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Does it really make sense for Republicans to go negative against their fellow Republicans? I’ve noticed that most of the GOP candidates, particularly Mitt Romney, seem to stick to the belief that these aren’t attack ads that are being run, but instead as Romney has said, “are contrast ads.”

C’mon now. We might not be as smart as you, but we don’t need a bunch of spinning about what is really happening.

I personally enjoy Mitt Romney and think that if he is elected, he could potentially be a good President. However, he has to stop being with all of his word play. I’ve noticed that that over the months, he seems to be living off of a script. Romney is a smart guy, he should just stick to his knowledge and stay away from the strategists talking points.

Anyway, back to the negative videos, there have been a variety. Instead of just giving you the links to the negative ones, I think everyone should see the variety, so you can decide for yourself who is desperate and who is not.

http://www.campaignnetwork.org/search.aspx?Sec=A

While I’m still finding myself indifferent on who I am going to vote for in November, John McCain has been doing an incredible job of playing ” smart politics.” While most of the candidates have been finishing up shop in Iowa, McCain took advantage of the open stage and took the steps to, in my opinion, give Romney a true fight. Yes, it has been close over the past few polls, but after watching McCain’s speeches I saw a true threat.

One thing that I urge everyone to do is turn off their network news and go to CSPAN. They have been doing a fantastic job covering each of these candidates, free from commentary, giving everyone the chance to make their own decisions. What’s truly unique about CSPAN and their coverage of these campaign events, is that they don’t turn off their microphones when the candidates are speaking to the audience members individually.

I’ve noticed that when you see the candidates mingle with the audience, you get a true view of who they really are. You can sense the phoniness much more when you are seeing them talk to people one on one. This has been extremely apparent for both Republican and Democrat candidates in this cycle.

However, I haven’t seen John McCain step into that mode yet. I’ve been spending some time in the evenings looking back on video at http://www.campaignnetwork.org/ , and thus far, I haven’t found much.

All I can say, is New Hampshire is going to be a wild one.

Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by this story:

HEBRON, West Bank, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Palestinian militants killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers who were hiking on Friday near the West Bank city of Hebron, in a clash that left two of the gunmen dead, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

What will Israel do? Notice that things like this always happen when the media starts to give attention and hope to potential peace talks. I’ll be interested to see how this, and the events tied to this have an effect on those talks.

You can read the rest here: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28409300.htm

From the Asia Times Online:

Al-Qaeda claims Bhutto killing
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - ”We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat mujahideen.” These were the words of al-Qaeda’s top commander for Afghanistan operations and spokesperson Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, immediately after the attack that claimed the life of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto on Thursday (December 27).

Bhutto died after being shot by a suicide assailant who, according to witnesses, also detonated a bomb that killed himself and up to 20 others at a rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Bhutto, with Western backing, had been hoping to become prime minister for a third time after general elections next month.

For rest of article, click here: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IL29Df01.html

With all the attention now (rightfully) focused on the unfortunate death of Benazir Bhutto, I can’t help but wonder why the media isn’t giving more attention to the fact that Musharraf knew exactly what her situation was yet seemed to do little to strengthen her security.

I came across this story yesterday evening (though its from 12/26) when I analyzing news stories from different media outlets across the globe:

Pakistani police say bomber prevented from entering Bhutto rally in Peshawar

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 08:00 PM

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistani police caught a would-be suicide bomber today as the teenager tried to enter a rally for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in the northwestern city of Peshawar, a local police official said.

The 15-year-old boy, who had a small bomb consisting of dynamite and nails, managed to make it past the first of four security checkpoints set up outside the rally, but was caught at the second checkpoint, said local police officer Rahim Shah.

Pakistan, which has been a key US ally in the war on terror, has been beleaguered by suicide bombings and other attacks as well as fighting between Islamic militants and armed forces.

Doesn’t it seem odd that a 15 year old boy was able to get through even the first checkpoint? If anything, this seems like a convenient test, something that Al-Qaeda has done in the past, that being using Children to test the waters.

Aside from that, the more important question is whether or not Musharraf knew about this situation. While I haven’t been able to find any comment from him on this, my guess is that he knew all of the details and then some. Even if it was just a child any pro-democracy leader would have offered her more security.

Unfortunately, playing Monday morning quarterback isn’t going to bring back Bhutto. I have no doubt that in the coming months escalation of attacks on US troops will rise significantly from the Waziristan region if Musharraf is once again elected. With there being no candidate to fill the shoes of Bhutto, things definitely look grim.

Yes, Musharraf has been a friend to the US in the past, however he has been incredibly inconsistent and more importantly, extremely undemocratic.

This is a point where a lot of Republicans will disagree with me, however I truly believe that feux democratic leaders hurt our goals much more than assist in advancing them.

Reuters is reporting that an Islamic website says that it will be releasing a new Osama Bin Laden recording about the status of terrorist attacks in Iraq.

According to the article, these messages have often been released within three days of being announced on these terrorist websites.

If you’re interested in reading on it more, here is the link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071228/ts_nm/qaeda_binladen_tape_dc_2;_ylt=AuDWXFES8PZVOnFUkl0335xX6GMA

I saw an excellent documentary on HBO earlier this week, Hard as Nails, which documents the life Catholic lay-minister, Justin Fatica and his quest to get more young people involved in the church.

Normally, I’m not one who is a fan of proselytizing evangelicals (yes, I’m still a Republican), but I noticed something in different in how Fatica approached young people: he called them out on their imperfections that nobody wanted to talk about. In the movie, there was a larger girl who was getting made fun of because of her weight. Now, most people would just tell her “you’re not that fat” or “who cares what they think” but Fatica took a completely different approach.

He told this girl straight-up, “you’re fat” and of course, silenced the crowd of teens that was in the audience. However, he wasn’t doing this to humiliate the girl, but instead was doing it as a means to cut through the political correctness and get to the core of the problem. The problem wasn’t the fact that this girl was fat, but instead the problem was that there weren’t more people who were willing to stand up to those people who talked down to her.

So how does this apply to the GOP?

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen this applied in the party yet, but after awhile I came to the conclusion that if the party is truly going to be successful, there needs to a serious discussion of what the party, not just the President or a few individuals have done wrong.

Instead of focusing on why one person is the way they are, or why they have done something, the party should be focusing on everyone surrounding that person. In this case, those surrounding would be the party itself.

Too often do I see Republicans here in Washington who surround themselves with people who have a little bit of power, and use that power to write their own agenda. Unfortunately, if these “mavericks” build a strong enough of a following, their feux-GOP beliefs can easily become those of the party.

Just look at the Bush Administration. Yes, they have done some great things for the conservative movement, but at the same time there has almost been more harm than good. Government has grown out of control, earmarks take up more paper than actual legislation and the spending has increased significantly.

Like Fatica says consistently throughout the documentary, “so what are you doing to do about it”.

This is a question that really needs to be asked as we approach the 2008 elections. So far, I’ve only seen attack questions and softballs, all questions that have some significance to the candidate on a personal level, but very few actually have value to re-building our tattered party.

If we don’t fix it, there are going to be major factions throughout the Republican party. Eventually, these factions will fade into smaller groups, and before you know it, being a member of the Republican party will be no different than being a member of the YMCA.

At least the YMCA lets me use their pool.

Maybe I’m the only one who understand the tie-in of “Hard as Nails” and the problems facing the Republican party, but if anything, you should definitely check out the documentary.

Here is more info: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/hardasnails/