WWMcD? (What Will McCain Do?)

Nate over at You Decide 2008 has put together a nice collection of John McCain's possible talking points for '08.

This is my personal favorite:

Republicans Vote Boehner House Minority, Blunt Whip

I'm not going to be angry, but I don't feel that the Republican boat is headed in the right direction, unless, of course, a political iceberg in '08 is the desired destination.

Update: Mary Katherine Ham laments the status quo.(H/T Malkin

Update II: NR's Jonah Goldberg on the Republican penchant for old, white southern dudes:

Who says the Republicans are the Stupid party?

Huge numbers of voters told exit pollsters that they were disgusted with the nigh-upon Roman excesses of the GOP; the self-dealing, the pork-barrel spending, the aloofness — it was all just too much. Meanwhile, strategists warned that the Republican party was becoming too white, too male and too exclusively Southern. Ken Mehlman, the outgoing head of the Republican National Committee, declared just days after the GOP’s recent thumpin’, “We rely too much on white guys for our vote.”

So what did the GOP senators do when they needed to pick their No. 2 man in the Senate? They shouted, “This is a job for Trent Lott!”

Recall, if you will, that Lott, the Mississippi Republican, was Senate majority leader in 2002 until he proclaimed that America would be better off if only Strom Thurmond — the Dixiecrat segregationist candidate in 1948 — had been elected president.

The gale-force winds of the subsequent political maelstrom were not only enough to blow Lott from his perch as majority leader, but some witnesses actually swear they saw his hair move.

Also, Captain Ed offers a way back.

Common Sense Conservatism? Hmm.

From Reuters:

Arizona Sen. John McCain, taking the first step toward a 2008 White House bid, said on Thursday a return to principles of limited government and "common sense conservatism" would carry Republicans back to power after last week's election drubbing.
[...]
"Common sense conservatives believe that the government that governs least governs best, that government should do only those things individuals cannot do for themselves and do them efficiently," he said.

Well, that sounds nice and all, but why do we have to keep repackaging conservatism? It reminds me of something Rush Limbaugh once wrote about New Democrats. He said something to the effect that anytime a Democrat runs as something new, rest assured that he's the same old Democrat with new packaging. Until McCain decides to define what exactly "common sense conservatism" means, especially where illegals and gay marriage are concerned, then I'm going to assume he's a moderate in conservative clothing.

Here's Predicting This Story Gets Downplayed

From ABC News/The Blotter:

As convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff reported to federal prison today, a source close to the investigation surrounding his activities told ABC News that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was one of the members of Congress Abramoff had allegedly implicated in his cooperation with federal prosecutors.
[...]
A source close to the investigation says Abramoff told prosecutors that more than $30,000 in campaign contributions to Reid from Abramoff's clients "were no accident and were in fact requested by Reid."
[...]
Sen. Reid has been an outspoken critic of the connections between Abramoff and Republican legislators.

In a speech earlier this year, Sen. Reid described it as "a program where the lobbyists paid and the Republican members of Congress played."

The Justice Department said it would have no comment on the ongoing Abramoff investigation.

I hope Abramoff squeals on every last one of these crooked jokers, Republican or Democrat.

Lott Is the New Minority Whip

Fox News is reporting that Trent Lott is the new minority whip in the Senate.

Update: Breitbart reports that, according to outgoing senator Rick Santorum, Lott beat Lamar Alexander of Tennessee by one vote, 25-24.

Update II: With the election of Lott, are Republicans sending the message that the way forward is by going in reverse? Haven't we seen this song-and-dance already?

The Only "Phased Redeployment" I Care About

How about Republicans start advocating a phased redeployment of illegal immigrants back to their home country, and soon? All this talk of amnesty for illegals turns my stomach. We should see past the emotion on this issue and enforce the laws of our country.

Reflecting a glimmer of hope, Mike Pence, candidate for House Minority Leader, has recanted his original position of an amnesty compromise, the Washington Times reports.

"I [Pence] reject any form of amnesty, even if we've got border security," he said. "I really reject the idea that people whose first act in this country was a violation of the law ought to be able to get right with the law without leaving the country."

The Republican leadership needs to find some backbone and get tough on illegals.

Hide Your Wallet! Hill-Care on the Horizon?

From Breitbart/AP:

"Health care is coming back," [Hillary] Clinton warned, adding, "It may be a bad dream for some."

Yep, for taxpayers.

Cut-and-Run Dems?

Today from Reuters:

Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months, but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables.

"First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.

Democrats will press President George W. Bush's administration to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was "not open-ended, and that, as a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Levin said on ABC's "This Week" program.

While Dems have refused to give a specific date for troop withdrawal, or "phased redeployment," they insist that this process should start soon, perhaps within six months.

Getting our troops home will be a good thing; however, I think we have a moral obligation to the Iraqi leadership to continue to have an agressive military presence there until the government is able to protect its citizens. I hope President Bush and SoD Gates will trust the generals in Iraq to adjust their tactics and will resist the desire to micromanage the war. What I don't want to see change is our resolve to win this fight, for to leave Iraq now is to leave it in a worse condition than we found it.

A Struggle Worth Addressing

President Bush and Nancy Pelosi spoke at length during their White House meeting on Thursday about the ongoing crisis in Darfur.

Here's hoping that something more than talking around the issue results. Stopping genocide, regardless of our political stripe, is something we should all endeavour to do.

Tear-Stained Letter

From Reuters:

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida voter may have unwittingly lost hundreds of thousands of dollars by using an extremely rare stamp to mail an absentee ballot in Tuesday's congressional election, a government official said on Friday.

Unfortunately, this pales in comparison to the amount of money Floridians stand to lose if Dems raise taxes.

George Allen, It Was a Pleasure Knowin' Ya!

Strike George Allen from the list of potential presidential candidates for 2008 (Not that you haven't already). Strangely, I had a dream not too long ago that I was a member of Allen's presidential staff and was being questioned by Newt Gingrich about my conservatism...

Well, it wasn't Allen's conservatism or lack thereof that beat him; instead, he absolutely bungled and fumbled his way to a lost election. In a collapse reminiscent of Greg Norman's meltdown in the 1996 Masters, Allen saw his lead in the polls and on election night evaporate before his, and our, eyes. I mean, this guy was the conservative choice for president only a few months ago. Now, he'll perhaps be preserved in dictionaries for his Youtubian reference to the obscure "macaca." It is inexplicable, really, as to why Allen did this. You can blame obsessive nutroots behavior if you want, but all Allen had to do was rise above it. After all, that's not too much to ask of a presidential hopeful.

It didn't stop there, however. One racial slur led to allegations of many others and both sides became embroiled in who said what when. Unfortunately, the last image I'll probably have of a political Allen is of him smirking while accusing Jim Webb of composing salacious and pornographic prose. It was sadly emblematic of a campaign in the dregs.

To Allen's credit, though, he almost pulled out a victory. He wasn't blown-out and will probably have another chance to fight back into the Senate. But this is a major case of what might have been both for Allen and conservatives.

Bush and Pelosi to Have Lunch, Chit-Chat

From Breitbart/AP:

It started with what both described as a gracious phone call early Wednesday and, at Bush's invitation, continues over lunch on Thursday.

What's on the menu? "For the president, it's probably a little bit of crow," presidential counselor Dan Bartlett told CBS' "Early Show" Thursday.

Before lunching with Pelosi, the president was having breakfast with House and Senate Republican leaders and meeting with his Cabinet.

Bush and Pelosi pledged to find common ground in a turned-upside-down Washington.

"The people have spoken, and now it's time for us to move on," Bush told reporters in the East Room on Wednesday.

Said Pelosi in her own news conference at the Capitol: "Democrats are not about getting even. Democrats are about helping the American people to get ahead."

Here's an absolutely stunning and groundbreaking prediction: This pow-wowing won't last. Despite Pelosi's insistence that the liberal-values base of her party won't go after Bush's head, I don't think she'll be able to call off the partizan dogs for long. Hopefully, Bush will counter with some aggressiveness of his own and avoid the obsequiousness he has shown to Dems thus far.

To Dems: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

First, a rant. I've just finished watching a heartwarming, hand-wringing performance from former everyman-staffer David Gergen on CNN. He seemed absolutely bumfuzzled, "mystified" to be more precise, that President Bush could play politics on this Rumsfeld announcement. Gergen must be forgetting the years he worked as an adviser for Bill Clinton. And now they're interviewing Andrew Sullivan. And my wife thinks he just called Anderson Cooper handsome.

This is just one more reason that these CNN guys kill me. Why do I watch? Well, Greta is on FOX at the moment, that's why. The only pundit I can stomach at CNN is James Carville. Despite his ravings, at least he's a known quantity. Cooper has this unassuming, politically naive act where everything seems to take him by surprise. Paul Begala is like the kid who would talk smack to the school bully only to come hide behind you when the going got rough. Jeff Greenfield just likes to hear and see himself talk, and Lynne Cheney smacked Wolf Blitzer all around the Situation Room a couple of weeks back. With a couple of exceptions, the guys of CNN are, well, kinda beta. But that's neither here nor there.

With all the Gergen-esque faux concern for the Republicans going on at CNN, I must say that I've never seen so many Democrats willing to lend helpful advice to Republicans regarding what they should do in the future. Yeah, the Republicans screwed this one up. But Democrats would do well to remember that that is the only way they won this election. This was little more than a referendum on the current Republican leadership and Iraq, not on the conservative movement in general--as some Dems would lead us to believe. All they'll have to do in January is look around at those new moderate to conservative faces in the House to see that.

The good thing for Republicans is that it is the Democrats' turn to handle the Iraq hot potato. They've been bombastic about Bush's failure in this department and about their desire to just get a chance to do something about it. Well Dems, it's yours. After all, it is all about the war isn't it, stupid? President Bush already has a 38% approval rating; what does he really have to lose? His historical legacy? This isn't Bill Clinton. His job? Dems will probably use impeachment as leverage anyway. Well, here's to getting what you wanted. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

"It Was a Thumpin'"

President Bush definitely looks embattled at the podium today. I have to say, though, I think Bush wants to throw the mic at David Gregory. Gregory is a smarmy bore who thinks he's Sam Donaldson and is in need of the Mitt Romney treatment.

Rumsfeld to Step Down?

According to FOX News, citing an AP bulletin, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is to step down.

This is not necessarily surprising because all I've heard is that pressure would be on Rumsfeld to resign, given that Bush said he would not remove him. If yesterday's election was a referendum on Iraq, as many Dems have claimed, then changes need to be made, and this looks like the first of many.

Update: Rumsfeld is to be replaced by ex-CIA director Robert Gates.

Update II: Predictably, some moron has hijacked Wikipedia's Gates page.

Update III: Wikipedia seems to have temporarily resolved the problem. More on Gates here.

Surprise! The Sun Came Up Today

I feel great today despite the loss of the House and (presumably) the Senate. I think American voters spoke out against corruption in the Republican party and the War in Iraq, both of which needed addressing. Many bloggers have been posting that conservatism won last night, even though Republicans did not. Numerous moderate to conservative Democrats were elected, eminent domain was resisted or restricted in multiple states, gay marriage was defeated in four states, including Wisconsin, so I'm not fearing some drastic ideological shift in this country.

The fact is that most Americans are not liberals and are not going to become liberals anytime soon. If the San Francisco values crowd think so, then they're in for a rude awakening in 2008. In fact, I can't wait for Nancy Pelosi to attempt to push her agenda as Speaker; she will expose her wing of the Democratic party for what it is: anti-Bush (which I'm predicting will consume them), tax hungry, cut-and-run, anti-big business, and pro-big government.

This is a real opportunity for Americans to see the Harpy party in power. An opportunity to see if Dems can do something other than whine and complain. I'm guessing they can't. And that won't bode well in 2008. It's also an opportunity for Republicans to come back to the values they left over the past six years. Here's hoping that they will.

Exit Polls and Network Calls

It's hard to believe that FOX, CNN, ABC, and others are willing to call races based so heavily upon exit polling, given the unreliability of this method in 2004. I mean, the Maryland race was called with 1% of precincts reporting. Literally 8,000 people had voted and the race was declared over.

I did hear Michael Barone state that FOX would no longer be relying upon exit polls to call races, so that's some good news.

Regardless, it looks like a tough night for Republicans, and it will be a fight to hold on to the Senate.

Update I:

George Allen is ahead with 86% of precincts reporting, Corker is looking good in Tennessee, and surprisingly to me, Talent is up in Missouri. Repubs need these badly.

Update II:

Allen is still winning in a nailbiter...12,000 votes ahead w/ 96% reporting. Corker is still up in Tennessee and Talent is winning in Missouri. Interestingly, the Washington Post pulled their projection of a Cardin win in Maryland, which I believed was a bit premature all along. Hopefully, Steele can win enough of the black vote to pull a comeback there. It looks like all is lost in the House, however.

Get Out and Go Vote

You heard me people. Don't let stories of confusion and technical difficulties at the polls keep you away (and there are plenty on Drudge); the vote is more important than that. It doesn't matter if you're a disillusioned conservative Christian smarting over Ted Haggard's infelicities (and according to what I've heard on CNN, you are): he's not on the ballot. Go vote anyway. Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney,Tom DeLay, or random crooked conservative got you down? Think of the alternative. It could be a Democrat in office.

Voter Fraud in Tennessee?

Drudge Report is covering a developing story about 12 missing smartcards, the cards that operate voting machines, in Shelby County, Tennessee.

This isn't podunkville; Memphis is the county seat, and its residents number over 900,000, according to the county's website.

Strong Economy: Too Little, Too Late for Republicans?

From Reuters: A new report released today shows a strong American economy: job growth and wages are up, and unemployment is down.

"The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to its lowest in nearly 5-1/2 years during October as 92,000 more jobs were added and hiring in each of the two prior months was revised up, a government report on Friday showed.

The October new-jobs figure was below Wall Street economists' expectations for 125,000 but the Labor Department said a total 139,000 more jobs were created in August and September than it had previously thought. It revised up September's job-creation total to 148,000, or nearly three times the 51,000 it reported a month ago, and said there were 230,000 new jobs in August instead of 188,000.

The unemployment rate fell in October to 4.4 percent from 4.6 percent in September. It was the lowest unemployment rate since 4.3 percent in May 2001 and was likely to fan concerns that labor markets are growing tight and could contribute to inflation pressures."

The question remains whether or not it will matter in this election.