Politics Blog

A good roundup of superhero superdelegates at The Right Place.

— W.C. Varones

At a meeting with California superdelegates, former President Bill Clinton went berserk when someone brought upthe R-word, (No not Republican, RICHARDSON):

The Bill Clinton who met privately with California’s superdelegates at last weekend’s state convention was a far cry from the congenial former president who afterward publicly urged fellow Democrats to “chill out” over the race between his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama.

Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how “sorry” she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a “Judas” for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

“Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that,” a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media’s unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out.

“It was very, very intense,” said one attendee. “Not at all like the Bill of earlier campaigns.”

If the consequences weren’t serious, the in-fighting in the Democrat party between the Clinton’s, Obama and other elected officials would be classical, unfortunately, either one of these candidates have the very real potential to get us killed or invaded over the next four years.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Democrat Congressman Jim McDermott, nicknamed Baghdad Jim for his support of Saddam Hussein and anti-American comments he made on Iraq soil during the lead up to the War, has been ordered to pay almost 1.5MILLION dollars to Attorney’s of and personally to Congressman Boehner for his part in illegally taping a cell phone call:

A federal judge in Washington has ordered Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott to pay more than $1 million in attorney’s fees awarded to Minority Leader John A. Boehner as part of a protracted lawsuit involving an illegally taped cell phone call.

U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Hogan ruled that McDermott, D-Wash., must pay $1,053,181, plus $520,761 in interest to Boehner, R-Ohio.

The payment order, issued Monday, stems from an unusual member-vs.-member case that Boehner filed long before he became the House Republican leader.

Boehner sued McDermott in 1998, accusing him of leaking the contents of a conference call that a Florida couple had illegally taped from Boehner’s cell phone in 1996.

In the call, Republican leaders, including then-Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia (1979-99), discussed responding to ethics allegations against Gingrich, who served as Speaker from 1995 to 1999.

McDermott at the time was the ranking Democrat on the House ethics panel.

McDermott’s defense? He claimed it was his First Amendment right to tape the call:

Over the years and through many layers of courts, McDermott argued that he was exercising his First Amendment rights and did not break the law because he did not participate in obtaining the information that he passed along to selected reporters. He maintained that position in the face of the latest court order as well.

“While the amount of damages assessed in this case is significant, I submit that defending the First Amendment is beyond measure and worth every penny,” McDermott said in a statement

Interesting defense, of course McDermott has voted against every FISA bill and amendment to restrict the Government from listening in on terrorists calls, but of course that makes perfect sense to a Liberal.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

John McCain’s campaign is telling anyone who will listen that they will not try to change any of the social positions in the Republican Platform at this years convention:

SANTA ANNA PUEBLO, N.M.— Advisers to Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid say he will not try to “soften” the Republican party’s platform on abortion and same-sex marriage to appeal to more voters.

McCain associates told The Washington Times that his operatives are not going to work behind the scenes to eliminate the party’s calls for constitutional bans on abortion and homosexual marriage before the GOP convention in September.

The GOP’s 2004 platform opposes same-sex marriage, saying “the well-being of children is best accomplished in the environment of the home, nurtured by their mother and father anchored by the bonds of marriage.”

Its plank on abortion is that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life, which cannot be infringed. … Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions.”

Changes in any way that weaken those 2 fundamental positions, would not be looked at favorably and would do a lot of damage to McCain’s chances in November. Bob Dole did try to adjust the GOP positions in 1992 when he was about to assume control of the Party as the nominee, that didn’t go to well for him.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Now this is good news and another example of why elections matter, because Presidents and a willing Senate are responsible for these positions and we need more Conservative Supreme Court Justices.

To often in the past few years have we heard Liberal judges on all to important matters say they looked to “international Law” for guidance and precedent on an issue.

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 against foreign Court interference:

Yet an even bigger issue was before the Supreme Court this Term. In Medellín v. Texas, the issue was not simply whether U.S. judges should consult foreign law to guide their decision-making; instead, the central question before the U.S. Supreme Court was whether the United Nations’ World Court has the legal authority to bind the courts of the United States. In other words, the issue was whether decisions of the World Court are superior to those of the Supreme Court, and whether Americans will be governed by the decisions of foreign judges in The Hague.

Thankfully, by a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court got this one right.

This is big news, as judges have bypassed OUR Constitution for other Countries legal decisions:

Over the past few years many Americans have become deeply concerned that judges have begun relying more and more on foreign law to decide questions of U.S. constitutional law. One doesn’t have to be a constitutional scholar to object to foreign laws and foreign courts – laws that are not enacted by our democratic government and judges who are not selected as our Constitution provides – ruling on Americans’ rights and the powers of American government. These concerns are largely well founded, and reflect the increasing degree to which modern constitutional adjudication has become altogether unmoored from the text and original understanding of the Framers.

The article is a must read and in one case, talks about how foreign countries, like Mexico, can sue the US in the World Court to help Mexican nationals and how the World Body ruled for Mexico and “ordered” the US to comply with its decision.

The US Supreme Court has ruled: I DON’T THINK SO!

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

The House passes bill that protects the CA coast from offshore drilling and extends the banned area:

California moved a step closer to permanently protecting its shores from offshore oil drilling Monday when the House approved legislation to ban development in federal waters along all 76 miles of Sonoma County’s coastline and off the southern tip of Mendocino County’s coast.

The measure would more than double the size of two existing National Marine Sanctuaries near San Francisco and Marin - Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank. The newly protected zone would stretch from Bodega Bay to Point Arena and would extend about 50 miles off the coast - 2,093 square nautical miles, an area roughly the size of Delaware.

We can’t get the House to agree to build a fence, how long to build the fence or when to build the fence to PROTECT us, but I’m sure our Republican friends fought tooth and nail against this as offshore drilling is a viable solution to our dependency on foreign oil:

The measure by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, had faced opposition last month from some Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, who warned that it would cut off access to potential future supplies of oil and gas. But the House passed it Monday on a voice vote without any fanfare.

Ok, maybe not. Not sure what our elected “leaders” expect us to do as they rail against our dependency on foreign oil; they won’t lets us build wind mills, because Ted Kennedy’s view would be blocked, they won’t let us build nuclear plants, and they won’t let us drill for our own oil.

Well, I’m sure but using the Fred Flinstone method to get to work is not a solution either.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Even though the election is in 2010, New York Congressman, Republican Peter King, is quietly testing the waters to see if there is an interest in running for Governor:

United States Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island who is known for his independent streak, is quietly exploring the possibility of mounting a bid for governor in two years, according to people close to him.

Mr. King, a congressman for nearly 16 years, representing parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, has been in discussions with fund-raisers in the state and with local party leaders in an effort to gauge the support he might have and to begin assembling a statewide political organization, those people said.

In an interview last week, Mr. King, 63, who is running for another term in Congress this year, said he would not decide whether to run for governor until after the fall elections.

King points out the disconnect by NY GOP Leadership as they stand silently, while the Democrat agenda gets pushed:

But he said he was seriously considering it, contending that there was a leadership vacuum in the state party that had left rank-and-file Republicans demoralized and ideologically adrift.

He described, among other things, a political timidity in the Republican Party that he said was preventing its elected leaders from openly confronting Democrats, who vastly outnumber Republicans in New York, on controversial issues.

He pointed, for example, to what he said had been the reluctance of state Republican leaders to call for Eliot Spitzer’s resignation as governor immediately after federal authorities identified him as a client of an expensive prostitution operation.

I’ll have to investigate King’s voting record more closely, but he is staunchly anti-amnesty and very pro-Homeland Security, he was also one of the more vocal Republicans to oppose the Administration in selling our ports to Dubai.

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

The poor guy can’t buy a break:

The NFL announced today that the 2008 season will kick-off on Thursday, Sep. 4th – the same night McCain is set to accept the GOP nomination at the convention in the Twin Cities.

Per ESPN, the game will start 90 minutes earlier because of the convention.

But given that it pits the world champion New York Giants versus America’s team, the Washingotn Redskins, Republicans can’t be happy about what will inevitably distract attention from the penultimate night of their convention.

Of course, one could make the point that those who would watch a convention nomination speech wouldn’t be watching football to begin with, and vice versa.

— ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

Former Congressman Bob Barr is mulling a Presidential run on the Libertarian ticket:

Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket, according to FITNews.

Barr, who joined the Libertarian Party after leaving Congress in 2003, is looking to attract conservatives who are unhappy with the choice of John McCain as the expected Republican presidential nominee. McCain and Barr are at odds primarily over the role of U.S troops in Iraq, although both agree that tough interrogation methods should not be permitted.

FITNews wrote that Barr will receive the endorsement of Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who is still technically in the race but has not suggested he would throw his support to McCain. McCain and Paul, who ran on the Libertarian Party presidential ticket in 1988, also are at odds primarily over the role of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Can the Paul supporters make a difference?

“Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle,” he said.

The Libertarian Party was looking for a candidate to run for President, and Ron Paul has maintained that he would not run as a third party presidential candidate, but never said he wouldn’t support one.

Barr was highly critical of the Patriot Act, feeling that it was an infringement on the civil liberties of Americans. I heard Bob Barr speak at a Conservative conference in Washington, DC in 2003 and was very impressive.

Is this the man that unhappy Conservatives and Libertarians will rally around as a alternate choice to John McCain?

– ‘The Commish’ A.J. Sparxx

John Hawkins asks six conservative women about dating.

— PoliPundit