"let's face it... in eateries...we're going to have illegal aliens..."

The Mayor of Sanctuary City, USA strikes again. Matt has the link up that works...

Holy Freaky Deeky!

There's a lot of reasons why people don't like Hillary... but how many candidates could get one of her PRECINCT CAPTAINS to switch sides in the midst of the most important primary of her short life? This 2min video is deadly... DEADLY!

It is a knockout blow for so many reasons:

1. It plays into the "hope filled" message of Barack Obama...
2. It is a PRECINCT CAPTAIN of Hillary's ground effort - in the very first state...
3. It is a FEMALE voter... (what Hillary HAS to have to overcome the number of African Americans that are now breaking for Obama.)

If I was Obama, I would re-order my television buy in Iowa and eliminate the single second avails, and put out half as many two-minute avails and run this video, again, and again, and again, and again...

I would like to point out - that it was me - Kevin McCullough who said way back in the late fall of 2006 that Obama would be the democrat nominee. (I could still be proven wrong, there is certainly still plenty of time.)

But this kind of stuff coupled with the "drugs, Muslim" and other negative attacks Hillary/Bill/Penn etc., have been unfurling seem to be rallying the undecided African Americans to Obama's side, and with a video like this - look for more and more and more women to break for him as well!

Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina, Florida
...NATIONALLY...

All of these numbers are impressive given what Huck has actually spent. Matt Lewis is attempting to out Huck everyone here on TownHall and he points to the naming of Ed Rollins to Huck's team. He also highlights the Jim Pinkerton piece that I failed to mention.

And he surmizes that the more liberals bash Huck the better he does... Which I could not agree more with.

That is also fundamentally the problem with a Rudy general election. No daylight between a Rudy vs. Hillary race. With Mitt or Huck you get enough daylight to ram a Mack truck through - and the MOST IMPORTANT THING THE GOP needs in its general election candidate is...?

CONTRAST!

After a day of conversations, some lasting up to an hour and a half, some with Mormons, some with Catholics, and some with Evangelicals I have decided that I am all the more eager for the primaries to be done...

Many months ago the trek for the nomination began in the individual minds, hearts, homes, and offices of the candidates...

As an observer and fan of many aspects of each candidate and finding myself in opposition to some policies of each as well - I continue to be flummoxed at even this late date as to the certainty of which candidate I myself will be voting in favor of.

My transparency in the reflection and discussion of my own thoughts - on my own blog - has been an irritation to both supporters and opponents of Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, and to a lesser degree Rudy Giuliani.

With Rudy I simply can not support - nor will I - a candidate who seems to believe that the act of murdering an unborn child is "wrong" but not something he could ever advise someone else against...

With McCain his recklessness on a host of issues over the past seven years had burned me out on him truly before the campaign had even had a real chance to begin.

Ron Paul is simply a man living in denial.

Fred Thompson was who I was most excited about early on - especially prior to his announcement. Something went kaput on the Leno soundstage and almost immediately Fred's energy level dropped. Simultaneously so did his poll numbers.

Mitt was my official candidate prior to Fred getting in, and became my favorite candidate again as soon as Fred began to fade.

I have written at length about the strength I believe a Romney/Duncan ticket would have in forcing Democrats to spend money in California, and the liberal Northeast - and thusly possibly provide some opportunities for Dems to not defend other territories as strongly and possibly allow some (one to four) blue states to be flipped red.

I have interviewed Romney more than any other candidate in the race. At CPAC in person last spring, multiple times by phone since, and each time he has presented a STRONG case for the coalition he seeks to build using fiscal, defense, and social conservatives. His game plan was well thought out, and it seemed putting his millions into the early states was wise.

Mike Huckabee is someone I've also had some face time with. Introducing him at CPAC last spring. Talking to him as well on my show and hearing from him directly his passion for the issues I hold most important.

At Values Voters by FRC and Focus on the Family this last fall Mike and Mitt stood head and shoulders above the crowd in terms of receptivity. Huck won the straw poll of people in attendance. Due to some very savvy internet marketing Mitt won the online straw poll. Mitt gave the best speech of the week - and it was likely his best speech to date. (For my two cents it made the "Faith in America" speech look like chopped liver.)

And then came the deranged attacks on Huckabee - simultaneous to his rise in the polls. The attacks from Drudge, Hugh Hewitt, and to a lesser degree on National Review Online were in large part the creation of the Romney camp. I don't hold this against the candidate - it is his staff's job to win. But unfair things began to be said.

For example a simple comparison of the issue of taxes under the two Governor's administrations easily showed that Huck kept taxes lower over his tenure as Governor of a needy state (where more safety nets were needed) than Mitt did in Massachusetts. The degree of difference was slight - but on the technical examination of the facts Huck did a better job in real dollars of reigning taxes in. For the Club for Growth to imply otherwise has been less than sincere. Grover Norquist has encouraged voters to look at the facts and has more or less said, "trust Huck" on his conversion.

None of that is to say that Mitt didn't do a fine job on taxes as well. After looking at both of their records I would give them solid A-'s for their grade on the tax issue.

I wrote only a day or so ago that Mitt's biggest weaknesses at present were his most rabid supporters - at least those who have a microphone. I have heard from hundreds who share that same opinion.

Mitt also has some hidden weaknesses that believe it or not no one sees right now. (And it's not the insane clown posse of Camenker, Rios, and Jackson riding the Mass Resistance horse to the rodeo.) It is actually much simpler than that...

Romney's camp leaked the "press release ratio" to Drudge to attempt to portray how the DNC will bite into Huck. But Mitt's strategy has a gaping whole in its potential exploitation as well.

When strategists looked back at Rove's gameplan for 2004 - the entire election came down to one state and one statistic in that state.

In 2004 - George W. Bush won the White House because six more African American evangelicals voted with the President on the issue of marriage out of every 100 African Americans in that state. Six out of one hundred... in Ohio... on marriage.

Mitt Romney is no racist. The LDS religion no longer embraces the racist history that it did up until my parent's generation. Mitt's father personally walked and marched with Martin Luther King Jr.

But I speak with the African American church in our nation every single day. The deep distrust of a Mormon - not on faith - but on civil rights - is already being whispered all too unfairly in these very circles. I have yet to see "African Americans for Mitt" - though by this time in the two Bush election cycles that strategy was already well conceived and being executed.

Huckabee on the other hand governed the equivalency of a welfare state with safety net programs but cut his state's deficit, left the state with a surplus, and reached out to the African American population simultaneously. And though techinically taxes increased 37% the state remained towards the bottom of the fifty states in the nation in terms of overall tax burden. But aside from all of this...

Huckabee attracted 49% of the African American vote in his state.

Looking at the 2004 map - should it again come down to Ohio, and should it again be depedent upon African American Evangelical Christians - what candidate will get what percent of them?

I am not making an endorsement in the primary race - after much examination and defense of both Mitt and Huck and to a lesser extent Fred.

I am an evangelical. My belief system theologically is nearly identical to Huck. My policy positions are closest to Mitt. Both men can be engaging, both are highly intelligent and would make for interesting debate opposites vs. Obama or Hillary.

I will support the GOP candidate coming out of the primaries as long as that candidate is not named Rudy Giuliani...opposite Hillary there is little difference in many issues - both perceived hawkish, pro-abortion, pro-redefining marriage, and pro-Sanctuary cities. They've both even donned formal wear in public - and I will not weigh in on who was more womanly in their full regalia.

I like Mitt and Huck very much. I believe the wrestling with substance and truth and issues that matter has actually been a beneficial process for the GOP. Hugh Hewitt is still someone I admire much - but happen to have a bit of difference on when it comes to the objectivity from which we both operate. (I'm not in line to become anyone's Press Secretary...)

Because my motives have been, and continue to be honest about both of these fine men, I do not feel it necessary to apologize for posts I've made regarding either of these candidates. And if either get the nomination - it will be my priority to pray for either of them as the leader of this nation.

I'm sure there will be more to say in the days to come - but after spending a few hours on the phone today with a sweet Mormon couple, and later some mightly motivated Evangelicals, and one very smart Catholic I felt it was time to again demonstrate my transparency in my own thoughts as they relate to the race ahead.

My blog, my show, and my mind are not bought and sold. No one has claim to my vote - and each of them will need to earn it...

And that ain't all bad!

Charles Krauthammer: An analyst not to be trusted

Romney has been faulted for not throwing at least one bone of acknowledgment to nonbelievers in his big religion speech last week. But he couldn’t, because the theme of the speech was that there was something special about having your values drawn from religious faith. Indeed, faith is politically indispensable. “Freedom requires religion,” Romney declared, “just as religion requires freedom.”

But this is nonsense — as Romney then proceeded to demonstrate in that very same speech. He spoke of the empty cathedrals in Europe. He’s right about that: Postwar Europe has experienced the most precipitous decline in religious belief in the history of the West. Yet Europe is one of the freest precincts on the planet. It is an open, vibrant, tolerant community of more than two dozen disparate nations living in a pan-continental harmony and freedom unseen in all previous European history.

In some times and places, religion promotes freedom. In other times and places, it does precisely the opposite, as is demonstrated in huge swaths of the Muslim world, where religion has been used to impose the worst kind of unfreedom.

In this country, there is no special political standing that one derives from being a Christian leader like Mike Huckabee or a fervent believer like Mitt Romney — just as there should be no disability or disqualification for political views that derive from religious sensibilities, whether the subject is civil rights or stem cells.

This is pretty elementary stuff. I haven't exactly invented hot water here. The very rehearsing of these arguments seems tiresome and redundant. But apparently not in the campaign of 2008. It's two centuries since the passage of the First Amendment and our presidential candidates still cannot distinguish establishment from free exercise.

Listen "LIVE" - 2-4p EST
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2pm:
My Thoughts: Huckabee, Mitt, The Question, The Apology, and the blowback.

2:20pm:
We mischaracterize the Salvation experience. So much so that now its a funny joke to all. One company selling "money-back guarantees." But Christians DO THIS, we get into this mindset of thinking that "we've got our ticket". And now for $12.16 we can get the VIP Heavan ALL-ACCESS pass. 800.345.WMCA.

3:30pm:
Hezekiah Walker is coming in concert and joins us to tell us more about it. 800.345.WMCA.

3:45pm:
Christmas at Ground Zero - 9/11 Mother - Desiree Bernstein joins us.

3:55pm: The McCULLOUGH PUNCH
Get off my faith!

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How wise is it for a mostly-usually-tipsy sounding "actress" who only recently survived her horrible ordeal prison sentence for drunk driving to be launching her own line of Prosecco? (For those of you who prefer Rachel Ray to Giada that's Italian for Champagne...)

...in a covenient...

...portable...

...can?

More low blows...

John Schroeder has resorted to now accusing me of being on the Huckabee campaign team. But what's new - one of my good friends and colleagues labeled me untrustworthy only days ago...

For the record... I'm not bought and sold by ANY campaign. I didn't write any books for any of the candidates. I have no prayer of being anyone's Press Secretary or setting up an office in the White House. I don't attack people unjustly for having disagreements with my positions. I don't imply candidates said things they didn't say. (Full disclosure here - I did once say an actor said something he didn't say - but corrected it as soon as possible.) I'm not beholding to any single candidate... and on this blog there are numerous disclosures, dozens of times, over the last weeks and beyond that I have not yet made up my mind upon who I will cast my vote for.

My blogging philosophy is to actually let you transparently SEE what I'm thinking and how I'm wrestling with the individual strengths AND weaknesses of these men.

Previously I implied some support for Mitt, then Fred, and back to Mitt most recently... and I have the anti-Mitt hate-mail in my inbox to prove it.

I will also say candidly that the concern that the knee-jerk supporters of Romney are demonstrating, the hysteria that they are practicing, the bigotry that they are leveling against Christians - while pretending not to - SO FAR - has not sullied my opinion of Mitt nor his family. Which is a Miracle given the type of treatment these thugs are employing.

The Governor has been welcomed on my show, has received fair treatment, has performed well, and has left my listeners with a favorable impression of his policies, personality, and proposals.

But hear this scorched-earthers - you are killing the appeal of your candidate. Your crying of wolf at religious bigotry where it does not exist, your willingness to buy Drudge and go nuclear, your willingness to slander and smear is not going unnoticed.

YOU're character is detracting from the candidate you support - and doing so - in all honestly unjustly.
 
And I might add - he is the same candidate that I have been highly inclined to vote for.

Do you not see nor hear what you look and sound like?

30 days from now - Iowa will be in the rear view mirror. 120 days from now it is likely the nominee will be identified. 180 days from now we will begin preparing to defeat the Godless, liberal scum that will begin attacking without mercy.

It is my prayer - that you are able to focus as much vehemence at the real enemy as you are at those of us who simply stand for what we believe in - and will not be marginalized to the sidelines over it.

"ANYONE BUT RUDY - an idea whose time has come!"

1. w00t (interjection) - expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"

"I don't want to debate theology!"

It may be a while before this appears on the other blog pages of any other radio talk show hosts who contribute to Townhall, but it's worth noting - and objectively speaking - would only be FAIR to note it:

Republican Mike Huckabee Wednesday personally apologized to rival Mitt Romney for comments he made in an upcoming New York Times Magazine article that appear to disparage the Mormon faith.

GOP hopeful Mike Huckabee's campaign says his comments on Mormons were taken out of context.

The former Arkansas governor said he apologized to Romney after the GOP debate in Johnston, Iowa.

"I said, I would never try, ever to try to somehow pick out some point of your faith and make it an issue, and I wouldn't," Huckabee said.

"I've stayed away from talking about Mitt Romney's faith," Huckabee said. "I told him face-to-face, I said I don't think your being a Mormon ought to make you more or less qualified for being a president."

And on Mitt's part...?

"The governor accepted the apology," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said. "He continues to believe that this campaign should not be about questioning a candidate's faith. While it is fair to criticize an opponent's record or policy positions, it is out of bounds for one candidate to question another's personal faith."

"...so what do you want?"

(The following critical thinking is not a reflection upon the candidacy of Mitt Romney, whom at present this blogger still very much likes as a person and candidate...)

So when Hugh Hewitt says their should be no religious litmus tests - does he only apply that to the rather mild criticisms and questions the majority of Evangelical Christians might have regarding Mormon theology - which does in essence argue that Lucifer and Jesus were "brothers?"

Evidently so... because no candidate has endured greater scrutiny in this election as to what his faith means than Huckabee - and now the hypocritical position of Romney's most rabid supporter - is applying a religiously bigoted litmus test against Huckabee for NOT releasing sermons...(or at least applauding those doing the sniffing...)

Really?

You can sit there with straight face and defend Romney's speech on the freedom of faith practice one week ago, and tonight argue that Huckabee must turn over sermons, and notes, and bible studies?

Do you hear yourself?

Are you willing to allow those of us who have questions about Mormon belief - insist upon letting us examine one prominent Mormon candidate's Holy Undergarments?

If this man would've been campaigning on the trail these last few weeks he might be polling much much higher...

Michael Medved:

In just a month, GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has gone from a distant fifth place in national polls to the position of frontrunner, according to the latest Rasmussen Report—three points ahead of long-time leader Rudy Giuliani.

Contrary hostile commentators, Huckabee’s rise bears little connection with anti-Mormon bigotry against Mitt Romney: Romney still draws a fifth of evangelical Christian voters, just as he did before the Huck-a-surge. There’s also no media conspiracy behind the Huck-Man’s sudden celebrity: intensive press attention to Huckabee’s campaign was a result of sharply rising poll numbers, not a cause of the increased popularity.

The real reasons Mike Huckabee is suddenly a serious contender are his affable attitude and his refusal –so far- to engage in the petty attacks and negative campaigning that have pre-occupied Rudy and Romney. The American people feel weary of bitterness and bickering and respond well to a plain-spoken nice guy who talks about common-sense and positive solutions.

Nothing but respect...

No Theocrat...

Hugh Hewitt owes Mike Huckabee an apology.

Instead of quoting from an AP release of the story that sensationalized one aspect of a 12 page article in which he was first baited into commenting on whether Mormonism is a cult or religion (Huckabee answers, "religion") he (Hugh Hewitt) should have done due diligence...

Mike Huckabee was asked a direct question about Mormonism as a religion. His answer follows the reporter's question. And the reporter classifies the tone of voice that Huckabee uses as "innocent."

Huckabee is NOT using the opportunity to invoke Mitt Romney. IN FACT the article notes that Mike Huckabee does not invoke Mitt Romney's name the entire time the discussion is being had.

The entire NYTimes piece can be read here...