It looks obvious

Dear John Ensign,

I received your letter as the chairman of the Republican Presidential Task Force and I read it with great level of amazement. I wonder how disconnected is the GOP if you produce letters like this.

I have no interest in helping electing the presumed nominee, nor most of what the GOP has to offer for the Senate or the Congress. Since the GOP took over you betray the promise to reduce the scope of government, reduce our involvement overseas and to promote individual liberties. Instead the gang that took over was busy increasing the deficit, increasing the scope of government into areas no democrat would ever dream to do and set a record on abuses of human rights. The GOP leadership ,including you - Senator Ensign, used “conservative values” as a mockery and excuse to prevent other from making their own choices about their own life.

In the last eight years the GOP gave its active support for one of the most serious attacks on human rights in the history of the US. Using the terror treat as an excuse you helped - by legislation and executive orders - promoting strong executive branch and a set of practices that limits our civil liberties. Calling yourself a Conservative, pretending to follow Barry Goldwater, is a very sad joke.

I still believe, the naive that I am, that the GOP has a chance to reform itself. This is why I joined the Republican Liberty Caucus. The only hope the GOP has to become relevant again is by returning to the basics of promoting Individual liberty.

At this point you probably understand that I will not help - not with donation nor with volunteering action - your mission of electing Senate majority. However I really want to take this opportunity for the nice picture you included in the envelope. We intend to use the high quality picture, of one of the worst Presidents in the history of the US, for playing darts.

This is funny:

When the Republican Party issued a clarion call last week for its grassroots supporters to submit ideas online to build the party’s platform, Republican National Committee officials probably weren’t expecting a concerted push for the dismantling of the Federal Reserve and a return to the gold standard.

But Ron Paul supporters have made themselves at home on the the GOP platform site, sounding many of the themes that turned the Texas congressman’s doomed run for the Republican presidential nod into an internet cause célèbre.

This is, sadly, makes no difference as the GOP going to completely ignore the suggestion it so insincerely solicited. More to the point the platform is going to be ignored even before it is ever written. But the gesture, made by those grassroots activists, clearly makes a point.

They will need to work much harder in order to “grab” my vote. Unfortunately this election aren’t going to be close election, and the potential appeal of swing votes in states like Georgia or the mountain west states will not have the desired effect.

With iconoclast Ron Paul having ended his quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination — his platform had called for, among other things, ending the Iraq War, repealing the PATRIOT Act, returning to the gold standard and eliminating taxes on tips — his many dedicated supporters are up for grabs.

[...]

It’s a support base that could make the difference in a close election, and while there’s no guarantee that his supporters will turn out at the polls for GOP standard-bearer John McCain, one thing seems clear: Despite their overlapping anti-Iraq war positions, Barack Obama will not make major inroads among them.

I wasn’t McCain’s supporter as it is, but this makes his candidacy a complete disaster:

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and defeated contender for the GOP presidential nomination, is currently at the top of John McCain’s short list for a running mate. At least that’s the word from a top McCain fundraiser and longtime Republican moneyman who has spoken to McCain’s inner circle. The fundraiser is less than thrilled with the idea of Huckabee as the vice presidential nominee, and many economic conservatives—turned off by the populist tone of Huckabee’s campaign and his tax record as governor—are likely to share that marked lack of enthusiasm.

The big story from yesterday’s Primaries voting in PA is obviously Clinton’s victory. However I was looking with interest at the GOP Primaries’ results. It was expected that Ron Paul’s percentage will be higher, due to less general interest among GOP voters, and therefore the 16% were not surprising. What is surprising, however, is that Ron Paul received the highest number of votes in a primary state yet - significantly higher.

I assume that the increase in the votes is partly because protest conservative votes are split between Huckabee and Ron Paul. Additionally it is possible that Paul’s view of the economy get more attention as the prospect of deep recession become more common. And yet I don’t think that these explanations are the complete explanation why more people choose to vote for Ron Paul, now when the “competition” is practically over than when it did mattered.

Any Ideas?

Sometimes history is being written by the losers….

The political game is usually decided by those who participate, and when Libertarian start participating seriously they will start effecting. Participating will involve also compromising, but this is not always a bad thing.

Not all the news from Yesterday’s primaries were bad, some were pretty good.

This should be an answer to some people wishes because apparently No, they can’t!. And it’s not only a one congressional district phenomena.

Now when it seems unavoidable that McCain will be the Republican nominee it is worth taking a closer critical look at his ideology and public record. I wrote in the past about my reservation regarding McCain authoritarianism, warmongering and the practical practice of increasing the scope of the federal government. The video embedded here take a closer look at McCain and is really worth watching.

View John McCain: The Myth of a Maverick on FORA.tv

Yesterday at a conversation with friends I speculated that It doesn’t make sense for Romney to quite the race now. I suggested that he has fairly good chances at a brokered convention as a compromise between Huckabee and McCain and that he enjoy the support of the Party’s establishment which is a big advantage in such event. It seems to me that the chances for a brokered convention are also pretty high with four candidates still running, and with McCain needing about 400 delegates from about 1000 possible delegates.

Today’s news prove my speculation, again, wrong. Oh, well…

Fred Thompson’s dropping from the Presidential race was expected and unfortunate. It is unfortunate that the kind of conservatism - the type that brought Reagan to the White House and the GOP to win the majority doesn’t have enough appeal in the GOP. It will be more unfortunate if Thompson’s dropping will help to solidified a frontrunner next week. I am looking, with a lot of hope, for a brokered convention and a frontrunner isn’t serving this hope.

I said it in the past, and although I have a good record of wrong predictions I still think that regardless of who the GOP will nominate the next President will be a Democrat. The GOP needs to start building itself, defining its core believes and re-pledge its allegiance to the ideals that attracted the American voters to join the Reagan coalition. A brokered convention, and the need to find a compromise candidate can help starting such process. 

But my interest in such convention isn’t only ideological. Think how fascinating and wonderful display of politic a brokered convention is. Today, with the help of Tzvika, I was found the magnificent story of the 1920 GOP brokered convention - were Harding was nominated after ten rounds,after having support of only 6.7% of the delegates in the first round. Such convention will be much more interesting than the staged conventions we saw in previous elections.