The Blue State

Romney's roundabout on McCain

Now all of a sudden Mitt Romney is desperate to get his face back in the spotlight.  He wants to be McCain's VP.  I say great!  Romney is one of the most unappealing, phony, used car salesman-like politicians out there.  So go ahead:

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to beasked to serve as the vice presidential nominee, myself included,"Romney told FOX's Sean Hannity in a broadcast set to air tonight.  "Ofcourse this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if thenominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would behonored to receive that call … and to accept it, of course.”

Only fitting, this was just a few months after Romney called his new friend, John McCain, "disingenuous" on the issue of gay marriage.

Especially after this exchange on waterboarding:

50-State Study: Obama Fares Better Than Clinton Against McCain

The proof is in the pudding.  Pollster.com did an analysis of data compiled in all 50 states by SurveyUSA.

Here is the bottom line:

• There are more toss-up states if Clinton becomes the nominee.
• Obama, not Clinton, puts states such as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and Nebraska into play.
• Clinton would win Florida, Obama might not.
• Democrats could lose the Northwest if Clinton becomes the nominee.  Washington becomes a toss-up, and Oregon leans McCain.  Under Obama, both of those states are "strong Obama."

McCain amendment helped lead to military equipment outsourcing

So who is the real patriot?

Obama is only candidate that can beat McCain in Wisconsin

Wisconsin, when you head to the polls tomorrow, hopefully your decision will be based on more than solely which candidate you like.  Also ask yourself who can beat McCain?  In Wisconsin, the difference it pretty big.

Survey USA:

Wisconsin General Election

49% - John McCain
42% - Hillary Clinton

52% - Barack Obama
42% - John McCain

And when you look at some of the internals, the differences are even more striking.  Among women, Clinton's supposed strong suit, McCain beats her by six.  Among Hispanics, Hillary's other alleged strength, McCain beats her 81% to 13%.  When it's Obama versus McCain, Obama wins among every age and gender demographic.  Racially, he only loses among Hispanics, but only by 8 points.

So, Wisconsin Democrats, who do you want to face John McCain this November?

Daily Iowa Insider: McCain gets in Obama's way

This is really not the news that Barack Obama fans need.  John McCain is climbing in the polls, even in Iowa where he isn't liked by mainstream Republicans.  If he finishes third or a surprising second, independent voters in New Hampshire will likely choose to vote in the Republican contest instead of selecting a Democratic ballot.  Bad news for Obama.  The Illinois Senator needs the support of independent voters in New Hampshire in order to beat Hillary, who is still very strong in that state among rank and file Democrats.

So what does this have to do with Iowa?  Well, quite simply, it gives Democrats an even greater incentive to care what happens in the Republican race there, as it will affect the next voting state, which casts its ballots just five days later.  Anti-Hillary Democrats ought to hope that McCain finishes as poorly as possible in Iowa.  An ideal Republican finish in Iowa would consist of Huckabee, Romney and Thompson/Giuliani in the top-three.  The latest GOP Iowa poll shows a recent McCain surge.

American Research Group:

IOWA REPUBLICANS
Mike Huckabee - 28%
John McCain - 20%
Mitt Romney - 17%
Rudolph Giuliani - 13%

In New Hampshire, at the moment, McCain and Romney are tied.

McCain flip-flops on significance of waterboarding

Last week, John McCain went on ABC's Sunday news show "This Week" and strongly opposed the practice of waterboarding:

In other words, the damage it does to US credibility will be loads more than anything we have to gain from that practice.

But for some reason, Senator McCain has decided to vote for President Bush's Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, even though Mukasey has refused to define whether waterboarding is a form of torture.  Interesting.

The Republican debate (in a nutshell)

If you missed it, don't feel left out.  It was all about Hillary this, Hillary that.  This McCain moment pretty much sums it up:

Perhaps the line of the evening belonged to Mr. McCain, which cameduring his ridiculing of Mrs. Clinton over her support for $1 millionfor a Woodstock museum to commemorate the most famous love-in of the’60s.

“Now, my friends, I wasn’t there,” Mr. McCain said. “I’m sure itwas a cultural and pharmaceutical event,” he added, building to hisshow stopper: “I was tied up at the time,” he said, bringing theaudience to its feet with an extended standing ovation for his years ofsacrifice as a P.O.W. in Vietnam.

It was a highly unusual display by an audience during a debate. Howmuch of the moment was a valedictory for Mr. McCain’s candidacy was notclear, but this boisterous crowd certainly honored his service.

John McCain is back.  A few of you that comment on this site regularly predicted it.  Expect a surge of donations over the next few days.

McCain fearful of hypothetical Muslim US president

In an interview earlier this week about religion and politics, John McCain hinted that Muslims should reconsider their religion before running for president:

"I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said."But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation wasfounded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someonewho I know who has a solid grounding in my faith."

In other words, John McCain does not want someone that is different than him to become president.  Maybe a question worth asking is whether someone who believes that fear will triumph over tolerance is really qualified to be president?

(Video) McCain caught lying about Iraq report

This morning on Meet the Press, as he debated Senator John Kerry, John McCain claimed that an Iraq report released a few weeks ago did not conclude there needed to be political reconciliation before military progress.  McCain, along with Bush, think it's the other way around -- that you need military progress first, then political stability.  But on the Sunday news program today, McCain deliberately misinterpreted the report:

McCain calls Webb's Iraq bill "blatantly unconstitutional"

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) submitted a bill that would speed up the redeployment of US troops from Iraq by requiring that all soldiers spend at least as much time at home as oversees.  Republican presidential candidate John McCain calls the resolution unconstitutional:

"Where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that theCongress decides how long people spend on tours of duty and how longthey would spend back in the United States? It's blatantlyunconstitutional," McCain said.

It is the job of Congress to pass laws.  McCain is asking whether Congress has the constitutional right to pass laws that shape the way agencies inside the executive branch are allowed to behave.

Actually, Congress does impact the business within agencies.  Read the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the Department of Homeland Security.  The measure completely laid out the duties in that department, which the Congress has a right to control.