Monday, January 07, 2008

Running away II

Alternate title: DON WAN HUCKABEE!

You'd think these guys were being chased! Well they are, in a way. In his last post, Spot observed that the Republican establishment was really frightened of Mike Huckabee's traveling evangelical freak show, especially after the Iowa caucuses, and how it was working hard to discredit it. Ironic, in view of how the Republicans have courted the evangelicals for years. Spot used Power Line as Exhibit A for how the party insiders were trying to get the anti-Huckabee message out.

There was a final candidates' debate this weekend before the New Hampshire primary. Guess how Power Line scored it? C'mon, guess. That's right.

Here's Paul:

Mitt Romney, in my view, was the winner. His answers were crisp, knowledgeable, and poised. He was solid on each substantive issue and effective in defending his so-called attack ads. My guess is that he's cemented himself as the choice of Republicans in New Hampshire, but still faces the prospect of having independents override that choice.

Mike Huckabee looked to me like tonight's loser. Scott has already shown how weak Huckabee was during the debate on taxes.  . . .

Crisp? You pickin' a candidate or a head of lettuce, Paul?

And as Paul intimates, Scotty came to the very same conclusion: Mittens won and Huckabee lost:

I score this round (on immigration) for Romney and am calling the event for Romney. I thought that Giuliani and McCain came in tied for second, a few points behind Romney. For an extraordinarily attentive account to check against mine, I recommend Michelle Malkin's here.

Note the link to another member of the Republican talking points Play Doh extrusion machine, Michelle Malkin.

A Romney adviser also passed this cautionary tale on to the boys at Power Line:

With Mike Huckabee’s victory in Iowa, however, the Republican party is now entering what might be called its Jesse Jackson moment.

If Huckabee goes on to win more primaries he will have a reasonable claim to the nomination. He may, of course, lose New Hampshire, New York, California and Michigan. But let’s suppose that he manages to win enough primaries in the southern and border states to make the results in those three states [by Spot's count, that's four states] irrelevant. It’s all a question of numbers. In spite of itself, the party might end up with him as its nominee, and with it, heading down the shortest road to disaster since the Goldwater debacle of 1964.

Romney's advisor is trying to make the point that the Republicans may have to pay the price for courting evangelicals just as the Democrats did with blacks.

They did, Spotty? Has this clown ever seen a picture of Barack Obama?

Apparently not, grasshopper. Obama won in Iowa, the "whitest place south of the North Pole," according to the CNN's Jack Cafferty. Spotty say that now, Johnny and Scotty and Paul, since you've invited all the snake handlers,  medicine show peddlers, and all the other magical-thinking nut balls into your home, you're going to have to live with them. Have fun.

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