From WorldNetDaily, Chuck Norris has endorsed former Gov. Mike Huckabee for president. Like most of us, he has been praying about who could lead this country as our next president, and he’s ready to make a commitment:

Like most of you, over the summer and into the fall, I’ve been watching, listening, studying and praying about who could lead this country as our next president.

I won’t leave you in suspense. Though Giuliani might be savvy enough to lead people, Fred Thompson wise enough to wade through the tides of politics, McCain tough enough to fight terrorism and Romney business-minded enough to grow our economy, I believe the only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

As it turns out (in case you couldn’t tell from the pseudo-Christian archetype of Walker, Texas Ranger), Norris is as socially conservative as they come. And in Texas, they come pretty conservative.

But can Huckabee win? According to the Bible, says Norris, yes:

As with the other candidates, Huckabee has, and will continue to have, his hecklers: “He hasn’t raised enough money.” “He’ll never beat Hillary.” “Our society is too prejudice and paranoid to vote for a once Baptist minister.” “He’ll never out-race the top four Republican candidates.”

I was thinking about these types of comments the other day when I recalled another leader in ancient times that didn’t match up in the line up: King David. Seven men were poised and paraded for the position of king, but David was left in the field shepherding because he wasn’t “a frontrunner in the polls.” They overlooked the best because they were too busy judging by outward appearance. But God appointed David king.

It’s time to quit choosing our leaders based solely upon charisma or one strong suite, and move back to being a culture which esteems and elects its leaders because of character and qualifications. It’s substance, not pizzazz, we should want in a leader. Mike Huckabee is the real deal.

Updated 10/22/07 at 11:56am by Matt Ortega: Writing at WorldNetDaily, Chuck Norris listed things he would do as president back in June. No one can come up with better Chuck Norris Facts like the man himself. (Hat tip: Reader AC)

I was wondering the other day, if I ran for president, what would be my campaign promises?

I made a list I’m certain can get me elected.

If I’m elected president, I will…

Require members of Congress to work out on the Total Gym 15 minutes each day – or else they can’t vote on anything.

Cut spending by dismissing the Secret Service, at least for my eight years in office (why would I need them?).

Resurrect Bruce Lee and appoint him head of homeland security (OK, the CIA and FBI too).

Give a presidential pardon to … no one, ever. Baretta was right in the ’70s, “Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time. Don’t do it!”

Turn the Rose Garden into a new fighting ring for the World Combat League, in which liberals and conservatives will fight for legislative leadership and priority. (For fun, Saturday night fights will feature a recurring bout between Hannity and Colmes). “American Idol” already told me they will provide the entertainment.

Require Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to personally pay for national, comprehensive medical coverage for every American (or meet me in the Rose Garden).

Increase jobs in America by sending ninja teams to sabotage and steal them back from other countries.

Tattoo an American flag with the words, “In God we trust,” on the forehead of every atheist.
Give a tax credit to anyone naming their children Walker or Texas Ranger (excluding Will Farrell).

Resolve the Iraq war by bringing all of our military personnel home immediately, then going over there by myself for “martial arts negotiations.”

Hang Saddam Hussein (Whoops – scratch that – already did it undercover).

Convey my plan for world peace to the United Nations: taking the governor of California with me on our “kick butt and ask questions later” USO world tour.

Give every new military enlistee abroad a copy of my upcoming new book, “The Threat of Justice,” with the words, “Arnold and I will be back to pump you up!” above my autograph.

Bring on Donald Trump as my apprentice. When my presidential term is complete and he has obtained his black belt, or whichever comes first, he can buy the White House and of course rename it (to, what else, “The Trump House”).

Create new immigration legislation: to deport all liberals (then force them to listen to Bill O’ Reilly every day for five years, at which point they may return).

Ask producer Mark Barnett to film “Survivor – Camp David,” where world leaders will meet annually, for an all-out cage-fighting championship. The winner will take home $1,000,000 in Disney Dollars, good in Europe or America.

Send an autographed photo of me and my horse (no dogs in my White House) to everyone who commits to read my new WorldNetDaily “presidential column” and blast a blog who dares to disagree with me.

Complete the plan to bring Tony Blair to the U.S. as my vice president.

Expose the real WMDs – my fists and feet.

Replace Letterman, Leno or Conan once monthly, since stand-up comedy is what most governmental officials do anyway.

Ask Al Gore to provide me with a special governmental study on the connection between spotted owl extinction and global warming. (I’m pretty sure Michael Moore will film the docudrama).

Help Rosie transition from “The View” to the pew – it might help her get over that anger problem. If the pew doesn’t work, she can spar Trump in the Rose Garden.

First and foremost, however, my greatest priorities will be to …

Personally smoke out bin Laden by myself and round-house kick him all the way back to America, where my United Fighting Arts Federation will handle the justice issues.

Make all Chuck Norris facts come true (well, not quite all of them – I’m a happily, married man!)

Looking over my campaign promises, I’m sure my liberal friends are even now rejoicing that I’m not really running for president. However, my hope is still out that Newt will jump into the race!

The funniest part is that Norris was pulling for Newt Gingrich to pull into the race. Since the former Speaker decided to continue to run a non-profit no one has ever heard of, Norris was forced to go with his second choice, Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee | 23 Comments »

I reported this back in August: a slim majority of Republican caucus goers favor withdrawing US troops from Iraq within six months, according to data from Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm.

Strategic Vision has done a poll of Iowans once a month since then, and both September’s and October’s numbers confirm that the August data was not a fluke. Even after Gen. David Petraeus testified before both houses of Congress, Republican support for withdrawal from Iraq has steadied and perhaps even grown here in Iowa, to a whopping 54% in October.

I posted a full table of Strategic Vision’s numbers going back to February, when they started asking the question, right here.

I argued a few weeks ago that I thought this gave Rep. Ron Paul an opening in Iowa, since he is the only candidate who publicly opposes the war.

Strategic Vision also asks Republicans another interesting question: “Do you see President George W. Bush as a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan? In October 5% said yes, 72% said no. That falls in line with the answers Republicans were giving since January. About 70% of Iowa Republicans think it is “very important” or “somewhat important” to have a conservative Republican “in the mode of Ronald Reagan” as their nominee.

Ron Paul, Iowa | No Comments »

Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson interviewed former Sen. Fred Thompson today, and she posted a partial transcript to her blog.

She asked him about Iran, and his answer included the statement, “I’m afraid that the Soviet Union & China are not ever going to do anything that’s going to hurt them that badly but we need to ratchet those up if at all possible.”

Here’s Kay’s transcript of the Iran question (emphasis added):

Henderson: “How, as president, would you deal with Iran?”

Thompson: “I think we need to understand first of all the threat that Iran poses to us. They have been killing our people for some time either directly or indirectly through terrorist organizations. They are convinced that their god tells them that they should be rulers of the Muslim world and they should kill us off and (dropped words) and millions of innocent people will have to die in the process so be it, including their own people. This is a different kind of threat and enemy with a different face as far as their ideology is concerned than we’ve ever faced before. It’s religious in its origin but it’s twisted and warped so it presents a threat to us especially in Iraq. They want to take over Iraq. They’re doing everything they can to try to drive us out of there. We’re seeing some success with some minor economic sanctions right now. I think the best way to describe it as probably aggravating the Iranians more than anything. It’s not really hurting them. I’m afraid that the Soviet Union & China are not ever going to do anything that’s going to hurt them that badly but we need to ratchet those up if at all possible. I think that the diplomatic route still has some possibilities. I think also what’s going on inside the country has to be taken (dropped words). We have a lot of people inside that country that do not want that kind of regime ruling them and the things that they’re doing. They’re killing and imprisoning innocent people. Their economy is on its way to a shambles. Inflation and unemployment and violence have become commonplace in that country and so these people (dropped words) in large part take care of this situation themselves. You don’t know what will be the aftermath of that, but it’s certainly an option that has to be considered and ultimately you know if they arrive and they have 3000 centrifuges right on their way to enriching uranium which would allow them to have a nuclear program, then we have to make sure our intelligence is good as to exactly what they’re doing and where they’re doing it and we cannot exclude a military option.”

No, I did not mistype. Thompson said Soviet Union rather than Russia.

Two possibilities: Thompson believes he is his character from the film The Hunt for Red October, or he’s trying really, really hard to sound like Ronald Reagan in as many ways as possible, even if to do so he has to resort to anachronisms.

Crossposted here.

Fred Thompson, Iowa | 8 Comments »

Last night, the Iowa Christian Alliance held a dinner and invited former Sen. Fred Thompson, who came to the dinner as part of his second swing through Iowa as a presidential candidate. Thompson was told he would not have an opportunity to speak at the dinner, only to attend.

Iowa Independent’s Jay Wagner described how Thompson’s staff dealt with the media gaggle that showed up to cover Thompson, who has been a bit of a stranger around these parts:

Although all the presidential candidates were invited to attend, the ICA had told them in advance that they wouldn’t have an opportunity to speak. The Thompson campaign told reporters during the event that their candidate would avail himself to reporters prior to his departure so as not to disrupt the meeting. But after he finished eating - and before the program got underway - Thompson and his family and staff slipped into an SUV and departed, leaving the media gaggle behind without a chance to answer a single question.

A Thompson staffer promised a media availability outside the event so questions wouldn’t interrupt the dinner itself, and then there wasn’t one. Jay wasn’t the only reporter to blog about the experience afterwards. While his story merely mentioned Thompson’s media dodge toward the end, Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson and WHO TV’s Dave Price both highlighted the treatment they had received in blog entries. Said Henderson:

No questions. No answers. If you want to know what he said tonight, you’ll have to ask Jeri.

Dave Price of WHO TV characterized the evening in his post title, “Fred, Fried Chicken and a Lie Pie for dessert.” He concluded:

Then, we followed him after he left the bathroom. Perhaps, this was our chance. Nope, he made his way back to his table. Then, he turned around and went outside. Now, it was our chance to get all those faith questions answered. Thompson walked outside…and then walked into the SUV waiting for him. Then, he left. Another staffer said there would be plenty of time for questions during the rest of the trip. Will there or is that another slice of lie pie?

If Thompson was hoping to be the media darling candidate this time around, a la Sen. John McCain in 2000, he’s missing his opportunity.

Crossposted here.

Updated 10/01/07 at 8:13pm by Matt Ortega: TAPPED posted the video of a local Iowa news report on FDT’s skipping out on the press.

Fred Thompson, Iowa | 5 Comments »

Iowa Independent’s Jay Wagner was one of seven people to attend Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo’s appearance at the country club in Sibley, IA, over the weekend. The seven people included “two county Republican committee members, three journalists and a smiling couple wearing Tancredo for President t-shirts.”

And he insisted that although his focus on immigration may make him look like a one-issue candidate, he isn’t one because illegal immigration is actually the cause of all of our problems:

Tancredo said the more he studies the issue, the more it seems that many of the nation’s problems can be blamed on Hispanics crossing into the United States from Mexico.

Health care costs? Blame the burden of paying for emergency-room care for 12 million illegal immigrants who receive free medical services, he said.

The nation’s rising addiction to methamphetamines? Mexico has become a major source of the illegal drug, he said.

Low wages? If America rids itself of illegal immigrants who take minimum-wage jobs, the country’s businesses would be forced to pay decent wages and benefits to attract a work force, he said.

“There aren’t many problems that we can’t attribute to these lawbreakers who cross our borders to live here,” he said.

He also said our weak border makes it easy for Islamic terrorists to enter the country unchecked, causing a major security problem in the United States.

Also of note, Tancredo noted that he has to finish in third place in the Iowa Caucuses to continue his campaign.

Read full post.

Iowa, Tom Tancredo | 4 Comments »

The Sioux City Journal’s Bret Heyworth notices that former Sen. Fred Thompson’s daughter may be playing the role of a prop on the former actor’s nascent-but-long-awaited presidential campaign:

Forty minutes into the event, Thompson’s 3-year-old daughter, Hayden, ran onto the convention center stage. Some in the crowd let out a heartfelt ‘aawwww.’ Thompson told Hayden, “Bless your heart, I’ll be done in a second.”

With this being a major event as Thompson kicked off his candidacy yesterday and today, there was a huge national press crew along. I heard that Thompson’s daughter had  similarly come onto the stage near the end of both Iowa campaign stops yesterday.

That brings up an interesting point, how to bring a campaign event to a conclusion. Most I’ve covered this year, both Republican and Democrat candidates stops, have been roughly 45 to 60 minutes in length, and typically a question/answer session ends it. How to wrap up and get away varies, but generally a campaign staffer is the ‘bad guy,’ the one who motions or sometimes visibly states, “This is the last question.” I saw Mitt Romney in Onawa, Iowa,  earlier this year make what some would see as a mistake — he himself looked at his watch, and said, I’m done. That can be construed as rude, so it’s better to have the staffer be the one concerned with timing (i.e. getting to the next event), methinks.

So if Thompson had his cute 3-year-old handle that “it’s-time-to-quit” bit, so what? But the “bless your heart, I’ll be done in a minute,” to me, indicated it was the impromptu running onto the stage by the youngster. “I’ll be done in a minute,” without the “bless your heart,” doesn’t raise the question of staging it. I interviewed a few people after the Thompson appearance for react to the speech, and one man brought up that he thought the daughter coming onto the stage was, well, staged.

This isn’t an obvious no-no, but it raises some questions about the role Thompson’s family will play in his presidential campaign.  In the long run-up to Thompson’s candidacy, many pundits claimed that Thompson’s private life was a threat to his credibility as a social conservative, but the “Iowa Hearts Jeri” signs the campaign hand-painted and his daughter’s cameo-turned-recurring role seem to ignore that conventional wisdom.  It’s also rumored that this might have been a cause of Thompson’s staffing issues.

The first question to ask, which isn’t very interesting if you ask me, is whether it’s OK or not OK for Thompson to parade his daughter on stage.  But the second, more important question, in my mind, is who is making the call to position Thompson’s family life front-and-center like this.  Is it Thompson himself, ignoring advice of the staff who think it’s a bad idea?  Or are his consultants simply telling him that the best defense is a good offense?

Cross-posted to Chase Martyn On Display.

Fred Thompson, Iowa | 1 Comment »

After announcing his candidacy on Jay Leno’s show last night, Fred Thompson flew to Des Moines, IA, with his wife Jeri and their two very young children.  This afternoon a few miles away from me, former Sen. Thompson held his first public event as a declared presidential candidate.

So how did it go?  I was not there, because Iowa Independent recently brought on veteran Iowa journalist Jay Wagner to cover the Republican campaign, and he ably covered the event without me.  From talking to him and reading his report, a few facts jump out:

Thompson is no Jack Kennedy: fifteen minutes into his speech, Thompson “seem[ed] to have the audience quietly transfixed rather than in an enthusiastic mode.”

Thompson does not draw much of a crowd: “I didn’t need to worry about the size of the room, Still plenty of room for folks within striking distance who want to come down. It’s a workday afternoon, but seems odd that with Thompson’s star power — he was a co-star on the popular television show, “Law and Order” for five years — there’d be more curious fans. Hillary Clinton drew 200 people in Storm Lake on Wednesday.”

Thompson sees his much-younger wife Jeri as a strength for his candidacy and not a weakness: “The walls of the room are covered with homemade signs, many sporting slogans like ‘We Love Jeri’ and ‘Jeri for First Lady’.”

Thompson appears to favor a “stay the course” Iraq policy: Thompson’s own words are, “Iraq is a part of that conflict but Iraq is not that conflict. It will be with us for a long time. If we show weakness and division we will pay a heavy price for a long time.”

Cross-posted at Chase Martyn On Display.

Fred Thompson, Iowa | 7 Comments »

New poll numbers from the American Research Group reveal significant improvement in former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s standing in Iowa, bouncing to 14% support after the Iowa Republican Straw Poll earlier this month.  ARG’s polling indicated that Huckabee had the support of only 1% of Iowa Republican caucus-goers last month.

While the ARG’s likely caucus-goer screen is notoriously loose, this is undoubtedly good news for the Huckabee campaign.  The poll puts Huckabee in third place in Iowa, behind Romney at 27% and Giuliani at 17%.  Huckabee beats Fred Thompson (13%), Newt Gingrich (7%), and John McCain (5%).

Notably for Huckabee, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo receive no discernible support in the ARG poll.   Ron Paul, on the other hand, receives 1% support in Iowa.

Crossposted at Chase Martyn on Display.

Mike Huckabee, Iowa, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney | 2 Comments »

After the Straw Poll, Huckabee and Brownback have both significantly downsized their Iowa campaigns despite their top three finishes.

For Huckabee, who got the second-place spot in Ames, the downsizing is temporary:

Rather than kicking his Iowa campaign up a notch, second-place Ames Straw Poll finisher Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas downsized his Iowa operation to just three paid staffers in the wake of his low-budget achievement.

“Right now were back down to three. We had, gosh 16 or 18 here for the Straw Poll,” Huckabee Iowa campaign manager Eric Woolson told the Iowa Indepenent. “Those folks have kind of scattered to the four winds.”

Woolson, who also serves as the Iowa campaign’s communications director and press secretary, said the lean campaign had imported much of the rest of its pre-Ames staff from other Huckabee offices around the nation in the weeks leading up to the Straw Poll. “We had four folks out from New Hampshire, we probably had 8 or 10 people from Little Rock, so we probably had closer to 20. This pace was packed!” he said, gesturing around the campaign’s small downtown Des Moines headquarters, which has plate-glass windows that overlook a busy street and advertise the candidate to passersby. “Some full-time volunteers came in from a couple of different states, so we were really packed for the Straw Poll.”

“Obviously, we’ll ramp back up for caucus time,” he continued.

For Brownback, who is actually closing one of his two Iowa offices, it could not be determined whether the downsizing would be temporary or a sign of worse things to come for his campaign:

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback’s campaign shut down his second Iowa office, opened in Ames on June 21, after a third-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll earlier this month.

The campaign continues to operate out of its lone Iowa office in West Des Moines.

Iowa campaign spokesman John Rankin was unavailable for comment; a receptionist said he was “on vacation” but still responding to e-mail.

Contacted a second time by Iowa Independent, she clarified that Rankin was simply “out of town…not on vacation,” and remained reachable by e-mail.

After that story ran, Brownback’s communications director got in touch with Iowa Independent to clarify that closing their Ames office was part of their plan all along.

Perhaps neither campaign has received the post-Straw Poll bump in fund raising that the media predicted.

Cross-posted at Chase Martyn On Display.

Fundraising, Iowa, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback | No Comments »

The as-yet-mostly-untold story of yesterday’s Iowa GOP Straw Poll in Ames is not about dueling bands and barbecues, of red inked thumbs or voting machine malfunctions; it is about tax policy.  Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the coveted second-place spot over Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback on that alone.

Brownback’s record on taxes was spotless enough to inspire the Club for Growth to run negative ads against Mike Huckabee in the week leading up to the Straw Poll.  He supports an “optional flat tax,” whereby citizens could opt to pay a flat income tax rate if they wanted to instead of paying income taxes based on the current system (I don’t know much more than that).

Huckabee, on the other hand, supports “FairTax,” a policy proposal that would shut down the IRS and, simplistically speaking, impose a national sales tax to pay for the federal government.  There would be what they call a “pre-bate” that the government would send out to families every year to make the system a little bit less regressive, but I won’t get into the details, because they aren’t interesting.  Americans for Fair Taxation actually sent me a few free copies of their book (coauthors are Rep. John Linder and controversial talker Neal Boortz), so I know more than I’m letting on.

Perhaps both of these proposals are preposterous (although an alarming number of Republican Congressmen and Senators claim to support one or the other), but policy implications took a back seat to political implications at the Straw Poll.

Read the rest here. 

Iowa, Endorsements, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback | No Comments »