News has a kind of mystery

I just got back from the polls, hopefully I'm not the only one in the mood for news:

ROMNEY REVILED BY ALL WHO KNOW HIM

The night of the Iowa caucuses, after getting a congratulatory call from McCain, Huckabee told the candidate, according to aides: "Now it's your turn to kick his butt."
Before and after debates, rival campaign staffers note, Romney tends not to mingle with the other candidates — most of whom know each other professionally — preferring instead to keep close to his family and staff. And those same staffers delight in trading stories about Romney's odd behavior. The day before the Republican primary, Huckabee mocked Romney for ordering lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, then peeling off the fried coating and eating it with a knife and fork. Presented with a golf club, Huckabee said he wouldn't be very good at the game: "I'd be like Mitt Romney eating fried chicken."
[link]

The article makes some speculation as to why all the other Republicans hate Romney. Is he just too Mormon? As someone who lived in Massachusetts while Mitt was governor, I can assure you he is a total scumbag. And hating him is a perfectly rational response. I would like to see him eaten by wolves.


MCCAIN/HUCKABEE '08 - SUPER SCARY?

McCain and Huckabee have seemed awfully palsy-walsy. Might Huckabee join McCain's ticket once he's completed his task of spending all Mitt's money? Have the Republicans actually come up with a ticket and a scenario that could bring them victory? Maybe. I've been convinced that there will be no way any Republican could run for president in 2008 without his party's history of vampirism and moloch worship getting in the way. McCain has cultivated the respect of most democratic leaders, who show their hawkish hearts with their affinity towards him. McCain and Huckabee pull in different groups of similar Americans who could easily be united, especially against the Clintons. Scary, huh?


RICHARDSON RESTS BEFORE UPCOMING CABINET POSITION IN '08
In a perfect world, Bill Richardson would be elected president in 2008, and America could just chill out. Since stepping out of the race, Obama and the Clintons have been courting his endorsement. Bill and Bill watched the super bowl together. But I still think he might endorse Obama or wait until after the convention.

The walls of Richardson's office are covered with large portraits of Native Americans. Indian pottery is on display around the room. The governor was holding court on a leather couch, avoiding the pain of getting up to greet visitors because he had wrenched his back exercising.

Richardson doesn't appear to be a guy who spends a lot of time on a treadmill. Unlike skinny Barack Obama, Richardson looks like a man who enjoys a meal. Unlike John Edwards or Mitt Romney, Richardson looks as if he can get along without hairspray and a starched shirt.

The governor's tie was pulled loose, his collar unbuttoned. When he crossed his legs, his black cowboy boots were on full display. A two-week growth of black whiskers covered his jaw.

Richardson said he grows a beard whenever he goes through a period of decompression. His wife hates it, as do his advisers, who tell him he'll look terrible on "Meet the Press," but Richardson doesn't care. Besides, the East Coast pundits only want to ask him whom he's going to endorse, Clinton or Obama, and the follow-up question, what is he going to get for his endorsement. His answer to the media: "Screw you."

He seemed pretty happy for a guy who has just gone through a big rejection.

"Some people, they run for president, they don't make it, they're devastated," he said. "I bounced back the next day. (Still) there is a little element of sadness. I'm actually sad to leave the campaign trail because I loved campaigning, I loved running; I loved being in the debates."

It helped to have the immediate task of dealing with the Legislature. Only hours before I met with him, he got a domestic partners bill passed. That's no small feat in a fairly conservative state. However, Richardson said, a red state in the West is not the same as a red state elsewhere.

"This is a state, like many in the West, that prizes individualism," he said.
[Link]

FOLLOWING AMERICA WITHOUT A TV
Newshour Interactive 2008 Coverage


THEY'VE DONE YEOMAN DUTY
A quick follow up to the ongoing attempt of the Bush Administration to get telecoms immunity for spying on Americans. Howard Dean's brother hassled me into caring about this, I even sent an e-mail to Keith Olbermann asking him to push it. Well it sounds like the people won this battle. Now if Bush wants to protect the telecoms, he'll need to veto a defense bill he said we needed life or death style. We'll keep you posted.


WHY WE VOTE
Because we still can.