YouTube Republic

Well, the snowman was there and said Hi! to Mitt Romney in his helium voice. The Florida Republican YouTube debate was tonight. A CNN transcript is HERE, and YouTube's video recap is HERE.

Porcupine thought the questions were decent enough on the whole, if a little predictable. Why there were no questions of the enviornment, health care or education is a travesty. It was nice to see all the candidates get some time, and Duncan Hunter was a particular beneficiary of the work of Anderson Cooper to give all eight a chance to participate. UPDATE - the mom with toys from China was a union manager; the girl asking about abortion works for the Edwards campaign; and the Log Cabin Questioner is a declared Obama supporter, in ADDITION to the Clinton campaign plant - Porcupine's opinion of the questions and the editing process has just taken an elevator ride to the basement.

Each candidate got their own 30 second YouTube spot as well. Guiliani’s 30 second spot was the very best, using his quirky humor to take credit for 'Decreased Snowfall in New York!'. But the humor blew up in his face when he accused Romney of not merely having a sanctuary city, but a sanctuary mansion by having illegals work on his law. “Wait a minute – if you hire a company to paint your house or put on a roof, do you go out and demand to see the papers of anybody who is a different color or has a different accent than you? THAT is Un-American!”. Later, Fred Thompson chipped in that he was surprised Guiliani would bring up employees, as 'I guess we've ALL hired some people who didn't work out exactly the way we thought they would...', a reference to Bernard Kerik.

McCain was the straight talk guy again. On amnesty to Ron Paul - 'That kind of isolationism brought on WW II'; on torture to Romney - 'I am shocked that you think that kind of tretment could ever be used by Americans' and suggesting that we need to either abide by the Geneva Convention or leave it. Romney said he didn’t think it was wise for a candidate to be too specific, which Porcupine happens to think is a prudent position but a poor debating point.

Mike Huckabee had the best spontaneous jokes of the night, and his appeal is obvious. He personifies compassionate conservatism, and comes across as warm and engaged.

The only real ringer of the night was a YouTube question selected from retired Army general, Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr. After listing his military credentials, he said at the end of his video that he is an openly gay man and wanted to know why gays can't serve in the professional military. It produced discomfort from all the candidates as Anderson Cooper needled them to respond. Later, Politico reported that Kerr was on the Steering Committee of "Veterans for Kerry", and now Nightline reports that he serves on the advisory committee for the Clinton campaign.

Anderson Cooper opened the debate by saying that "All the questions come from you", and that there were 5,000 questions, about 2,000 more than the Democrat debate attracted. CNN represents this as 'The People's Debate'. Based on Cooper's choice to have the Clinton campaign not only be selected to ask the questions, but to be seated in the audience for follow up, Porcupine is curious as to what 'people'they refer to, as Porcupine awaits the use of Karl Rove as a questioner in the next Democrat debate.

Connecting the Dots - Local Edition

If then His providence Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, Our labour must be to pervert that end, And out of good still to find means of evil.
John Milton (1608–1674), Paradise Lost - The First Book

From Roger Simon's weekly column from Politico.com -

N.Y. Daily News, "Welcome to AIR RUDY:

Rudy Giuliani jets to campaign stops using casino kingpin's plane," By David Saltonstall:

"The Republican presidential hopeful anted up more than $122,000 last summer alone for jets traceable to casino kingpin Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands empire has made him the third-richest American, a Daily News review of campaign records shows. Last quarter, The Sands' innocuously named Interface Operations LLC was the top provider of corporate jets to the frequently flying Giuliani, who was whisked around the country on the casino's plush Gulfstream G-IV in late August and early September, records show. 'You have to follow the money and ask, 'Why is Sheldon Adelson partnering with Rudy Giuliani?'' asked Stacey Cargill, an anti-gambling and Republican Party activist in Iowa, where the nation's first presidential caucus is set for Jan. 3. Cargill, who views even legal gambling as a magnet for crime and vice, said, 'If Rudy Giuliani wants to be the crimefighting candidate, why is he partnering with a large and growing gambling empire?' "

Above and beyond the appropriateness of a Presidential candidate accepting favors from a player in an industry not noted for its Puritan pedigree (it isn't an accident that the "legitimate" Michael Corleone wound up in Las Vegas...), this story has local dimensions as well.

For who was hanging about the State House importuning legislators in the Senate Reading Room on behalf of Deval Patrick's Cerebrus Gamble-Port plan? Why, it was one Sheldon Adelson!

It would appear that in his race to the bottom, Gov. Patrick doesn't even know who he has gotten into bed with anymore.

Rudy - In His Own Words

I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends...They're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!
Warren Gamaliel Harding, (Nov. 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) 29th President of the United States

Since Bernard Kerik has been indicted and is facing trial, there is a strong odor of criticism wafting around Mayor Rudy Giuliani for giving him the post of Police Commissioner in New York City, and for pushing him as head of the soon-to-be-created Homeland Security ageny, an opportunity President Bush passed on, after a week of support.

Since Porcupine is a notorious Romney supporter, he will allow the Mayor to answer these charges in his own words, via Politico.

On the campaign trail in Iowa, Giuliani conceded that he "made a mistake" in not sufficiently vetting Kerik, but defended the crime-fighting record he and his onetime protege accumulated.

"I mean when you're mayor of New York you make 100,000 decisions," Giuliani said at a press conference in Dubuque. "Some of them you make wrong. Then the question is what happened to the city as a result of those decisions."

Mr. Mayor - do you think that the President of the United States has fewer decisions to make?

"Crime went down by historic proportions. Shootings by 74%, homicide by 67%. New York, I think people here in Iowa even know that, New York went from being the crime capital of America to being the safest large city in America. Has to be that I mostly made the right decisions in order to get that result."

Didn't that Bill Bratton guy, that you ran out of the office to give the job to Kerik, have something to do with that result?

Later, in an interview with ABC tonight, Giuliani said he was not downplaying Kerik's alleged crimes by touting the results.

"How about it's realistic?" Giuliani retorted to Jake Tapper. "It's the complexity of human life. and the reality of human life." Richard Nixon, Giuliani noted, also had great accomplishments despite his troubles.

Ah. Invoking the ghost of Richard Nixon in a primary fight. Rudy - you sure can pick 'em. So maybe, we need to limit those picking opportunities.

Wheat and Chaff

Now that the dust has begun to settle from the Ames, Iowa straw poll, Porcupine has some observations about some common themes, and some ideas of his own to present.

First, the Chaff -

The straw poll this year has less significance, as the turnout was so much lower.

Actually, as the Des Moines Register pointed out, attendance this year was more in line with previous polls - it was the heavy turnout in 1999 that was the exception. In 1995, attendance was described as having 'ballooned' to 11,000, while this year it was 14,302, and for the first time, a valid Iowa ID was required. Back in 1987, it was only 3,500 attendees.

The poll is not really a victory for Romney, because the other top tier candidates didn’t compete.

Please explain to Porcupine why building such a well run team that your opponents are afraid to compete, as it might muss their MSM story-lines, isn’t a victory.

Romney did just about as well as expected.

Actually, Romney did better than expected. A Friday poll had Romney at 25%, Giuliani at 23%, McCain at 21%, and Huckabee and Brownback tied with 8% - the others were less than 3%. Romney got 32% of the vote - a slightly better percentage than George Bush in 1999 - and Giuliani and McCain got less than 1%. In fact, McCain got 101 votes overall, fewer than every other candidate but John Cox. Additionally, while Romney beat his nearest competitor by 13%, Bush only defeated Steve Forbes by 10%.

Romney purchased the poll, spending almost $500 per vote.

If Ames were the only Iowa event, that assessment would be correct. As it is, Romney has built name recognition for the caucus, and has established a working team on the ground for that - something his 'top-tier' rivals, those MSM darlings, have yet to do.

Now for the Wheat -

Almost as satisfying as Romney’s first place was Huckabee’s victory over Brownback.

Consider – CNN polling had them both at 8%, and then Sen. Brownback went on a spiteful tear against both Romney and Huckabee, saying that they weren’t Christian or Conservative. Huckabee blew up and pushed back against the television ads and robo-calls, and was rewarded with a second place finish over the candidate who had hired over 100 buses to ferry in his support. There is a phenomenon in Iowa known as ‘faithless riders’ – that is, people take the free ride, maybe even the free ticket and free lunch and swag bag with the tee shirts and foam toys, but still cast their secret ballot for somebody else. At one point on Saturday, Huckabee said, “I can’t buy you. Heck, I can’t even RENT you!” in describing his spending. The secret of his success had to be Faithless Riders, and it gives Porcupine a great deal of pleasure to see such mean spirited and petty tactics blow up in a candidate like Brownback’s face – it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

The Three Wise Men – Giuliani, McCain and Fred Thompson – goofed up badly.

The day after the Ames straw poll, the announcement was made that the Iowa caucuses are moved up an additional three weeks, and the New Hampshire primary will be in early January as well. So instead of having a team in place to work now, they have less than five months to put one together, and get to explain why they blew off the state’s single most important GOP fundraiser as well.

Tommy Thompson is an honest man.

He said if he didn’t finish at the top, he would drop out – and he did. That’s what a Straight Talk Express looks like.

Oh - and Ron Paul is apparently a Virtual candidate, as few actual Human Voters showed up for him despite his vast Internet poll victories. Once again - the only polls that count are taken every two years!

Sunday Summer Sing Along - 2007 - Number Four!

This Sunday, Porcupine has chosen to reflect upon Mayor Rudy Giuliani's career, and who better to seranade the Italian mayor of New York than a fellow paisan? So, let's let Dino take it away, to the tune of "That's Amore"....

From ol’ New York where voters is King,
When 9/11’s over, here's what they sing:

When ‘Piss Christ’ hits your Eye, Whoop a Big Battle Cry -
Giuliani!
When Times Square seems to Shine, No More Hookers is Fine -
Giuliani!

Get some Mix, And some Pix,
And a Pothole to Fix -
Giuliani!
Go on Letterman’s show
So the Whole World will Know -
Giuliani!

Motivational Speaking is Really a Hoot,
Giuliani;
Go on Tour with George Foreman and Rake in the Loot,
Feel the Love;
When You Run for the White House,

'America’s Mayor’, Signore,
'Scusa Me, but you see, Back in New York City, that's amore!