I am beginning to like Hillary Clinton.

Now please, pick your jaw up off the floor and try to understand where I'm coming from. Like me, I'm sure you can remember a time when you thought of this woman as a virtual Antichrist....that is, until Barack Obama swooped onto the scene. Everything he has said and done on this campaign trail has convinced me that, should he be elected this fall, he would become the most horrific, disastrous and unmitigated catastrophe of a president this nation has ever known. Now, I realize that when compared to about 99.9 percent of Republicans (including Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain and Charlie Crist), Hillary looks like the Wicked Witch of the West. But when seated beside Barack Obama, she reminds me more of that giggly, pink witch from the north who flew around in bubbles. (Sorry Hillary, inflated soap ain't gonna do much good against those Bosnian sniper rifles). But seriously, think about it for a moment:

• Hillary had the sense to vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq when all reputable intelligence estimates agreed that Saddam was an imminent nuclear threat.

   
• She has repeatedly emphasized the need to "finish our mission in Iraq" before pulling out.

   
• She actually places her hand over her heart (or at least the cavity where it should be) during the Pledge of Allegiance, wears flag lapel-pins and occasionally utters the words "God bless America - all tremendous no-no’s for the extreme, America-hating Left.
   
• Overlooking the obvious political expediency involved, she has actually aligned herself with religious Pennsylvanian gun-owners in indigence of Barack Obama's spectacularly arrogant statements about them last week.

   
• And just when I thought the deal couldn't get any sweeter, she has now officially survived six months without that political life-support all liberals rely on: the mainstream media bias.

Honestly, I'm beginning to admire her. And with John McCain as our nominee this time around, who can blame me? But it goes further than that. Hillary has survived not only in the absence of media worship, but in the searing hellfire of the media's full hatred. Just look at the obsessive coverage they aired after her "sniper fire" incident compared with the season pass they've given Obama on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy, his inflammatory insinuations about "typical white people," his severe inexperience and thus glaring misstatements about everything from constitutional authority to foreign policy, his blatantly racist autobiography, and most recently his terrifically insulting crack about "bitter Pennsylvanians clinging to guns and religion." [P]MSNBC (yes, I actually allow their headlines a small place on my computer's sidebar), even went so far today as to openly declare victory by informing us that the "Obama's “bitter Pennsylvanians” comments have done little or no damage to his campaign."

It may be that I have Rush Limbaugh and his Operation Chaos to thank for this Democratic demolition derby more than Hillary herself. But as Ann Coulter said in a recent column, "I've always wondered how a Democrat would fare being treated like a Republican by the media. Now we know." In my view, Mrs. Clinton has done pretty darned well for herself. Now Hillary, I'm not pledging you my general election vote yet. But hey, keep on tearing up Obama like you have and maybe I'll consider it! *wink*

There's just no end to the brainless, traitorous statements that the Huckster can make....  Now he's defending Jeremiah Wright:

I suppose you could say I’ve been mildly critical of Governor Mike Huckabee on this blog. Naturally, I’ve always believed my reasons for doing so were legitimate. Ever since he began his presidential bid, Huckabee has shamelessly portrayed himself as the “moral choice” in this election. (“I’m running to take this nation back for Christ!”) For those of you who don’t believe me, just look at Congressman Ron Paul, another strong Christian who has striven to keep his faith largely out of the limelight. Although he’s rightly recognized that religion should play a pivotal role in government, he’s purposely avoided the temptation to pander to his fellow Christians and instead focused on substantive governmental issues, a decision for which I admire him.

Huckabee however, has brought his Baptist faith to the forefront, claiming to “drink a different kind of Jesus Juice,” which is as much as to say he’s out of step with the majority of social conservatives. What’s more, I’m not particularly inclined to believe that he’s even a considerate or “Christian” individual. No one can deny that his unprovoked name-calling of fellow candidates and of the current president hardly reflects an attitude of Christian charity. Nevertheless, the mainstream media has spent the last two months fawning over him and their other pet Republican, Senator John McCain, who also seems to loathe Mitt Romney with a fiery passion. If I didn’t know better, I’d say these two had some sort of agreement worked out.  In the last week, Huckabee has viciously attacked his secondary rival, Governor Mitt Romney, while turning a blind eye…or rather an affectionate eye…to the real target and frontrunner:

“McCain’s not a liberal. Mitt Romney calls him that, and that’s absurd.” –Mike Huckabee

“Dishonest? I’ve never seen John McCain say something untrue.” –Mike Huckabee

This isn’t normal political behavior. As third in line according to the polls, Huckabee should be joining Romney in attacking the frontrunner. But as the race goes on, he continues to act as though Romney is his primary concern, with little if any talk about actually winning the nomination. And there’s a good reason, too.   

This man isn’t running for president anymore. He’s running safety for John McCain.

“Huckabee knows that by keeping his candidacy alive, he’s potentially helping McCain win another split plurality vote. McCain knows it, too. Gratitude will follow — but whether that includes the vice presidency is anybody’s guess.”

This according the University of Virginia political science professor, Larry Sabato.

But regardless of whether the Huckster has some sort of ulterior motive for acting this way, any reasonable person must at least conclude he has a bit of a personal vendetta against Romney: Just look at some of the nasty things he’s said about the former Massachusetts governor in recent days, most of which have nothing whatsoever to do with actual policy issues:  

“Here’s a man who didn’t hit political puberty in the conservative ranks until he was almost sixty years old.”

“He spends millions of bucks [against] John McCain, or me then we push back then he just jumps up and down and screams and hollars and says ‘oh its a personal attack, its a personal attack.’ This is running for the presidency, this ain’t bean bag. So if he’s gonna throw a few at our head, he needs to know that when he comes to the plate he’s gonna see some 98mph fastballs coming back. That’s the way it works. If he thinks this is tough he ain’t seen nothing yet.”

 “Some people running for president were gone over 200 days their last year in office.”

“Ask him [Romney] when was the last time he used a firearm and would he know how to clean it if somebody handed it to him.”

True to form, Huckabee even reverted to his signature class-warfare rhetoric, taking a jab at Romney’s largely self-funded campaign:

“I can’t write a personal check for tens of millions of dollars to impress you with what a great guy I am.”

Then there’s his infamous mouth-off about President Bush for which Mitt Romney actually demanded an apology:

“As the world's last superpower, America is less vulnerable to military attack but more vulnerable to the animosity of other countries. Much like the top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised. Thus, American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out and move away from the Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality."

Probably the funniest part about McCain’s new little smart-aleck sidekick is how he goes for Romney’s jugular on the all-too-familiar “flip-flopping” issue, and yet himself exhibits hypocrisy and political expediency on a spectacular scale.

“You can’t change your position on key issues like that.” he said of Romney, and yet continues to alter his own positions based on the daily polls, a practice first pioneered as I recall by another Arkansas governor turned presidential candidate.

Consider for example, Huckabee’s own incredible about-face on illegal immigration:  

"I tend to think that the rational approach [to illegal immigration] is to find a way to give people a pathway to citizenship." –Huckabee

Ready? Here we go…Presto-chango!

“[We need to] send illegals home so everyone in the US can hold their heads high.”
 --Huckabee

Perhaps just as interesting was his solemn promise late last year to keep this campaign friendly and positive. Just days later however, he aired his first attack ads against Romney in Iowa.

And now it seems Huckabee will stop at nothing to carry through with his “if I can’t have it, Romney can’t” attitude. For the last week, there have been calls from all over the Republican party for the cash-starved Huckabee to get out of the race and allow the conservative base to unite around Romney. Stubbornly refusing, Huckabee reverted to his default temperament and pointlessly demanded that Romney instead, drop out.

 Just hours ago, the story broke that Mike had won the delegates from the state of West Virginia, a plurality of which had formerly supported Mitt Romney. In what appeared to be a shrewd deal orchestrated by higher officials in the McCain camp, all of the caucus delegates supporting the Senator were instructed to switch to Huckabee’s side with the expressed purpose of “stopping Romney.”  

Romney campaign spokesman, Kevin Madden, commented:

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change.”

According to Huckabee, “If you’re catching flak, you must be close to the target.” Seems to me Romney’s plane is the only one on fire.

With all of the religious community's fuss over former governor Mike Huckabee, anyone would think he'd walked on water and healed leapers. Seriously, this guy is like the Republican Barack Obama. His candidacy has garnered universal adoration, but nobody can really see why. (Can Huckabee HIMSELF even see with those crazy chameleon eyes of his)?

Here's my theory: The Christian base of the Republican Party is suffering from what psychologists refer to as 'wishful hallucination.' In short, they have told themselves so many times that a PERFECT candidate must emerge before the primaries, that they've finally started believing it. It seems they've fallen into an imaginary world where any candidate who supports illegal alien amnesty, higher taxes and wishy-washy foreign policy can become the next Ronald Reagan. Their choice it seems is as random as their logic: an eccentric but charismatic Southern Baptist preacher who sees every undocumented strawberry-picker as an embattled victim of Anglo-American racism. 

But Shane, he's against abortion! 

Yes, and so is practically every other Republican candidate, including--contrary to popular belief--Rudy Giuliani. 

I like to think of my fellow 'homeschooled Christians' as intelligent people, but this ordeal has truly strained my faith in them. How is it that Mike Huckabee, a man who routinely condemns the best immigration reform as propaganda designed to "rile up those who are racists and bigots” has risen to SECOND PLACE in nationwide polls?  

I didn’t intend to for this to become a blogosphere hit job on Huckabee, but his glaring flaws deserve at least a few moments in the limelight. Consider for example, his performance as governor according to Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA, one of the most instrumental groups in defeating this year's Senate immigration bill: 

"[Governor Mike Huckabee] was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor of Arkansas...Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens"

These words don't exactly bode well for a nation currently under invasion from the Third World.
 
And then there's his quirky, illogical love for Bill and Hillary Clinton, perhaps the two people in the world LEAST adored by Huckabee's Christian Conservative voting base. Yet Mike not only toured with Bill on the End to Childhood Obesity tour, (wonder if Bon Jovi showed up at that one?) but showered him with complements saying, “I have tremendous respect for the Clintons.”

Respect? For the Clintons? Uh, Mr. Huckabee. We respect George Washington. We respect Winston Churchill. We respect war heroes, honest businessmen and parents who had to raise children like you. We do not respect presidents who perjure themselves before grand juries, engage in unconventional sex with interns, ignore the world’s most dangerous terrorists and leave behind foreign policy records comparable to that of Jimmy Carter.

But I digress. If Mike Huckabee isn’t a hard-core Clintonian, he’s certainly a fortune cookie. Just look at some of the cutesy statements he’s made—none of which have any political, social or moral implications whatsoever:

“Inside every human being there are treasures to unlock.” Yes, Mr. Huckabee. And you will have good fortune in the new year also.  

“I liked gravy poured on top of a big glob of mashed potatoes, I liked biscuits a lot, and a lot of them. I liked going to the state fair and having a fried Twinkie. They were my choices. They were bad choices.”

And apparently so was your decision to run for president, Mike.

I suppose the thing I find so astounding is how the Christian Conservative Community (sounds like some sort of Klan, doesn’t it?), has embraced this kind-hearted lunatic like some sort of Baptist saint. According to some of the latest polls, Huckabee comfortably holds more of the “evangelical” vote than all of the other Republican presidential candidates COMBINED. That means he has garnered more religious support than Fred Thompson, a former senator whose fiercely pro-life, small-government and family-friendly policies  go back literally DECADES to the dawn of his (rather ancient) political career. Perhaps most importantly, he has obtained the endorsements of several prominent Right to Life Committees throughout the nation, signaling a strong consensus that Fred is the most viable candidate to carry the anti-abortion banner.  
But Christians have also largely rejected Mitt Romney, arguably the greatest advocate of religious freedom and expression among the Republicans. Romney also has extensive executive experience, something that very few of the other candidates can claim.
Despite repeated attempts to make them see the light, Christian voters have also rejected Rudy Giuliani (mostly at the behest of Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and his cohorts in the value-voters crowd). Giuliani however, is known for having run what many call “the most conservative government” in America while mayor of New York City, virtually taking that city 180 degrees. The flack he catches on the abortion issue is also terrifically unfair, as he has promised to appoint strict-constructionist, pro-life justices to the Supreme Court, should the bench lose one or two of its judges.
Perhaps most absurd is the Christian Right’s utter indifference toward the BEST candidate in this race: Congressman Duncan Hunter. Not only is he the strongest SOCIAL conservative among the Republicans, but Hunter has also shown an adept command of complex foreign and domestic issues, tackling tough subjects like the impending Medicare crisis, trade problems with Communist China and a fantastically simple outlook on the War against Terrorism, namely, the ‘Ann Coulter’ approach of “invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity!” (Ok, so he doesn’t specifically advocate that last part). To top it all off, he has a tremendously confident and light-hearted manner in debates and public appearances that cannot help but remind one of the Gipper. The sheer injustice of the fact that he and Huckabee were neck-and-neck at the beginning of this year flabbergasts me.

Contrasting their separate stances on foreign policy for instance, Huckabee’s staggering idiocy makes a grand appearance as he chews out President Bush for being ‘too aggressive’ with Militant Islamics:

"It's a matter of saying, 'there's a line in the sand and you're either with us or against us.' Well, we understand what that means in the South and Southwest. But in many countries and cultures that may be seen as an ultimatum."

Isn’t that kind of the point?   

 But hey, maybe I’m being a little too harsh on Huckabee. Perhaps Mike would make a great commander-in-chief.

Or then again, maybe Chuck Norris will endorse a gutless sissy for president.
Oh wait…too late! 

“Honor and keep,” “cherish and love,” “in sickness and in health,” “for better or for worse,” “’til death do us part.”

What do these phrases mean to us? I’m beginning to believe that they mean nothing. Call me a cynic, call me faithless, but the growing trend in the world around us seems to be a wholesale rejection of everything permanent and committal about marriage. The trappings and vows of the American wedding—glorious and expensive though they are—seem to fade more and more quickly with each passing year. Perhaps it’s Hollywood’s fault. Maybe feminism is partly to blame. But regardless of the reason, it has become painfully clear to me: marriage is meaningless and defunct in the United States of America.

It’s anyone’s guess how we got to this point. Only a matter of decades ago, divorce or “dissolution of marriage” as our beloved attorneys at law refer to it, was unheard of. In 1816, one in every one-hundred marriages ended in divorce. At the beginning of the 20^th century, that number had only climbed to about six. By the end of the 1980s however, marriages ending in divorce had soared to about fifty percent. And although the nationwide average has fallen slightly since then, divorce rates have skyrocketed for one demographic in particular: conservative Christians. That’s right. According to the most recent statistics, “born-again” Protestant Christians are more likely to split up than Catholics, Mormons, or even Atheists. And to be honest, it doesn’t surprise me.

It seems everywhere I look these days, whether it’s among the members of my church, my friends or my high school classmates, divorce is rampant. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t hear about another family splitting up, another husband caught in an affair, or another wife who “just can’t take it anymore.” Having never been married myself (eighteen-year-olds don’t typically do that these days), I cannot speak from experience. But honestly, is marriage really that miserable?

Nowadays practically all I hear from wedded couples are complaints, arguments and vitriol. Even marriages that hold together for decades seem to end with little more than squabbling, cranky spouses who merely tolerate one another. Where is the love to which the Bible alludes? Are we incapable of anything but temporary infatuation? Is there no such thing as commitment? Are we just expected to accept this fickle and fleshly attitude toward marriage? If so, I didn’t get the memo.

I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic. Perhaps I should welcome this cold, bitter dose of reality. Maybe it’s true that marriage is a broken and fallen institution, just as marred by the Curse of Adam as anything else. Maybe we really are incapable of permanent, unconditional love. Far be it from me to declare a victory for Satan, but when the “devout” families of my closest friends begin to disintegrate before my very eyes, I start to wonder. Could it happen here? How strong is the marriage at the core of my family?

I wish I could finish this by writing an encouraging message. I wish I could say something like “stick to it!” or “it’s all worth it!” But right now, those phrases sound horribly corny and hollow. When twenty-year-old marriages suddenly fall to pieces, crushing the hearts of my dearest friends, how can I help but despair? When the diseases of adultery and breakup start to infect the families I have considered strong and devoted for years, who can blame me for losing hope? My only prayer at this point is that God would spare my family from that kind of agony and that I would never inflict it upon another. If that means relinquishing my own faint hope for real love, then so be it. I cannot continue to believe in the bonds which “God hath joined together,” when they snap on a daily basis. And despite all the happy fairy-tales we ignorantly believed as children, it’s beginning to seem like hate really is stronger than love.

As we approach the two-hundred and thirty-first anniversary of the founding of this, the greatest nation God gave man, I’m glad that the framers of our country could not foresee her future. Otherwise they might never have bothered to risk their talents, their freedoms or their lives to see that she left the nest.

I wonder if George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and all of the other great men who drafted and signed the constitution knew that their document would be torn to ribbons on a regular basis by the land’s highest courts or that men and women living under the benevolent rule of its boundless freedom and opportunity would spit upon and burn the flag which symbolizes it.

Imagine the founders’ collective shock if they were told that their successors would someday invent ‘rights’ to slaughter babies, mock marriage, and remove God from schools, while ignoring the explicit rights to bear arms and freely exercise religion. Imagine Thomas Jefferson’s shock if he were told that his ‘inalienable’ rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” would someday apply only to those outside the womb.

Imagine what those forty great men might say to Michael Moore, John Kerry, Dick Durbin and all of the other American citizens who passionately despise and spurn their country and its defenders. Were the minutemen or the Sons of Liberty branded as “fools” or “Nazis?” How many Americans in 1775 called for surrender when our disjoint colonies faced the wrath of the most powerful empire on earth? How many newspapers complained about the “disapproval” of the rest of the world when we stood our ground at Concord?

And yet we have devalued as a nation. Liberty is cheap, opportunity taken for granted. We hate the flag for which all the rest of the world still longs. For two hundred years the peoples of the earth have tried in vain to mimic the success of this country—of this city upon a hill where men live free to make their own lives without the shackles of monarchs or the scourges of tyrants. They fail to see the truth which Benjamin Franklin knew so well:

“God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”

We know the truth. And yet we despise its fruits. We despise the nation. We despise the freedoms. We stand up and shout lies to the rest of the world: “Your hopes are in vain! There is no liberty here.”

But we know better. We know the liberty. We live and breathe it each day. It is this liberty which allows us to say the hateful things that we say.

Our politicians want to pay penance to the rest of the world, and our diplomats want to swear our allegiance to global rule. Who is it that has clipped the eagle’s wings? Who is it that has filed her talons? Since when does America submit to any authority but God? Since when do we bow to the rule of sinful man?

Lord God, let us remember the words of Noah Webster:

“All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”

Remind us that the daily freedoms we so easily overlook spring not from our cleverness, but from your blessing. Change the hearts of those who deny your hand, deny your influence, deny your city on a hill. Restore to America that fire which once burned so bright; the fire of purpose, of passion, of vision for you.

But in the end, I pray only for what George Washington prayed:

“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.”

Lord, raise the Star-Spangled Standard once again, release the eagle one last time, and let America shine for all the world to see. And when all else has passed away, let her not be remembered as an earthly kingdom, but as a herald of your Kingdom.

America, there’s still someone who loves you.

Today is a day of mixed emotions for the law-abiding citizens of this country.

On the one hand, we have received the blessed tidings that President Bush's embarrassing immigration bill bit the dust in the senate when it failed to garner anywhere near enough votes to end debate. Needless to say, this warmed my heart. It also put a temporary end to my practice of bowling for Mexicans with my Toyota in the blueberry field adjacent to my home.

Temporary, mind you.

On the other hand however, something significant has finally emerged from the media-hysteria over Paris Hilton's incarceration. Unfortunately, the news is grim. It seems our spoiled little DUI hotel heiress has managed to sob her way out of prison. Allegedly she, like Brittney and the placentavoric Tom Cruise, has finally cracked.

Well, I’m not buying it.

Granted, she has exhibited multiple symptoms of psychosis in the past (I seem to recall something about a glorified rat in pink pajamas). This however, fails to explain her latest plunge toward absolute insanity.

As one of her fellow inmates so eloquently put it:

“It’s special treatment. You don’t see us getting sprung just because we go on a diet and cry.”

Personally, I think someone was bought off. Perhaps she offered the sheriff a year’s wages in cash or just an opportunity to feel her up. (Don’t Laugh. There are desperate men out there who would actually have to give this choice some serious thought).

Happily, it seems the judge who originally sentenced her to prison time has ordered her immediate return for a second trial, this one presumably for illegally arousing a law-enforcement officer.

So it seems the U.S. justice system isn’t quite as shot as I had originally believed.

The media however, is far beyond any hope of recovery. Except where it pertains to the condition of America’s criminal judiciary, this latest celebrity-story isn’t worth more than a front-page spot in your average grocery-store tabloid. Nevertheless, Paris has all but topped Anna Nicole Smith in ‘round the clock coverage. Her Chihuahua must be feeling lonely! Oh the humanity!

C’mon NBC, CNN, CBS, and yes…FOX. There are better, more important stories to cover today... like President Bush’s tummy ache at the G-8 Summit.

--G. Shane Morris