Captain's Quarters -

Ed,

Don't forget that we are looking back with the benefit of hindsight. When the McCain/Kennedy bill was first being worked on, Romney was non-commital. He hadn't read it. He hadn't studied it. It was an attempt to deal with a serious issue and hadn't settled into its final form, yet.

Romney hates knee-jerks reactions, especially over something as important as this. It isn't his style. It never has been. So when asked about it when it first came up, he was vague. There were some good points. There were some bad points.

After he had a chance to study it and things had settle somewhat, he began expressing opposition to it.

Another thing to remember is Romney was a Governor who was concentrating mainly upon running a state, and less on second-guessing Congress and the President. There were several occasions when asked about goings on in Washington where he replied in effect, "I won't tell them how to run the Federal Government, and they won't tell me how to run Massachusetts." He was also the Chairmen of the Republican Governors charged with getting Republicans elected, not tearing them down.

The 2006 elections are now history. Romney is no longer Governor, he is spending a great deal of time studying all the federal issues, and he is in direct competition with McCain.

It's McCain. He'll always be looking for a better offer, 'til he casts his vote... and beyond.

Seeing how Mr. Hewitt 1. is Romney's #1 fan, 2. becomes an unfailingly loyal sycophant to his politicians, and most importantly 3. was wrong on just about everything in the run up to the 2006 election I think I'll take his insight with a Costco sized container of salt.

McCain is realizing that his following isn't as big as his ego - though it hasn't sunk in on him on THOSE terms, yet - he's searching for the front of the parade so he can go jump out ahead of it and tell himself he is the parade marshall.

Does this mean McCain has moved to the original Bush position, which was somewhat more restrictive than McCain-Kennedy, or has he moved to the right of Bush's plan, too?

Just how far will McCain go for political expedience. He could trump even Tancredo by adopting the Buchanan position: deport everybody with a foreign-sounding name.

If you go back and listen to McCain's statements at the time, though, you will hear his typical righteous tone and a man who believes his position is the only correct one. Just like BCFRA, where his vehement insistence that "money corrupts" speaks more of his own personal record than of Congress in general.

Ed's use of the word "scold" to describe McCain hit the bullseye. The Senator is as big a pain as a reformed smoker.

John McCain has almost become a cartoon of himself!

He's become a one dimensional cardboard character totally driven by his ravenous and relentless ambition, and he'll turn his back on anybody he needs to, to follow his master.

So now he doesn't want to be buddies with Teddy anymore because the base of his party is not too pleased with the results of previous collaborations. And right now our darling Johnny needs the base REAL BAD. I'm sure Teddy know's this game real well and probably won't hold it against Johnny all that much. He knows the rules.

But Johnny - Darling Johnny! - is so painfully transparent that he's almost the only one left on earth who hasn't seen completely through to the other side and figured out that there's nothing in there.

Conservative Christians aren't too concerned that Rudy doesn't handle snakes in church on Sunday, because they know he knows how to handle the snakes in the Middle East and in the Democratic Party the rest of the week!

"To be fair, though, McCain should get some credit for backing away from Kennedy and reconsidering his stances on immigration. Had he not been so sanctimonious at times in the past on this issue and campaign-finance reform, he might have gotten it, too."

Yeah, but to be perfectly fair, though, any GOP pol who has sucked up soooo hard to both Feingold AND Toady Chappaquiddick Kennedy, such a person cannot possibly pay too much of a price for such vicious perfidity against America.

"the Buchanan position: deport everybody with a foreign-sounding name."

Because Buchanan is an Iroquois name?

McCain and Edwards should team up.That way we can forget about them and pay attention to people who have a chance.

richard mcenrone ~ Good one, except there is no such thing as an "Iroquois name," of course - Iroquois was the name given by Euro=peons to the confederation of six tribes in New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada (naturally none of those bore their modern names at the time).

Buchanan is Scottish, obviously - President Buchanan lent his name and image to a Scotch whiskey after leaving office - but Patzi does seem tolerant of other white, English-speaking Protestants, so long as they don't try to import any goods for resale.

He probably makes exceptions for those of Germanic origin, too.

I'm getting a vibe that McCain doesn't really have the fire in his belly this time out. He seems to be counting on moderates and swing voters to win the primaries for him. Good luck with that.

I don't know what to think about Romney any more. I don't think he's a flip-flopper. I think that he just feels more free to say what he really thinks since he's not trammeled by having to represent Massachusetts any more. It's not like he voted to authorize the war and now wants to denounce it, and cut the knees out from our troops.

Boy, Senator McCain must have gotten quite an earful in Iowa. I mean this is the guy who bites his upper lip and turns red every time anyone disagrees with him on TV; now he humbly says he might rethink his stance on immigration? How many people does it take telling the Senator that illegal immigration is their MAIN issue for him to finally react?
Sure I give him credit for even listening, since the Bush Admin has barely even done that, and has been more likely to take Vincente Fox's advice than any American. But, it must be noted that I don't think that McCain really believes he will have to back away from amnesty in the end, and this is just a play to be President. If he were to be elected, I think he would probably "reconsider" his position yet again. One could only hope that there is a difference between a flip flopper and a person willing to reconsider his position.
I don't know where McCain falls in that scheme.

Bwaahhhhhhh....even Teddy, where the hell is that - hiccup- bridge...Kenndy is discovering that he can't trust John McCain.

There is a God and He has a wonderful sense of humor.