EXPLAINING HUCK’S SURPRISE RISE: “In the 2008 race, two guys could have been the evangelical candidate, Sam Brownback or Mike Huckabee, and they divided that vote in half. One drops out, and all of a sudden you have a ’surge’ for Huckabee. I think people are reading the whole thing wrong.” - Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback megachurch in Orange County, Calif., in a Newsweek interview
STICK A FORK IN THE REAGAN REVOLUTION?
“The breakup of what was the Reagan coalition — social conservatives, defense conservatives, anti-tax conservatives — it doesn’t mean a whole lot to people anymore… It’s gone.”
- Ed Rollins, campaign chairman for GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee
LIBERTY-LOVERS’ WILDEST DREAMS
“Despite the fact that his ideas and his unconditional devotion to the Constitution are exactly what America needs, the Pittsburgh-raised libertarian doctor and 10-term Texas congressman isn’t going to become the Republican presidential nominee. . . . Yet Dr. Paul — arguably the closest thing to a libertarian America’s voters have seen since Grover Cleveland — has already succeeded beyond his and any liberty-lover’s wildest dreams.
“…He isn’t going to become president and he isn’t going to convert the sleeping masses, the liberal media or even his own lost party to the tenets of libertarianism. But sometimes winning the election isn’t what matters in the long run. Ideas do. Remember Barry Goldwater? His crushing defeat in 1964 reinvigorated conservatism and spawned the Reagan Revolution. In a country still cruising down the road to socialism, Ron Paul’s success in selling freedom is a sign of hope.”
- Columnist Bill Steigerwald
RUDY HITTING NH PANIC BUTTON
“Rudy Giuliani’s strategy was to bypass the early states and concentrate on Florida, California and other mega-primaries to win the GOP nomination. So why is his campaign suddenly pouring resources into New Hampshire — tripling his staff, holding rallies and pitching a message calculated to appeal to independent voters — barely a week before the New Hampshire primary?
“Answer: Because Ron Paul is experiencing a late surge. Republicans from rival campaigns are now buzzing with rumors that Mr. Paul is building toward a strong performance that’s not showing up in current polls. Mr. Paul may even rush past Mr. Giuliani and seize third place behind Mitt Romney and John McCain.”
- Brendan Miniter, Political Diary, 12/31/07
BUZZ OFF, SAID THE FOX
“(FOX News) has invited five GOP candidates to a forum on Sunday, leaving Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter on the sidelines.”
- Associated Pres, 1/1/08
LOOKING FOR MR. RIGHT
“I must confess that Fred (Thompson) is the only one (of the GOP presidential candidates) I don’t have major reservations about — apart from his electability. Yes, I worry that he supported McCain-Feingold and that he might not be a strong supply-sider. But on most issues, he seems reliably conservative and appears to have a solid and strong character. I do believe that with Fred, we know what we are getting.
“I find his lack of ‘fire in the belly’ refreshing. He strikes me as one of the few presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan whose primary motivation is not personal aggrandizement but rather serving and leading the nation in very troubled and dangerous times. I see him as almost being drafted into this project, and his refusal to drool publicly over the prospect of becoming the most powerful man in the world is positively delightful.”
- Columnist David Limbaugh
FLY ME TO THE MOON
“A Duke University spokesman said that 40 percent of Duke’s engineering graduates cannot get engineering jobs. A Duke University publication suggests that the best prospect for good engineering jobs is for the U.S. government to start another major project like going to the moon. U.S. News warns us that ‘government is becoming an employer of choice.’ . . . Where are the limited-government fiscal-conservatives when we need them to refute the notion that the best an engineering graduate can hope for is a job with the government?’
- Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum
Posted on January 1st, 2008 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
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