Today’s Event in San Diego
Mitt in San Diego
San Diego loves Mitt. It’s home to one of his five sons, four of his grandkids and quite a few real red-state Republicans. So when word came out late yesterday there’d be an endorsement and related press event in downtown San Diego this afternoon, things started buzzing fast. Word got out quickly and there were a few hundred people on hand waving signs and banners when Mitt made his entrance.
Here are a couple pictures.
Notice the cute kid in the lower left. That’s my son Nicolas, a big Mitt fan.
The kid next to Mitt in this picture is my son Zacharie, also a big Mitt fan. He won’t take that cap off.
The occasion for the visit was the acceptance of the endorsement of Brian Bilbray, my congressman. Mr. Bilbray noted he thought it appropriate for his district and the country to know where he stood, in particular with his position as the Chair of the Immigration Reform Caucus. And he strongly endorsed Mitt. Mitt of course graciously accepted the endorsement and went on to discuss a number of topics, including immigration, the economy, how Washington is broken and how it’s time for the politicians to move out. He noted his strength as having served in the private sector and in government, and noted McCain’s self-acknowledged shortcomings on the economy. But Mitt’s best line may have been that while McCain said he’d bring in an expert on the economy as his VP, Mitt said, “sorry, but I’m not available.” The crowd loved it.
Tidbits in the Wings
Afterward in talking with a few of the regulars at the Mitt events, one mentioned that a number of former Giuliani supporters had called her for Mitt signs for their yard. Apparently the choice between Mitt and Mac is becoming one of principle: now that Fred and Rudy are gone, and Huckabee is drifting to the side, people are choosing ideologically between McCain and Mitt, and Mitt represents the real Republican choice for quite a few of these folks. I’m very encouraged by what I’m hearing from all quarters anecdotally.
The Real John McCain?
I ran into a veteran a few days ago at an event for Mitt and he and his wife insisted that there’s a whole story about McCain that no one is telling. They encouraged me to hit the site “Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain.” I can’t say if the site has accurate information, but there’s at least one interesting story there, written back in his 2000 run. It’s the story of McCain’s first wife and how somehow she forgave him for his infidelities when he got home from Vietnam. I’ll leave it to you to look at it and make up your own mind, but there are some who feel quite strongly McCain’s military experience is not the qualifier to be Commander-in-Chief he claims it is, and that his “straight talk” is only straight when it really benefits him. Like Mitt said, facts are stubborn things, and even though McCain has repeated certain distortions time and time again, they’re no more true today than they were the first time. Take a look and make up your own minds; again I’m not sure how much is accurate here, but its enough to make one pause.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:33 am
There is a comment in mymanmitt.com under Social Conservatives Unite that indicated there is an investigation going that over 300.000 votes may have been casted illegally by independents. That definitely ought to be somethings that Romney campaign shuld challenge. Do we have somone looking into it and after checking its accuracy, get the word out?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:06 am
I knew Brian Bilbray when he was a San Diego County Supervisor. He’s an idiot. He may be a right-wing, rabid, anti-meixcan “leader,” but he is the type of person the Republican Party can do without. Bilbray ran for the seat that Duke Cunningham held prior to his conviction for bribery (another anti-Republican poster boy).
I would hope that Mitt could campaign without such endorsements. If he EVER wants to reach across the aisle to get the votes of Independents and Democrats in the General Election, this type of endorsement will hurt/will be fatal. BUT…since it’s still a Super Tuesday campaign, I’ll hold my nose for Mitt’s VERY STRANGE bedfellow.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:08 am
By the way, I contributed $1000 to the campaign yesterday, so I feel like a stockholder in Mitt’s campaign. (Previously wife and I have ponied up $2000)
February 1st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Apparently Ross Perot is good friends with McCain’s first wife…and the fact that McCain dumped her after coming back as a POW to marry a rich girl has not sat well with Perot all these years. Last month Perot chastised McCain and endorsed Romney.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:05 am
John McCain has been a part of Washington Corruption. He was one of the five Senates who involved in Savings & Loans scandal in later 80’s. It is also called “The Keating Five”.
In 1989, the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, CA, collapsed. Lincoln’s Chairman, Charles H. Keating Jr., was faulted for the thrift’s failure. Keating told the House Banking Committee that the FHLBB and its former chief Edwin J. Gray were pursuing a vendetta against him. Gray testified that several U.S. senators had approached him and requested that he ease off on the Lincoln investigation. It came out that these senators had been beneficiaries of 1.3 million in campaign contributions from Keating.
This allegation set off a series of investigations by the California government, the United States Department of Justice, and the Senate Ethics Committee. The Ethics committee’s investigation focused on five senators: Alan Cranston (D_CA), Dennis DeConnis (D-AZ), John Glenn (D_OH), John McCain (R_AZ) and Donald Riegle Jr.(D_MI), who became known as the Keating Five. After the investigation, the Committee recommended censure for Cranston and criticized the other four. Most of them did not seek for re-election, and John McCain is the only one who left in Senate. John McCain is a part of Washington Corruption. The country is in another Savings & Loans crisis, and how people could forget the Washington corruption that associated with John McCain. IF Republican Party votes for John McCain for the President of United State, we become the party of Washington Corruption.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Helen, interesting background on the K5. What a surprise…of the five, four were Democrats and the only Republican aligned with them was John McCain. Some things never change.