Rush Attacks Huckabee

A consequence of living in the South is the predominance of right-wing talk on the radio. In California, there are all kinds of alternatives, progressive to way-progressive. But not here. So as a result of this, if you like talk radio, you are forced to listen to Rush, Hannity, and the others.

I consider it opposition research. Its good to know what really sets the other side off, so you can fight em at their own game.

Today, Rush went after Huckabee. A caller had the audacity to compare Huckabee to Ronald Reagan and Rush went ballistic. "Huckabee is NO Ronald Reagan!" he thundered, barely able to control himself. He went on to diss every one of the other Republican candidates, finally deciding not to decide. "If you pick a candidate this early, you're dead," he declared.

Basically all this means that the right-wing Republicans are floundering around with no clear candidate, unlike previous years when the entire machine lined up behind Bush from the start. McCain is too liberal, Romney has a liberal record despite now positioning himself as a conservative. Huckabee is also too liberal, in some ways more similar to John Edwards than Ronald Reagan. Guiliani is weak on social conservative issues, and Thompson just seeming not to give a shit anymore.

As an observer, this mess is fantastic to watch. Its almost more fun to watch than watching the Democrats battle for their slot.

Hillary is flopping around the bottom of the rowboat, trying to pick a message that includes "experience," "ready," and "change" all at the same time.

Obama, as I predicted, has gone ahead and started using some of Edwards' populist language, which is good if he actually backs up the rhetoric down the line. Notice that Edwards actually walks the walk. He has taken NO money from PACs, and is using public financing for his campaign. This may in fact doom the effort unless he can surge in N.H. and pick up momentum (and subsequent donations), because he is about to run out of money. But based on the reactions of crowds, Obama seems to really have captured the imagination of more than a few believers, and may swallow Edwards whole.

I cannot wait until Tuesday, when we will see what happens with N.H.'s primary voting. My prediction right now is for a comfortable Obama victory with Edwards and Hillary again basically battling for a distant second. Id tend to think Edwards would weaken in N.H. due to different demographics than Iowa, but HillyBilly just doesn't seem to be closing the sale.

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