dailyprez.com

So, although I love writing Daily Prez.com, its recently become far too much for one person to handle (especially when this person is working two very demanding jobs).  So, Daily Prez will be re-launching soon, but featuring a few fantastic bloggers, who will be introduced soon.  So, thanks for the patience - we’ll be back!

My good friend Kristina sent me a link to a great LA Times Editorial that compares Senator John McCain’s quest for the White House, to Darth Vader’s fall to the dark side.  Its a fun editorial for any political Star Wars fan, which this author happens to be.

Its going to be hard for McCain to catch fire in 2008.  In an ironic role reversal, in 2000 McCain hardly received any institutional endorsements, but had a die hard public following.  In 2008, he has all the institutional support in the world, but isn’t trusted by some of the same people who loved him in 2000.  McCain has a tough road to climb this time around.

(I also need to thank Kristina for the title of this post.  Thank you Kristina!)

Apparently, potential Presidential candidate former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has confessed to Dr. James Dobson that he was having an affair during the Clinton impeachment scandal. He told Dobson that although he was having an affair, he isn’t a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton, because Clinton was prosecuted for lying under oath (thats a post reserved for another day.)

Now, lets put the brakes on for just a moment. How can this possibly be interpreted as a confession? After the Clinton impeachment, it was common knowledge that Gingrich was having an affair. CNN’s Bill Schneider has said that Gingrich is doing this as damage control, is it even possible to do damage control for a nine year old story? With all of Giuliani’s scandals, is there any possible way a story from nine years ago could possibly damage Gingrich?

So, Peter Beinart has written a column in Time, “Searching for Another Reagan,” in which he makes a few great points about the right’s current disappointment with the crop of candidates running for the GOP nomination. He argues that even though conservatives are always saying they are looking for another Reagan, Reagan himself in 1980 wouldn’t be considered “Reagan-enough” by modern GOP standards. As governor, Reagan raised taxes and was pro-choice, and as President he granted amnesty to undocumented immigrants.

The question must be asked -will the right be able to find a candidate that meets the seemingly impossible conservative standards that have been set?  It’s highly unlikely that any of their current candidates will be able to meet the dual standards of being both highly electable, and very conservative.

Check out this Op-Ed piece on immigration reform by Senator John McCain in the New Hampshire newspaper, the Union Leader. Like much of McCain’s message as of late, he sounds like he is trying to desperately appeal to both conservatives and moderates / liberals at the same time, and is hoping that neither group notices that he is two-timing them.

For example, take this paragraph on undocumented immigrants / illegal aliens (use whatever terminology you prefer):

The need to bring illegal immigrants out of hiding and end the defacto amnesty that is the status quo is more important than ever in this post-9/11 era of terrorist threat. But this effort must never entail giving away citizenship to those who have broken our laws. Rather it should require those who voluntarily come forward to undertake the hard work of reparation and assimilation that we expect.

Notice the sentance in which he says that citizenship shouldn’t be given out to people who have broken the law. Well, the vast majority of conservative Republicans consider every undocumented immigrant / illegal alien to have broken the law when they entered the country without the proper documentation, so a conservative might read this and think at first that McCain agrees with them on the subject.

Yet in the very next sentence, McCain suggests a path to amnesty - “hard work of reparation and assimilation” - for undocumented immigrants!

You can’t in one sentence throw red meat to conservatives by suggesting that people who break the law (all undocumented immigrants by many conservative’s point of view) shouldn’t be given citizenship, and then in the next suggest an amnesty program for undocumented immigrants. It just doesn’t compute.

McCain needs to decide once and for all if he is going to run as the moderate maverick of 2000, or as the conservative candidate of 2008.  If he chooses one persona to stick with, he has a very real chance of winning the nomination.  However, if he tries to do both, both sides will feel like they are being lied to, and McCain will be a man without a base.

So, after the 2004 election, former Senator John Edwards basically moved to Iowa, and has been campaigning there ever since.  For months now, he has placed first among Democrats in a number of Iowa polls, and it looks like he is the man to beat.  Well, it appears today that Edwards is going to become an even stronger contender in Iowa, and his campaign announced yesterday that the former Senator has picked up more than 100 of Vilsack’s former supporters, including party leaders and state representatives.

As much as the media coverage of late has suggested that the Democratic nomination has become a race between Hillary and Obama, John Edwards certainly should not be counted out.  If he is able coast for a while in third place and let Obama and Hillary bash each other into unelectability, then Edwards has a very strong chance of winning the nomination.

The Villiage Voice has published an interesting article that dissects the double standard that women in public life in general, and Hillary Clinton specifically, face when it comes to clothing.  The article basically says that although the men running for President will largely have their fashion choices ignored, Hillary’s choice of wardrobe will be analyzed and examined until people are sick in the face.

Could it be that women’s fashion choices get overanalyized because a uniform for women in politics hasn’t been established yet?  Men can fly by under the radar because a dark suit, and a red or blue tie has become the established norm for male politician.  When men step out of this uniform, they get mocked too.  Take Al Gore in 2000, when he decided to wear a brown suit and blue shirt to a debate - he was criticized for months for this choice.

Will the focus on women’s fashion in politics fade once a standard uniform for women becomes established, or will a double standard exist no matter what?

This is just a sidenote, that really doesn’t have anything to do with the Presidential campaign, but I thought it was really interesting, and it reminded me how lucky we are to live in a country that allows for freedom of speech.

Apparently, this blog, DailyPrez.com, has been blocked in China! According to www.thegreatfirewallofchina.org, people living in China aren’t able to view this blog. Pretty amazing that a country can block its people from huge portions of the internet. Its things like this that make me glad to be living in the United States.

Newsweek’s interview with former Governor Mike Huckabee begins with the question, “Why Can’t Mike Huckabee Catch Fire?” Its an interesting question, because Huckabee is someone who should be getting a lot more attention from the religious right. Huckabee is easily the most socially conservative candidate running for President - he’s an evangelical Christian, pro-life, pro-gun rights, and anti-gay marriage. He is personal friends with many of the decision makers of the religious right (Falwell, Dobson, etc.) Yet in a recent South Carolina conservative straw poll, Huckabee finished 6th out of 6. Why?

One word - electability. Huckabee has failed to convince the religious right (and really, everyone else) that he is able to win in a general election. For example, another GOP candidate, Mitt Romney, kicked off his campaign with a fundraiser that pulled in $6 million dollars overnight, instantly establishing himself as a legitimate candidate. Huckabee hasn’t done anything like that yet, and he needs to very quickly, or risk forever being a third-tier candidate.

(Special thanks to my wife Sara Ludlow for bringing this article to my attention!)

Today, appearing at an anti-gang conference with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Giuliani commented on the recent reports regarding the dysfunctions in his family.  Speaking about both his son, and his wife, he told the press:

My wife Judith is a very loving and caring, good mother and … stepmother. She has done everything she can. The responsibility is mine and I believe that these problems with blended families are challenges, sometimes they are. And the challenges are best worked on in private. The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties.

I certainly understand Giuliani’s request for privacy.  What person would want to have their family’s dirt aired in prime-time?  However, Giuliani knew his family had problems before he announced.   One would think that Giuliani would have had the sense to work out the issues he has with his kids before running - spousal problems are one thing - major problems with your children are another.