Tuesday
“SUPER TUESDAY” IS JUST AHEAD
THE ELECTION PROCESS: MORE OF THE
SAME, BUT “SUPER TUESDAY” IS JUST
AHEAD; THE PICTURE MAY CHANGE
Before we begin this week’s discussion, here is a word
of special interest to the Democrat contenders: George
W. Bush is not running for president or any other office.
His term as President will end in January of 2009. The
attacks on him and his administration may be lots of
fun for you, but they actually accomplish very little --
so, to repeat: George W. Bush is not running for office!
Among those running for office, the results from
the most recent primaries were interesting, but really
meant little, aside from hardening the campaigns of
both parties into slightly tighter races. In the South
Carolina Democrat primary, Barack Obama won by
attracting double the votes going to Hillary Clinton
(55% to 27%) with John Edwards a distant third (18%)
in his own home state. The Democrat race hardened
a bit more into a two-person race with John Edwards
slipping ever closer to another “also ran” position.
In the Florida primary yesterday, we saw almost
the direct opposite of the South Carolina primary which
was solely Democrat. In Florida it was meaningful only
for Republicans. Under internal rulings, the Democrat
National Committee requested that their nominees not
participate; whatever the outcome, no delegates would
be assigned. So in that sense, the Democrat primary
has been described as a “political beauty contest.”
Under that classification, and recalling his $1,200
haircut, John Edwards would seem to be the winner.
However, in actual vote counting. Hillary Clinton
emerged as the winner with 50% of the Democrat
votes, surpassing Obama’s 33% second place and
leaving Edwards once again well down in last place.
Although in a certain sense the Democrat vote was
almost meaningless, because no delegates were won
by any of the candidates, that was not the case in the
Republican contest in which a “winner take all” rule
applied. Thus all 57 of Florida’s delegates were won
by John McCain in a close contest with Mitt Romney
which was ultimately decided by a 36% to 31% margin.
Rudy Giuliani had pinned all his hopes on a victory in
Florida, but ended in third place with Mike Huckabee
trailing in fourth place. Today it is expected that Mayor
Giuliani will withdraw from the race and will endorse
John McCain, as the Republican candidates gather for
a debate at the Reagan library in California.
Now just ahead, on February 5, is “Super Tuesday,”
when primaries for at least 21 states will be held, and
the results, quite frankly, may decide both parties’
ultimate candidates, well in advance of the national
conventions in August and September. This newsletter,
in the next issue, February 6, will report on the “Super
Tuesday” results -- by that time polls and speculations
may well be a thing of the past.
Following the South Carolina primaries, the tone
of the campaigns sharpened intensely, with Democrats
Clinton and Obama exchanging vitriolic comments,
and McCain and Romney doing the same over on the
Republican side. And that is to be expected; it is all
part of the political process. However, this time a new
element was introduced -- a former U.S. President was
actively supporting the campaign of his wife, using what
popularity he still holds plus his superb communication
skills. His attacks on Hillary Clinton’s chief rival, Barack
Obama, became so sharp that even national leaders of
the Democrat party were concerned about a backlash,
and attempts were made to persuade Bill Clinton to tone
down his rhetoric. Such a performance by a former
president is demeaning to the office, but that has never
been a concern which governed Mr. Clinton’s behavior.
Moral and ethical standards are equally important for
candidates as for former holders of public office.
Candidates of both parties seem to have
learned from Samuel Adams, “The Father of the
American Revolution” -- “It does not require a
majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless
minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
Afterthoughts . . .
If you happen to live in Missouri you already
know that last week the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
ruled that taxpayers would have to pay to transport
female prisoners in the state to abortion clinics for
“elective non-therapeutic abortions.“ Up till the time
of that decision, the Missouri Corrections Department
had refused to transport prisoners to the clinics for
elective abortions. The net result of another unjust
court ruling is that Missouri taxpayers must pay for
the deliberate destruction of innocent babies. It’s all
part of the 35 year heritage of Roe v. Wade.
Amid all the serious news, this headline tended
to bring us back down to earth to think about the
simple things: “After losing the cookie battle
to Oreo, Hydrox is dead.” No comment is
necessary; we have lost a good friend.
A new project for two ex-presidents: Jimmy
Carter and Bill Clinton, in a press conference on
Carter and Bill Clinton, in a press conference on
Jan. 9, announced a convocation to begin today in
Atlanta, under the banner: “Celebration of a New
Baptist Covenant.” It is an attempt to bring together
the members of Baptist groups who objected to the
election of Conservative leaders in the Southern
Baptist Convention. Carter announced the purpose
as: “We want to demonstrate to the world that
Christians, including Baptists, can work in
harmony, that we can accommodate differences of
philosophy and theology.” And Clinton added,
“This is an attempt to bring people together and
say, ‘What would our Christian witness require of
us in the 21st century?” It seems likely that he will
assign a higher priority to his wife’s presidential
campaign than to this struggle about theological
differences among Baptists, although both he and
Al Gore are on the schedule as featured speakers.
Speaking of Al Gore, the former Democrat vice
president of the United States, has announced that
he has joined other leading Democrats in calling for
the legalizing of homosexual marriage. Commenting
in a video shown on his Current TV network, the
unsuccessful nominee for president says it is wrong
for the U.S. government to "discriminate" against
individuals because of their sexual orientation. “Gay
men and women ought to have the same rights as
heterosexual men and women … to join together in
marriage," stated Gore. According to the former
VP under Bill Clinton, the "loyalty and love" that
two men or two women feel for one another when
they "fall in love ought to be celebrated and
encouraged." While he was winning an Academy
Award and a Nobel Prize for his Global Warming
theory, Mr. Gore should have taken a few minutes
to read what the Bible, God’s word, says about
homosexuality.
A thought provoking quote, not from one of our
Founding Fathers, but from a Blog written by a British
gentleman named “Les” - “I am fed up with that nicey
nicey, politically correct, pseudo-Christianity which
almost always supports leftwing attitudes -- which
in most cases are actually anti-Gospel.” (The title of
the Blog? “Christianity-is-not-Leftwing.”)
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