Day: December 17, 2007
As Florida Hopes Fade, Giuliani Says He Expects ‘Miracles’
Rudolph Giuliani never counted on winning in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina next month. Instead, he’d set his sights on Florida, hoping a decisive win there on Jan. 29 would set the stage for a big sweep on Feb. 5, when 22 states hold primaries, including his home state of New York and California, where he calculated that his liberal-Republican affinity with Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger would trump his campaign’s failed attempts at dirty tricks and deliver a win.
One astute observer of Republican nefariousness suggested that the “miracle” he’s expecting is similar to the sort of vote-rigging “miracle” that handed Florida, and the presidency, to George W. Bush in 2000.
But in the wake of a new poll that showed him in third place in Florida after Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, Giuliani gave a
speech in Tampa that pundits say was intended to reset his campaign that featured this telling formulation:
“I’ve met adversity before [9/11]. I’ve led in situations that seemed hopeless [9/11] and dire [9/11], in need of a miracle,” he said. “I don’t just hope for miracles. I expect miracles.”
One astute observer of Republican nefariousness* suggested that the “miracle” he’s expecting is similar to the sort of vote-rigging “miracle” that handed Florida, and the presidency, to George W. Bush in 2000.
In any case, Giuliani, the cousin-marrying serial adulterer, shouldn’t get his hopes up for divine intervention because it appears that Huckabee — who recently claimed that God Himself is directing his surge in popularity — has cornered the market where miracles are concerned.
There was one moment of cultural dissonance that must have been amusing up close:
Naming several issues, he suggested the American call was to “get it done,” to which he answered “and we will.”
…The speech was reminiscent of Giuliani’s first inaugural address as mayor in 1994 — made famous by a young Andrew Giuliani lingering at the podium, waving to supporters — in which Giuliani repeatedly said: “It should be so, and it will be so.”
(It also reminded at least one person of the Larry the Cable Guy catchphrase, as one supporter yelled “Git-R-Done!” amid Giuliani’s speech.)
No word from the Giluiani campaign on whether the former New York City mayor is a fan of Larry the Cable Guy — or if he had ever heard his catch phrase before Saturday.
H/t: VRW *
Gov. Crist Would Not Be First Bachelor Vice President – Vice Pres. King Was Longtime Companion of Pres. Buchanan
Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican and a bachelor, is on notice:
Longtime Washington Republican operative Roger Stone is the latest to talk up the vice-presidential possibilities of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
But Stone says wedding bells are going to have to be audible in the next few months for Crist to be considered in the veepstakes.
Stone writes: “Bachelors don’t get selected for vice president. While Crist denies any vice president ambitions (as a good politician should), should the Governor marry in the next six months, it would be clear that he is a hopeful candidate.”
Stone is incorrect. A bachelor, William Rufus de Vane King (update: new link), was selected to serve with Pres. Franklin Pierce, in 1852:
…King, the 13th vice president, died [on April 18, 1853] of tuberculosis six weeks after being inaugurated. He was the nation’s only bachelor vice president, but according to [Steve Tally, author of “Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle – The Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers Who Made it to Vice President,” published in 1992], it also was widely rumored that he was a homosexual and his rumored lover was James Buchanan, the country’s 15th president.
“He was certainly a fop and a sissy,” Tally says about King, who wore silk scarves, glittery accouterments and a powdered wig long after it was fashionable. King’s contemporaries called him “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.” Asked if some readers might be upset to read that one of the country’s vice president was a homosexual, Tally replied, “I think they should be upset that they elected an alcoholic dying of a terminal disease.”
King was born in North Carolina in 1786, and represented the state in the House of Representatives for two terms before moving south and working to organize the government of Alabama. Upon statehood in 1819, he was elected to the Senate, where he represented Alabama for 25 years, during which he shared digs in Washington with Buchanan. After King and Buchanan died, their nieces destroyed all the letters their uncles had written one another.
Crist, who took office in January after Gov. Jeb Bush was term-limited out, registered a 65 percent approval rating in the Quinnipiac poll in October. Having a politician from Florida who is as popular as Crist on the ticket next year couldn’t hurt, and could even deliver the presidency to the GOP if the vote is as close as it was in 2000.
Crist was married for six months, from July 1979 to December 1980.
Details of Huckabee Son’s Dog Torture Episode Coming Out
UPDATE: January 2015 – Testing the waters for another presidential run, Mike Huckabee — whose son tortured and killed a dog — has sought attention by criticizing the Obamas’ parenting skills. Click here…
Original article from 2007
The White House has boarded its share of unsavory family members of occupants. During Pres. George H.W. Bush’s term, no doubt coke was snorted in the hallowed halls by his sons and their friends. Everyone still remembers what it was like when Billy Bob Carter came to town. And the daughters of today’s Pres. Bush could not be considered boring.
But if Mike Huckabee makes it to Pennsylvania Avenue, should we expect Michael Vick to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom?
David Huckabee “admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death”
Huckabee’s eldest and tubbiest son, David, would have made Vick proud when he was 18 and fired from his Boy Scout counseling job for torturing and killing a stray dog. David most recently made headlines when he was arrested for forgetting about the Glock pistol in his bag at the Little Rock airport.
But a few years earlier, when his dad was still governor, Big Boy was in a different kind of trouble. Corrente has been all over this story but the site is down now, probably due to excessive hits. This is from the Crooks & Liars quote from Corrente:
Here’s the barebones story of how 18-year-old Mike Huckabee’s son, David, and 17-year-old Clayton Frady killed a dog when they were Boy Scouts, and got fired for it. From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1998 (as quoted in DogBlog):
[David Huckabee,] the younger son of Gov. Mike Huckabee and another teen were fired last month from jobs at a Boy Scout camp after the killing of a stray dog.[..]
So, how and why did David Huckabee (and Clayton Frady) kill the dog?
Quote du Jour
I decline Christianity because it is Jewish, because it is international and because in cowardly fashion it preaches peace on earth.
— Erich von Ludendorff (1865-1937) German general, World War I
Republicans Connie Mack and Mary Bono Finally Make It Legal
Photo from the Southwest Florida News PressBest wishes to the House’s newest newlyweds, Florida Rep. Connie Mack IV (R-Naples), and California Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs). The two are moderate GOPers, if you define moderate as referring to themselves by their first names on their official websites. They were married in Asheville, N.C. over the weekend.
Actually both have shown signs of independence from the Bush White House and Republican leadership. Connie, as we are invited to call him, is the latest of the dynasty that began with his great-grandfather the baseball guy. Last month, Connie rebuked Bushite Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, for saying Americans no longer expect privacy. In a press release titled, “Mack Blasts Administration for Waving White Flag on Freedom,” Connie went all Democrat on his ass.
“Dr. Kerr’s comments suggest that he believes government ought to be entrusted to protect the private data of 300 million Americans. That’s absurd.
“Safeguarding our nation’s security is paramount. But so too is preserving our freedom. To bolster the first by disintegrating the latter runs counter to every democratic principle known to man.
“The American people have expectations of privacy and constitutional protections from government intrusion. Sadly, it seems that Dr. Kerr and his colleagues need a refresher course in Civics 101.â€
Mary, as she is familiarly known, has also demonstrated skipping whole days of Kool-aid drinking. In October, she voted to override Bush’s veto of the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, and expressed her frustration with those who would use children as political pawns.
“During the past few months, I have been dismayed by the political gamesmanship on this issue that has replaced compromise and bipartisanship,” said Bono. “While I am disappointed that we were unable to override the President’s veto, I believe that we must now take this opportunity to craft a viable compromise that will serve the needs of America’s children.”
This is a second marriage for both. Mary, of course, is the widow of Sonny Bono, who died in a skiing accident in 1998. Connie divorced his wife, Ann, mother of his children Addison and — you guessed it — Connie V at some hard to determine point in his relationship with Mary.
How they will continue to represent their districts remains to be seen. Both are maintaining residences back home, while living in their shared household in the northern Virginia ‘burbs.
