TEXAN OF THE YEAR: Who did the Dallas Morning News name its Texan of the Year? You just ain’t gonna believe this one! Click HERE to find out. But take your blood pressure medicine first.
JOHNNY JIHADI’S PRINCIPAL PRIZE
“With the jihadists losing in Iraq and having a hard time hitting the West, their strategy seems to be to make vulnerable Pakistan their principal target, and its nuclear arsenal their principal prize. In this effort, murdering Bhutto was an essential step. Hers is the highest profile scalp the jihadists can claim since their assassination of Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in 1981.”
- Wall Street Journal editorial, 12/28/07
TERRIBLY WRONG-HEADED
“What happened in Pakistan (Bhutto assassination) is just more proof that when it comes to the war on terrorism, the Democrats are so terribly wrong-headed that they constitute a serious threat to the security of the American people — that’s you and me.”
- Talk-show host Michael Reagan
ESPECIALLY SILLY
“Iowa arrives too early this cycle in that it comes a full 10 months before the general election next November. We think the public was better served when the first primaries didn’t begin until much later. In 1976, Ronald Reagan barely lost to President Ford in New Hampshire in February, but he was still able to make a contest of the nomination by winning the North Carolina primary in late March. That the Iowa home stretch is taking place this year when most families are preoccupied with the holidays is especially silly.”
- Wall Street Journal editorial, 12/29/07
BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE ENDLESS CAMPAIGN
“Iowans bear a heck of a lot of responsibility this year, the first time since 1952 when there is no incumbent president or vice president in the race. All of it is wide open. Iowa can make Obama real. It can make Hillary yesterday. It can make Huckabee a phenom and not a flash, McCain the future and not the past. Moments like this happen in history.”
- Columnist Peggy Noonan
PRESIDENT GUMBY?
“The thought of having to choose between Huckabee and Hillary (or whomever the Left tosses up) come November 2008 is about as appealing to me as the option of watching Rosie O’Donnell river dance naked at 11:00 PM verses watching Rosie O’Donnell river dance naked at 11:15 PM. Both options bite.
“I know as an evangelical I’m supposed to get all giddy and stuff that we have an “on fire” brother do-si-doing up to be the next Commander in Chief, but elated I am not. The main reason being? I think the guy would bend like Gumby when hit with the pressures of dealing with terrorists and terrorist supporting states. Heck, he can’t even stand up to Larry King when cornered on a creationism query. I guarantee Ahmadinejad and his ilk would have him moonwalking.”
- Columnist Doug Giles
FLASH IN THE PAN SIZZLING OUT
“While public polls show Mike Huckabee leading Mitt Romney in Iowa, a new survey of an oversized sample shows Huckabee slipping and no longer ahead of Romney.”
- Columnist Robert Novak
PAUL COULD EMBARRASS RUDY
“(GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul) could pull off a stunner on Jan. 8 and place third in New Hampshire’s Republican primary. If he does, he would embarrass Rudy Giuliani and steal media limelight from John McCain and Mitt Romney, who are battling for first place. Many Republican operatives in New Hampshire, even those affiliated with other campaigns, think Mr. Paul is headed for an impressive, double-digit performance. That he has been polling in the high single digits for months is discounted, because the polls may be missing the depth of his support.”
- Andrew Cline, editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader, 12/29/07
SCAB CENTRAL
“Next week, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart and a host of others will resume their programs without support from their striking writers. . . . The deal the late-night comics struck with the unionized writers sounds like a bizarre Letterman routine. The hosts agreed to abide by rules that prohibit them from writing anything. If they physically write something, that makes them scabs. But it’s OK if they just show up and ad lib their way into the New Year. We can’t wait.”
- Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal, 12/29/07
Posted on December 30th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
The combination of an open presidential race with no incumbent and a citizen-driven internet has made this the most interesting, messy–and democratic–election in memory. The sheer amount of hyper-intense scrutiny of all the candidates is going to eviscerate any politician’s ego not up to the grueling demands of an American electorate that is ravenous for any sign of weakness. We have a marathon now in our presidential politics; may only the strongest, long-distance runner survive.