Republican nomination

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Republican nomination

Posted at 4:09pm on Jan. 31, 2008 Endorsing John McCain (And why not?)

What has this to do with Ronald Reagan?

By Mark Kilmer

The choice is no longer of which man; rather, it is of what actions.

Over at NRO, radio talker Mark Levin invokes Ronald Reagan when attempting to really conservatives to the cause of Mitt Romney. He talks of the heartbreaker in '76, when the future President lost the nomination to the sitting President – in my best Carvey-doing-Brokaw voice – Gerald Ford.

I remember in 1976, as a 19-year-old in Pennsylvania working the polls for Reagan against the sitting Republican president, Gerald Ford, I was demeaned for supporting a candidate who was said to be an extremist B-actor who couldn’t win a general election, and opposing a sitting president.

I was eleven in Pennsylvania on primary day, working the polls for a local Republican candidate. With a gleam in my eye that morning, I beseeched voters to "remember to write-in Governor Reagan." Perhaps it was my age and sublime cuteness which brought a different reaction from folks. I was told that the governor was the "change we needed" and "an honest man who would stand up for America." The revolution was underway, and it made me smile, though my heart would break that summer Kansas City when the CBS reporter told the viewing publican that my man Ron would be "too old" in 1980. Of course, I didn't know it, but he was almost instantly planning his 1980 run.

But what does this, what does Ronald Reagan have to do with Mitt Romney? Read On for our answer. …

Posted in 2008 | McCain | Republican nomination — Comments (80)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:26pm on Jan. 21, 2008 Giuliani scores another big Florida endorsement!

but I've never called him "Johnny Baseball."

By Mark Kilmer

Rudy Giuliani today secured his most important nomination to date this afternoon: that of New York Yankees LF/DH/CF Johnny Damon.

Once famous for his “Christ-like” look during his tenure with the Red Sox, the longtime bearded Damon went clean-shaven to comply with Yankee’s strict policy on facial hair.

Giuliani -- a Yankees fan since his boyhood in Brooklyn -- has pledged that if he becomes president, he will invite the Yankees to the White House pending a future World Series win.

Well, it was a fellow named Ryan Corso (of CBS News) who compared Damon to Jesus. Perhaps he aspires to be like Newsweek mag's Jon Meacham, who likes to invent religions and call them "Christianity." (See also HERE, and Google it.)

Read On…

Posted in 2008 | Red Sox | Republican nomination | Yankees — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:20pm on Dec. 27, 2007 John McCain as "the last man standing"?

Is he THE MAN to take down Hillary or Barry?

By Mark Kilmer

I was looking at poll results this AM when my eyes turned to a bit by nationally syndicated political columnist Bob Novak. He tells us this morning that "canny Republican professionals" think that John McCain is their best shot at beating Hillary/Barry/Edwards/Richardson/Whomever. If Mike Huckabee pulls off an Iowa upset, these canny folks think the path to the nomination will be clear for McCain. Novak has it that if Huckabee takes Iowa, McCain will take New Hampshire and set off his string of dominoes (the subsequent primaries).

McCain would be the Last Man Standing:

Rudy Giuliani's baggage is getting too heavy to carry. Fred Thompson never got started. Huckabee's Republicanism is even less orthodox than McCain's and seems unviable beyond Iowa. Romney is burdened with anti-Mormon prejudice and the accusation he is "plastic."

"Huckabee's Republicanism is… less orthodox." Actually, it is an admitted redefinition of Republicanism, as stated on last Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS. Romney's problems are not related to his religion or his hair; rather, he faces doubts about his credibility and political honesty. It's a perceived flip-flop problem, as well as the perceived tendency to stray from or embellish the truth. Either way, though, McCain has his own baggage. Novak mentions these – "global warming, stem cell research, tax policy and immigration controls, not to mention his original sin of campaign finance reform" – but does not indicate that he thinks they will effect McCain at all as far as being the "last man standing."

Redstate