Polling day in South Carolina

It's been a week that one candidate's ex-wife claimed he wanted an open marriage. Another seemed to either lack or have the business acumen that made him successful as he stumbled over his tax returns. One was no longer strong enough to carry on and you didn't need to go to church to know that. One was actually ignored by the moderator in a debate (though the crowd booed that oversight). The one who speaks Chinese bowed to the inevitable and stopped his campaign. The other may have been declared winner in Iowa and looked deeper into the issue of fundamentalist Islam in a more thoughtful way that most GOP candidates before him.

In South Carolina voting is under way is what is heating up to be a GOP race. There are only four men left Mitt Romney who won in Iowa and New Hampshire, Rick Santorum who came second first in Iowa but performed poorly in New Hampshire, Ron Paul has shown strongly in both and Newt Gingrich who has come close to winning some counties but hasn't done so...yet.

Since 1980 the winner of the GOP South Carolina Primary has gone on to be the Republican nominee for President. So what does today hold for them all?

Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of Jon Hunstman when he stepped aside on the 15th. He is still seen as the one to beat by the others and is running neck and neck with one of his rivals this time Gingrich. However, in the debate on Thursday night there were yet again concerns that the successful business man is using off shore banking to keep his taxes below that of the average working American. While this may be shrewd business practise in the world of politics it is seen as tax evasion especially to the Reagan Democrats that he seems keen to bring back from the Obama fold.

Newt Gingrich  has ridden the wave of his marital issues. Of course his marital issues are not so much the problem as at the time his second wife said he was suggesting an open marriage he was calling for a special prosecutor into the affairs of the man at the White House, Bill Clinton. So it smacks of hypocrisy. But he is doing just what he needs to do to keep his hope alive, a win or strong second here will keep him in the race. He picked up the backing of Rick Perry when he dropped out and Sarah Palin, though he did promise her a position once she came out in support, which may smack against the constitution and a promise of appointment by candidate.

Ron Paul will no doubt by the end of today be saying that this year the trend since 1980 is there to be broken. Not least because there is proportionality in the delegates this time rather than winner takes all. In all possibility even if Gingrich wins here today he would still be second in the number of delegates. He's ticking along with his libertarian take on what is needed to beat Obama and his $1 Trillion cuts in Washington spending by slashing 5 Departments he sees as superfluous is gathering momentum with a certain electorate.

Rick Santorum  may well be wishing that the eight Iowa districts that forgot to call in their results in the caucus had done so before New Hampshire. Then he would have been taking on New England's son having already beaten him once. As it is he trailed in behind the other 3, if only just behind Gingrich. He hasn't gone for the full out blood path that Romney and Gingrich seem to be playing on each other and Ron Paul. maybe it is true that the nice guy can't win, especially in the GOP. However, the fact that he is still here after some of the former front runners Bachmann and Perry have dropped out shows there must be some fight in him somewhere. If he stays in for the next stops on the itinerary he will have to bring it to the table and get back to the top of the lists to stay in this race. Of course not everywhere can be won by shaking every hand like Iowa and he is lacking the big financial backers to allow him to compete on a  even footing.

So after today at least three if not all four will probably still be feeling they have a chance to win this thing, as we head off to the sunshine state of Florida, where there is a scheduled debate on Monday night.

Not all the world speaks English (American) #GOP

Considering that Nick Clegg can speak Dutch, Spanish, German and French as well as English of course which while this polyglotism is astounding is not shunned by British voters the same is not the case it would seem in America.

First of all there was shocking adverts by a group supporing Ron Paul about the fact that former US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman might be able to communicate in Mandarin.



Now the fact that an American who spent 2 years in French in his youth can speak, shock horror, French has been attacked in this add from Newt Gingrich.



It is bad enough that most Brits think they should be able by with just English. I've spoken enough conversational Spanish, German and Russian to get by with greeting etc. but to use being able to speak to some of the 94% of the world who don't speak English as their first language, or some of the 75-90% who speak it as a second language is an atrocious sign of how little America and especially Newt Gingrich cares for foreign affairs.

The attacks on Chinese speakers of which 2 million existed in the 2000 US Census and French 1.6m shows that Gingrich and Paul are even not aware of the continuing diversity of the constituency that they wish to represent.

Rick Perry pre-empts Letterman Top 10

The one thing that Rick Perry knew when he made that gaffe in the latest Republican debate was that somehow it would end up in one of David Letterman's legendary top tens the following night. However, there is one way to ease the sting and that is what Rick Perry did, he delivered the top ten Rick Perry excuses himself live on the show.

Giuliani Rewritting History of War on Terror

I'm going to change topic for this post. I'm heading a little further West.

During his failed Presidential nomination Rudy Giuliani the former Mayor of New York didn't stop reminded the people of America that he was there during the 9/11 attacks on his city. It was his claim to being the man to deal with the big questions.

Today however, he is getting so caught up in Republican rhetoric against Barack Obama that he is trying to turn the attempted Christmas Day attack against the President. On Good Morning America this morning he claimed, "we had no domestic attacks under Bush — we've had one under Obama."

Now as I and the rest of the world seem to recall in a school room in Florida President Bush was alerted to the fact that there was a potential incident going on in New York. I checked, my memory wasn't failing me. YouTube backed it up.




The Republicans are full of negative campaigning. They don't seem to ask what Jesus would have done about healthcare. Reading my new testament not once does he ask "Do you have insurance?" before performing a healing miracle. Yet they insist that the man who was accused of mixing with sinners and prostitutes would have condemned then to Katrina, or Asia to the Tsunami that hit.

Now they are even deleting history to try and point the finger at a Democrat. Hardly being truthful and certainly not WWJD.

McCain What Is He Good For...

Having spent the morning doing multiple tasks concurrently I decided to look at the focus of one task that Senator John McCain seems to want to have today. When he suspended his campaign on Wednesday he said:

"I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both
houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both
parties to come together to solve this problem. "

However, that's all well and good but when the President is on your side but it's your own party that is the stumbling block you're supposed to lead. So his credentials to govern one of the most powerful and complex countries in the world are surely taking a knock if he can't get his own party to fall in line especially if you do not feel that "the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands - and we are running out of time." If it were a Democrat in the White House coming up with this plan McCain would be the sole leader of his party at this time. Guess the Republicans in Washington are as sheep like as those from Alaska.

Here's hoping McCain doesn't suddenly get a resolution sorted out just in time to catch a plane to Mississippi for tonight's debate, or like Iain Gray we'll all know he's using this crisis for politics instead of as he insisted putting politics aside to get through this mess.

Lipstick on a Pig: The Porcine of the Species

Well neither Barak Obama nor John McCain were first to coin the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" though both have used it it was first cited in the online Urban Dictionary as far back as August 10, 2004; when it was defined as:

A term used by many, generally in reference to someone who may be trying to make something or someone look appealing or attractive when it quite clearly will not work, or will only deceive the dumbest of people.

Although Time magazine ran a story ran a story on the history of the phrase and it first sprung from funding for an American football stadium in 1985.

"One of the oldest published quotes using the entire phrase appeared in
The Washington Post in November 1985. Asked by the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors to put his station's $20,000 fundraiser earnings toward the
renovation of Candlestick Park, KNBR personality Ron Lyons scoffed, "That would
be like putting lipstick on a pig."

Well there's no doubt this idiom survived the collision of two words and thoughts to conjure up a phrase that has a specific use and parlance. This evolution of language has seen the word survive and be fit to be used by both candidates during this election cycle. So why the brouhaha over it's use? Has it really become a term of sexist abuse as the latest attack ads on US TV would have us believe? Lets look into the context of how both Senator's use the phrase.

The first use was by the Senator from Arizona not as they may have you believe by the one from Illinois. It was actually made in the context of a female opponent. As CNN reports it was John McCain who first used the phrase:

In Iowa last October, McCain drew comparisons between Hillary Clinton's current
health care plan and the one she championed in 1993: "I think they put some
lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig." He used roughly the same line in
May, after effectively claiming the Republican nomination.

Now look at the alleged sexist use of the phrase by Barak Obama on Monday in Virginia.

"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is,
'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax
policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're
really going to shake things up in Washington.'

"That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something
different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You
know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still
going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."

Now maybe McCain spokesman Brian Rogers can tell me what he thinks is the "big difference" between the two references. He says:

"McCain was referring to a policy proposal. Obama was referring to [Alaska]
Gov. Sarah Palin. It's obviously disrespectful and offensive.

"Who has been talking about lipstick lately? It was obvious. The crowd
went crazy because of it."

Erm well lets take a careful look at those two paragraphs of text from Barak. He starts by stating he is talking about McCain, about his lining up with Bushes policy in Washington. Now as Sarah Palin who actually described herself (and all hockey moms) as a pitbull with lipstick, loves to remind us she isn't one of the Washington set. So clearly she cannot be lining up change in line with those policies i.e. putting lipstick on a pig.

He carries on after the first analogy with a second about fish in paper still stinking after 8 years again a reference to the Bush policies that McCain has supported. The context is complete on either side of the edit that is doing the rounds in republican circles and on the airwaves in the States. Fortunately as the Huffington Post points out many in the media are not so easily fooled or deceived like the dumbest people.

No where in what Obama said does he refer to, nor hint at, Governor Palin. Of course McCain only started talking about "change" after the Democratic candidates in the primaries got mileage from it. Surely instead of a sexism charge which has no foundation in truth a trades description violation should be levelled at the McCain camp.

One senator used the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" in relation to a female opponent. But the female opponent in question Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't take offence at it, nor use it to turn the tables on the man who said it, because Hillary is more of a man about it that McCain, Brian Rogers or his campaign team are.

Draft Lipstick's Step-Mother-In-Law for VP

If running for Mayor of Wallisa is enough experience to become a Vice Presidential nominee and if John McCain really wanted to be seen as bi-partisan maybe he chose the wrong Palin for his ticket.

Yeah Faye Palin the step-mom of First Dude in waiting Todd Palin stood for mayor of Wallisa in 2002 when Sarah maxed out on term limits in 2002. She didn't get the nepotistic endorsement of the outgoing Mayor whether it was because she supported a women's right to chose or whether she was a Democrat it's not clear which was the greater sin.

However, when Time magazine were researching that article they found out that Iris Robinson would probably scarily fit in with the Palin's at their church, Wallisa Baptist Church. There was an insert in the order of service advertising Love Won Out a conference being held in nearby Anchorage the aim of this conference on homosexuality was to teach attendees how to "respond to misinformation in our culture" and help them "overcome" homosexuality.

Judging by the fact that the Governor and the High School in Wallisa both think that Abstinence-only is the only form of sex education it's not misinformation but lack of information that is the issue. This is a state which as Ed Pilkington points out in today's Grauniad "has the highest per capita incidence of chlamydia in the country". There is, and indeed, should always be more to sex education than merely how to prevent pregnancy but the abstinence only gospel that the Republicans seem to be preaching does more harm than good as the "mistakes" (their quote not mine) that invariably happen to teenagers lead to all sorts of questions that should already have been answered and discussed.

Causing a Stir Stateside

Well little old me has caused a little stir when I posted this little bit of research into Sarah Palin's vetoes. Of course a nice little push by Peter Black AM from what is currently the top outgoing link from Lib Dem blogs surely helps. Even so there is sharp spike in my web stats for the last 24 hours.

So I'll indulge myself in a little stat porn which I don't normally do. 70% of my hits overnight where from the USA. By writing my little bit on one attribute of Governor Lipsticked Pitbull's acceptance speech has thus far been read in (not that I've been keeping tabs obviously):

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. I may have to add Kuwait and Puerto Rico to that list of potential American voters.

That's 22 States of the Union plus DC though not Alaska sadly but I reckon they already know what she's vetoed although I did find some further details of just what that entails. It includes chalkboards, wireless internet access and library book protection projects from schools. A few fire trucks one for the University fire service.

There was also a 50% reduction in a Catholic counselling and adoption service which considering both the Governor and the service, I assume, are pro-life and giving women the support they would need to go full term with what may be an unwanted pregnancy seems a bizarre line veto for her to make.

Update: Add Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Caroline to make it 31 States. Actually I've noticed people are starting to link direct from email addresses so I may be on some email list doing the rounds now. Ooh the excitement. Even more excitement checking on some of the web searches that have surfed my I'm ahead of a story in the Washington Post regarding her line-item veto gulp.

Which Slice of History for America?

Well one way or another this year's US Presidential Election is going to go down in history. Either we're going to see the first African-American occupant of the Oval Office in Barak Obama or we're going to have the first lady elected Vice President as John McCain has unveiled Alaska Governor Mrs Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Palin is only the second woman to feature on the big two parties tickets since Geraldine Ferraro was named as Walter Mondale's Democratic running mate in 1984, the same year the then Miss Sarah Heath was runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant. Alaska has been in the Red Republican came at every Presidential election since 1964 so he state, although being contested by Obama is no the reason for he presence. However, it is a cunning ploy to reach out to disheartened women voters after Hillary Clinton failed to secure the Democratic nomination. Also seen as a attempt to steal a little of Obama's thunder for a place in history.

She also has relative youth when compared with Senator McCain she 44 to him celebrating his 72nd birthday today, also making her three years younger than the Democratic Presidential nominee. However, seeing as McCain is attacking the inexperience of his opponent, is leaving someone with 4 years (1992-96) of service on Wasilla, City Council (population 5,470 in 2000), the last as mayor, and 2 years of Gubernatorial experience one heartbeat away from the Presidency going to cut his attacks on that tack? That will be interesting to see over the weeks ahead.

Fearful Tactics by Scared Republicans

Having just acquired series seven of the West Wing I watched episode three 'Message of the Week' last night, in which Arnie Vinnick attempts to appeal to Matt Santos's latino base. While his attempt to shift his opponent unto ground he was avoiding for the fear of appearing to be a minority rather than mainstream candidate that is nothing compared to this.

Letters that have been sent out to 14,000 registered voters with Spanish surnames in Orange County California, saying that illegal immigrants cannot vote in Federal Elections and could face jail or deportation. These letters have been traced to a Republican candidate facing Loretta Sanchez, an Californian born Hispanic Democrat incumbant.

Now we all know the Republics are worried that latest polls show they are in danger of losing control of both Houses in next months midterms but this is a step too far. What make this worse is that ironically the Republican candidate, Tan Nguyen, arrived in America aged 8 after his parents fled the regime in Vietnam.