Arkansas Blog

"attack question"
"bomb language"
"rumor question"

Wellhuckme! is familiar with them all. As I posted b4 a man who has spent 15 years in politics can calculate. If not he should go back to the pulpit.

Now back to our original speculations: will he be v-p for Giuliani or Mitt?

Running on sizzle will run out. Sooner or late somebody is gonna look at the steak.
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Flood of Campaign Operatives Cause Worry

Dec 14, 4:29 AM (ET)

By MIKE GLOVER

Profile of Mitt Romney - Does America Need Another MBA President? By Matt Cooper
Portfolio.com


Why Daddy is a Democrat - The new book George Bush doesn't want your kids to read!
littledemocrats.net

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Will they be checking for out-of-state IDs at the caucuses?

The major presidential campaigns are flooding the state with hundreds of field staffers, and there's at least some concern that those operatives could show up for the Jan. 3 precinct caucuses and distort the outcome of the opening test of the presidential nominating season.

Spokesmen for the leading campaigns reject that suggestion, saying there are strict rules banning operatives brought into the state from actually participating in caucuses. They note that the number of operatives potentially involved is far too small to have an impact on the outcome of caucuses, which are likely to be settled by an estimated 150,000 people on the Democratic side and over 80,000 on the Republican side.

Most of the concern comes on the Democratic race, where - unlike the GOP - the rules governing who can participate in a caucus technically include recent residents who may leave the state immediately afterward.

With the Democratic caucus contest very tight in most polls, the rival campaigns are keeping a close eye on what the others are doing and some provided The Associated Press with lists of campaign staffers registered to vote in Iowa in the various campaigns. One campaign listing showed that 51 of the 115 people on the staff of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Iowa campaign are registered to vote in the state, and that 91 of the 131 people working for John Edwards in the state are registered to vote in Iowa.

Another listing showed that 42 staffers working for Barack Obama's campaign have registered to vote in the state, many in the last six months or so.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor moved here to work on the campaign and is one of the Obama operatives who has registered to vote in Iowa. But Vietor said he and other Obama operatives who moved in from out-of-state to work on the campaign won't go to the precinct caucuses.

"We're pleased that so many talented people are working so hard and volunteering their time to elect Barack Obama, but it is our policy that employees and volunteers who moved to Iowa expressly to work on our campaign do not caucus," said Vietor.

Vietor said he did vote in a school board election in Des Moines, casting a ballot for Patty Link, wife of veteran Democratic operative Jeff Link. Ironically, Jeff Link is aligned with Edwards.

The issue has surfaced before, and comes because Republicans and Democrats run their precinct caucuses differently and, unlike a traditional election, they are governed strictly by the political parties.

On the Republican side, there are more restrictions. Local party officials running caucuses in each of the state's more than 1,780 precincts will get a list of registered Republicans who live in that precinct. Those who show up for a caucus who are not on the list can register to vote on the spot, but they will have to show some form of proof they actually live there.

"If you're not on a voter file for that precinct, you'd better have a driver's license or a utility bill," said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa.

Things work differently on the Democratic side. In each precinct, local officials will have a list of registered Democrats in that precinct. Those who show up and aren't on the list can register to vote by asserting that they live in the precinct and sign a voter registration form.

Technically, a campaign staffer who moved to Iowa a few months ago to work for a campaign is not breaking the law by attending a precinct caucus, even if the staffer plans to move on the morning of Jan. 4.

"It breaks the spirit of the law," said Carrie Giddins, spokeswoman for the Iowa Democratic Party. "The spirit of the law is really what drives the Iowa caucuses."

And that "spirit" is that those showing up for precinct caucuses were living in the precinct prior to caucus day and will continue to do so afterward, she said.

The major campaigns have pledged to live up to that spirit.

"Our campaign pledges to Iowa Democrats to follow the spirit and letter of Iowa state law and the Iowa Democratic Party rules governing the conduct of the caucuses," Vietor said.

Clinton spokesman Mark Daley issued a similar statement.

"The Iowa caucuses should belong to Iowans," said Daley. "While we would never do anything to disenfranchise the many Iowans who are working and volunteering on our campaign, it's our long-standing policy that any staffer or volunteer who has come to Iowa for the sole purpose of working on the campaign should not be allowed to caucus."

Judith Warner has an excellent read "Holier Than They" in the New York Times this morning -- click below for the entire article. Exerts;

For years, the left - and moderates - permitted the right to frame itself as the sole custodian of "family values" in the United States. It was only when vast numbers of American families woke up to the fact that they were not being valued at all - that, in fact, they were being fleeced--

(As governor, Huckabee, according to veteran Arkansas political journalist Max Brantley, once "stood in the hospital door, at least figuratively, to prevent state funding" for a mentally handicapped teenage girl who'd been raped by her stepfather and needed to have an abortion.)

Oooops! the link.

Front page Dem/Gaz by-line: "Until 1978, relgion's faithful considered dark skin God's punishment."

Cato's off setting by-line:" Christianity's faithful considers AIDS God's Punishment."

Jaundiced is too polite, Max.

Brother Lockwood's contempous, distorted screed against Mormonism had no place on the front page of a statewide daily. But, then again, we all know what kind of newspaper serves this state.

To give Southern Baptists the final say (and entire section) to preen their holier than thou racial cred would be laughable if it wasn't so incredibly hypocritical.

It's becoming all too apparent why the DemGaz announced the arrival of Lockwood with such fanfare. The boy sure can carry the ideological water pails, filled to the brim with hate.

"Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post says Huck has defined himself as 'anti-reason'."

Hello?

Why on earth is it taking the mainstream "liberal" media so long to see what's apparent to anyone with half a brain?

If the media had taken seriously Garry Wills' magnificent essay on Bush's re-election as the end of the Enlightenment, published on the heels of Bush's re-"election," they wouldn't have been pimping so shamefully for these clowns for the past four years.

And maybe we'd have ended up with an assortment of candidates who, as a minimum, believe in reason as a basis for a sound social contract.

Look, I was a HUGE Bill Clinton supporter, and going into last year, I was fairly content in knowing I'd be supporting Hillary in '08. But then "my guy" jumped in--Obama--and I finally had the chance to support the person I that inspired me and who could heal this country--my generation's Kennedy perhaps. He took him a while to find his stride--he certainly wasn't the polished politician Mrs. Clinton was. The more and more I saw Hillary in action, the more I realized--everything people had said about her over the years was actually true--cold, calculating, dishonest when it benefited her, etc. (I had always given her the benefit of the doubt because of who her husband was). We all know she was knocked off her high horse in the Philly debate and has been scrambling ever since. Edwards sharp attacks definitely benefited Obama. But I never would've guessed she would become SO incredibly desperate and petty (and willing to try to personally destroy a guy with such good character, a guy that may very well be the face of the party for years to come). I can't tell much difference in her attack-strategy than what we've seen out of Bush/Rove the past several years. She's WAY too involved in details to NOT know about the staffer jumping on the "Muslim plant" e-mail hoax (we expect that crap from the Limbaugh/Hannity types, not people in our own party). Then came the Kindergarten "I want to be president" thing (good thing for her Jon Stewart isn't on the air right now, what a field day he could've had). This might top them all--trying to bring up the drug stuff, something Obama has been refreshingly candid about, but something that might spook older folks who have just started to get to learn about who is he is. No, no, my admiration for Bill Clinton isn't enough--I'm a RABID anti-Bush Democrat (albeit a moderate one, much like Bill was), but UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will I vote for Hillary Clinton now. I'M SO SICK of Rove politics, I'm not about to vote for someone who's going to keep them alive, regardless of the fact that have a "D" by their name. We're all seeing Hillary's true colors--NOTHING will get in the way of her ambition to be president. There are a few people over the years whose GREATNESS led them to be president, someone who can change the world. Then there are others who simply want to be president to be GREAT.

Muddling beat me to it! Eugene Robinson hit the nail on the head when he said Huckabee is anti-reason. Well, he should have added anti-reason and greedier than a cell phone salesman too. I also think Huckabee is far more connected to the vast rightwing conspiracy than we ever thought.

We often forget the riches of both political parties allow them to leave no stone unturned in their effort to suck up all the power. They no doubt spread the money around years before they call their sleeper cell into action. I'd still like to know more about why RJ Reynolds would give Huck 40 grand for his healthy PAC so long ago. There are 2 strange bedfellows if there ever were.

Huck shouldn't waste his time trashing Mormons. No decent Christian would ever vote for a Mormon, even behind closed curtains. Goofy bastids that have Jesus walking around Arizona...who ever heard of such a thing! Jesus in America...it's like Lincoln with an iPod. There's not a wit of difference between Joseph Smith and David Koresh. Good thing Janet Reno wasn't AG back in 1827. They'd be a big black spot in upstate NY where the Smith compound used to sit.

But on the other hand, the Mormon brand of religion isn't much crazier than Baptists and Methodist if you start snooping around. I mean....how does one parse this God made everything and all things are in his hands bidness? If God didn't make the Devil....who the FK did? If God didn't invent child molesting...who did? If God didn't invent AIDS...who did? And like the ATF took out David Koresh, why doesn't God surround the Devil's compound and blow it to hell? Talk about trying to have it both ways!

All religions have a Nintendo game aspect to them. Religion is a series of tests often starting with the chopping off of a infant's penis. Imagine the first dude that turned to his panting wife and said, "Honey...where's the ax"? At the end of a Christian life the trick is to get that "Father, forgive me" in as soon as your last sin is over and just before your heart stops beating. If you're 2 seconds late.....damned for eternity! And remember, eternity lasts even longer than Bush's time in office. Horrors!

Someone will say...oh no...once saved, aways saved! But that will just start a big fight between the Coke vs Pepsi crowd, cause each brand of religion has its own specific set of Nintendo rules to follow. And the cruelest trick of all is that most of them require you spend your whole life on earth siting on your hands...but no fingers! And THEN after you do nothing for 88 years and die, THEN is when the party starts. When I was a kid Minny the Sunday School teacher (3rd grade education) told me how when I die, I'll go to heaven and go to church 24-7! Lordy...can you say anything more scary to a 6 year old child? Church all the time for a zillion years? Why didn't she just light a cigarette and burn me?

Then the next year Joe the Sunday School teacher (8th grade education) told me if I didn't get dunked and me and Ma got killed driving home from church that day, she'd go to heaven and I'd go to hell and never see my parents again for a zillion billion years! Now I know that's child abuse. But it worked....by next Sunday I was splashing in that water to made damn sure I'd never be more than a mile away from my Ma for the rest of time. Of course the nightmares about being separated from Ma went on for several years after that, but when I'd wake up screaming, I just think real hard bout Jesus and most of the time they'd go away. Thanks, Jesus.

Wonder, do the Baptists still preach against the Pope? Maybe it was just the Kennedy years when the cross-hairs were always on the Papists. Old Tony Alamo is still blaming the Pope for everything from pubic lice to the sinking of the Titanic. Does this mean if I go back to my tiny Baptist church this Sunday the preacher will be screaming about Mormons? Out in Salt Lake City will the Sunday sermons be about redneck Baptist preachers from Arkansas?

Oh gee...whatever you do, don't stir them Mormons up! Last time someone from Arkansas pissed them off, they killed a whole wagon train full of Arkies! That was 150 years ago this past 9-11. Huck could wake up with an arrow thru his head! Duck Huck! I wouldn't be having no private conferences with Donnie and Marie if I was you!

It's just all too silly to fathom. We got troops being slaughtered for oil, our government is being taken over Nazi style and here we are jawing about 2 religious nuts with no chance of being elected. This is exactly the kind of smoke & mirrors that has ruined the world. We bitch and fight over nothing while Rome burns.

The past 2 weeks the nation has argued over myths...over 100% unprovable horse hockey. We'd be farther ahead if we were arguing Superman vs Batman. Now I can understand why religion was invented.....because there is no hope for mankind. We foul our nests and then holler Jesus save me! Well, that kind of stuff only worked on The King and Odie....and folks...that was just a 60s cartoon. Let's evolve...shall we?

I wish someone would ask old Mitt, "If elected will you propose a NASA trip to search for the planet Kolob?"

We are supposed to be tolerant and respectful of other religions, but it is difficult when your BS meter explodes.

Do Baptists still preach against the pope<<<<
Only in whispers.

Yes jazzy, but not as blatant/widespread as in days gone by. When hubby/I got married years ago, my Baptist mother-in-law wanted to know if just anyone could go into a Catholic church (like you needed a secret handshake or something along those lines). And she's spent all these long years trying to figure out if any of that Catholic stuff translated into her grandson 'being saved' (she had a grandson, after all, and her son was safe...as for me...they love me anyway).

The more I learn about the Mormon religion the more I'm convinced that adherence to most of our religious cults requires a complete suspension of reality. But at least it's an unknown. I KNOW what to expect from Huck and his sexist/ignorant preacher brethren. I bypassed them in the 70s and ain't going back.

The "vast right-wing conspiracy"? Give me a break. DBI, you've got childhood issues. You desperately need a psychiatrist!