Spank That Donkey

 Taking a look at Augusta County's returns there are three overwhelming factors involved in the numbers.  The first is that the local MSM didn't spare any ink letting the local populace know that Senator John Warner, the former Governors, LG, AG, etc endorsed Senator John McCain.

Secondly, beyond numerous phone calls from the candidates, and radio ads condensed into a five day window the electorate really didn't get a decent amount of time to look at the candidates.  I think that if the county had a couple weeks worth of exposure to the candidates, and a couple issue comparison pieces to study you would see a far wider of margin for Gov. Huckabee.

The ballot had six candidates, which fractured the vote further, and Rush Limbaugh pounding the snot out of Gov.  Huckabee for two months straight made a huge difference.  Still the County went Huckabee, plain and simple.  Twenty Six out of Twenty Six precincts. 

In my opinion the largest factor was the Top GOP Leadership giving McCain the 'green light', and they just voted the name, and surely not his positions.

Overall, when I saw that the county was  not 3-1 Huckabee, I knew he was sunk state wide.  Like I said in a previous post, GOP Leadership knew that McCain was going to be vindictive towards our state, and Senate candidate former Gov. Jim Gilmore in particular if they didn't all get behind him, they made the move, and here we are.

The bottom line of course is that if not for all of the above, and Senator John McCain's true voting record were laid out before our electorate,  he would have gotten the three to one trouncing he deserved. 

Well one thing is dead on certain, and the MSM wouldn't let it slip from their lips.... Rep. Hunter, Rep. Tancredo, and Alan Keyes could be 13.7%  or fourth nationally among the Republican Candidates.... according to this Real Clear Politics (RCP Caucus/Primary average) Poll.

Guiliani 22.5  Huckabee 20.1  Romney  15.4  McCain 12.4  Thompson 11 and Paul 4.9 which equals 86.3%

Logically this leaves Hunter, Tancredo and Keyes at 13.7% , but that would also include undecided.  However, what if these bottom three candidates chose one among themselves to get behind, and tried to derail the ever issue changing, explaining, & dancing front runners?  What if the voters at that point, had a clearly Conservative candidate to choose from?

Undoubtedly if they met and decided today to that Rep. Tancredo and Alan Keyes would drop out of the race and throw through their support and campaign resources behind Rep. Duncan Hunter how much of the 13.7 % would he capture?  I would think he would also pull support away from the front runners also, making up for the truly undecided vote, because many of them just can't bring themselves to back the 'wiggly' Conservative front runners, or the hopelessly down in polls  2nd tier candidates, "Who Just Can't Win".

These three have got some soul searching to do because it is just a matter of weeks, before the primaries and caucuses begin. 

 Why isn't the MSM screaming this story, "Islamic Iraqi Party: Al Quaeda is Defeated"  above the fold, or anywhere at all?

Where are our DemocRAT Leaders to proclaim that the "Surge" is a failure? (crickets chirping)

When does the panic mode set in that they will have lost their 'Vital' issue for holding onto Congress and taking back the White House in 2008?  Dem bumper sticker idea: "Proud to be Cut N Run".

Consider bookmarking Michael Yon, and take some time for some really interesting reading on the situation in Iraq.  It's pretty eye opening stuff.

Art work by Eric Allie, (what a Conservative Editorial Cartoonist?)

 John McCain showed his inner Democrat yesterday by having to apologize for this statement, just a day after announcing he was going to run for President on David Letterman:

 "Last evening, I referred to American casualties in Iraq as wasted. I should have used the word 'sacrificed,' as I have in the past," said Mr. McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and a key ally of President Bush on Iraq policy.
    "No one appreciates and honors more than I do the selfless patriotism of American servicemen and women in the Iraq War," he said in the statement, which did not use the word "apology."
    Mr. McCain told Mr. Letterman on Wednesday: "Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be. We've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives."

What's even funnier is this demand by the DNC:

 "How is it that John McCain now believes American lives are being 'wasted,' yet he so stubbornly supports the President's plan to escalate the war in Iraq and put more American lives in harm's way?" DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney fired off in a statement, saying he was "insulting our brave troops."

Man, come on Johnny Boy, can you believe that's your buddies the Democrats giving you the boot like that?  Especially, after you have helped them so much on things like 'campaign finance reform'.

It gets better, seems Sen. Obama has the same attitude:

 A similar semantic scuffle erupted following Sen. Barack Obama's official presidential announcement last month, when he told Iowans, "We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized, and should have never been waged, and on which we've now spent $400 billion, and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted."
    The Illinois Democrat later apologized for a "slip of the tongue," telling the Des Moines Register, "I was actually upset with myself when I said that, because I never use that term. Their sacrifices are never wasted."
    "What I meant to say was those sacrifices have not been honored by the same attention to strategy, diplomacy and honesty on the part of civilian leadership that would give them a clear mission," he said.

You see, if McPain didn't spend so much time 'boning' up on Democrat rhetoric, and running in their circles he might not let little 'slips of the tongue' unmask where his true feelings are.  You know if I really wanted a Democrat for President, I'd go ahead and vote for one!  McPain, would do us all a favor by dropping out of this race, and going back to Arizona to retire....  Can you believe he didn't go to CPAC so as not to be seen hanging out with those Right Wing, Grassroots Conservatives...  Don't worry John, if you get the nomination, you won't have to worry about being seen around me at rallies, or putting up your signs, handing out lit etc.  I wouldn't want to embarrass you!

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