Good bye, good luck and good riddance.

Exit Mike Huckabee.  The one time Baptist minister / governor of one of the most desperate states in the nation is out of the race.  He offered his support to John McCain in a conciliatory manner.  He described the race as not the one we had hoped for, but one we must win.  I am not sure what he hoped for had he emerged victorious. 

 

The only remaining opponent to John McCain is Ron Paul.  Officially, he is still in the race – although he is desperately defending a same party challenger in his home district.  I have a running bet with a fellow blogger that Ron Paul will fade from memory almost as quickly as Tom Tancredo.

 

Huckabee was an interesting spoiler.  He had distinctly left wing economic ideas and yet an evangelical’s philosophy.  I guess he is the closest thing to church folk, people who will help you out unconditionally, as long as they can get into your business, we have in the race.

 

I think the three remaining candidates will do an adequate job.  Although the only thing the President can really influence is foreign policy.  Providing that each candidate picks some heavy hitters for Secretary of State, we will be fine.  What will be interesting is the effect of the economy on the race.  Our nation’s economy is a 14 trillion dollar juggernaut which is hardly influenced by one administration, save due to conflict.  FDR spent a great deal of money with the implementation of the New Deal, but it was WWII which finally corrected the depression. 

 

With abortion, gun rights, and same sex marriage all off the table, there is little emotion left in the race.  The war in the Mideast is improving and the outcome should be secure, barring some unforeseen idiocy by Iran. 

 

As I see it, the campaign boils down to security, energy and rebuilding our foreign reputation through engaging policy.  I am not sure that the democrats can deliver on number one and three.

 

The rise and fall of Ron Paul....

Many years ago I was a libertarian. I registered and was a member of the party. This was in the heady GOP years of Reagan Bush and the advent of the Clinton era. I was introduced to libertarianism by my very smart brother. He’s a likable fellow. Although he is an attorney by training; he’s really an outgoing lover of the outdoors. He would be right at home in any of the independent western states or Texas.

I liked the libertarian view of government non-involvement and free market support. What I failed to realize in my early romance with the party, was that libertarians are about as close to anarchists as one can get. They do not support foreign policy as a tool of national interest, the space program or any safety net for the populace. It was the failure to support a national space program which turned me off from libertarians.

Ron Paul was once the libertarian nominee for president. He switched parties and now stands as a republican candidate for president from Texas’ 14th congressional district. He appealed to that gulf coast constituency through his voting record against taxes and adhering to a zealot’s interpretation of the constitution. In fact his record was so negative, he became known as Dr. No among the other members of the House of Representatives. Like many in congress, Paul could have quietly lived out his terms in perpetuity with little or no attention from anyone. Only the extremely outspoken, like Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney, have made national news as a member of congress. And she had to strike a police officer to do it.

Paul caught the attention of a number of disaffected Americans with his simplistic economic proposals, listed here at his official site. He would eliminate the income tax, shrink federal government and end ALL our involvement with foreign aid. The problem is that Ron’s facts are in disarray.

Commonly cited by Paul supporters is the site Fact Check. They claim that since this site has not targeted Paul, then his views are accurate. A recent piece by Fact Check touched on only three basic assertions of Paul’s campaign. All proved to be so wildly inaccurate as to raise the question whether he is even qualified to hold his congressional seat. Which is being challenged, by the way, by a member of his own party – a CPA named Chris Peden. An NPR analysis of the article brought on waves of Paulites who spent time criticizing and attacking NPR, the author of the piece and parsing the statements which can be easily found with a Google search and attributable to Paul. Even Glenn Reynolds, the normally free market oriented webmaster of Instapundit, has steered clear of the Paul campaign.

Perhaps most disturbing is the range of adherents to his campaign. At a site called Militias for Paul, the individual(s) proffer their opinions on global conspiracy, Zionist empires and seem to advocate the overthrow of the government. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but one shall be known by the company they keep.

Ron Paul, or as he is referred to by the faithful, Dr. Paul, recently appointed a new economic adviser. Little attention was paid to the pedigree of this individual, that his father is serving time for federal tax fraud or that he espouses the “illegitimacy” of the federal tax system. Paul has been dissected time and time again and come up wanting. If one looks for some insight into Paul's philosophy, one can see it relies upon fear and conspiracy. The initial appeal of independence and self reliance quickly withers when one considers the strange political views expressed in his newsletters. His own involvement and authorship of these documents having never been fully explained.

Like an old time preacher, he offers a fiery oratory full of rhetoric, appealing to the disenchanted. He has spawned a number of support sites, Daily Paul, invigorated many young people and raised a LOT of money. But he has failed to break out of the margin of error in any polls. With his ten term congressional seat in serious danger, this may be the final act for Paul.

Like a persistent chicken little, he now appears to be poised to exit stage right.

Way right.

Time Machine...

Super Tuesday is behind us and the road to the Presidency is just as foggy as ever. Both democratic candidates are claiming victory and the republican field is in some disarray, due to the “anti-vote” in support of Mike Huckabee.

Full disclosure, I pulled the lever (touched the screen) for McCain.

Huckabee appeals to the old line conservatives of the party who clamor for a rigid adherence to values. Although I think that Romney is the best manager in the group, the President has little effect on the economy. I prefer McCain’s stronger national security posture and flexible domestic policy.

Ron Paul had a decent showing in the northwest, a location of fierce independents and the former home of Ted Kaczinski (the Unabomber), various militias and many adherents to the “code of the west”. Paul, who hasn’t a prayer of influencing the convention or making a dent in the news cycle the moment he drops out of the race, remains the crotchety curmudgeon.

Ron Paul: “In my day we had to barter in gold and beaver pelts..”

Interviewer: “But congressman, when FDR moved from the gold standard, isn’t that one of the most commonly cited reasons for recovery after the crash of 1929?”

Ron Paul: “When I was a flight surgeon, we had to wing walk to look after our patients…”

He is, bless his heart, a crank.

Huckabee, however, poses a much more challenging puzzle. He will have some influence in the convention.

Hopefully very little.

The specter of a revival of the religious right in the GOP is depressing. Frankly, there is enough to work on with security, economics, education and health care without resurrecting rhetorical constructs like abortion, gay marriage and the inclusion of the ten commandments in public documents.