Recently in Republican Category

Then there is the issue of Huckabee’s integrity, like McCain, considered his strong suit.  In December 2007, Judicial Watch announced that Mike Huckabee was named to its list of Washington’s "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2007. They stated that Huckabee, as governor, was the subject of 14 ethics complaints and a volley of questions about his integrity, ranging from his management of campaign cash to his use of a nonprofit organization to subsidize his income to his destruction of state computer files on his way out of the governor’s office. Judicial Watch further accused Huckabee of attempting to block the state ethics commission's investigations of the allegations.

In addition, in 2000, Huckabee insisted on controlling the state Republican Party's separate Victory Committee, but the committee's finances were so poorly handled that a Federal Election Commission investigation resulted in the largest fine ever handed down by the FEC to a state party.

Should he become the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, expect Huckabee to be attacked for his flagrant use of his religion to affect his policy as governor of Arkansas.

While Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush were all elected president as open “born-again” Christians, none of them was ever hurt politically because there was no evidence that any of them ever let their religious views get in the way of their actions as public officials. 

However, as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee openly and repeatedly acknowledged that many of his policy decisions were based on his “born-again” Christianity.  The most damaging was his pushing the state parole board to parole a violent criminal who went on to murder an elderly woman.  Huckabee stated at the time that his decision was based on the murderer becoming a “born again” Christian.

This level of religious fanaticism scares most Americans, even many Republicans.  Given Huckabee’s candor with the press about his religious faith, Huckabee would not likely back down if this became a campaign issue.  As an example of his candor with the press, when responding to a New York Times Magazine reporters question regarding Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, Huckabee responded by inferring hat Mormons believed that Jesus and Satan were brothers. 

I know this blog is committed primarily to the importance of negative political campaigning and how it will effect this year’s presidential campaign.  However, I would be remiss if I didn’t have one entry here about the candidate who was not only my personal favorite entering 2008, but was also leading in the polls throughout 2007; Rudy Giuliani. 

The worst-run presidential campaign in the history of American politics?  Conventional wisdom says the answer to this question will be Hillary Clinton if she loses this year to Barak Obama.  Considering all that dough she raised, to have not had the brains to spend whatever was necessary in the caucus states to get [or pay off] bodies to show up on her behalf was indeed stupidity personified and arrogance of the highest order. 

But even if she loses, hers won’t be the worst-run presidential campaign in history; that honor will go to the 2008 presidential candidate who would have made by far the best president of all the 2008 candidates running; former New York Mayor Rudy Giulianai. 

What in the world was his campaign thinking?  Not campaigning in New Hampshire, a natural state for him? With all those independent voters and even Democrats who would have found him attractive?  His absence in Hew Hampshire left the field open to McCain by default, since McCain, like Giuliani, attracts those same Independents and Democrats, not to mention many Republicans. 

But McCain did not have Giuliani’s star power.  And despite his very presidential-quality resume, McCain didn’t have Giuliani’s incredible record of achievement either. 

Not only did Giuliani single-handedly take New York City from the dump it was before he became mayor  (if you don’t remember what the city was like pre-Giuliani, just watch 10 minutes of The French Connection or Death Wish to clearly see the graffiti-strewn piece of garbage that New York city one was); there was also Giuliani’s record as a federal prosecutor, where was a latter-day Elliot Ness.  Not only did Giuliani cripple the Mafia in new York City, but also broke the insider trading scandal [Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, and company] that had it not been stopped would have led to a crash worse than 1929.  Not to mention putting away all those corrupt politicians, one of whom, former Queens borough President Donald Manes chose suicide [not once but twice] rather than having to face Giuliani in court

Can you believe the arrogance of Giuliani and his campaign believing he could simply sit it out until Florida?  Smugly believing that the rest of the GOP field would knock the shit out of each other so he could simply ride into Florida on his white horse to rescue the Republican Party?

I still can’t believe it.  No presidential candidate had excited me this much since Ronald Reagan in 1980.  So instead we have McCain by default.  Very reminiscent of Dole 1996.  The guy with the experience, the guy whose turn it was after having lost his previous try.  But unfortunately it could also be (like Dole) the guy with no vision, with no passion.

This far the only candidate with any real sense of vision appears to be Barack Obama [I can’t believe I’ve said it; actually saying something nice about a Democrat?]