Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Hootie-Hooo

--Gomer Pyle (imitating owl)

with his upbringing and his life up to entering the race for president one would expect Romney to be very good at this politics game......I just cant imagine the christos voting for a mormon though.......maybe he intends to win without them somehow or win them over.....either way an uphill climb all the way.

The stump performance seems indicative of Romney himself, polished, prepared, disciplined and effective.

Let's hope that voters judge him by his character and not based on their prejudices concerning Mormonism.

I dont see the republican base as having been overly concerned with "character". cf Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudi for one example.

the christo section of the gop base that is.

ahhhhh...... it's hard getting up on the Monday morning after a long weekend of debauchery......

sturg..... you beat me to it.... I was gonna say the words "Republican base and character" make strange bedfellows....

actually..... at this point I can't wait for all the yahooism to be done in NH.... when the phone rings 3 times with pollsters during a Patriots Sunday night game, it gets to be a bit much real fast....

Renee,
Congrats to your Pats. It certainly wasn't their best game, but a wins a win. Something the Broncos wouldn't know about...

I don't agree with Romney on very much (I'm socially liberal), and I'm not supporting him. But he continues to impress me with his campaigning discipline, organization, and strategy. Clearly it's his management style that he developed in business, which made him such a success in the private sector. It makes me think that he would be a pragmatic President, which would be a long-awaited change from Bush.

can you imagine that the economy is great when 6000 people apply for 300 wal mart jobs? From the Cleveland Dealer.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-4/119606989156620.xml&coll=2

yo soy Horsedooty!

Craig, Candidates should take Romney lessons on how to handle a crowd. Most of them can be deadly bores.

Now about Republicans and character, is there any background noise on why Trent Lott is baling out a year early? Should Tiptoe warm up her poison pen for a big list addition or revision?

Lott is retiring early to skate around the new rules concerning becoming a lobbyist. Presently one only has to wait a year before becoming a lobbyist and after Jan 1 he would have to wait 2 years.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Oh Rats! Just greed and venality? I had hopes for Swaggert level indulgences with the phone Madam

Jamie....
the words "candidates" and "deadly bores" in the same paragraph...... who knew you could be so funny..... :)

Dooty.... Lott just wants to prove the point as made by sturg and I above that the words Republican and character don't belong in the same sentence....

So...Romney has polished campiagn techniques. Big deal. So did George W.

2008 is going to be about policicies, about ideologies. That's why the Republicans, whose ideology is exhausted, are going to lose, no matter how much forsting they put on their cake.

Jamie,
Lott is leaving before a new law kicks in which makes you wait two years before you can become a lobbyist.

Rebellious Renee,

I would have thought that Lott had plenty of practice in proving you and Senor Fish correct.

BTW, I love reading the New York papers the day after the Giants get drilled like yesterday. Eli is never gonna be any more than he is right now and that is a bust as a big time quarterback in the NFL.

yo soy Horsedooty!

mornin' all.

God. Back to the grind after a week in swingin' Acapulco (not my cup o' tea, but better in many respects than Cleveland).

So Trent gets a twofer by resigning before 1/1, an extra year of high salaries before he retires and a replacement named by Haley Ba'bour. Not a bad deal if you want to see your seat filled by one of your own and you would like the chance to raise your standard of living - and what politicain wouldn't like that?

I have to agree with nash - who gives a crap if Romney is a good campaigner, that gives you a good campaigner if he's elected, which means bupkus other than a likely second term. Haven't we had enough of that with Dumya? All hat, no cattle.

I do love the thought that now the Repugs are starting to attack and eat each other.

I love the fact that the GOP is running out of money and is recruiting even more wealthy folks who can self finance their campaigns. Lots and lots of room for even more illegal shenanigans.

Looking deeper than the pretty window dressing most of the candidates are serving up...here's another reason to take a good look at John Edwards...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susie-hoeller/tainted-food-and-dangerou_b_74038.html

Poor Tweety

American Speaker Magazine has voted him "worst political interviewer"

http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/

and the congregation rose and gave a hearty, "AMEN!"

If MSNBC dumps Tucker, will there be room for Craig Crawford's picture on the promo for Super Tuesdays?

In the midst of dead blonds and Paris pollution, you would think they might have found time for the story about DeAunta Farrow

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=6707816

Dog....odds would be Yes......

I think someone has offered trent a big fat job and he doesn't want to be in the minority for the rest of his lame-o careet--- just another gooper rat bailing

I mean they do not even have a chairperson for the goopers.

kgc agrees with Bill Press - and me - tough to be 2nd banana in minority after being top dog in majority. I think part of it is having Haley anoint, err, appoint, his sucessor.

on the other hand it could be this....

"Larry Flynt, editor and publisher of Hustler magazine, just told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto that he’s “hoping to expose a bombshell” that will stand “Washington and the country on its head.” Within the next week or two, he says his magazine will expose a sex scandal of huge proportions involving a prominent United States Senator. Flynt refused to comment on the Senator’s political affiliation, but alluded that he or she is a Republican."

God love Larry Flynt if that is so - another instance of the Daddy Party diddling the help.

The goopers are in total disarray the media is the only thing propping them up

the the romney jokes like the Hucksterbee humor is usually a cheap shot (and n ot funny) at the expense of Democrats or immigrants or peole who just don't agree with Willard. He won't play so well to the general public.

How much will the Iraq war cost? How about $ 3.5 Trillion?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-tepper-marlin/why-estimates-of-the-cost_b_74026.html

KG Cracker: You are right about the MSM "Propping up" the Republicans. Any disinterested observer would have to note the obvious fact that the Republicans have LOST THE SWING VOTERS. So they can't win, and yet the MSM keeps treating 2008 as a "horserace."

They do this because it's good for ratings AND because the conservatives have bashed them for years for being the "liberal media." So now the MSM rountinely prints whatever nonsense the conservatives spew, without any critical thought.

My favorite news source is now Huffingtonpost.com.

Trent Lott resignation? Time to go into the "private sector" to find a job that pays well, and doesn't require any actual work, just good "contacts." Lott will end up as CEO of some corporation that does 95% of its (no-bid contract) business with the feds. FEMA trailers. Private security bodyguards. Etc.

Huff Po says Obama is ahead in Iowa. I hope he wins. Hillary would be OK but he would be better.

dog: The Republicans are in a "morass." Bush led them there, and they followed.

I disagree that Obama appeals more to independents -- I

Obama is on the "wrong side" of the immigration issue among other things for the indie vote

I think both appeal to large numbers of I's, and to some extent, they split the I's that might vote in Dem primaries - which is not a problem come November since I am of the opinion that an I who supports Hillary will go with Obama rather than any GOPer candidate, and the same for those who support Obama.

BTW, the Coalition of the willing is crumbling - Spain FRance, Now Poland and Australia are bailing from Iraq. I have to give Richardson huge kudos for his comments about "progress" in Iraq. He said, rightly, that progress there is not measured by less violnce or US troop deaths, but by political progress there in the face of the lessened violence and eath, and there isn't any. So the military success to the extent it has occurred has yielded no victory - Iraq is still a mess and making little if any progress toward self rule.

And now the repugs are tryign to resuurect Iraq as a winning campaign strategy with the new Repug talking point - rolled out by Dumya and picked up and run with by McCain - there are no Mandelas (Jeffersons, Hamiltons), They are all dead, Saddam killed them. The wprds and phrasing were identical, only the name of the political visionary was changed to protect the idiot speaking the line. Are they nuts? (Did I write that?)

Craig.... I hope you're going to a Democratic event in NH today.... you seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time going to GOP ones.....
I know that it was mostly Repubs in this state over the long weekend.... but all the major Dem players are here today....

I'd just like to see a little "balance"...... :)

I heard Edwards on our local NPR station this morning..... I was impressed..... but still going to vote for Richardson....

dog

I disagree completely. It is like the goopper infatuation with Hucksterbee --they are looking at the allusion created by the media not the facts.

Democrats do not need to "pander" to the Hispanic vote. The goopers are the media are making it an issue. No community likes to be a scapegoat. The goopers will drive the Hispanic vote to the Democrats. Remember the most popular gooper left is Schwarzenegger has changed his position on immigration from the hatefilled screed.he used when he was first elected.

Obama is far more liberal...even radical than Clinton,
and he has big plans for changing the way we conduct government. He will get the independents who are left of the Democratic party but he will not gget the people who center and right of center.

After he says kumbaya. what he says is kind of important. I think he is wrong on social secuirity for example. and his attack on Clinton kind of empty.
..not too mention factually incorrect.

I thought Shrub saiid Chalabai was eyerack's Jefferson...or dd he say Benedict Arnold

Immigration is not an issue that will decide the election, but it is one that has to be dealt with by both parties. There are simply too many problems associated with it in one way or another for it not to be resolved by legislation and enforcement soon.

Right now it is Iraq and the Economy that take precedence.

Actually Rebellious I did 3 columns each on Dems and Repubs this trip, even though mostly GOPers in NH the past week. Had to leave NH today, so cant get to Edwards and Clinton events. Looks like I'll have to get back to Iowa -- NH just not getting as much attention.

I hate wireless access - can't connect to most sites without a five bar signal. Really frustrating. Luckily, this is one that does connect.

Craig....
yeah, I know that only Kucinich was here over the weekend...
sorry I didn't get to meet you.... I just couldn't stomach going to a GOP event and then embarrassing you by getting thrown out for asking a "hostile" question.....
hopefully if you come back closer to the primary, some of us Crawdads will get a chance to meet you.....

It was quite the whirlwind trip Rebellious, lots of driving on your fine roads.

Craig - Please remember to leave the heat on in Iowa so it'll be warm when I get to Des Moines next week. I suppose a visit to Florida would have been welcomed by the candidates at this time of year.

rr - I can see you brawling with the aides over the microphone. They would lose.

As for Romney getting energy from the people he meets, vampires as well as non-mythological parasites also get energy from people. The questions are: What are you gonna do for me & what proof do I have that you can & will do it?

Blue,

"Brawl?" No way, she probably carries her own tazer ...

Can't you just envision some GOP flunky screaming: "Don't Taze Me Bro!"

This seems to be a victory of style over substance. It IS nice that all issues can be dispensed with in three to four minutes. But, is this what we need in a President? Ah well, at least we won't get bored.