Re-posted from PJ Media

Recently, I heard a rumor from an “in the know” Republican political operative about Democrat presidential jockeying for 2016.

The topic of the 2016 race arose while we were discussing the question first and foremost on the minds of all political junkies in 2012. Who will Mitt Romney select as his vice-presidential running mate?

After weighing in with my prediction from last year that current Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell would be chosen, the political operative said that in spite of how hard McDonnell’s people are in fact pushing to make that happen, he disagreed that McDonnell would be tapped.

However, he suggested that McDonnell should run for Virginia Senator Mark Warner’s open seat in 2014. Open seat?  That statement raised my eyebrows.

For an open seat means Senator Mark Warner would not be running for re-election in 2014.  Apparently this rumor is making its way around Washington.

If true, this could have a tremendous ripple effect for the 2016 Democratic presidential race because Senator Warner then plans to run for governor of Virginia in 2013.

Here is why this rumor is important.

Warner’s long term strategic reasoning is that he will have a better shot at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 if he is a sitting governor rather than just a run-of-the-mill senator.  More revealing, is Warner thinks the longer he stays in the senate, he will accumulate a pesky voting record that will come back to haunt his presidential campaign. (As a prime example, nothing could be peskier than Warner’s recent vote against  the Keystone pipeline.)

Everyone in political circles knows that Mark Warner has a burning desire to occupy the Oval Office, and running for president as the governor of Virginia is an action plan that could actually work in his favor.

For those of you not familiar with Virginia politics, it is important to note that the governor of Virginia is limited to only one four-year term. However, the law allows a former governor to seek the office again, just not consecutively.

This law is tailor made for Warner’s presidential time table, having already served as governor of Virginia from January 2002 – January 2006.

During those years Warner was a popular and successful executive. So successful in fact, he thought his one-term as governor would be enough to launch a bid for the White House in 2008.

He found out otherwise, and then cited family concerns as the reason for not making the run.

As only a former one-term governor, Warner knew he needed to continue building his national resume if he was to make a future run for the presidency.

So, in 2007, Warner announced he was doing what other Virginia governors have done and that is to run for the United States Senate.

The opportunity to run for the 2008 open senate seat vacated by a popular long time senator, who just happened to have the same last name, was for Mark Warner, the political equivalent of picking low hanging fruit.

Mark Warner’s Republican opponent, also hoping to fill retiring Senator John Warner’s seat was Jim Gilmore, another former Virginia governor (1998 -2002) who preceded Mark Warner.

As expected, former Governor Mark Warner crushed former Governor Jim Gilmore by 31 points, winning 65% to 34%. To make Warner’s victory even sweeter, Barack Obama won the state in 2008. Not since LBJ in 1964 had a Democrat presidential nominee won Virginia.

Since then, Senator Mark Warner has kept relatively quiet in the senate, but that low profile is deceiving.  For Mark Warner is a very smart, ambitious, self-made millionaire business-man who is using his time in the senate to learn all about domestic/international issues, and cement relationships that will help in his quest to become a formidable presidential candidate in 2016.

Back in September of 2010, I wrote this piece speculating that Mark Warner would appear on a presidential ticket before 2016. My thinking was President Obama would replace Vice-President Biden with Senator Warner for a host of good political reasons.

Obviously that was not to be,  but there is still a high-stakes game of musical chairs among current and former Virginia governors with questions worth watching this year and in 2016.

Will Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell get tapped by Romney to be his VP?

Will Senator Mark Warner leave the senate to run for governor of Virginia as a platform for a White House run in 2016?

If Romney does not choose McDonnell or if a Romney/McDonnell ticket is defeated, will McDonnell run for Warner’s potentially open 2014 senate seat?

To make matters even more interesting, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza thinks a Mark Warner vs. Bob McDonnell presidential show down may be in the offing for 2016.

Finally, let’s not forget the saga of two more former Virginia governors, Democrat Tim Kaine (2006 – 2010) and Republican George Allen (1994 – 1998). They are currently battling each other for the open Virginia senate seat being vacated by Senator Jim Webb who defeated then incumbent Senator George Allen in 2006.

(Surely you remember Allen’s now infamous “macaca” incident?)

This Kaine/Allen senate race is one to keep an eye on for the outcome will help determine which party wins control of the senate.

Anyway you look at it, there are way too many Virginia governors running around always running for something.  But watch closely, for all their collective ambitions could have a profound effect on national and presidential politics in 2012 and 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In light of the most recent poll showing Mr. Obama’s approval rating near 41%, oh and by the way according to Willie Geist of Morning Joe fame that’s astonishing that the president’s approval rating would be that low (huh?). But anyway it looks as though the president might deploy the “I stand for women” strategy in order to get reelected. Now one might assume he’s using a favorable tactic if one assumes the media narrative that Republicans are anti-women is an honest and accurate narrative to project.

However I could and will make the argument that in fact it’s Mr. Obama that has been surrounded by, endorsed by, and receiving campaign contributions from some of the most sexist, misogynistic men around. Bill Maher of course being the most obvious and sort of the face of Mr. Obama’s sexist male campaign donors. But you also have some names that have gone unnoticed. For example rapper Ludacris supported the president in 2008; one would assume he will support him in 2012. Now for those of you not familiar with Ludacris and his work let me throw out a few titles so you get the idea of where I’m coming from:

“How Low”

“She could go lower than I ever really thought she could

Face down, (bleep) up

The top of your booty jiggling out your jeans”

Just to give you an insight to his favorite topics here are a few names to some of Ludacris’ songs: “Hey Ho”, “Sex Room”, “Pimpin All Over the World”. You see where I’m going with this? I however don’t want to single out Ludacris because the entire base of support in terms of the entertainment industry is in lockstep with President Obama. Now of course we could successfully make the argument that there has never been a more sexist and anti-woman echo chamber in America quite like the Hollywood and Music industry landfill.

If Mr. Obama wants to play this round of Texas Hold Em we’ll surely oblige because we can cite numerous examples of what some of his strongest and most lucrative supporters have said in just the last few weeks alone.

It still tickles my humor to hear our president talk invoke his daughters in light of the Rush Limbaugh incident when his supporters like Bill Maher and others have said far worse. And I wonder, how many of those rap artists do he and his daughters have on their iPODs? As I recall I do know the president is a fan of Jay-Z, who had a song a few years back called “Big Pimpin”. Now never mind the utter blasphemy of referring to yourself as “Jay Hova” (Jehovah), Jay-Z is no respecter of women when it comes to his songs and the lyrical content.

It would be an unfortunate circumstance should it be known that Mr. Obama’s daughters listen to Jay-Z and his ilk, sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

Reporting from Damascus, Syria, Alexandra Zavis of the Las Angeles Times, reports how some of the Syrian Christians are worried that if Bashar Assad’s regime does ever fall, then the proceeding civil war will result in revenge attacks against them.  These worries are coming from the knowledge of the sectarian attacks that have been reported coming out of Iraq and Egypt.

The uprising could end the security provided by President Bashar Assad’s autocratic but secular government.

This has to be a difficult situation for this minority groups inside Syria.  Like with most dictators, there is a level of stability involved with the regime. The power they project across all groups in the country they reside in sometimes does cause a level of security that is shattered when the regime is taken down. This happened in Iraq, where the U.S. security forces were caught in the middle.  Civil war usually follows when the dictator falls.

Repeated attempts to stop the violence have not been successful, and the time is likely coming near for outside military intervention.  The United Nations estimates that 7,500 people have been killed since the violence started.

Just last week it was reported that 62 people were killed in Syria and this happen just before a United Nations envoy arrived.  Mr. Annan, who is the former United Nations secretary general, was sent to Damascus by the United Nations and the Arab League to try to negotiate a cease-fire. Mr. Assad told him there would be no negotiations until the other side laid down their arms. Which is somewhat odd being that is the Syria regime that has been brutalizing them.  I see no reason for the rebels to lay down arms.

There have been increased calls for action in the United States from John McCain, who is a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  McCain contends that the U.S. should lead a military air assault on Syrian Ground forces, stating that President Obama’s attempts at peace through diplomacy have started to look more like hope than a real strategy to stop the killing.

If the world does take action, they are going to have to assure that the Christian Minority in the country remains safe.  This is something that has not been the focus in other situations like this in the Middle East.

Zavis reports that the Christians in Syria still back Assad because of fear revenge attacks against minorities will be the result for them. 

George, who is a 37-year-old dentist that refuses to use his last name, contends, “If the regime goes, you can forget about Christians in Syria,”  “Look what happened to the Christians of Iraq.  They had to flee everywhere, while most of the churches were attacked and bombed.”

Interesting enough, there are many senior members of the government and security force that are Christians, members rank all the way up to the defense minister.  The view is not shared across all Christians in Syria though. Some dissenting voices have spoken to reporters.  The Priest asked to keep his name out of the article, for fear of reprisal.

The priest said, “In my opinion, Assad did not protect minorities, he protected himself,” and “It’s a regime of family, friends and corruption.  And corruption does not have a religion.”

The dilemma the Christians face in the country is one of life and death for some of them, while others may just be driven from the country.  For the rest of the world, it makes no sense to come in and stop one set of killing, while allowing another.  Would the international community insure the safety of the Syrian Christians?

Christians in Syria trace their foundations to the beginnings of the faith when the apostle Paul converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus before he helped spread the faith across the Roman Empire.  It would be sad if they were driven off by the very people this Christian nation is trying to help. 

On the other hand, should we even get involved if there is, a chance that what is replaced in worse than what was there to begin with?  Would the president even be willing to protect Christians in another country?  Maybe if they agreed to pay for contraception for female employees.  

I suggest we make a deal to arm the rebels and proceed with air strikes, but only under insurance that the Christians would be protected once, the Assad government was taken out and the criminals caught.  We do this with the insurance that if they fail to meet their end of the deal, they will meet a similar fate as Assad, and back that up if indeed the new government does not protect the Christian minority.

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Rush’s “slutgate” is political poison and Obama’s acolytes in the MSM will be only too happy to pound us on it until November unless we force them to cover the despicable comments made by left-wing personalities. The only person with the stature to change the narrative is Sarah Palin. We need to make the left and President Obama own Bill Maher’s calling Sarah the c-word and a dumb t**t . After all, Maher just donated a cool million to the president’s Super PAC. Since President Obama has promised that member’s of his administration will raise money for the PAC he can hardly refuse a request from Sarah that the PAC return Mr. Maher’s money. I shudder to think what will become of our country if President Obama has another four years to enact his agenda. Get in the fight Sarah, your party and your country need you.