I expected better than to see Bill Kristol--in his inaugural op-ed piece --being dazzled by Mike Huckabee's personality. Being a rookie on foreign policy is a serious issue. Raising taxes 21 times while governor (for a net overall increase) is a serious issue. Using the language of "fair trade" instead of free trade, and talking like a labor union Democrat in the process, is a serious issue.

More below the fold...

Change Yes, Ron Paul No

Joel S. Hirschhorn

Americans want a real political leader, a real change agent. Ron Paul has never been a change agent. He is a change-talker. His claim to fame is voting against legislation, not writing bold legislation to produce change that actually became law.

Hat tip to Lew Rockwell .

I thought this liberal case for Ron Paul was worth a posting. It's not going to suddenly get a leftist surge for Paul either here or Dkos or anywhere else for that matter but Stan Goff's (the author) case is pretty strong for showing how Paul would do more for the progressive cause than any of the Dem candidates.

Being dead certain about issues in a complex world is not easy. Last week, Tyler Cowen praised uncertainty in a posting that got quite a bit of play in the blogesphere and on his site. I guess it's more messy to talk about what you are uncertain about because the list is much longer and more open to interpretation than talking about certainties.

I found this quick word by Don Boudreaux to be quite telling about politics in general and how most still view the process...from Joe Six Pack on Main St, USA to a PhD at a large university.

After all, for all the idealism and passion for "the issues", it's still a dirty, dirty business that is not for the faint hearted or even the honest...at least not successfully.

Promoted by Brendan.

Iowa's over, thankfully. Obama & Huckabee won there. That in itself is telling, but it's not the story I'm focused on.

This morning I read an Op-Ed by Joesph Galloway (McClatchy News Service) titled: Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission Haunt Bush in Pakistan . He said some very telling things that our next president will have to deal with. That's because bush43 isn't going to do a thing about them during the course of the next year. One thing he said that we all know now:

Russ Roberts asks a very good question :

why should the failure of your favorite candidate for President to meet expectations in Iowa change your vote?........Why should you change your vote if your favorite candidate looks to be falling behind?.......Why is it wasting your vote to vote for a candidate who has a diminished or minimal chance of winning? You get no credit for voting for the winner. It's not a bet.

I couldn't agree more.

Hat tip to the lovely Megan McArdle for this interesting article by Becker and this other one by Posner (much longer and detailed) at the Becker-Posner Blog on the state of liberalism in academia.

I see three possibilities for significant third-party/independent campaigns that might have an effect on the 08 election.

1. Michael Bloomberg. He has the money and significant name recognition. He also owns a news service, which doesn't hurt.

This video comes by way of my good friend Devil's Advocate over at Copious Dissent

Cato Daily Podcast .

A discussion of the wonders of gridlock, budget battles, 3000 page omnibus bills, slowed spending, earmarks, pork, veto threats and the tricks and gimmicks that congress comes up with to get extra spending thru...because it really wants to spend the money.

A fascinating few minutes that takes you into the wondrous world of appropriations.

David Frum is is trying to be cool . Yep, he sees other yawning beltway insiders taking silly pokes at Ron Paul that look like they took about 5 minutes of research....from reading other such pieces...and decides to join the fun. After all, other pundits are doing it, right?

Well, some people took notice of Frum's foppishness.

First, Tom Woods has a short piece called David Frum: I'm Smarter than Ron Paul

Woods:

From CNN (and little elsewhere in the MSM):

4 of Bolivia's states are attempting to secede from the national government:

Council representatives vowed to legitimize the so-called autonomy statutes through a referendum that would legally separate the natural-gas rich districts from President Evo Morales' government.

About two months ago I wrote an SC Diary titled: Does Hillary Clinton Support Driver’s Licenses for Illegals? .
here

In the November 26 issue of Newsweek, Markos Moulitsas has a one-page essay entitled "Make the Bush Record the Issue" in which he makes the case that Democrats

. . . should and will use Bush and his destructive policies on the campaign trail as the primary example of what happens when people who hate government are elected to run it. The message will be that Bush isn't a historical anomaly: he's the embodiment of modern conservatism.

I came across this short video of Rand. She said this of conservatives in 1961. It sounds like she said this yesterday or something.

It's only about 4 minutes long. Love her or Hate her or somewhere in between, I think she's spot on here.

This combines two entries I made at Freedom Democrats :

From The NY Times , we learn that French courts have ruled that Amazon.com may no longer offer free shipping of its sales in France or face heavy fines starting in 2008 if it fails to charge shipping.

When I first saw the news about the widespread report is Baseball on steroid use reaching the upper echelons of its stars, I felt different emotions.

One emotion was the sheer anti-climactic lack of surprise. It was so obvious regardless of what any "official investigation" had to say. We know. We've ALL known for so long now.

Another emotion was disappointment...but helpless disappointment...the kind you get from observing something unpleasant that you have no direct harm from and cannot change yet do not like it just the same. It's a same these players do this.

KdLKsY I think this is a real great article.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.

Converted from a series of comments in the Keep the Electoral College diary

(You know, this whole EC topic was last on my list of things to debate, but I'll take a stab at the third party issue. If this ends up being diary worthy, let me know or Brendan can use his awesome editor powers to transform it.)