Catholics join attacks on pro-abort Rudy

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke announced that he will deny Presidential Candidate, and self-proclaimed Catholic, Rudy Giuliani communion if he tries to celebrate mass in St. Louis.

From the STLtoday:

Of the six Catholics running for president, only Republican Sen. Sam Brownback has a legislative record on abortion that meets the church's approval. Along with Republican Rudy Giuliani, Democrats Sen. Joseph Biden, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Gov. Bill Richardson all have public records that are inconsistent with church teaching on abortion rights.

"It is a cause of concern for me and for all bishops to find ourselves in this situation," Burke said in an interview last week.

Asked if he would deny Communion to Giuliani if the former New York mayor approached him for the sacrament at the Cathedral Basilica, Burke said: "If the question is about a Catholic who is publicly espousing positions contrary to the moral law and I know that person knows it, yes I would."

In an interview earlier this year, Burke said of Giuliani: "I can't imagine that as a Catholic he doesn't know that his stance on the protection of human life is wrong. If someone is publicly sinning, they should not approach to receive Holy Communion."

(H/T: Andrew Sullivan)

Presidential Quiz

Whose Your Candidate? After you're done with the quiz come back and comment to let us know which candidate you are most aligned with(according to the parameters they set in this poll).

	John McCain Score: 28	Agree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Social Security Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty	Disagree Marriage
-- Take the Quiz! --

Burma

From the talented Scott Bieser.

GOP Downballot Considerations

Interesting article from RollCall about the impact the GOP nominee for POTUS will have on downballot races. Regardless of whom our nominee may be, having Clinton on the ballot only helps Bob Schaffer.

From RollCall

Amid much discussion of the impact Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) could have on downballot Congressional races next year if she is the Democratic presidential nominee, a much quieter debate has begun among Republicans about the potential pros and cons of their presidential frontrunners when it comes to picking up House and Senate seats.

The belief among many Republican Members and strategists is that if Clinton is on the ballot in 2008, it will matter little who her opponent is because the GOP’s base and conservative independents will turn out in droves to cast an “anti-Hillary” vote. Still others in the party argue that mobilizing the base won’t be the party’s primary problem next year. Instead, it will be appealing to the moderate and independent voters who are credited with handing control of Congress to Democrats in the 2006 elections.

Already, the battle for the House is shaping up to be waged largely in suburban districts in the Northeast and Midwest. Additionally, the top targets in the Senate are Republicans representing Democratic-leaning states like Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oregon.

Backers of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), who continues to lead the GOP field in most national polls, say he is the best-positioned candidate to appeal to the more moderate electorate in those areas.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a leading Giuliani booster in the House, argued it is paramount to have a candidate at the top of the ticket who can appeal to former Reagan Democrats and independent voters in places like New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida.

King said he has discussed Giuliani’s downballot impact with high-ranking Republicans, whom he declined to name.

“They agree that we have the best chance of picking up seats, if not taking back the House, with Rudy on top,” King said. “He would run stronger [in swing areas] than any of the other Republicans.”

King said Giuliani could especially aid vulnerable Republicans in New York. Reps. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.) and Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.) face competitive races again in 2008, and the GOP also has hopes of winning back the seats currently held by freshman Reps. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and John Hall (D-N.Y.).

Recent Democratic polling appeared to back up the notion that Giuliani would run best in swing territory.

An August survey done by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who is working for Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) in the 2008 presidential race, showed the former New York mayor ahead of both Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in 31 Democratic-held House districts that are considered to be the most competitive.

The poll, reported on last month by The Washington Post, also showed that the two leading Democratic contenders could even be a drag on the incumbent lawmakers’ re- elections.

Meanwhile, supporters of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are more apt to argue that the top of the Republican ticket will have little impact downballot, and some say it shouldn’t be among the top criteria when choosing a nominee.

“Whoever is on the ballot opposite Hillary Clinton is going to ride a huge wave of popular support as the anti-Hillary,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is backing Romney.

He added that either Romney or Giuliani “is going to do very well in the South” as the party’s nominee.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), another Romney supporter, noted the former chief executive’s business background will help him appeal to conservatives, moderates and independents alike. He said above all else, the public is looking for change and a competent leader and that Romney’s “sunny disposition and positive outlook” will win voters over if they don’t agree with him on all issues.

Other Republicans contend that it won’t matter which name is at the top of the party’s ballot come next year, just as long as it isn’t Bush.

When the Republican nominee emerges in February or March he will become the national face of the party, and lawmakers contend there will be much less talk about President Bush’s low poll numbers.

“I think that gives us the opportunity to restore some of the Republican brand that we’ve lost,” McCain backer Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) said.

While Republican House Members are more likely to be directly affected by the success or failure of their party’s presidential pick, Senate incumbents also are mindful of the impact the top of the ticket may have on their reelection hopes, especially given the difficult landscape the party faces.

With 22 Republican Senate seats in play, fundraising faltering and recruitments stalled, the party’s presidential nominee could prove critical to incumbents’ successful re-elections.

Too conservative a nominee could easily damage the chances of a vulnerable Senator running in a swing state, while a more moderate White House hopeful — such as Giuliani — could actually boost those incumbents’ odds at re-election.

Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), who is among the GOP’s most threatened Senators in 2008, said Giuliani would clearly be an asset to his campaign and that “there’s no question [Giuliani] has a chance to win Minnesota.”

Coleman, who has not endorsed a 2008 contender, said he is not concerned that the more socially conservative White House hopefuls would hurt his chances, either.

“There are no negatives in this, and potentially there’s a strong upside,” Coleman argued.

Giuliani supporters have long avowed that he is the only candidate who can change the electoral college math, putting traditionally blue states in play and forcing Democrats to spend money in states like California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan and New York.

There are eight House Republicans whose districts were carried by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the 2004 presidential race. Giuliani has been endorsed by four of them, including Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.).

Dent said one of his reasons for endorsing Giuliani was that he believed he would be the best person to run with in his Democratic-leaning district.

“Rudy Giuliani will give the greatest assistance to candidates running in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions and help bring more independents back into the Republican column,” he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a McCain backer also up for re-election in 2008, agreed Giuliani could make things easier for moderate Republicans in cycle. But he also argued that McCain — who has broken ranks with conservatives at times — could help his party’s candidates in swing states.

“We need to play in the blue states and we need a nominee who can put the blue states in play,” Graham said.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a former top party strategist and potential 2008 Senate candidate, said it would be impossible to predict now which candidate might be a drag or boost downballot. But he agreed that the nominee can make a huge difference, citing the 1964 and 1972 presidential elections as evidence of one-sided landslides that impacted Congressional races. Voters traditionally are less prone to ticket splitting in presidential years, he said.

Other party operatives argue that President Bush had little to no coattails in the 2000 and 2004 elections and that similarly, the down-ballot impact for both parties will be minimal next year.

Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.), who faces a difficult re-election next year, narrowly won an open House seat in 1996 — as then- President Bill Clinton carried the district with 48 percent, compared to former Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-Kan.) 40 percent. Independent candidate Ross Perot got 10 percent.

“In that case, it didn’t have too significant an impact,” he said. “But I can’t predict the future.”

The liberal wailing and gnashing of teeth continues

With Eric Eidsness withdrawal, anger at Sen. Ken Salazar seems to be building among liberal circles over his role in the Dem's CO-4 primary.

Colorado Confidential expressed it last week:

Anyone who questions U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar's role in Colorado politics should take a look at the state's Fourth Congressional District...

Maybe Salazar is not a Godfather in the traditional sense, but he makes offers you can't refuse.

No matter how subtly Salazar wields power, that's the Godfather's way.

Weld County's Wide Street's is predicting another Musgrave victory today:

[Sen. Ken] Salazar’s working hard behind the scenes (though Betsy will try to minimize this), and has now cleared the field for another CD-4 Democratic loss.

Eric Eidsness Ends Campaign For Congress

Eric "His Eidsness" has ended his campaign for Dem nomination in CD-4. Speculation abounds that Congress is much too small for someone with Eric's ego and that he is in fact running for President of the United States as a (insert party here) candidate. We will keep you updated on the wonder that is Eric Eidsness. In other news, the sun will still rise tomorrow morning.

From the Coloradoan

Eidsness ends congressional campaign
By Coloradoan staff

Eric Eidsness abandoned his bid for Northern Colorado's Democratic congressional nomination, apparently clearing the way for Betsy Markey to challenge Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave next November.

"The hand writing is on the wall and I see it is not my time to be elected to national office to represent (Colorado's 4th Congressional District)," Eidsness said in a prepared statement. "While my populist message appeals to a broad range of voters, particularly in the more rural areas, I do not have the support I will need here in Larimer County to win the Democratic nomination."

Eidsness is the second Democratic candidate to drop from the race in the past week. Angie Paccione, the party's 2006 nominee, withdrew last week.

That leaves Markey, a former Larimer County Democratic chair and aide to Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., as the sole announced Democratic candidate.

Musgrave, who's served three terms in Congress, narrowly defeated Paccione in 2006, when Eidsness ran as a Reform Party candidate.

Hillary Clinton Has Her Own Psalm

Got this in a fax today, not sure as to why, but it is amusing.

The HIllary Rodham Psalm

Hillary is my shepherd, I shall not want.

She makes me to bow down to big government.

She leads me beside the abortion clinic.

She restores gun control.

She leads me in the paths of socialism, for her name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of liberalism, I will fear no evil; for Hillary is with me.

Her benefits and handouts, they comfort me.

Hillary prepares a health care system before me, in the presence of my better judgment.

She fills my head with promises.

My welfare cup runs over.

Surely, higher taxes and illegal immigration will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Clinton's forever!

Political Pale Horse Hacked!

Our friends over at the Political Pale Horse have been hacked, at least I assume they have been hacked. That or they have just started posting really unusual political dialogue in a language I am not familiar with. I would encourage you to go over and see for yourself, but being a tech moron I am unsure the great powers that hackers possess and if they could somehow hack you by just visiting the site.

Maybe you are being hacked by even reading this post, I don't know.

Obvious suspects include but are not limited to John Cox, Sam Brownback, Al White, various members of the NRA, and Mark Udall's campaign team.

Rudy, babies, and Christian leadership

Cheers to Dr. James Dobson, Tony Perkins et. all for their public announcement that they will not support a pro-abortion Republican nominee for President. Often these figures serve only as GOP cheer leaders, which marginalizes the pro-life, pro-family agenda.

Tony Perkins on Hardball last night (via NRO's The Campaign Spot):

...the vast majority of social conservatives came to the Republican Party because of the life issue and the other social issues. If the party leaves those issues, I think it's unreasonable for them to demand that they stay in the party. And I don't think they will.

...We are not going to sit down at a table and negotiate away the protection of human life and shake hands and get up and go forward. That's not going to happen on my watch.

...We're simply saying that there is a line which we won't cross. That is, we will not be supportive of a candidate who supports abortion.

Amen to that Tony.

Additionally Marc Ambinder calls into question Giuliani's definition of "strict constructionist" judges:

By the way: as Giuliani as has said, his "strict constructionists" might well preserve Roe v. Wade, which means that Giuliani employs the phrase to describe judicial orientation, rather than outcomes, which is how the phrase plays in politics.

Quote This Picture: Hugo Chavez & Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez

Actual quote: "No one can defeat us"

Possible Quotes:

Mahmoud-"So with the whole time change thing you did, can you catch both Grey's Anatomy and The Office on the same night now?''

Hugo-"Let's get you, me, maybe Kim Jon-Il together and cruise South Beach in Sean Penn's new Escalade"

Mahmoud-"Oh, this is what homosexual means? Yeah we have loads of those in our country"

Mark Udall's Back Yard

First reported at Political Pale Horse.
The "religious oppression" quote is priceless!
Why isn't Mark Udall condemning these idiots????
Read on for for more of PPH's dissection of the land of Boulder and the future leaders it is breeding.

Liberal morons in the Peoples Republic of Boulder are protesting the pledge of allegiance. Not too surprising, right? But listen to their rationale in the Boulder Daily Camera.


Members of the activist Student Worker club are inviting their peers to leave class every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. — when the pledge is recited over the intercom — and meet in the courtyard to say a revised version of the pledge that doesn't reference God.


Their club must be comprised of suburban white kids who have only visited Denver a handful of times and don’t understand what real problems are.


Club President Emma Martens, a Boulder High senior who's leading the protest, wrote this new version: "I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."


Their club president is most likely a trust-fund baby who has ample time to spend creating problems that don’t exist. This idiot goes on to show how incredibly stupid she is with this statement.


"Boulder High has a highly diverse population, not all of whom believe in God, or one God," Martens said. "We didn't think it was fair for the whole school to have to listen to it. "It's almost religious oppression," she said.


Religious oppression? Are you exaggerating or are you so incredibly stupid that you don’t understand what that term means? We’re willing to bet on the latter. If you want to see religious oppression look no further than Sudan, China and other places that participate in true religious oppression.


Is there nothing else news worthy going on in Boulder that the Camera could cover? We all know you guys can’t solve murders there, but we’re sure there is something else you can focus on.

Angie Paccione Drops Out Of CD-4 Race

First reported at ColoradoPols

Press release from Paccione campaign below

There are no words adequate enough to describe the privilege I?ve had representing the people of Fort Collins as their State Representative and as the Democratic candidate for the people of the 4th Congressional District. In 2000, when there was no democratic candidate on the ballot for the 4th CD, I was motivated to enter politics to fill the void in leadership. At that time I offered my service as the voice of the people in representative government. I am forever changed, forever grateful, and forever indebted to the people for the opportunity they gave me to serve them.

I have a passion to serve people by doing whatever I can to unleash their greatness. This is what has always compelled me. I used my skills as an athlete to serve our country in international competition, I used my academic talent to serve our youth as an educator, and I used my political position to serve the people I represented by giving them hope, making the system work for them, and empowering them to participate in politics as well.

Since September of 2005 I have been on a mission to win the 4th Congressional district because I believe and many others do as well, that I would be a better, more effective representative for the people of this district. As an elected official I have always focused on what?s right, not on who?s right. That has allowed me to reach across political divides and partisan politics to get things done for the people of our great state. I am proud of the work I was able to do?as a lead sponsor of legislation and as a co-sponsor. I have always been accessible to my constituents, I have always been responsive to their concerns, and I have always worked with members of both political parties.

Last night I had the privilege of speaking to hundreds of high school students and their parents. I told them what I have been telling young people for nearly three decades? to have the courage to say "yes" to opportunity. Today I am here to do the very thing I encourage others to do?to say yes to an amazing opportunity that has presented itself to me. Since January, I have been working with Pathways to Leadership Inc., a company that gives businesses a competitive advantage over others by helping them unleash the greatness in their employees, teams, and organization. This is a company that changes the results people and organizations deliver - because it changes the lives of the people in the organization.

I thought that I might be able to work with Pathways to Leadership and campaign for Congress at the same time. However, the opportunities with Pathways have grown and I must say "yes" to those opportunities. In addition to locations in the US, my work with Pathways will be taking me to Australia, Switzerland, Mexico, and Italy in the very near future. In those travels, I will be working with businessmen and women who are motivated to improve their leadership skills and the wellness culture in their workplace.

This is a tremendous opportunity for me and I have wrestled with my decision for a number of weeks now. The campaign is very strong, the support is broad-based, and I still believe I am the best candidate to win the seat. However, I am motivated by a passion to serve and my opportunity with Pathways gives me the ability to serve immediately. I could spend the next 14 months campaigning for the opportunity to make a difference or I could spend the next 14 months actually making a difference in the lives of others.

So, today I am announcing that I am ending my campaign for congress in the 4th district.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank my staff, my volunteers, and all those who invested time, energy, and hope in our campaign. I am thrilled that I have been a vehicle for their involvement in the political process. Those that have been empowered by my campaign will continue to use their voice to impact the politics of their communities? I am certain of it. And although I won?t be their candidate I will continue to be their friend and will fight side by side with them to change our country and the world.

Doug Lamborn: Defending those that condemn him

Great commentary from Backbone America about the current state of Colorado's 5th Congressional District. Do people even know why they don't like Doug Lamborn anymore besides the fact a couple of Jeff Crank bloggers go around and tell them not to? Can someone point to two votes that they would have made differently then Doug has if they were in Congress? Two votes out of hundreds, please point to them!

From Backbone America

Lamborn among the Lilliputians
by Dave Crater

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-CO5) couldn’t have known when he first waded into Colorado politics over a decade ago that he would wash ashore on Lilliput. Such seems to be the case, however. As you remember, Jonathan Swift created two fictional islands in his 1726 classic, Gulliver’s Travels, Lilliput and Blefuscu. No disproof having been established, one assumes that both islands are, still today, located in the South Indian Ocean, separated by a channel 800 yards in width,
and inhabited by people “not six inches high.”

More to the point for the purpose of current politics: When a shipwrecked and still asleep Lemuel Gulliver washed up on the shores of Lilliput and was captured by little people who tied him down before he awoke, he discovered that the two islands were permanently at war over the correct way to eat a boiled egg. Still today, the inhabitants of Blefuscu are firmly convinced the correct way to eat a boiled egg is to start at the rounded end. The Lilliputians are equally convicted that, still today, no civilized person eats a boiled egg any way except sharp end first.

Though Gulliver is a giant compared to the Lilliputians, he does not return their hostility in kind, but rather helps to aid them in various ways before, for no other reason than his refusal to take part in their selfish perfidies, he again earns their fickle and shallow scorn.

Naïve people here in Colorado sometimes refer to Lilliput as the El Paso County Republican Party, but we really should get into the habit of calling places and people by their proper names. The little people in Lilliput are particularly active these days, doing their best to tie up Congressman Gulliver — er, Lamborn — before he permanently awakes and takes to himself for many years to come the title of Congressman, a title which the Lilliputians believe rightfully belongs only to a Lilliputian.

The chief Lilliputians in Lilliput these days are one Mr. Jeff Crank and one retired General Bentley Rayburn. To be sure, both are accomplished men by Lilliputian standards; indeed, they appear to know it. Gulliver is equally accomplished and, refreshingly, doesn’t appear to know it. More to the point, by the standards that Gulliver considers genuinely meaningful and which are in truth the only things that can turn a Lilliputian into a Giant — old-fashioned notions that include courageous loyalty to true principles and good men above one’s personal ambitions, and doing the right thing and telling the truth even when it’s not popular, and doing it for a long time — it appears Gulliver is, still today, as lonely as he was in 1726.

The Leading Lilliputians are currently squabbling over who is justified in taking on Gulliver in a primary next year. One says it is properly he because — well, that’s never been entirely clear. Part of it must be a result of his having come so close to beating Gulliver two years ago. As for the rest of it — well, perhaps he eats the round end of the egg first.

The other Leading Lilliputian and his Supporting Lilliputians say he’s a general, and thus a true leader. The question as to why a true leader would challenge an incumbent Giant like Gulliver — remember, a Giant is not necessarily someone who is popular, but someone who does what is right and tells the truth, and has for a long time — does not appear to have yet been posed in Lilliput.

To cap things off, if a newspaper article on Sept 19 was any indication, it appears the Leading Lilliputians are so hostile to Gulliver that they may have overcome their own mutual antipathies long enough to make something of a Gentle-Lilliputian’s agreement: if either is behind in the polls close to election day, that one will drop out of the race. “There is no formal agreement,” mind you – personal interests are not to be sacrificed until it’s clear there is really nothing to be sacrificed and fulfillment of spite toward Gulliver becomes the only remaining objective. “It’s not going to be my ego that causes [Gulliver] to get re-elected,” one Lilliputian said.

The next day, the other Lilliputian’s supporters were again assaulting both his rival and Gulliver for only the vaguest of reasons: “[Gulliver] was not a leader in the (state) legislature, and he won’t be in Washington,” one said. “And [the opposing Lilliputian] has nothing to set him aside, nothing of stature.” Translation: we don’t like Gulliver and the other Lilliputian eats his boiled eggs pointed end

So what does our modern-day congressional Gulliver do amidst these Lilliputians? What Gulliver has always done. “[Gulliver’s] campaign said they had no comment,” the latter story reports. He faithfully continues his accustomed course in the world and in the halls of national government, praying for the welfare of the Lilliputians even in their spite toward him. It’s safe to assume Gulliver realizes life and politics in Lilliput are, still today, fickle, and not likely to change any time soon.

As has been pointed out, Congressman Lamborn definitely is the giant in this story defending the Lillputians to his own peril. I caution those, that continually throw bombs thinking they will not be rebuked, that the giant is presumably getting tired of it and that the same campaign team that smacked you around in 2006 will grow tired of it as well and will have to deal with the Lilliputians.

Cindy Sheehan Shows That War Is A Problem For Both Parties

I think we need to be in Iraq, I think we need to listen to our soldiers on the front lines before we pay attention to those who tune into CNN, I think we are making Iraq a better country then it was before and I do think that if we do not fight them over there that we will be fighting them over here.

I also know that for Republicans to lose as little seats next year as possible, that a new tune must be sung in regards to the war in Iraq.

The good news is that the Iraq war is no longer a Republican problem. Democrat incumbents will take as much, if not more, heat on the Iraq war as incumbent Republicans. The key difference between the two parties is that the Democrats said they would get the troops home immediately, a promise they have failed to keep to the American people.

By failing to get the U.S. out of the war Democrat incumbents are at risk from those in their own party unhappy with their commitment to the withdrawal efforts.

A good example is Cindy Sheehan taking on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. I have and never will be a Pelosi apologist, but I would take her in a heartbeat over a crackpot like Sheehan.

Read The Hill article below on the celebrities endorsing Sheehan and the affect it will play in the 08 elections.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is making celebrity endorsements a key facet of her long-shot bid to defeat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) next year.

In a recent interview with The Hill, Sheehan said she has been endorsed by actress Roseanne Barr, country crooner Willie Nelson and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

Sheehan added that White House hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) are also backing her.

“Celebrities bring a certain kind of — good or bad, it seems like our lives are centered around TV and movies — I think it does bring credibility,” Sheehan said.

Nelson is a friend of Sheehan’s and has offered to help her raise money for her campaign. “[Nelson and his wife] just have the exact correct politics and the exact compassion for the earth and humanity that I think attracts us as friends,” she said.

“I support Cindy Sheehan in everything she does,” Nelson wrote in an e-mail, “whether it’s running for Congress, or the president of the U.S. She’s a great American, not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.”

Sheehan, who is running as an independent, unaffiliated candidate, is counting on comedians such as Barr to lend some star power to the campaign. Several San Francisco-based comediennes are planning a campaign fundraiser for Sheehan, she said.

Spokesmen for Barr and Morello did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Kucinich praised Sheehan, but declined to confirm that he is formally backing her.

“I like Cindy,” Kucinich said. “She has been a very important spokesperson in challenging the war. She and I marched together against the war.”

He said he doesn’t comment on races waged against incumbents as a “matter of policy.”

Sheehan is backing Kucinich for the presidency.

Hip Hop Caucus President Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. said he will lend his support. “Cindy Sheehan is the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement and the race in San Francisco is fundamentally about organized people versus organized money,” he said.

Pelosi won her 2006 congressional campaign handily, taking 80 percent of the vote. She’s also had her share of celebrity support. Celebrities ranging from movie producer Francis Ford Coppola to comedian Robin Williams have given money to her campaigns.

Bruce Cain, a political science professor at the University of California Berkeley and the director of the D.C.-based Institute of Governmental Studies, said Sheehan’s chances of beating Pelosi are “slim to none.”

Sheehan is unlikely to get 10 to 15 percent of the vote because there aren’t enough “progressive, green, anarchist types” in the district to elect her, Cain said. Californians do not blame Pelosi for not getting troops out of Iraq, he added.

“The motivation to elect a Democrat is going to be stronger than the motivation to make a point,” Cain said.

Pelosi has already accumulated close to $1.3 million in her campaign coffers. A Pelosi spokesman refused to comment on Sheehan’s campaign.

In a recent e-mail on Iraq that was sent by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to potential donors, Pelosi pointed out that she has been a longtime activist: “Long before I was Speaker of the House, I was a political activist like you …”

Sheehan said hers will be a grassroots campaign. She doesn’t expect to come close to out-raising Pelosi.

“I’m not going to be competing with her on money or on the establishment,” she said, noting she won’t accept any corporate donations.
McKinney, an outspoken opponent of the war, expressed her support for Sheehan at a rally in August near one of the president’s vacation homes in Maine.

“Our children deserve a better country and the world deserves a better partner. That’s why I’m happy to see Cindy Sheehan run for Congress. I want Cindy to win,” McKinney said.

Sheehan said she expects more celebrity endorsements to roll in as her campaign kicks into high gear, but she does not anticipate many of Pelosi’s colleagues will back her.

“If they support me it’s going to be difficult for them to get chairmanships or to get on a committee,” she said. “I totally understand if nobody comes out and supports me.”

She wasn’t shy about criticizing Democrats for funding the war.

“If I tell my children, ‘Don’t do drugs’ … and then one of my children asks, ‘Mom, can I have money for drugs?’ and I give them money for drugs, that’s showing them my approval,” she said. “[Congress is] giving [its] approval to President Bush to wage this occupation of Iraq.”

Part of Sheehan’s campaign will aim to enfranchise minorities and young people “who have felt disenfranchised by the power elite.”

She’s also getting educated on local issues important to California’s 8th district and house-hunting in the area. Sheehan lives in northern California, but plans to move into the district soon. She’s organizing her campaign team and hopes to begin campaign fundraisers and events in October.

Sheehan’s battle against the war began after her son Casey, a 24-year-old Army specialist, was killed in Baghdad. She began demonstrating outside of President Bush’s Texas ranch and founded Gold Star Families for Peace in August of 2005. In May, Sheehan announced that she was retiring from anti-war activism, only to return with a challenge to Pelosi: If Pelosi didn’t move to impeach Bush and Vice President Cheney, Sheehan would mount a congressional campaign against her. Sheehan subsequently announced her candidacy in August.

Sheehan called the first female Speaker of the House a “consummate politician” and emphasized that she and Pelosi agree on most issues, with the notable exceptions of Iraq and impeachment.

“In her heart she probably does care about the people of Iraq — but when they sit down to talk about Iraq they talk politics, not about the human cost of war,” she said, referring to Democrats.

Pelosi is vulnerable in liberal San Francisco, a district where the majority of people don’t support the Iraq war, Sheehan said. “People over there are dismayed,” she said. “Nancy is not holding Bush and Cheney accountable. She’s not ending the war in Iraq.”

Many Democrats, however, have defended Pelosi’s action. They say that Pelosi has worked feverishly to end the war, but does not have the votes to override the president’s veto pen.

Sheehan promised that she would not be known as a one-issue candidate, a label that hurt Ned Lamont in his general election bid to defeat Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Sheehan, who doesn’t have health insurance, said that making healthcare available to all Americans would be a priority.

“[The Iraq war] is an overriding issue. We can talk about universal healthcare, we can talk about the costs of a college education, we can talk about a lot of issues that affect every American. When we are spending money on Iraq, we cannot rebuild our infrastructure — we cannot do that in America when we are devoted to the war machine.”

She added, “I really think we’ve done the marches, we’ve done the disobedience and the next natural step is to challenge the establishment. This really isn’t me against Nancy Pelosi. This is me against the war machine.”

Must read for conservatives...

In case you don't read the Sunday edition of the Denver Pravda (Post), I highly encourage everyone to read this excerpt from David Harsanyi's new book "Nanny State."

In fact you should send this excerpt to your favorite Republican state Representative and Senator as a reminder that "good government" is small government.

Choice quote:

In his 1996 State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton felt the need to let Americans know the era of big government had ended. This curious assertion was meant to allay the growing concerns of Americans, who had begun to see government as stepping over the bounds of its charge.

Clinton’s words rang hollow. In many respects, the big government was simply refocusing, consolidating, and beginning to cast its eye toward regulating private matters that had previously been out of bounds. “Big” intrusive government was now also in the hand of local city councils, which could often put the big boys to shame.

Though Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich started getting crabby about the nanny state in the mid-1990s, by the time George W. Bush, a Republican—purportedly the party of less intrusive government—was elected to his second term in 2004, the new and improved nanny state was only expanding its authority. “We have the responsibility that, when somebody hurts, government has got to move,” explained President Bush on Labor Day 2003. Twenty years ago, this kind of brazen promotion of the state would have been unheard of coming from the lips of any respectable Republican—and barely any Democrats would have dared to give voice to it.

In 1997, vice president and future presidential candidate Al Gore explained that government was “like grandparents in the sense that grandparents perform a nurturing role.” The word “nurturing” was perhaps too delicate for conservative Andrew Card, George Bush’s chief of staff during the 2004 presidential election, who framed the idea in a more red-state, family-friendly lingo, explaining that the president “sees America as we think about a ten-year-old child.” This was an evolution of sorts from Bush’s fairly restrained proclamation in the 2000 race that “government must be carefully limited, but strong and active.”

Today, politicians of both parties brazenly endorse nanny policies in response to the slightest anxiety or unsettling development. Many Americans have felt the government’s evolution from strong and active to smothering grandparent.

CSU CR Press Release Calls For Resignation Of Editor

For Immediate Release:

The CSU College Republicans Call for Resignation of University Newspaper Editor

Fort Collins - The Colorado State University College Republicans are calling for The Collegian editor in chief, David McSwane, to resign. On Friday, September 21, 2007, The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Volume 116, No. 36, published an editorial using explicit language directed toward President Bush. The editorial has created an uproar among students and community members.

The College Republicans acknowledge the Collegian’s right to free speech, and are utilizing their right to criticize. This is not a free speech issue; it is an issue of journalist integrity. It is believed that this was a politically charged statement. Chelsey Penoyer, Chair of the CSU CRs, noted, “It is one thing to challenge us, the College Republicans as your peers, but it is another to attack the Executive Office of the United States. This is a display of blatant disrespect for the Office of the President of the United States.”

Nor is this an issue of constitutionality. The CSU CRs are not trying to censor them or take away their right. However, this is a public paper with a large readership. McSwane had no consideration for the community of Fort Collins. It is a family-oriented city, and must be noted that the paper goes out to businesses and restaurants around the city where everyone has the availability to read it. The Fort Collins community has continually embraced and supported CSU.

There are numerous media outlets in the community; however on the CSU campus there is only one that blatantly leans to the left. This is exactly why the CSU CRs have established a second voice on campus that portrays the views of conservative students. They are looking for advertisers and writers. Anyone who is interested can email them at csurepublicans@gmail.com.

This not only discredits CSU and college students in general. It also has caused a loss of all credibility for The Collegian. Monday, September 24th, the CRs were scheduled for a CSU College Republican recruitment event. Therefore, they will continue by holding this event on the Student Center plaza. The CSU CRs will now be having an informal, official petition for people to sign asking for McSwane’s resignation.

"Taser This...F**K Bush" and other enligthening banter from American universities

Recently a Colorado State University student newspaper released a very short and crude editorial statement saying "Taser this...F**K Bush" that has and will cause continued controversy on the campus and community. The incident has already been featured on some prominent national news publications.

(Click here for the actual headline. Verbiage is not sensored)

While we at CCP respect free speech, even blatant disrespect for our President such as this, what we do not respect is college newspapers with the vocabulary of the local dive bar.

"Taser this...F**K Bush"

Is this really the best that liberal colleges can give us anymore?

They could have done a witty editorial about why they don't like Bush, Republicans, or the war. They could have stolen some material from The Colbert Report who probably stole it from Air America. The could have actually taken the initiative to write a sensible editorial that might have endeared part of the student body to their views.

They could have.

Instead we are left with nebulous drivel cobbled together that offended many, irritated a few, and left the rest of us laughing at the current state of a young liberals vocabulary. Not that we ever would accuse The Collegian for its probity, I guess we just expected better.

On the bright side, they have done a heck of a job of pissing off moderate students who might have volunteered for Dem campaigns in 08. Although it is doubtful those students will volunteer for any Republican campaign, there is something to be said for people not hating a cause as much. They lose alacrity as well as their power to draw others in.

On the brighter side, as this is all good news today, they have also sparked the CSU CR's to do something on campus. Not that the usual diet of going to weekly meetings and complaining about Hillary care sprinkled with occasional boozefests is a bad thing for CR chapters, it is just nice to see any CR chapter in Colroado making some noise and poking the opposition in the eye every once in awhile. This CSU CR chapter is taking the initiative to start is own publication to refute the liberal bias of the current paper.

While we here at CCP sincerely hope for the best for the CR newspaper we do make the simple request that its first editorial be longer then five words.

Dick, I am your father...

Politico.com's Ben Smith blogs about the more humorus ramifications of Hillary Clinton calling VP Dick Cheney "Darth Vader":

I've gotten a bunch of e-mail this morning from the, er, small subset of political junkies who are also Star Wars geeks, and a couple of things are clear:

George Bush is Emperor Palpatine.

Before he became evil, Dick Cheney was a great and good Jedi. (Possibly during the Gerald Ford administration. Was this reported at the time?) And in his final act, he redeems himself by taking down the Emperor. (Still time?)

Dobson wacks Fred

ABC News/AP are reporting that Focus on the Family founder James Dobson took a wack at Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson yesterday.

A private e-mail Dobson said this about Thompson:

"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won't talk at all about what he believes, and can't speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?"

Dobson continues:

"He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent 'want to.' And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"

You may recall several months ago that Dobson also said he didn't think Thompson was a Christian.

(H/T: Jonathan Martin's Blog on Politico.com )

Giuliani: I'm a liberal

From 1993: "They can send me a signal and vote for me on the liberal line."



(H/T: Andrew Sullivan & Marc Ambinder)