Law School Conservative

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

After months of running (but not really running), John McCain is set to announce his intention to seek the GOP nomination.

Most polls place McCain in second place, with a comfortable advantage over Fred Thompson (or Mitt Romney, depending on the poll), and he has been lately gaining ground on Rudy Giuliani, although some attribute this to Giuliani slipping, not so much McCain gaining.

Considering how much pre-announcement campaigning McCain has been doing, its hard to predict how announcing will affect him in the polls.

I’ll stay tuned and provide my analysis as the primary scene continues to develop.

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

The Attorney General is testifying.

In a classic example of the democrats taking an opportunity to brew a hurricane in a glass of water, they are exploiting a mistake in handling the publicity surrounding a perfectly legal use of executive power, and using their bully pulpit to make President Bush look bad.

In the end, they’re gonna look like fools.

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

$24 billion in pork projects. Including $74 million for a peanut storage facility (?) and $25 million to grow spinach.

President Bush and Senator McCain have both expressed their distaste for these projects.

I’m sure the folks at Citizens Against Government Waste have something to say (Here it is, in the NY times).

Its getting vetoed anyway, I hope.

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

Looks like the Commander-in-Chief will be showing Congress a thing or two about setting war policy.

Congress, in its usual abuse of commerce clause and spending clause powers, decided to set a timetable for troop withdrawal when it approved the war spending bill.

Time for POTUS to break out the veto seal and show Congress that career military men and women should be setting policy for Iraq, not Harry Ried, DiFi (Diane Fienstein), Chucky Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha.

By: Heather L. Schilling

Last night at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner, President Bush made a few jokes about the current state of affairs. I must say that although he hasn’t really been anyone’s favorite person in the past months (save those who are still benefiting from his presidency or are otherwise unconscious), he at least can joke about it.

The story from CBS follows here.

My favorite quote has to be in regards to the recent firings of the federal prosecutors:

“I have to admit we really blew the way we let those attorneys go. You know you’ve botched it when people sympathize with lawyers.”

And the runner up:
“Acknowledging Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the head table, the president said some had wondered how he’d get along with her. ‘Some say she’s bossy, she’s opinionated, she’s not to be crossed,’ he said. ‘Hey, I get along with my mother.’ ”

Although this dinner is focused on humor and President Bush obviously received help on the jokes (thank you Who’s Line is it Anyway?), it’s clear that there’s no reason for President Bush not to be having a good time. He’s almost completed his eight years as president, and the fight to the White House is in full force. I wouldn’t say that he’s become lame duck quite yet, but he’s well on his way.

This could mean one of two things: he does nothing; or he tries to do everything.

I’m interested to see how it will all play out.

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

Much has been said about the lack of a true conservative candidate for the 2008 presidential election. The atmosphere at CPAC last month was downright depressing. Most attendees were weary to support one particular candidate (college students on the Mitt Romney bandwagon excepted), because none of them had true conservative credentials.

Two weeks ago, however, Law & Order star Fred Thompson, also an attorney and former Senator from Tennessee said he was considering a run for the White House.

In those two weeks, there has been some talk about Thompson. So much talk, in fact, that USA Today and Zogby both included him in their polls. The results are not too surprising (not to me anyway). In the USA Today poll of people who lean Republican, Thompson debuted at third with 13% of respondents selecting him, just behind former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain (see the full poll results, including presidential ratings and favorability ratings here). In the Zogby poll of Republican primary voters, Thompson tied for third in his debut in that poll, tied with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Thompson is everything the conservative wing of the party dreams of. Pro-Life, Pro-Death penalty, Pro-traditional family, and a darling of “Law and Order” voters (in more ways than one). Thompson is also an NRA favorite (he praised the overturning of the DC gun ban by saying that he wasn’t agreeing with the court, he was agreeing with the constitution).

Enough of me singing his praises though. Doug Hagin of the National Ledger does it very well here.

I make no secret of this: I am supporting this man for President. If that shows a bias in other pieces I may write here, so be it.

See Thompson’s interview with Chirs Wallace of Fox News here.

By: Nathan D. Fox

I tend to gripe quite a bit about meaningless posturing and empty accusations made by politicians on both sides of the aisle. Let it be known that this piece is no exception. A perfect case in point is the recent melee regarding the firing of eight US Attorneys designated as weak by the Bush administration. The Democrats are up in arms crying “foul” and “politics as usual,” while the Republicans are trying to play nice and smooth things over. All in all, it is politics as usual inside the beltway. The Democrats are jumping at the potential opportunity to put the Bush administration on trial before the House for non-crimes, and the Republicans are trying to be nice and make nice with the Democrats. It is about time that both sides reach in their collective pockets, shake out the loose change (and/or pork and bribe money left over from last term’s earmarks), and go out a buy a clue! Most Americans are (or should be) sick of this nonsense. Congress’ chief job is to legislate and help America move forward, not keep us in a holding pattern of false allegations of scandal and corruption. Just so you know, I would have written a similar piece on Clinton and Lewinsky. The issue there was Clinton lying, not his immoral extra-curricular indiscretions on the clock, unless he lied about it under oath. But lets move on to something relevant.

Democrats somehow always seem to garner plenty of media attention when they hold hearings and investigations of non-issues. Was anyone glued to the theatrical performance of Ms. Valerie Plame? She and the Democrats delivered an Oscar worthy performance, but this is nothing new. Should we be surprised that the party who is beloved in Tinsel Town is capable of creating and producing such drama? I hope not. Allow me to cast the script for the next round of hearings. Ted Kennedy will be rambling off 4-minute questions between hiccups to Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and Alberto Gonzales. Charles Schumer and Harry Reid will pontificate as much as possible, and in the end the verdict (so the Democrats will say) will be no finding other than “partisanship”; which the Democrats of course are not in favor of. It seems as though we have forgotten we are at war in Iraq and should be keeping an eye on Iran. But instead half of our elected officials are worried about fired US Attorneys and spineless ways to de-fund the war effort, which will be addressed here at another time.

Yet on the right side, can someone please inform the Republicans that whenever they attempt to smooth things over with the Democrats by trying to soften their actions, it does not work? This is further evidenced by the House panel’s denial of the Bush administration’s proposal to meet informally and discuss the issue. Instead of a nice meeting of tea, crumpets, and discussion, the House will send over fresh-baked subpoenas. Bush was trying to be bi-partisan by meeting informally, and it blew up in his face. In all actuality, if someone does not flush a toilet the right way in the west wing of the White House, the Democrats in the House and Senate demand to hear from Karl Rove under oath. If there is a case of politics as usual, it is against the Democrats for this splendid grandstanding starring the usuals: Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, and Grandma Pelosi.

Here’s the deal, if the Bush administration was trying to get rid of US Attorneys because they were not prosecuting enough Democrats, that may be arguably morally wrong. It works both ways. If a Democrat is in the White House, I guarantee more Republicans are going to be prosecuted than Democrats. On this issue, as with many, I agree with local Philadelphia talk radio host Michael Smerconish: if more Democrats are being prosecuted than Republicans, that means more Republicans should be prosecuted, not less Democrats. However, these US Attorneys are politically appointed individuals who serve at the privilege of the President. These are not private sector employees, or even elected officials. A legitimate question is whether these attorneys were competent. Hats off to the Bush administration if they got rid of high paid US Attorneys who were not doing their job. Most reasonable people know it either takes a stick of dynamite or someone with some serious moxy to dislodge incompetent and underperforming government bureaucrat. Even so, there will always be a backlash. However, I fear that what we are going to be subject to is the “new regime” in the House and Senate grandstanding and puffing their chests; no more, no less. At least C-Span will have hours and hours of Democrats holding hearings to give us plenty of reminders of the mistakes we made in the November 2006 mid-term elections.

By: Carlos S. Ramirez

So I’m sitting here, trying to come up with something to say about Hillary Clinton. In an effort to be somewhat fair, I attempt to figure out a good thing or two to say about her, then I’m reminded of the immortal words of Jeff Foxworthy: If you can’t say something nice about someone, you must be talking about Hillary Clinton.

This woman is just too easy a target, I wanted to write my first candidate profile on someone who I could at least moderately tolerate, but I feel I should get this one off my chest before I go on to the legitimate field of candidates for 2008.

Years after (literally, since January 21, 2001) having been baptized as a presidential contender by the media and the liberal intelligenzia, she finally came out of the proverbial closet and announced her candidacy for president of the United States. Now, I’m not going to argue that she is doing a disservice to the people of New York by running for president and not paying any attention to her Senate seat. I won’t do that for two reasons, one, with some exceptions, everyone running for president has some other political job and their campaign requires them to spend time away from their duties, and two if the people of New York elected her, they deserve what they have coming. (I should note than in 6 years in the Senate, Hilary has done nothing but campaign for president, much to the expense of the people of New York.)

The reason why Hillary Clinton is an unattractive candidate is that there’s nothing compelling about her positions or opinions. As I continue to try to come up with concrete reasons as to why anyone on earth would support (or oppose) her, I just can’t. Her position statements are no more than hallmark greeting card punch-lines (I am in it to win!, Civil Rights are the gifts that keep on giving!, I believe in the American Dream!, among others) and lack any substance or justification.

The Washington establishment is absolutely thrilled with Senator Sound-Bite (by the way, her advisors have told her that they need to avoid using her last name to reach out to moderate republicans) announcing she was in the race. They point to her “brilliant” career as an attorney (…cough cough…whitewater…cough cough…), her service as first spouse (I am NOT calling this woman a “lady”) and her “distinguished” service as Senator from New York. But that’s all. They look at her, and see Clinton II. That’s why they like her.

The fact is, Hillary “Sound-Bite” Clinton is a loose cannon (she makes Howard “Yeargh!” Dean look tame), and she will eventually self-destruct. Her sound-bite position statements will eventually require more than one liners and will fall in the face of articulate positions from other candidates on both sides of aisle.

For the next year or so (327 days to Super Tuesday!) Hillary Clinton will have to defend attacks from her own people, and IF she wins the primary, Republicans won’t have to campaign much. All they have to do is repeat everything her opponents said, and then add some sweeteners of their own (I am SURE that somewhere in GOP headquarters there is a locked drawer with all the things no one else knows about, just waiting to come out during the democratic convention and as an “October Surprise”).

In the words of one of my undergrad professors (who is a flaming liberal), the Hillary-tanic has set sail, and like the original Titanic, won’t make it past its maiden voyage.