American Republic Online

Well Super Tuesday II has come and gone with not quite the fan fare of the first. Most predictions held with Hillary pulling out two vital wins in Texas and Ohio, but the real story is slightly below the surface of the the win column.

#1 McCain is still struggling to convince Republican voters that he’s their man. Take a look at how Huckabee faired in the big states: 30% in Ohio and almost 40% in Texas. That does bode well for the candidate that “locked up” the nomination weeks ago. While McCain may be gaining the independents he seems to be losing the at least a third of his base. And without his base its unlikely that he will have enough votes to unseat either Dem. Think it’s just Huckabee’s charm? Look closer. Romni, Thompson and Giuliani all pulled statistically significant numbers (>1%), some as high as 4%. These candidates are not only out of the race but all have endorsed McCain. Which would mean that McCain’s negatives are high enough to only pale in comparison to Hillary’s.

#2 The Primary structure is messed up. The Dem side is worse but both sides are bad. Can someone explain to me the significance of Ohio? Don’t get me wrong it’s a great normal state, but WHY does everyone care about it? Or more accurately, why does it get a disproportional number of delegates? Let’s look at the numbers: Texas population: 22.8M delegates: 39 dems, 69 repubs. Ohio population: 11.4M delegates: 128 dems, 79 repubs. (Tennessee population: 6M delegates: 66 dems, 46 repubs.) Didn’t we outlaw the concept that some people’s votes only count 2/3 or 3/4 of others? -shrug-

In case you haven’t figured it out from the utter lack of coverage, the US Military has been kicking butt in Iraq. The surge helped our forces reach that critical mass of manpower. Coupled with the additional time, defections, and other gains - the point spread on this game has shifted considerably in the last 6 months. The underdog Al-Qaeda now just looks like a dog and a rather small one at that.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an “extraordinary crisis”. Last year’s mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military “created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight”. The terrorist group’s security structure suffered “total collapse”.

These are the words not of al-Qaeda’s enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group’s stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November.

The US military released extracts from that letter yesterday along with a second seized in another November raid that is almost as startling.

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It’s been a tough few weeks for race relations. The purest bastion of race equality - The Democratic Party - is looking a little tarnished. It seems everyone though a black Presidential candidate was “great” and “historic”, until he actually could win. Apparently the thought of a black President didn’t sit as well with the party as a Presidential Candidate.

Now in no way is the party as a whole against Obama. He has vast support inside the party and a the potential for Republican crossovers. But a significant faction of the Democratic Party seems dead set against Barack because of his skin color.

Rush Limbaugh is calling it the Uncivil War, and sides are being taken in unexpected places in the party. In what I consider to be a sign of the changing times, the lines being drawn for Obama and Clinton are not by skin color. Blacks and whites are on both sides arguing the race issue. Even the “civil rights leaders” like Jackson and Sharpton are split down the middle. But as they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step to fixing it. While the Dems have long claimed to be pro-minorities, many have pointed out that their methods seem more about control and not assistance.

Take for instance the Nevada Caucus mess. Democrats are constantly championing easier ways to vote and name calling anyone trying to “disenfranchise” people with things like requiring proof of eligibility or citizenship. That is, until a big union came out for Obama… then it wasn’t “fair”. Read the rest of this entry »

Say good bye to the incandescent light bulb. Congress has banned them staring in 2012. Congress defends this blatant attack on consumer choice and the home is castle concept by sighting energy savings. Everyone talks about how much money and power everyone will save. Wrong!

• Save Money? Nope. You’ll spend it all on the more expensive bulbs. So instead of a check to the utility it goes to the lighting industry. Same mothballs in the wallet for the consumer.
• Save Power? Nope. If the fuel efficiency of cars is any indication, no power will be saved. Consumers will simply care less about turning off their lights. As cars have gotten better mpg, American’s simply drive more. The economic impact not some love of the planet is what drives these things. If making sure you turn off your lights only impacts your power bill $5 instead of $50… no one will bother. Increasing the power consumption back to the pre-meddling point. Sorry congress, market forces don’t change with your wims.

Sadly, when I first heard about this a few weeks ago, I asked “What’s next? Are they going to make it illegal to set my thermostat to low?” Little did I know just how quickly I would be proven right. California is trying to pass a bill to require radio controlled thermostats for “peak times” and “emergencies”. So what happens when California declares a “global warming emergency”? Wal-mart will sell out of window AC units that day. Though I probably shouldn’t point that out, or those will be banned before the emergency declaration.

• Bye Bye, Light Bulb - If only Microsoft could argue its competitors hurt the environment.
• Senate Votes on Bulb Bill
• House Votes on Bulb Bill
• Who Will Control Your Thermostat?

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Randall Hoven at the American Thinker has an interesting if long piece contrasting Bush II with Clinton I. He does an excellent job summarizing the most important events of the last 8 years and how they compare to the Golden Era. Below is a snippet:

Why are Republicans so depressed? President Bush’s two-term presidency enters its last year in pretty good shape and with a lot better record than pundits would have us believe. The Democrats took Congress in 2006, but they appear to have blown their chance, with approval ratings at historical lows… The greatest threat to that prospect has nothing to do with the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. The Republicans have nothing to fear but a discouraged Republican base… Let me start not with the Bush presidency, but with the Clinton presidency…

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In a shocking defeat to the world’s friendliest Dictator President, the people of Venezuela voted down Hugo Chavez’s brave new socialistic world. The reforms included:

• ending presidential term limits
• appointing local leaders under a redrawn political map
• ending the central bank’s autonomy
• reduction in the working day to six hours
• creating a social fund for informal workers
• further establishing community councils where residents can decide how to spend government money

Isn’t it great how socialism can promise reduced work and increased spending? It’s magic! The best part, of course, was the brilliant speech by Hugo himself as he provided the political analysis from the state-run TV networks:

“Perhaps I made a mistake in the timing of my proposals, that could be, that we (the people of Venezuela) are not politically mature enough,” he said.

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John Edwards is revealing is intentions, and confirms what ARO wondered a couple months ago:

 ”I’m mandating healthcare for every man woman and child in America and that’s the only way to have real universal healthcare.”

…When asked by a reporter if an individual decided they didn’t want healthcare Edwards quickly responded, “You don’t get that choice.” 

Of course, he’s right.  How can something be “universal” if people aren’t in it?  So, in order to make it “universal” everyone has to be in it, even if they don’t want to be (as Edwards points out above).

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Hope comes from across the Atlantic:

President Sarkozy of France is on the verge of a breakthrough in his ambitious plan to wean his country off the restrictive working practices he believes stand in the way of national prosperity.

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The New York Times didn’t give this story a great headline or much play since it ended up on page 19. But the Times supports the troops and wants victory…. right?

American forces have routed Al Qaeda… from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned… “Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak,” and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, [Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil Jr., commander of US forces in Baghdad] said. “The Iraqi people have just decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence,” [General Fil] said,

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