his mission at CIA if he were a freshman member on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Boston Globe's Nina Easton still expects "the plot to thicken" and wonders how someone with all of the accalades that Bush showered on Porter Goss to all of the sudden call him a "transitional figure." I don't know if the math is adding up on Porter just yet, but only time will tell.

Any word on whether or not Mike Johanns will unexpectedly leave the Ag. Dept to run for the Senate in Nebraska? LOL. If he does, at this point...I'm sticking with Ricketts. I have to be consistant, right? LOL

we own 3 houses, and can't even ballance the budget.

What a crock.

...former NSA chief LTG Micheal Hayden. He's the man who approached President Bush about asserting his Article II powrer to intercept al Qaeda communications with US persons.

I've lived in Florida 25 years.  I'll vote for KH if she is the nominee, but I cannot see her winning.  I hope I am wrong, but I seriously doubt it.  Those of you who support her should start explaining why you support her.  Loyalty to the cause is important, but it is not nearly sufficient.  I cannot tell you anything about her background other than that she was Secretary of State and a member of the House and very wealthy (granddaughter of Ben Hill Griffen, I believe).

I am not saying she lacks qualifications . . . just that I have no idea what they are. . . and I am a supporter!

Tommy Franks would win hands down.  Bill Nelson is a non-entity . . . as stuffed a shirt as I have every seen.  He is not only phony, he sounds phony.  His voice is annoying.  Things like that matter . . . but KH's reputation here is awful . . . I see no way she can win.

To be fair, you can't expect to balance the budget when at war.  Just reining in the non-defense spending increases would be nice though.

...y'all enjoy your fifteen minutes.

--furious

At least on this site, that when people are complaining about spending getting out of control, we're talking about non-defense, non-homeland security spending.

In fact, perhaps a plurality at least would like to see a whole lot more spending on border security in the form of several billion dollars spent on a Security Fence between the U.S. and Mexico.

I think that the key is spending offsets. I think that judges need pay raises, so we should determine how much we want to raise judges salaries by and then consult the Republican Study Committee's list of cuts to find enough cuts to offset.

We need a several billion dollar Security Fence with Mexico? Again, consult the list and find a few billion dollars in spending cuts.

Katrina reconstruction? Consult the RSC spending cut list.

Body armour for the troops? We all gotta make sacrifices - consult the RSC budget-cut list. :-)

Porter Goss resigns from his directorship at the CIA after only about 18 months.

Nobody in the CIA manages to leak the news of this impending resignation to the press.

Because nobody leaked it to them, certain members of the press think the resignation is awfully suspicious.

As a result, they begin looking for reasons why a) they weren't leaked to and b) how all of this is some kind of incredible intrigue involving, perhaps:

1. Hookers
   
   
2. Ted Kennedy's Son
   
   
3. John McCain's snubbing of Charlie the Tuna
   
   
4. Rosie O'Donnell taking Meredith Viera's place on The View

Don't get me wrong.  Goss resigning is pretty big news, but I'll say at least two things:

This is apparently one of the few times in recent history that something important has happened at the CIA without it being leaked to the press in advance, and for all the intrigue surrounding his resignation if there really is a deeper story behind it, other than Bush wanting to find someone better for the job and Porter wanting to go back to raising chickens and cattle with his wife, nobody will ever know what the real details of that story are.  Ever.

Just my spoilsport $0.02.  I hope everyone has a really nice weekend.

NYT says that the military shouldn't have released the captured outtakes that show that Zarqawi is a moron with a machine gun. They don't want us to hurt his feelings or something, I guess. We might damage his self esteem, right?

Note to the Old Senile Lady: This is the guy who makes videos of himself sawing off people's heads. This is the guy who targets children with IED's. The harshest, most negative light we could possibly shine on this monster could not suffice to portray the extent of evil embodied within him. And if we can get some propaganda value out of some of his genuine video outtakes, and make more people see him as an idiot, then so much the better.

Words fail me. I can't begin to express how reprehensible it is for our so-called "paper of record" to believe that it needs to defend Zarqawi this way.

about hitting bottom and continuing to dig.  The NYT has now hit rock bottom with this one!  So, if they go any lower, they'll have to use an oil drilling rig.

Ummm, now that's poetic justice.

Unless Goss can prove to the satisfaction of Kos and the NYT that it's not hookers or whatever other wild accusation, then it's considered rock-solid proof that he's guilty as charged.

how Cuba is going to start drilling off the US coast.

Speaker of the Florida House Bense's people in Tallahassee were cleaning out their offices in order to prepare for a run at Katherine. Now, they're not. They're putting their stuff back.

Since the Florida legislative session - and with it, Bence's term - has now ended, they'd be cleaning out the office no matter what.  I can't imagine any reason they'd be "putting their stuff back" unless the session was extended for the whole debate on the Citizen's Insurance deal - but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen.

The White House, as of 5/4, was adding its voice to Governor Bush's pushing Bence for Senate.

All these facts together suggest to me that Bence, rather than Goss, is still the presumptive pick of the party to supplant Harris.  This in turn means that Goss resigned for some other reason, possibly a more unpleasant one.

It's the Republican approval of massive new social spending: No Child Left Behind, Perscription Medicare, etc. And the abandonment of free market reforms in areas like social security.

I don't disagree that the war isn't the only part of the budget growing, but I must point out that right now, Social Security isn't contributing one dime to the deficit.  It's in surplus at present.

...that he refused to fire Foggo before more evidence came in. I suspect that it's more a case of the hatchet man having done his primary weeding, and now it's time for the clean-up hitter, Hayden.

What a lovely sight for the GOP if the Dems give Hayden too hard a time in hearings. I'm certainly not the only one who thinks that Dems publicly beating up an Air Force general for defending the country from terrorism would be a big boost for the GOP right now.

And you KNOW they will.

the abandonment of free market reforms in areas like social security.

Not so fast. Bush ran around the country for months trying to drum up support for this initiative, and people just plain didn't want it. The voters may be short-sighted and stupid in not wanting it, but there it is.

With the Democrats and the media waving big scary signs in front of the public, and Bush unable to demonstrate that there are even 100 people in the country who care about this, the air went out of it.

It's too bad. The next generation will pay a stiff price for this inaction. But that's a known problem with self-government... unless there is an immediate crisis, you can't get people to accept Big Changes.

Maybe I'm way off base here but I think that maybe Goss served as long as he and the White House had intended.  He was brought in to reform and depoliticize the agency and he has made some headway there.  Perhaps Bush realized that once the reforms were in place, the lifetime CIA employees would hold Goss in such contempt that he would be unable to lead the agency with any effectiveness.  Goss's departure allows Bush to bring in a fresh face without the baggage that Goss had accumulated among his employees.  A new director can leave the reforms in place without being blamed for the shakeup.  I think Goss was a transitional figure or a sacrificial lamb, so to speak.

This, by the way, is wild speculation on my part.

the IOUs they write when they spend the surplus?

the end of the year.  So he was moved up 8 months.

Is out of control as well. That is their favorite cover for pork now, directed at local units of government. Remember even that horrible ag welfare bill was sold as a homeland security priority.

The fence is real security spending that the feds need to do. The states cannot do it themselves. It should not be contingent on offsets. I'd put it in the same category as defense spending.

But it's not like it would've fixed the problems with the system. I think that contributed greatly to the lack of support for it. It certainly gave the Democrats more lines of attack on it.

it's not like it would've fixed the problems with the system

Nothing can fix the problem with a Ponzi scheme except exponential population growth.

The Social Security trust fund is owed money.  That's just part of the regular budget's deficit.

too long.  And watch out for that mirror!

Social Security may be taking in more than they are spending, but there is no "surplus".  I wouldn't even dignify that idea with the phrase "accounting trick".  I prefer "legalized thievery".

It's no trick... it's pretty straightforward.

Every year SS runs a surplus, and every year the porkers raid the whole surplus to spend it on the Robert C. Byrd Expressway and the Theodore F. Stevens Bridge to Nowhere.

What the trick is, is when they reduce the announced size of the budget deficit by the size of that year's SS surplus!

David Blaine would be green with envy.

If Harris were a spineless middle of the road type as FL SoS, the type the White House seems to love in Senate races, Bush wouldn't be in the White House today.  Your average GOP Senator would have folded to the media in 2000 and counted everything and anything the Dems wanted to count in South Florida.

For a White House that is said to value loyalty it is a heck of a way to show it.  All they have done is everything in their power to throw her under the bus.  

The GOP needs more Senators with the courage of Katherine Harris, not less.

Well, I understand your point. I was obviously talking about homeland security measures that ACTUALLY help physically secure the country (e.g. Security Fence, port screening technology, etc.)

Far from "contingent" on offsets, I think that they are perfect to use as political footballs to kill government growth in other areas. When you just ask people if they want to keep PBS, many people will say, "why not?" However, if you say, "do you want to keep PBS or do you want to secure the nation's borders," all of the sudden you get a lot of people voting to kill PBS and build a Security Fence. :-)