Bumper Sticker of the Day !

"Those of us who follow politics seriously rather than view it as a game show do not look at Hillary Clinton and simply think "first woman president." We think -- for example -- "first ex-co-president" or "first wife of a disbarred lawyer and impeached former incumbent" or "first person to use her daughter as photo-op protection during her husband's perjury rap."

Christopher Hitchens, Wall Street Journal ( Click on the title for a link)

The Drudge Report

I am addicted to the Drudge Report. Ever since the days of Monica Lewinsky & Bill Clinton and before I have been an addict of Matt Drudge's blog. I check in every day several time each day. Even when I was in England, I would use the computer in the hotel lobby to check in on the latest stories. This morning Mitt Romney was on the CBS Morning Show and was asked what he does first thing in the morning and he mentioned he checks in on the Drudge Report and checks it several time each day. Of course Matt Drudge linked it on his blog. The main stream media hate it but you can bet they check it out regularly( To check it out click on the title for a link)

South Medford Basketball

Last night my wife was feeling a little "under the weather" so my friend Shaun and I went to the South Medford vs Sheldon Irish men's high school basketball game here in Medford. I was very torn between staying home and watching the primary returns from Michigan or going to the game. We have season tickets for all of South Meford's games so I recorded the TV primary coverage. South is rated as the #2 or 3 team in the state but they were tied with Sheldon in the South Western Conference. Sheldon and South exchanged leads and Sheldon led by 3 paints at the end of the 1st Quarter and by as much as 6 points in the 2nd Quarter. South led at the half and blew them out in the second half. South won the state championship last year but it's best player from last year is now playing for Duke University. On the team this year is a player who has signed a letter of intent to play for Washington State University and a brother of the Duke kid who is very good too. Let's hope they make it to state. After the game I went home and watched all the Michigan primary coverage on TV that I recorded on my VCR. No TIVO yet. There was a good crowd at the game for a Tuesday night. High school basketball is good clean fun. I was commenting to my friend that all or most of South's games are broadcast on the radio. This adds to the feeling of community spirit. You don't get that in the big or even medium sized cities where there is little radio coverage of high School sports and most people don't care unless there kid is involved. I don't know this for sure but I doubt that in a city like Eugene Oregon ( Where Sheldon is located) there is much radio coverage of high school sports. On the other hand their is radio coverage in the smaller cities of Roseburg, Grants Pass, Medford and Ashland. Hay, even the Hot Dog was good. Isn't it amazing how much beter a Hot dog tasts at a game over one at home.

Good Day for Mitt Romney..... Romney Wins Michigan

Romney wins with 39%, McCain 30% and Huckabee 16%. On to South Carolina and Nevada. Romney should win Nevada. This is a big boost for Romney and keeps him in the game.

So Far:
Romney 2 wins (Michigan & Wyoming)
McCain 1 win (New Hampshire)
Huckabee 1 win (Iowa caucuses)

"The Iron Horse:" Directed by John Ford

As I have posted before, for Christmas, I received the 24 movie DVD set of "Ford at Fox." The set starts out with some of the silent movies he directed in the 1920's . As a student of John Ford I felt I needed to watch his silent movies but did not expect to enjoy them as much as I have. Last night I watched the 1920 movie "Just Pals" and the 1924 "The Iron Horse" about the building of the Trans Continental Railroad. What a pleasant surprise. For an 83 year old movie they have done a good job of restoration.This is an epic movie with a cast of thousands filmed on location. The movie starts with Abraham Lincoln and ends with Lincoln. Ford was a great admirer of Lincoln and worked him into several of his movies. The movie was made 55 years after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. It has been 83 years since this movie was made. One nice feature of the movie is Fox has recorded a musical soundtrack that was composed in 2007 in place of the typical organ music that would have been played when the movie was shown in your neighborhood theater in 1924. John Ford was only in his 30's when he directed this movie but through out the movie you see his touches that showed up in his later movies. There is one scene where just before a fight in the saloon the bartenders take down the mirror behind the bar. There is the Irish humor and the reverence for the veterans of the Civil War. Ford loved America and American history and it showed. For more on the movie click on the title for a link to the imdb.com page on the movie.

A "Brokered" Convention

A good analysis by Jay Cost, of Real Clear Politics, on what would happen at a "brokered" Republican Convention:

As the Republican race is still wide open, I thought it time to review how delegates to the Republican National Convention will be allocated this year. There has been talk about a "brokered convention." And while I think that there will probably be a clear nominee come September 1, 2008 - the probability of a convention fight is much greater than it has been in the last thirty years. Accordingly, we are well advised to get a lay of the land, to see exactly how the GOP convention might proceed if there is no clear winner.

We will look at three relevant features: how delegates to the convention are chosen, what are the factors that could cause a brokered convention, and how a deal could be worked out if there is no clear nominee.

(To read the rest click on the title for a link)

Oregon Duck Basketball

( Oregon Coach Ernie Kent)

The Oregon ducks basketball team has gotten off to a good PAC-10 start after a shaky preseason. Oregon last week split in the desert and beat the University of Arizona after a loss to Arizona State. This week they hosted and beat the Cal Bears and the number 23 Standford Cardinal. Way to go Ducks!

Michigan Primary

Tomorrow is the Michigan Primary. The Democratic party has penalized Michigan for moving up it's primary date and so there is no real contest in the Democratic party as Michigan has been stripped of all its delegates for the Democratic Convention. There is a spited primary for the Republicans and several Republican candidates have a lot at stake.

McCain Due to a quirk in Michigan State Law, Independents and Democrats can vote in the Republican Primary. John McCain won here in 2000 against George W Bush when a lot of Democrats and Independents voted in the Republican primary. McCain needs to keep his momentum up from his win in New Hampshire. However,this year he may not be able to count on those Democrats who now may want to vote for Romney or Huckabee because they see them as the weakest candidates for the Republicans. The independents should still be in McCain's camp; but, if he can't win here, where he can get help from independents, where can he win? After Michigan there are fewer primaries where independents can vote in the Republican primary.This is an important state for McCain. If he wins here he can then use it to boost him into a win in South Carolina and Florida. A loss would be a big blow. The main stream media like McCain but if he wins or becomes a front runner they will turn on him.

Romney This is where Romney grew up. His father George Romney was governor. This is a very important primary for him. Mitt, yesterday said he would go on through "Super Tuesday" on February 5 (23 primaries) regardless but the media expectation game makes this very important for Romney. I still think he can continue with some chance of ultimately winning the nomination with a loss in Michigan by picking up delegates as long as it stays a 4 or 5 man race. He should do well in Nevada, 4 days later, next Saturday, due to the large Mormon population there. Quite frankly I have been puzzled by Romney's lack of success to date. He has stood out in the debates and is a well spoken candidate. If I were casting a movie for President he would get the part. He looks like my idea of a President of the United States. However, one commentator said yesterday that Romney's problem is he looks like "a rich guy", which he is . The mainstream media hate him because he was a moderate who has become more conservative. That is unforgivable to the media.

Huckabee The Democrats may also cross over to vote for this guy because they think he would be easy to beat in November and they would be right. "Gomer Pyle" is very glib and folksy. He can sustain a 2nd or 3rd place finish in Michigan if he can win in South Carolina 4 days later. A loss in both Michigan and South Carolina would probable end his boomlet caused by his win in the Iowa caucuses. A win in Michigan could lead to a win in South Carolina and would give him a good chance of becoming a strong regional candidate on "Super Tuesday."

At this point, unless one candidate wins the majority of the remaining primaries before "Super Tuesday" ( Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida) "Super Tuesday" may result in "mixed results" which could lead to a contested convention in Minneapolis this summer. After "Super Tuesday" the candidate that remain viable , and there could be at least three or four, will be scraping for every delegate and the delegate search will begin. Too much fun!

Watch out Obama !

This is what Peggy Noonan says about Hillery in today's Wall Street Journal:

And if we are to believe the new voice will be a softer, more conciliatory and more engaging one, how to square that with what is going on at HillaryIs44.com, a Web site that is for all intents and purposes a back door to her war room? There you will see that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will soon "destroy" Barack Obama in a "scandal" involving an "indicted slumlord" who is Mr. Obama's "friend of 17 years" and with whom Mr. Obama has been involved in "shady deals."

This isn't a new voice, it is the old one, the one we know too well. The item was posted on Thursday, two days after Mrs. Clinton announced her new approach.

Between sobs she is going to try to destroy Mr. Obama. She is going to try to end him. She will pay a price for it--no one likes to see the end of a dream, no one likes a dream killer. But she will pay that price to win, and try to clean up the mess later.

See for yourself..... click on the title for a link to HillaryIS44.com "a back door to her war room?"

UPDATE: This from the Assosciated Press on Sunday:

.. the Clinton campaign scrambled to explain comments by one of its top black supporters, BET founder Bob Johnson, that seemed to raise the issue of Obama's admitted teenage drug use.

"I am frankly insulted the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues - when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood; I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in his book - when they have been involved," Johnson said at an event with Clinton in Columbia, S.C.

To Go Back in Life!

"And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and ........." the above quote is from Mel Gibson in the movie "Bravehart" as the historical figure William Wallace who as a Scotsman fought the English for Scottish freedom.

A few weeks ago before the Oregon vs Oregon State football game I used the quote in a post on this blog to hopefully stir the Oregon Ducks on to victory on the football field....... it didn't work! In doing so I felt it was a little corny. However a column by Margie Boule' in to days Oregonian demonstrate there is a passion on the football field that is not easily forgotten later in life. The column is about a man who is now dieing of ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease who played football for the Oregon Ducks in 1968, in the spring game against the alumni at Autzen stadium. He played for only three plays in the game and that is the only time he ever played in any varsity game for the Ducks. He was a freshman and later transferred to Portland State. Now many years later dieing in bed he and his friends are looking for film of that game or of him in the game. They have contacted the University and other players but no one has any film. That was the reason for Boule's column.... a public request to see if anyone has film of the game. Before he dies he wants to see a film of his one-and-only performance in a University of Oregon Varsity football game in the spring of 1968. Just one more chance to go back!

Dennis Miller, John Wayne's "The Alamo" and Rudy Giuliani

I love comedian Dennis Miller. He often gives these obscure references in telling a funny story or using an analogy in explaining something. Tonight he was on the FOX NEWS program "The O'Reilly Factor" and was asked by Bill O'Reilly if it was a mistake for Rudy Giuliani to hold off seriously contesting a state primary, in his campaigning for President, until the Florida Primary on January 29. Miller said it reminded him of Lawrence Harvey in John Wayne's "The Alamo" telling the defenders to "HOLD.....HOLD....HOLD" before they opened fire on the attacking Mexican Army as they advanced on the Alamo. If you remember Lawrence Harvey played Col. Travis who commanded the Alamo. In John Wayne's "The Alamo" he wanted the defenders to "HOLD" their fire till the Mexican Army was close enough that the defender with their single shot rifles could not miss. (ie don't fire till you see the whites in their eyes) John Wayne's "The Alamo" is one of my favorite movies. Miller gives a very graphic explanation of Rudy Giuliani's strategy in waiting till Florida.

Republican Road to the Minneapolis Convention

In the post below I predicted there very well could be a contested Republican Convention in Minneapolis this summer where no candidate has enough delegates to win on the first ballot or at the least the nomination would be in doubt up until the first ballot. This is how it could develop. Below are the scheduled primaries and my projections of who will win each.


Jan. 3
Iowa- Huckabee (already won)

Jan. 5
Wyoming caucuses (R)- Romney (already won)

Jan. 8
New Hampshire -McCain (already won)

Jan. 15
Michigan - McCain (Update: Romney Wins, McCain 2nd)

Jan. 19
Nevada- Romney (Update: Romney Wins)
South Carolina (R)- Huckabee (Update: McCain Wins)

Jan. 29
Florida- Giuliani

Feb. 1
Maine (R)- McCain

Feb. 5 (Super Tuesday)
Alabama- Huckabee
Alaska- Romney
Arizona- McCain
Arkansas- Huckabee
California- Giuliani
Colorado-Romney
Connecticut-McCain
Delaware-Giuliani
Georgia- Huckabee

Illinois- Giuliani

Massachusetts- Romney
Minnesota-McCain
Missouri-Huckabee
New Jersey- Giuliani

New York- Giuliani
North Dakota- Huckabee
Oklahoma- Huckabee
Tennessee Thompson (if he is still in)
Utah- Romney, an easy one

Feb. 9
Louisiana - Huckabee
Kansas (R)- Huckabee

Feb. 12
District of Columbia- Giuliani
Maryland- Giuliani
Virginia- McCain

Feb. 19

Washington- Giuliani
Wisconsin- McCain

March 4
Ohio- Giuliani
Rhode Island- McCain
Texas-Huckabee
Vermont- McCain

March 11
Mississippi- Huckabee

April 22
Pennsylvania- Giuliani

May 6
Indiana- Romney
North Carolina- Huckabee

May 13
Nebraska- Huckabee
West Virginia- Giuliani

May 20
Kentucky- Huckabee
Oregon- Giuliani

May 27
Idaho (R)- Romney

June 3
Montana- Romney
New Mexico (R)- Romney
South Dakota- Huckabee

Under this scenario Huckabee and Giuliani would each control 1/3 of the delegates each and Romney and McCain would control the other 1/3. There may be some "deals" as to the VP choice.

If there is no clear winner coming out of Super Tuesday ( February 5th) then each candidate will be scraping for every delegate from then until the convention and I will start my delegate count on this blog. By clicking on the title above there is a link to the Greenpapers.com which has a running total on delegates for each candidate. Also work your way through the site for a plethora of information only a political junkie could love.

Republican Debate from South Carolina tomorrw night (9 pm EST- 6 pm PST) on FOX NEWS!

Contested Convention?

Every political Junkie's dream is a national Presidential contested party convention that goes on for more than one ballot. With the expansion of the primary system of nominating presidential candidates the national party conventions of the Republicans and Democrats have become more ceremonial than political drama. The last Republican convention to go more than one ballot was in 1948 in Philadelphia when former New York Governor Thomas Dewy won the Republican nomination on the 3rd ballot. 1n 1952 in Chicago there was a contested convention between Bob Taft and Dwight Eisenhower that Eisenhower won after he won a procedural vote on the seating of delegates. In in 1976 in Kansas City Ronald Reagan contested the nomination of, sitting President, Gerald Ford up until the balloting.

Based upon the results of the primaries to date we could very well see a contested Republican Convention in Minneapolis this summer. In my next post I will outline how that would develop.

On to Michigan

Congratulations John !

John McCain Wins New Hampshire. This is going to be a fun ride .

Their BACK !!!!

The Clintonistas Win in New Hampshire "Friday the 13th Part III"

New Hampshire

"LIVE FREE OR DIE!" is New Hampshire's state motto and in my opinion the best of all 50 state motto's.

Today is the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Better than the Super Bowl!

"younger ,taller, male"

Bill Clinton on his wife: " I'm sorry. I can't make her younger, taller, male..."

Christmas Holidays Are Over.

The house is very quiet and empty. I put our son on an airplane at the Jackson County International Airport yesterday (Sunday) as he flew back to Grad School in North Dakota. His sister flew back to DC the day before New Years. We took down our Christmas Tree and the outside lights on Saturday. This time I always have a "let Down" as the Holidays come to an end. This year it will be a short one because of the Primary season, South Medford and Oregon Duck basketball, the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.

We had a good time over the Holidays. The family went to see 2 movies together (Charlie Wilson's War and National Treasure). We went to a musical play in Talent.... "Meet Me in St. Louis", we all went to a wedding reception for a friend of our son and we had several meals out. We played Trivial Pursuits together on the dinning room table and we talked politics and together we watched all the political news shows on TV.On Christmas eve we were joined by my sister, my mother in law and brother in law. My Son and I drove to Eugene to watch a Duck basketball game, we returned home and watched the Ducks win the Sun Bowl and then stayed up till midnight New Years eve playing Trivial Pursuits by the fireplace until it was time for Dick Clark from Times Square. We watched Bowl games all day New Years day. We watched the returns from the Iowa Caucuses and talked politics. We had a nice lunch Friday at a new restaurant in Medford called the 4 Daughters Irish Pub. We watched the Republican and Democrat Debates from New Hampshire on Saturday night on ABC. After he safely reached North Dakota we talked on the phone about the Republican debate Sunday Night on Fox News. I miss him and his sister. However, tonight is the National Championship Bowl game and on Tuesday is the voting in New Hampshire. In addition there are several movies I want to see that didn't make it to Medford for the Holidays that I will want to see. For Christmas our daughter purchased her mother and I a subscription to Net Flix and I still have to watch my Ford at Fox DVD's. What a great time to be alive.

Hillary Clinton's Waterloo, No... Not Yet)

Tonight my son and I watched both the Republican and Democrat debates on ABC. Charlie Gibson was an excellent moderator. However if Hillary Clinton loses the
Democratic nomination the beginning of the end may very well
be traced to tonight's debate. She was attacked by both Edwards and Obama as the candidate of the status quo. She then got angry and became very shrill. For the first part of the debate she did not smile. When she spoke she did not look at the moderator or even the other debaters. She seemed to look off into space and to recite pre programmed stump speeches. Some one may have talked to her during the break because she then started to smile in the second half and was more personable but then it was too late. A focus group of Democrats on Fox News paned her performance. Even liberal Jake Tapper of ABC news said this about her performance on his blog:

"Frankly, I don't even really understand what she was saying. What I was getting was how angry she is. Not about an issue, so much, as about the fact that Obama is beating her.

The clip, I predict, will be played again and again and again.

Pundits will say that her tone made male voters recoil. And led some female voters to sneer.Clinton people are spinning this as her projecting strength. I do not think that will be the widely-head view."

Click on the title for a video clip of the portion of the debate when Hillary lost it.

UPDATE: She lost the Debate but won the Primary.

Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses

Romney wins 10 of 12 delegates in Wyoming GOP caucuses; Thompson, Hunter split remaining two delegates. Huckabee gets a big O.

(Click on title for a link to the news story)

FOX NEWS

From Broadcasting and Cable

For the year in primetime, Fox News was the No. 6-ranked cable channel behind USA Network, TNT, ESPN, TBS and Lifetime Television. That’s two notches higher than its ranking last year. CNN, its closest news competitor, was No. 26, down one.

Way to go FOX NEWS!

(For the full news story click on the title for a link.)

Separated at Birth.... "Surprise, surprise"

And he is from Hope Arkansas too! "Gol-ly"

Gomer Pyle was the simple-minded gas station attendant and later auto mechanic in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, played by Jim Nabors. Nabors continued the character in his own starring vehicle, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. from 1964-69.

Gomer Pyle was a good-natured, naive country-boy, characterized by his childlike innocence and his pronounced accent. He originally lived in the fictional town of Mayberry and worked at Wally's Filling Station (which also served as the town's service station) where he took up residence in the back room. Wide-eyed and slack jawed, Gomer provided much of the comic relief during his two-year stint on The Andy Griffith Show. He was often awestruck by the simplest of things, resulting in the exclamation of his catchphrases, "Shazam!", "Gol-ly" and "Surprise, surprise, surprise!".

3rd in Iowa!!!!!!

"She had the money, she had the organization, the party's stars, she had Elvis behind her, and the Clinton name in a base that loved Bill. And she lost. There are always a lot of reasons for a loss, but the Ur reason in this case, the thing it all comes down to? There's something about her that makes you look, watch, think, look again, weigh and say: No.

She started out way ahead, met everyone, and lost."

Peggy Noonan

Where do we get such men?

While I await the caucus results from Iowa I read the following story by James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal:

Since yesterday gave us the occasion to mention poor Cindy Sheehan, we thought it worth highlighting a more uplifting story of a parent's response to a son's death in Iraq. Nathan Krissoff, a Marine first lieutenant, died in Anbar in December 2006 at 25, prompting his 61-year-old father, Bill, an orthopedic surgeon, to join up, reports the Union of Grass Valley, Calif.:

Now the fallen Marine's father is committed to a mission, one that carries even more than the memory of Nathan. Krissoff's youngest son, Austin, is also an officer in the Corps.

"Both my sons were hugely affected by the events of 9/11, and Nate was proud to serve in the Marines, as Austin is," Krissoff says. "I share their views."

So he is closing his Truckee practice, leaving his Reno home, relocating to San Diego and taking on a brand new persona, that of Navy Lt. Commander.

Though 19 years over the Navy's official age limit, Dr. Krissoff will serve as a Navy surgeon for three years.

"My interest in Navy medicine," Krissoff says, "was because they take care of Marines."

Like Mrs. Sheehan, Dr. Krissoff met with the president, though that is where the similarity ends:

Because 42 is the Navy's age cutoff for medical officer enlistees, Krissoff was initially told that joining would be a difficult and lengthy process. So he pressed the issue and asked for the needed waiver from the highest authority he could find - President Bush.

Krissoff met Bush in August at an American Legion convention in Reno. . . . Krissoff says Bush asked each family what he could do for them.

Krissoff told the president he wanted to serve. . . . Krissoff says he pressed Bush about the matter with humor.

" 'Sir, I'd like to serve but they told me I'm too old, but I'm younger than you, sir,' " Krissoff says, telling the story with a rare grin.

Thanks to White House intercession, Krissoff quickly got an age waiver. If only he got as much attention as a certain antiwar malcontent.

To read the entire news story click on the title for a link and a picture of Doctor Krissoff holding a picture of his deceased son. I repeat, Where do we get such men?