Monday Montage

Hillary on Health Care: "I'm baaaack!"

It looks like our favorite Horror Flick of the '90s is back: Hillarycare. Yes, that's the womb to the tomb, unfettered, unmitigated, Socialist promise of the would-be President Clinton #2. She warns that it "might be a bad dream for some." I wonder if she needs to be reminded that it was a bad dream for the Democrats most of all. The people of the United States soundly rejected socialized medicine in 1994, and they will do it again. There is no question that massive reform is needed in the health care and insurance industries, but a government take-over of 1/7 of the United States Economy is not the answer. If Hillary wants to quickly undo the fragile Democrat majority in Congress, this is a good first step.

Rudy Runs for President

In the first of what is likely to a litany of announcements of "exploratory committees," America's Mayor has announced that he has formed his own. With no President or Vice President running for the White House for the first time in 80 years, this is going to shape up to be one of the most fascinating presidential elections in history. The initial Republican field will look something like this: Rudy, Sen. John McCain (AZ), Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee (AR), Fmr. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (TN), Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (MA), and Fmr. Gov. George Pataki. Not making my list of likelies are the following:

1) Condoleeza Rice. In spite of Dick Morris's almost orgasmic attitude over a Condi White House run, it just isn't going to happen, at least in 2008. Condi, like the entire Bush Administration, is damaged goods. She is too tied to the Neo-Cons and the Iraq War to have any credibility when the political winds are clearly blowing against the war. I'm not counting her out in the future. Churchill's political maxim is as prescient as ever "Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. For in war you can die only once, in politics, many times."

2) George Allen. One of the rising stars of the National Republican scene, the now former Senator and Governor of Virginia bungled one of the safest seats in the country and cost the Republicans control of the Senate. Not only would I be ashamed to run for President if I were him, he'd promptly be sent packing by several million Republicans who will not soon forget the loss of the Senate.

3) Jeb Bush. The third time isn't a charm when it comes to Bush Presidencies. The public isn't going to go for it, now or....well, people might forget a few years down the way, but I seriously doubt it. Hillary Clinton has proved that it is possible to distance from the family, but Bill Clinton was never as unpopular as Bush is now...oh wait, he was...a fact conveniently forgotten by the mainstream media. Nevertheless, I think 2 Bush Presidents are enough, and I think a lot of people agree with me on that.

4) Rick Santorum. Any distant hopes the former Pennsylvania Senator may have had to run for the Presidency were dashed by his utter trouncing at the hands of Bob Casey, Jr. (60%-40%). His brand of conservatism, while perhaps popular with a certain sect of the Republican base, has no broad appeal, as evidenced by his rout in his home state.

5) Haley Barbour. There have been rumors circulating for a while that the Mississippi Governor and former Republican National Committee Chairman might take a shot at the Presidency. He just doesn't have the name ID to stand up to a McCain or a Rudy, so I think he'll bide his time and wait for the phone call to serve in a cabinet post.

6) Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately for the Governator and his supporters, the Constitution still won't let him be President. Maybe that will change, but I think for now he will focus on being Governor of Caleefornia and await the chance to run for an open seat in the Senate whenever Diane Feinstein retires.

7) David M.Walker. This one is my saddest entry. Most of you probably have no idea who David M. Walker is, but he is currently the U.S. Comptroller General, who heads up the Government Accountability Office (GAO, formerly General Accounting Office). The GAO "has earned a reputation for professional, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, fair and balanced reviews of government programs and operations." Walker is one of those lucky people in Washington who has a lengthy appointment (15 years) and still has 7 years left on his term. He has recently been traveling the country warning us of the dangers of an insolvent Medicare and Social Security, and the disastrous economic effects that will have if we do not remedy it soon. I hope he keeps it up, and maybe one of these days, we'll have the benefit of seeing his name on a ballot.

Has the Power already gone to Nancy's Head?

Giddy with power, Nancy Pelosi dove head-first into the heated race for House Majority Leader between Democrat Whip Steny Hoyer (Maryland) a Rabid Anti-War John Murtha (Pennsylvania). In one of the worst political calculations in Congressional history, she has decided to fervently back Murtha, which will both confirm every Republican accusation that she is a dove and simultaneously alienate many in the Democratic Caucus who ardently support Hoyer (including all but about 10 of the 40 incoming Freshman Democrats). In another move that reeks of political payback and completely lacks prudence, Pelosi has decided that Jane Harman will not get to Chair, or even serve on, the House Intelligence Committee, despite being the most senior and tenured member of that committee, and by far the Democrat with the best Intelligence credentials. But, Harman has crossed Nancy the Knife in the past, and to the detriment of National Security, this very reasonable Moderate Democrat is going to be replaced by the radical leftist Alcee Hastings....an impeached federal judge. That's who I want running the House Intelligence Committee....

Iran an Agent of Peace, says Blair

Our good friend Tony Blair from across the pond is no doubt under substantial pressure by his foundering Labour Party to distance himself from President Bush and American Foreign Policy. What better way than to endorse Iran as an agent of peace. I happen to agree with part of Blair's argument, and that is that we need a new dialogue in the Middle East. The one we had during the Clinton years didn't work. The isolationism and hawkishness of the Bush years hasn't worked either. So maybe we need to talk, but talk tough. Something has got to be better than the way relations have been for he last 20 years. Better to fail at something new than at something old.

Dallas Fed President: They took our jobs? Puhhlease.

The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Richard Fisher publicly complained today about a labor shortage in the United States, and especially in Texas. That's right, a shortage. I thought Tom Tancredo and his band of xenophobes had been telling us for the last five years that we were going to lose all of our jobs to low-paid immigrants from Mexico if we didn't shoot them as they came across the border. But no, in fact, wage rates are skyrocketing in skilled and semi-skilled industries, and there is no end in sight. Unemployment in the United States has fallen to 4.4% which is better than "full employment." The Bush recession indeed.