Wizbang Endorsement

Wizbang Endorsement

Posted on January 3rd, 2008
By Sean Hackbarth in Supporters

Jay Tea at Wizbang will be voting for Fred in New Hampshire next week:

So I’m going to cast my vote on Tuesday, January 8 for Fred Thompson. He seems to have the best sense of proportion for the job, as well as a common-sense pragmatism on most issues that means he’ll most often come to a position that I can live with — or at least respect. [source]

Rumors are Untrue

There are rumors out there that Fred Thompson will drop out of campaign if he does not have a good showing they are untrue. h/t to ARRA News Service. They have a post about Thompson's response to these false rumors, along with responses from other bloggers. Click here for the post. God I hope it isn't true. America NEEDS Fred!

Fred Thompson on Isreal

h/t to Maritime Sentry. They have posted Fred Thompson's views on Isreal and Middle East.

Fred Thompson On Israel

The United States is committed to the security of Israel and the safety of the Israeli people. The historical, familial and cultural ties of our peoples are the basis of this commitment. It is strengthened by the shared values and shared interests of our nations. Our mutual goal is an economically and militarily strong Israel at peace with its neighbors. We must exercise our traditional leadership role in the region and continue our longstanding support to Israel to achieve this vision. [more here]

Shock the World

Here’s a report from Darrel Ng traveling with Fred:

Just left our first event of the day and heading to our event in Council Bluffs. We had more than 225 loud and enthusiastic supporters chanting Fred’s name during our first rally in West Des Moines. There’s a real groundswell in the state and it makes those of us on the ground optimistic that we can “shock the world” as the Senator put it at the end of the rally and do really well tonight. [source]

Polar Opposites

Okee-dokee, I was searching for Michigan news, to escape this stupid New Hampshowa crap. Well, when I clicked on politics in MNewsLive.com mostly Iowa news came up. I scrolled through and found this, regarding how different Iowa and New Hampshire are from each other, not just geographically. Keep reading and I will insert my dumb broad comments throughout, along with why I even posted this. I hope y'all know I am ignoring my Czech pen-pals to post on blogs, only for the moment. I will ignore y'all soon and pay attention to them. My honesty is going to bite me in the ass someday.

• More than geography separates Iowa, NH

• 1/1/2008, 4:29 p.m. EST By DAVID ESPO The Associated Press

• MANCHESTER, NH. (AP) — So long, ethanol. Hello, taxes. More than geography changes when the 2008 presidential campaign leaves the land of flat — aka Iowa — for New Hampshire, the Granite State. The electorate is different, and the blend of issues.

• Which may be why former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's made-for-Iowa television ad tagline, "Christian leader," has yet to make the trip east across the Mississippi River. In New England, he's a conservative leader.

Fred Thompson doesn't have to play switch-a-roo. He is a conservative leader, who happens to be a Christian.

• "The people of New Hampshire pay attention to Iowa, but it's not the determining factor," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona observed recently.

Please, change that phrase to fit your state.

• That's a diplomatic way of saying New Hampshire primary voters see little merit in rubber-stamping decisions made in Iowa.

Again, read my previous comment.

• As a group, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire are overwhelmingly white and better educated than the national average.

Two things here. I am thinking of John Cougar Mellencamp's mildly veiled protest song, "Ain't that America," in terms of the "overwhelmingly white" comment. Fill in your own thought.
Does better educated mean more street smarts?

• Still, the differences between them are significant enough to dictate adjustments by the campaigns, even if this year's compressed timetable provides only a five-day interval for changes.

Differences, yes, just as all the states have differences. No other state is as extreme as either one of these states. Most states seem to be more balanced in political views. So why should you let these people dictate how you should think and vote?

• But in New Hampshire, they care somewhat less about health care as an issue than Iowans, and more about the economy. Not surprisingly, they were also less apt to say that jobs are plentiful locally.

• Overall, New Hampshire is more independent-heavy than Iowa. At about 40 percent of the electorate or so, they outnumber registered Republicans and Democrats. They are free to vote in either party's race, a fact that complicates any pre-primary predictions.
• New Hampshire Republicans are more moderate politically than those in Iowa, likelier to support gay marriage, abortion rights and stricter environmental laws.
• Among Iowa Republicans, white evangelical Protestants account for an estimated 38 percent of the population of caucus-goers. In New Hampshire, it drops to about 18 percent, according to the Pew survey. In theory, that will make it more difficult for Huckabee to match the strong showing that pre-caucus polls suggest he will have in Iowa.

• "There's certainly a different focus, more so on fiscal issues, and a libertarian streak in New Hampshire. But I don't see a huge difference between New Hampshire and Iowa voters," Huckabee said recently.

There different, but their not ;).

• Even the method for sorting out the candidates is different.
• New Hampshire has a straight-forward, daylong secret ballot election on Jan. 8 in which voters go to the polls at a time of their choosing.
• Iowa's caucuses on Jan. 3 are essentially neighborhood political meetings, all starting at 8 p.m. EST and each requiring voters to publicly declare their presidential preference.
• Which New Hampshire is free to ignore.
  

Read the full article here.
While I don't think anyone should be swayed by how New Hampshites vote. The last quoting shows why I would give more credence to how New Hampshowites vote.

GM's Centenial Celebration

General Motors unveils plans for centennial celebration

1/3/2008, 10:20 a.m. EST By JEFF KAROUB The Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. plans a week of activities in September to cap its 100th anniversary celebration, the automaker said Thursday.

The GMnext Days global centennial celebration is scheduled around Sept. 16 to commemorate the company's founding on that date in 1908 by Billy Durant, owner of Flint's Buick Motor Co.

The company said plans for that event and others soon will be announced. [more here]

Michigan News-State Attorney General Mike Cox and Illegal Driver's Licenses

No joke y'all. Our state's own Attorney General Mike Cox was mentioned on Bill O'Reilly last nite. Why was he mentioned? Check this out.

Cox: Illegal immigrants can't get Michigan driver's license

12/27/2007, 6:04 p.m. EST By DAVID EGGERT The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Illegal immigrants can no longer get a Michigan driver's license, Attorney General Mike Cox ruled Thursday, reversing a practice that has come under increasing scrutiny post-Sept. 11.

Michigan has been one of seven states to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. Attorney general opinions are legally binding on state agencies and officers unless reversed by the courts.

It was not immediately known how soon the ruling may take effect or what it means for illegal immigrants with currently valid licenses. [more here]

What is the Iowa Caucus?

Excerpted from Wikipedia, description of the Iowa Caucus.

• The Iowa caucus is an electoral event in which Iowa residents elect delegates to the county convention to which their precinct belongs. There are 99 counties in Iowa and thus 99 conventions. These county conventions then select delegates for both Iowa's Congressional District Convention and the State Convention, which eventually choose the delegates for the National Convention. The Iowa caucus is noteworthy for the amount of media attention it receives during U.S. presidential election years: Since 1972, the Iowa caucus has been the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States. It has served as an early indication of which candidates for President might win the nomination of their political party at that party's national convention. The next Iowa caucus is on January 3, 2008.

• History

• The Iowa caucus is commonly recognized as the first step in the United States Presidential nomination process for both the Democrats and the Republicans. It came to national attention in 1972, with a series of articles in the New York Times on how non-primary states would choose their delegates for the national conventions. Democratic operative Norma S. Matthews, state co-chair of the George McGovern campaign, helped engineer the early January start for Iowa. McGovern finished second to Edmund Muskie in the first early Hawkeye state caucus, but the momentum was palpable for an ultimate Democratic nomination in 1972 for McGovern in Miami. Four years later, the Iowa Republican Party scheduled its party caucuses on the same date as the Democrats...

• Process

• The Iowa caucus operates very differently from the more common primary election used by most other states (see U.S. presidential primary). The caucus is generally defined as a "gathering of neighbors." Rather than going to polls and casting ballots, Iowans gather at a set location in each of Iowa's 1784 precincts. Typically, these meetings occur in schools, churches, or public libraries. The caucuses are held every two years, but the ones that receive national attention are the presidential preference caucuses held every four years. In addition to the voting and the presidential preference choices, caucus-goers begin the process of writing their parties’ platforms by introducing resolutions...

• Republican Party process

• For the Republicans, the Iowa caucus follows (and should not be confused with) the Ames Straw Poll in August of the preceding year. Out of the five Ames Straw Poll iterations, 1987 is the only year in which the winner of the Ames Straw Poll has not gone on to win the Iowa caucus.
• In the Republican caucuses, each voter casts his or her vote by secret ballot. Voters are presented blank sheets of paper with no candidate names on them. After listening to some campaigning for each candidate by caucus participants, they write their choices down and the Republican Party of Iowa tabulates the results at each precinct and transmits them to the media.^[1] The non-binding results are tabulated and reported to the state party which releases the results to the media. Delegates from the precinct caucuses go on to the County Convention, which chooses delegates to the District Convention, which in turn selects delegates to the State Convention. Thus it is the Republican State Convention, not the precinct caucuses, which select the ultimate delegates to the Republican National Convention in Iowa.

• Democratic Party process

• The vote is literally determined by where each voter stands.
• The process used by the Democrats is more complex than the Republican Party caucus process. Each precinct divides its delegate seats among the candidates in proportion to caucus goers' votes.
• Participants indicate their support for a particular candidate by standing in a designated area of the caucus site (forming a "preference group"). An area may also be designated for undecided participants. Then, for roughly 30 minutes, participants try to convince their neighbors to support their candidates. Each preference group might informally deputize a few members to recruit supporters from the other groups and, in particular, from among those undecided. Undecided participants might visit each preference group to ask its members about their candidate.
• After 30 minutes, the electioneering is temporarily halted and the supporters for each candidate are counted. At this point, the caucus officials determine which candidates are "viable". Depending on the number of county delegates to be elected, the "viability threshold" can be anywhere from 15% to 25% of attendees. For a candidate to receive any delegates from a particular precinct, he or she must have the support of at least the percentage of participants required by the viability threshold. Once viability is determined, participants have roughly another 30 minutes to "realign": the supporters of inviable candidates may find a viable candidate to support, join together with supporters of another inviable candidate to secure a delegate for one of the two, or choose to abstain. This "realignment" is a crucial distinction of caucuses in that (unlike a primary) being a voter's "second candidate of choice" can help a candidate.
• When the voting is closed, a final head count is conducted, and each precinct apportions delegates to the county convention. These numbers are reported to the state party, which counts the total number of delegates for each candidate and reports the results to the media. Most of the participants go home, leaving a few to finish the business of the caucus: each preference group elects its delegates, and then the groups reconvene to elect local party officers and discuss the platform.
• The delegates chosen by the precinct then go to a later caucus, the county convention, to choose delegates to the district convention and state convention. Most of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are selected at the district convention, with the remaining ones selected at the state convention. Delegates to each level of convention are initially bound to support their chosen candidate but can later switch in a process very similar to what goes on at the precinct level; however, as major shifts in delegate support are rare, the media declares the candidate with the most delegates on the precinct caucus night the winner, and relatively little attention is paid to the later caucuses.

• 2008 process

• Main articles: Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008 and Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008
• Participants in the Iowa Caucus will be as follows (in alphabetical order by last name):
• Democrats: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson
• Republicans: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson

• Controversy

• There is a debate over the effectiveness and usefulness of caucuses in Iowa. One criticism is that the caucuses are a step backwards from the right to a secret ballot. Caucus participants must publicly state their opinion and vote, leading to natural problems such as peer pressure from fellow neighbors and embarrassment over who his/her real pick might be. Another criticism involves the sheer amount of time these events take up. The Iowa caucus lasts two hours, preventing people who must work, who are sick, or must take care of their children from casting their vote. Absentee voting is also barred, so soldiers who come from Iowa, but must serve in the military lose their vote. The final criticism is the complexity of the rules in terms of how one's vote counts, as it is not a simple popular vote. Each precinct's vote may be weighed differently due to its past voting record. Ties can be solved by picking a name out of a hat or a simple coin toss, leading to anger over the true democratic nature of these caucuses. [Read all here]

I have posted this to let all o y'all in those other 49 states read and decide on whether or not it is relevent for this to be the deciding factor on how you should vote in your states caucus or primary and decide if this is democratically American.

A Few Items on the Fred File

Video: On the Road in Iowa 1/2/08

Is Fred a Reagan Conservative?

Question on Global Warming in Waterloo IA

Evening Briefing: 01.02.07

Fred Thompson on The Laura Ingraham Show, 01.02.08

Thompson presses conservative credentials on eve of caucus

• WATERLOO --- Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson said he believes he can finish above rival John McCain in Thursday's caucuses, and would be happy with a second-place finish.
• During an afternoon visit to Beck's Sports Brewery, the former Tennessee senator stayed optimistic about his chances of finishing well in Iowa, despite some criticism that he hasn't campaigned hard enough in the state.

• "I would have been born rich," he joked. "Others have spent a whole lot more money than we have here, and a whole lot more troops on the ground than we have. But, that doesn't always win."

True that! It's issues that win!

• Thompson said he thinks he can win over those leaning towards McCain because of the Arizona senator's foreign policy credentials because of his more conservative views on domestic issues like immigration.
• "I think if people compare us both in terms of our positions on domestic issues over the years and our national security credentials, that I have a pretty unique combination of those things," he said.

To see where Fred stands exactly on the issues click here, principles here, and white pages here.

• To his supporters, Thompson oozes conservative authenticity.
• It's certainly the message the former Tennessee senator wanted to convey, as he spoke to a crowd of more than 100 in front of a big purple banner that read, "The Clear Conservative Choice."
• "I think he was born in conservative diapers," said Ken Durst of Cedar Falls, a new Thompson supporter. "I was iffy on him the first time I saw him, but after I heard him here in person, you can see the conviction in his eyes."

I am in the same boat as Mr. Durst. Even looking elsewhere after Huckabee I was rather iffy on Fred. I have never seen him in person, but from what I have seen in pics and vids from his speaking engagements, I have to say I too see conviction in his eyes.

• "My record's clear. I have no new strategy, no new personality to unveil," he said. "Lower taxes, a plan to save the Social Security system, a plan to rebuild military, to stop illegal immigration."
• Questions from the audience primarily centered on foreign policy. On the political unrest in Pakistan after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Thompson said the U.S. must continue to encourage the country towards a Democratic government.
• "What do you do? Well the first thing you do is nothing stupid," he said. [more here]