Visit Meghan McCain's Web Site

You heard the prediction here first: On March 5, Senator Hillary Clinton will suspend her campaign. That was a white flag she was waving last night.

One web site that's a real pleasure to visit is McCain Blogette.com done by John's and Cindy's daughter, Meghan McCain, with the assistance of her friends, photographer Heather Brand and film and video producer Shannon Brae. Be sure to leave a comment for Meghan, a recent graduate in Art History from Columbia University. (I took two art history courses as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, and I absolutely loved them.)

As I mentioned previously, Adam Brickley, founder of the Draft Sarah Palin Movement, and I will be on Douglas Gibbs's Blog Talk Radio show, Political Pistachio, on Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. We'll be discussing Gov. Palin's chances of getting the VP nomination as well as matters related to John McCain and Barack Obama. Both of us believe Mrs. Clinton's campaign is on life-support. If you'd like, you can call in.

If you'd like to read my response to the NY Times's smear piece on McCain -- accompanied by comments on "Obamanomics," please scroll down, and you'll find a garden of earthly delights.

Is Barack Obama's Real Name Chauncey Gardiner?

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) I'm going to write about the "Obama Phenomenon." I've been quoting an extreme left-wing law professor at Harvard named Lawrence Tribe. He believes Supreme Court justices should look at the Constitution as an Etch-a-Sketch on which they transcribe their fondest (left-wing) hopes and dreams. He says Barack Obama is "brilliant," which I fear means Obama agrees in all relevant matters with Prof. Tribe.

On my side, I've described Obama as a combination of rhetorical genius and an intellectual simpleton. I doubt there's a way Prof. Tribe and I can resolve our differences.

If you wish, take a quick trip to Wikipedia.com and look up the movie "Being There," one of Peter Sellers' last films. The protagonist is a man (mis-) named Chauncey Gardiner, whose simple platitudes impress people to the point that they see him as a future President. Barack Obama, meet Chauncey Gardiner. Can we really say that? "Yes, we can!"

ME LIVE ON POLITICAL PISTACHIO

On Monday, February 25, I'll be on blog talk radio with Adam Brickley, who has engineered the highly successful Draft Sarah Palin (Alaska Governor) for VP movement. We'll be on Douglas Gibbs's Political Pistachio program at 7 p.m. Eastern time, and I hope you'll tune in. Also, call in if you'd like. Here's the link: http://blogtalkradio.com/politicalpistachio.

Doug has a great show, and one of his guests next week will be Kathleen Willey, who claims (credibly) that President Bill Clinton molested her in the Oval Office. Ms. Willey joins a long list of women (Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky, and many who remain namelss) whose relationships with former President Clinton have not been fruitful, to say the least.

On Monday, Adam and I will be discussing possible vice-presidential choices for Senator McCain. If you'd like to see Adam's site, something of a shrine to Gov. Palin (pronounced PALE-in), go to: http://palinforvp.blogspot.com.

Even if Sarah doesn't get the nomination, she is a GOP political superstar-in-the-making. She reminds me a lot of my Washington County, PA friend Diana Lynn Irey, who ran a heroic campaign in 2006 against the evil John Murtha.

This weekend I'll be writing about the Washington County, PA GOP and its web site.

Please see below about how you can contribute the campaign of an American hero, Senator John McCain.

Coming Events

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Saturday: I'm attending an event tonight featuring Paul Kengor, a Reagan expert and political science professor at Grove City College, and Melissa Hart, a candidate to regain her congressional seat in the 4th District of PA (the one where I live). They'll be discussing politics in general -- and sanctity of life issues in particular. In the next two days, Sunday and Monday, I'll be writing about the Iowa Caucus, New Hampshire primary, and Melissa Hart's race, which will be one with important national implications.

Last night (Friday), I was on Eric Dondero's radio show, along with Adam Brickley, who's led a brilliant campaign to get Alaska Governor Sarah Heath Palin the second spot on the GOP ticket. If you'd like, you can hear the show by going to: http://blogtalkradio.com/libertarian. Near the end of the show "Gamecock," a legendary blogger and columnist for the Charlotte Observer made some great observations about the upcoming South Carolina Primary.

On January 3, Douglas Gibbs had Melissa Hart on as a guest on his show. You can find the archived version of that show at: http://blogtalkradio.com/politicalpistachio.See you again tomorrow!

CALLING ALL BLOGGERS: RUSSELL CAMPAIGN

The blogging community will play an important part in helping Lt. Col. Bill Russell defeat John Murtha. If you look on my other site (one that has the same postings as this one), you'll discover approximately 40 blogs listed as "4 Russell." All these blogs have printed material supportive of Russell; several of the bloggers have contributed to the campaign; a few are actively involved in their own fundraising efforts for the campaign; an important group of the bloggers (Douglas Gibbs, Eric Dondero, Jenn of the Jungle, and Snooper) have interviewed Bill and other people supporting him on BlogTalkRadio.

Traditionally, liberal, the "netroots" (or "nutroots," as some call them) have been better than we conservatives at online politics. That's changing -- as it must if we're to say competitive.

In 2004, Joe Trippi ran the successful Internet campaign for Howard Dean, and it was a tremendous success. In Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, he says that Dean's "Meetup" site had 600,000 participants. The Dean Campaign rasied more than $50 million, much of it coming from people online.

No Republican Campaign has come anywhere close to those numbers, although Ron Paul is setting some records of his own. In one day, Paul raised a total of $10 mllion from people contributing online.

To defeat John Murtha (who will spend $4 million-plus in this election cycle), Bill Russell needs to raise at least $500,000 -- preferably more. As usual, the Murtha campaign will throw money at his supporters in ways that are of questionable legality. In contrast, the Russell effort will be scrupulously legal and very efficient, with every dollar aimed at finding and getting votes.

In terms of contributions, Russell is doing well online, but needs to keep doing better. Correction, those of us campaigning online have to do better. We have to keep spreading the message that Murtha can be beaten -- and will be with the supportive of the conservative online community.

Yes, John Murtha will receive many millions of dollars from lobbyists and companies that he's essentially bought and paid for with federal dollars, a percentage of which are returned to him in the form of campaign contributions.

You can check out the malicious mess that is the Murtha Campaign by going to http://opensecrets.org and keying in the name "Murtha." You'll see that for the 2008 election, he'd already spent by last September 30, a total of almost $700,000. By the December 31 Federal Election Commission reporting date, Murtha will have spent more than a million dollars.

I assure you the contributions didn't come from lobbyists and companies committed to Good Government.

How can those of us committed to Russell overcome that avalanche of payoffs to "The Prince of Pork?" We can do it by outsmarting him in the campaign, which luckily won't be that hard. We can also do it by making the maximum use of an inexpensive medium -- the Internet. For example, this particular communication is not costing me anything, aside from the blood, sweat, and tears always involved with writing.

What do we need? At least 30,000 people online backing the Russell Campaign by advocating his candidacy (relax, we apparently have more than 1,000 already). Of the 30,000 as many as 2,000 should be bloggers. We also need 3,000-plus people to go the Russell web site and contribute money. A lot of contributions of $20, $50, and $100 will go a long way toward defeating Murtha.

Politics isn't brain surgery. It consists of the three M's: message, mobilization (of supporters), and money, which is necessary to get the message out and to mobilize thousands of people to win this race.

What can you do? Be one of those people that spreads the message; also, be a person who asks others to join you in volunteering to help Russell.

The third part is the most important. We conservatives need to start out-contributing the liberals.

Go the Russell web site and so what you can to make sure this outstanding candidate has the support he needs. Trust me: you'll feel good about it.

Your Christmas Gift to Russell

(Above) Portrait of an Angry Loudmouth

. . . and a lump of coal for John Murtha, who loves his office but not his country

I sent the letter below to Libertarian-Republican activist Eric Dondero and several hundred of my closest friends and political allies. I've appeared this year twice on Eric's BlogTalkRadio site, as well as on Douglas Gibbs's Political Pistachio, Jenn of the Jungle's "Screw Liberals," and Snooper's program. I recommend all of them, and they're listed on my blogroll. They're helping to transform politics in this country. Of great interest to me, they're all generating donations to the Russell Campaign.

In 2006, Diana Lynn Irey, a dear friend of mine and an heroic figure, ran against Murtha and received 7,000 contributions from all 50 states. In contrast, Murtha got 6,500, although his average contribution was much larger than Diana's. If William Russell can get an unprecedented 10,000 contributions -- many of them $50 or less -- he will send Murtha into an unplanned "early retirement." You can donate to William by going to his site here. Please do so right now.

Eric and Friends: I much enjoyed my appearance on your radio show last night. Jason, who spoke for the Romney campaign, and Norma Jean, who spoke for herself and libertarian views, were excellent. There aren't many radio shows that can produce that sort of dynamism and candor. Norma Jean raised issues in such a compelling way that she did something unusual: she made me re-think my stand on some key issues, especially the need to defer to people who exercise their freedom in unconventional ways.

I truly hope that everyone who follows you, your blog, and your radio show will unite behind the candidacy of Lt. Col. William Russell as he does everything in his power to defeat John Murtha in PA's 12th congressional district.

This may end up as the most important congressional race in the nation. If Murtha goes down, the shock waves would reverberate around the world. This will be a very hard race to win, but it is certainly not impossible. Even at this early stage, Lt. Col. Russell's campaign is shaping up as one of the most imaginative and effective ever waged.

This race can't be won if it restricts itself merely to the 12th District. It must be a national effort, one supported by conservatives and libertarians in all 50 stages. Russell will not be able to outspend Murtha, but he is outsmarting him -- and having a real influence on Murtha's previous position of total opposition to American efforts in Iraq and the Middle East.

When Murtha said, "The surge is working," what he really meant is that he is very concerned about Russell's candidacy.

I urge everyone who believes "Murtha MUST go" to visit Russell's web site. He needs thousands of volunteers around the nation, including those who will join "Bloggers 4 Russell," a rapidly growing group that will eventually include more than 500 bloggers.

Most of all, at this early stage, he needs financial support. People who've never contributed to a campaign before are giving $20, $50, and even $100 or more. Personally, I've given more than $400 and will contribute more, even though I'm not exactly in the category of "affluent." Murtha collects huge bag-fulls of cash from lobbyists and various companies that benefit from his shameful "earmarks."

To counteract that situation, Russell needs many small contributions ($200 or less) from perhaps 10,000 people who love this country and are deeply disturbed by the antics of Murtha.I appeal to everyone to put this appeal on their blogs or to send it to their e-mail lists. Unity and enthusiasm are keys to winning against Murtha.

Lt. Col. Russell, who was born on a military base, has devoted an entire lifetime to supporting and protecting the U.S. Now, it's our turn to support him. Many people have volunteered to solicit financial support for the Russell Campaign. I hope you'll join them.

John Murtha has said that being a congressman is all about "making deals." On the other hand, William Russell believe that being a congressman is all about making this a better -- freer, more secure, more prosperous -- country.

To win, Russell needs to add just ONE PERCENT to the votes George Bush received in the district in 2004. That's certainly not an impossible task. Please visit http://williamrussellforcongress.com/ -- and do so today.

Steve Maloney
Ambridge, PA

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