Fantasy Politics USA

Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee joined forces to talk at the Florida Family Policy Council dinner in Orlando. Both candidates stuck to topics important to the group. They didn’t talk about the Iraq war, health care, taxes, or even education. Instead they stuck to a pro-faith, anti-abortion, and anti-gay message. The crowd, looking for alternatives to the top three Republican candidates, cheered their message. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, who also serves as the Republican National Committee general chairman, was there and had this to say, “I am completely blown away by the two men we heard tonight.” Both of the candidates urged the crowd to get behind efforts to put in the state constitution an amendment to make gay marriage illegal in Florida. The Florida Family Policy Council is already leading a petition drive to place a proposed amendment on the 2008 ballot. So Brownback and Huckabee were just preaching to the choir. Or maybe they just want to ride on the coat tails of this amendment. Brownback told the crowd, “You need to redefine the definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman. It’s critical.”….. “I’m going to be the president that’s the family president that helps rebuild this fundamental institution.” Huckabee told the crowd about how he made it harder to get a divorce in his state. “I realized that the laws in my state were such that it would be easier to get out of a marriage than it was to get out of a contract for having purchased a used car,” Huckabee said. “We realized we need to make some changes.” If these two candidates want to have a chance in the race for 08 they need to convince groups like these that they are the true conservative of the group of ten.
Alan Cosgrove

John McCain has missed over 40 consecutive roll call votes, going five weeks straight without even stopping by. He finally stopped by to give praise to the new immigration legislation being proposed, and got into a shouting match with Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn was concerned about the number of judicial appeals that illegal immigrants could receive. McCain said he thought Cornyn was just being petty. According to the Washington Post McCain, “used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.” I think that means the McCain called Cornyn a cock or chicken shit. “Wait a second here,” Cornyn said to McCain. “I’ve been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You’re out of line.” Not to be outdone, McCain responds with, “Fuck You! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.” Later on the McCain camp denied that McCain said he knew more about the subject than any of the other Senators. They didn’t mention McCain’s potty mouth, but did admit the two Senators had quite a disagreement. A deal was worked out, and Cornyn didn’t join in the final agreement. Later on McCain joined nine other Senators to announce the deal. After the announcement McCain jumped right back on the campaign trail. Later that day he also missed his 43rd straight vote, this one on the $2.9 trillion budget outline.
On the campaign trial McCain has given praise to this immigration bill. He told a crowd, “Business as usual is no longer acceptable. Our borders are broken, our first priority before anything else happens is to secure our border.” He insists that it is not an amnesty program, “Well, because amnesty means forgiveness. This is a very difficult process that anyone would have to go through if they want to become a citizen or even remain in the United States of America,” McCain said. How can this chicken shit go around the country asking us to give him the most important job in the country when he can’t even do the last job we gave him? And do we really want him at the negotiation table telling world leaders to go fuck themselves?
Alan Cosgrove

Former vice-president Al Gore will be on the front cover of Time magazine this week, and raises speculation about a possible run in 08 for Gore. You can’t do an interview with Gore without asking if he will run for President again. In most poll’s he is third or fourth just behind Clinton and Obama, and usually close to Edwards. In the Time interview Gore tells them he has “fallen out of love with politics.” “I haven’t ruled it out. But I don’t think it’s likely to happen,” Gore told Time. Time went on to ask what would it take, specifically? “I can’t say because I’m not looking for it. But I guess I would know it if I saw it. I haven’t ruled it out. But I don’t think it’s likely to happen.” Well at least he still talks like a politician. Time also has excerpts from Gore’s new book, ‘The Assault on Reason.’ In his book Gore examines American democracy and how it has gone awry. In his book he writes;

It is too easy and too partisan to simply place the blame on the policies of President George W. Bush. We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes. We have a Congress. We have an independent judiciary. We have checks and balances. We are a nation of laws. We have free speech. We have a free press. Why have they all failed us? … American democracy is now in danger not from any one set of ideas, but from unprecedented changes in the environment within which ideas either live and spread, or wither and die.

Gore keeps popping up in the news; first the Oscar, then he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, and now his book. He has the money, the world wide connections, and the political savvy to still jump into this race and compete if he so decides. Being a politician is much like being an alcoholic. Gore was emotionally damaged from his loss to Bush in 2000. He doesn’t talk about it publicly, or even privately. All he needs is a good taste, and he will be back into politics, and once again fall back in love with his old friend, politics. To read the whole Time interview click here.
Alan Cosgrove