Pushing the Second Amendment as an issue.

I think it was liberrocky, the other day, who wrote to me in an email that Thompson should do precisely this.

Also On That Conference Call... was Slublog, who says Thompson will draw sharper distinctions between himself and the other candidates tonight.

He'll show the difference between himself and Ron Paul by demonstrating he is capable of touching a five dollar bill to his temple without screaming about mind-waves and "dollograms."

Posted by: Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (25)
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Says he's getting a lot of support from "the blacks."

I just caught the tail end of it, but Blitzer announced that the screeds sounded nothing like the Ron Paul he knew. He did not, as far as I could tell, inquire into how such frequent slurs made it into the Ron Paul Survival Report et al. over a span of decades without Ron, Doctor Ron Paul's notice.

Nor if any letter of complaint had ever been received.

Nor if Ron Paul had fired or had a stern talking to the supposed "ghostwriter."

Nor if Ron Paul ever bothered to scan the contents of a newsletter he was deriving solid income from.

Etc.

CNN has been more critical of the Mormon Church's old bigoted views than words typed on Ron Paul's own newsletter.

The media loves propping up freaks that discredit the Republican Party.

PS: More personal details, apparently coming straight from Ron Paul, pop up in the newsletters he didn't even read, let alone write.

Thanks to CJ.

Video Up! It's worse than I thought.

Ron Paul is not only claiming he didn't write the newsletters, but that he 1) doesn't know who did and 2) can't even find out by checking records and checks.

Maybe it was Don Fucking Black.

Here's the video of Ron Paul:

Oh wait, I got confused. It sure seems like Ron Paul.

I guess you'll have to hit the link above for the video.

Posted by: Ace at 02:40 PM | Comments (29)
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The last, best hope is South Carolina, where Teh Fred is trailing badly but could make inroads, especially given the fact that Mitt is sitting this dance out.

A win seems unlikely, but a good showing could put him into the race for real.

And he'll need money. New Money. Chemically-tagged computer-traced federal fiat money.

Let's face it, you don't want those SpyBacks tracing your every step anyhow.

Posted by: Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (29)
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Boris's web site is here. I've exchanged emails with Boris in the past and the guy is genuinely humorous and a very likable Tory - unlike the commie Livingstone who is redder than chairman Mao and exuding all the personal warmth of Pol Pot.

This is a race Americans should take interest in, or at least take note of and wish Boris well in unseating the vermin Livingstone. It would be a major blow against the loss of Britain as a nominally western society if Boris wins.

When he refers to "Newt", he means small slimy lizard type newt, not Gingrich.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 01:17 PM | Comments (14)
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The scoop here is that Thompson said (on a blogger conference call) that he expects a big endorsement soon.

He didn't say who. But I've got my hopes: Lew Rockwell. If there's anyone who can add a bit of "punch" and "zing" to Thompson's too-thoughtful-to-play-to-the-cheap-seats campaign style, it's Lew Rockwell.

Bryan from Hot Air was also on the conference call.

Posted by: Ace at 12:30 PM | Comments (26)
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McCain notes the anniversary.

Has it really been that long?

Posted by: Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (5)
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From someone who knows a thing or two about bad press.

Cuffy also notes the story has been picked up by NPR. I didn't bother to click there, but I'm pretty confident in this prediction:

Ron Paul will quickly go from being "a different kind of Republican that even Democrats can support" with "lots of appeal to anti-war Democrats" to being the GOP's boy, and the GOP's boy alone.

Re-Post: Bill D. Cat reminds me of my favorite Onion video ever.

Posted by: Ace at 12:07 PM | Comments (11)
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Better known as just plain old Republicans, or Republicans who don't want to increase taxes.

In 2001, when conservative Republican lawmakers opposed a higher sales taxes and fees the governor supported, he began calling them “Shiites.” Huckabee’s positions on fiscal policy became indistinguishable from Democrats’ positions. A year later, he openly campaigned against a ballot initiative to remove the sales tax on food and medicine. While he and Rockefeller won re-election in 2002, Sen. Tim Hutchinson didn’t.

In 2003, Huckabee not only begged lawmakers for new taxes to make up a budget shortfall, but he rebuffed conservativesÂ’ (Republicans and a couple of Democrats) plan to cover the shortfall by tapping one-time money and cutting pork. In 2004, President Bush won re-election, but Huckabee campaigned for some Democrats - even some who had Republican opponents - and Republicans lost state legislative seats for the first time since 1990.

In 2005, a term-limited Huckabee frustrated conservatives when he pushed a bill to give in-state college tuition and scholarships to the children of illegal immigrants. The next year, Democrats swept Republicans in every race for statewide constitutional office and Republicans lost legislative seats for the second consecutive election cycle.

More at the link.

Remember the permanent Republican majority? The realignment on the horizon in 2002?

Good times, good times.

Posted by: Ace at 11:45 AM | Comments (53)
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First, the easy one: Some seem to think the "Leave Ron Paul Alone" video is real, from a Ron Paul supporter. It's not. It's a parody of Chris Crocker's "Leave Britney [Spears] Alone" video. So the video is making fun of a, um, certain streak of overenthusiasm among MoRons, but it's not actually an example of that overenthusiasm itself.

Apologies for the confusion. I thought that was obvious. But then, not everyone follows goofy internet crazes.

The next thing is more important. I called Ron Paul insane for suggesting that "New Money" (which will enslave you) might be marked with "chemical taggants" or "chemical alarms" which would alert authorities in airports to the presence of currency.

This particular idea is not, in fact, crazy. I woke up this morning (well, afternoon) and realized that sure, it is quite possible that at some point someone suggested the idea of so tagging currency with chemical markers so that airport scanners could detect large amounts of currency hidden, say, in the bottom of a suitcase. As an anti-money-laundering or currency-smuggling measure.

I'd suggest anyone who cares read this passage again and decide for himself whether Ron Paul's tone here actually suggests what I thought he was suggesting -- chemicals in your money tracking your moves -- without actually quite saying that.

In addition, the passage right before that talks about the Fed tracking each bill spent in the economy by (presumably) its serial numbers and thus the government, somehow, being able to track you over the course of "hundreds of transactions."

How on earth every bill could be scanned and inputted into federal currency-tracking databases at every point of sale at every 7-Eleven and every WaWa is beyond me. Also beyond me is how this would serve to track a person, rather than the bill itself, which is immediately transferred to someone else after every sale. Also really beyond me is why the government would bother setting up such a colossal SpyBuck program, or what nefarious plans they might have regarding tracing my purchases of coffee, cigarettes, and Val-U-Rite discount vodka.

Here are the choice bits from that part of the solicitation. Boldface and italics indicate my emphases. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:49 AM | Comments (54)
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When last we left him, Joe Carter was spinning Huckabee as the One, True Conservative in the presidential contest. I objected, pointing out the key issues on which Huckabee is not conservative.

But as I wrote then, I'm not just interested in seeing Huckabee defeated for his faux-conservatism. I'm genuinely curious about what his supporters are thinking. Happily, Carter has started a new, "infrequent" series in which he explores "the contours of conservatism."

I'm already underwhelmed. Some of it is pretty standard and I don't disagree with it. Some of it I simply do not understand. And then there are the parts that I find downright disturbing. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:38 AM | Comments (56)
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