Posted by
Bert Chapman on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 10:03:51 AM
Michigan's GOP primary voters got it right last night in the decisive victory they gave Mitt Romney in the presidential primary. After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, last night's win for Romney temporarily gives him frontrunner status. Romney was able to articulate the economic concerns of MIchigan voters and stress how important the auto industry is to American economic health and competitiveness. His victory reflected a wide level of support which will serve him well if he becomes the GOP nominee because, I believe, he's the only Republican candidate who can bring together economic, social, and national security conservatives. It's also nice that the independents who supported McCain in New Hampshire did not come out in force. I hold the "heretical" view that the Republican presidential candidate should actually be supported by Republicans instead of independents and mischief minded Democrats. Long live closed primaries!
The Democratic race has gotten into one of its silly leftist ideological tantrums with Clinton and Obama getting tied up in knots over how important Martin Luther King and the Democratic party establishment were in achieving the leftist conception of civil rights. It's been 40 years since King's death, and you would think it would be possible to develop some balanced historical perspective on King's life, personal character, career, and overall historical significance. That is the case with most historically significant figures, but not with the "martyred saint" of the liberal cognoscenti in the Democratic Party or "civil rights establishment." Any attempt to provide less than a hagiographic assessment of King's influence and character by people in public life, is likely to be met with denunciations of "racism" or "insensitivity" if individuals offering such assessments take any position of King other than absolute deification. This was most visibly reflected by the comments of South Carolina Congressman and House Majority Whip James Clymer who recently opined ex cathedra "We have to be very, very careful about how we speak of that era in American politics." You would think the First Amendment would apply to discussions of King and the civil rights movement, but not if Soviet style civil rights apparatchik enforcers like Clymer have their way. Thank heavens we don't have to put up with that infantile nonsense in the Republican Party or as Conservatives!