Religion is Relevant, But Stop Asking About Mine — Don't Recall That From the JFK Speech

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Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …
December 6, 2007

TOP HEADLINE: Religion is Relevant, But Stop Asking About Mine — Don't Recall That From the JFK Speech

The bustling activity of the Windham Junction Country Store stopped suddenly Tuesday morning when Tom Eifler addressed Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. "Later this week you'll be talking about your Mormon background," the 62-year-old said hesitantly and then asked Mr. Romney to comment on the "risk factor" of the speech.

"Yeah, actually, I'm gonna be talking about, uh...," Mr. Romney said, at first faltering, then recovering, "faith in America." He elaborated: "I'm not gonna be talking so much about my faith in America but the faith of our religious heritage."

Later, Mr. Eifler, a Romney supporter, shook his head and whispered, "There's a lot to be lost here."

Mr. Romney's address today, at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, will be one of the most closely watched of any so far in both parties' campaigns. The candidate's goal: to extinguish concerns about his Mormon faith that are damping support among his party's powerful evangelical voting bloc.

Mr. Romney is expected to be as generic as possible, focusing on his upbringing and his family, avoiding the differences between his beliefs and those of other Christians.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119690754558215362.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_topbox

Giuliani Tangles Himself In Reagan Rhetoric, Gets It Wrong on Hostage Crisis

The Iranian crisis was a major factor in Carter's defeat in the 1980 election. And Giuliani's ad suggests that Reagan's election alone accounted for the release of the hostages. In fact, it was more complicated than that.

Sixty-six Americans were taken hostage on Nov. 4, 1979, when an Iranian mob attacked the U.S. embassy. The Iranians over time released 14 hostages, leaving 52 in captivity. President Carter froze Iranian assets in the United States, boycotted Iranian oil and worked though diplomatic channels to release the hostages.

In April 1980, Carter ordered a military operation that ended in humiliating failure when three helicopters malfunctioned and a fourth crashed in the staging area in the Iranian desert, killing eight U.S. soldiers. By the end of the year, however, conditions in Iran had changed — Iraq had invaded Iran, Iran had a new government and the country faced an international economic embargo from the U.S. and its allies. Still negotiations dragged on. The hostages were released 444 days after they were captured, on Jan. 20, 1981, leaving Tehran about a half hour after Reagan has been sworn in.

The Giuliani ad seeks to remind voters of those ignominious days and to portray, by association, the current field of Democratic candidates as latter-day Carters and to cloak himself in the mantle of Reagan.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h10poUjVUgCKTqtiAG4palFLlvagD8TBD0V80

The Huck-Moon’s Over. . . Can Huckabee Take the Heat? Mike Faces More Fire Over Releasing Rapist

Mike Huckabee - the former Arkansas governor under increasing scrutiny since his meteoric rise in the polls in Iowa - delivered a lengthy defense yesterday of his controversial role in advocating the early parole for a convicted rapist who killed a woman after he was released.

Huckabee insisted he had not pressured the Arkansas Parole Board to grant early release to Wayne Dumond, who had been sentenced to life plus 20 years for the 1984 kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old girl.

The Republican governor did meet with the parole board - whose members, he noted, had all been appointed by Democratic governors - but told reporters yesterday, "I did not ask them to do anything."

Huckabee did earlier indicate sympathy for Dumond, whom he said yesterday had "an unblemished prison record" and had met "all of the qualifications for being paroled." In an October interview with the Globe, Huckabee said Dumond's original sentence was unusually long for a person convicted of rape.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/06/huckabee_defends_his_role_in_ark_rapists_parole_case/?rss_id=Campaign+'08+stories+from+The+Boston+Globe

Forgetful Huck? Gov. Says ‘It’ll Happen Again’ On NIE Blankness

Republican Mike Huckabee blamed his staff and the hectic nature of running for president for being oblivious Tuesday of a major U.S. intelligence report on Iran which had been released about 24 hours earlier.

"It would have been nice had someone been able to first say, 'here's some things that are going on, that are taking place,'" said Huckabee. "That didn't happen."

"It's going to happen again," he added.

Huckabee's comments, which the former Arkansas governor made to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room," were sharply criticized by a spokesman for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Huckabee's top rival in Iowa.

"Campaigns keep you busy, there's no doubt," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told ABC News. "But, if Mike Huckabee is asking citizens to trust him to be commander-in-chief and leader of the free world, he is going to have to come up with a better excuse for why he doesn't have an answer on one of the most pressing and urgent national security issues facing the world today."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/huckabee-on-bei.html

Who Cares About the NIE. . . Huckabee’s Gunning For the Pizza Ranch Vote

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's campaign office is only about a block and a half away from The Des Moines Register, so it's no surprise that the candidate, known for his focus on nutrition and exercise, decided to walk back after meeting with newspaper reporters and editors this week. Besides, he remarked, during the campaign he's visited every Pizza Ranch in Iowa.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NEWS09/712060379

Is Fred Thompson Going Ron Paul On Us? Thompson Claims NIE Is Conspiracy Against US

Last night on PBS’s Charlie Rose, former senator Fred Thompson added his own conspiracy theory to the mix, stating that Iran may have deliberately “leaked” the information on their lack of nuclear program to distract the U.S. “Nobody knows” if Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, he declared:

We’re just going to have to wait and see, why they would start it up and they would move away without telling anybody. Unless of course they have leaked this themselves. So, just a bunch of unanswered questions. […]

And this is perhaps a weak, faint or weak attempt to cause us to divert our attention a little bit.
http://blog.radioleft.com/blog/_archives/2007/12/5/3393979.html

Thompson Met With Jeers, Not Cheers In South Carolina – Lollygagger called a Scallywag

As GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson wrapped his South Carolina campaign visit, he had a small handful of protesters outside his event at a Lexington, South Carolina restaurant.

About four men held confederate flags and signs that said "Honk for Dixie" and "The South Does Not Want Fred Thompson."

The men said they were part of the South Carolina League of the South and speaking out against Thompson and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for recent remarks about something dear to their hearts. At the November 28 CNN/YouTube debate, both candidates said they did not believe the Confederate flag should be flown in a public place. The two Republican hopefuls, who are among the leaders in Palmetto State polls, also said the flag wrongfully divides the country.

"When a Southerner goes bad, we call him a scallywag. Thompson's a scallywag - he deserves no respect," Jim Hanks, who identified himself as a registered Independent, said. A scallywag is a white southerner who supported the federal government during Reconstruction. Hanks also said he was interested in Thompson, but now supports Ron Paul.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/southern-protes.html

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