David Freddoso from the "The Corner" on National Review Online posted this today. I had to share it, because California is so incredibly impacted by the immigration debate, and this letter makes an important point about McCain’s stance on immigration:

From a reader in the active-duty military:

Put me in the camp of those who have reluctantly come to believe that McCain is the candidate to support in the Republican primary. If I could annoint a candidate, it would be The Fred. I actually care passionately about immigration and free speech, and I really didn’t think I could forgive McCain for his positions on those issues, but here is my reasoning:

1) McCain-Feingold: while it seems like it should be unconstitutional, in practice, it has proven to be pretty easy to work around. Even a poorly financed candidate like Huckabee has been able to get his message out.

2) Immigration: for all his faults, I think McCain will be a man of his word in this respect: he has agreed to… Read More

It really is déjà vu all over again for me. I am pretty sure we have been here before. So why are the media and everyone else acting like it’s the first time?

Every four years the same things happen. Some candidates compete in Iowa and New Hampshire and some don’t. There is a huge build up to Iowa, even though at the end of the day only a few of the major contenders are competing there. They pick the safe, conservative, strong-family, candidate, who sometimes isn’t the national frontrunner. Everyone acts shocked. Then they scramble to explain what might have happened – even though it is the same thing that happens every four years. Tom Harkin won Iowa for the Democrats in 1992 and Dick Gephardt in 1988. Bob Dole won for the Republicans in 1988 and in 1996 when and barely won there over Pat Robertson, who subsequently won New Hampshire, when Dole went on to become the nominee.

Then we are off to New Hampshire where another candidate is up in the polls. It is the non-traditional candidate. Shocker. The people of “Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death” are supporting John McCain, for the second time. Does that really surprise… Read More

Xavier Alvarez, the water board member on trial for lying about earning the Medal of Honor has never watched an episode of Law & Order. He may face another charge of lying about being a Medal of Honor winner, because he was taped about it get this at an endorsement hearing of the Pomona Police Officers Association.

As I’ve pointed out before most Medal of Honor winners are awarded the honor posthumously. And those thatare still aliveleft many heroes behind so they never brag about it.

Alvarez should resign in shame. What you do say can be used against… Read More

Tonight the Republican Party of San Diego County unanimously made the following endorsements:

Shawn Steel – National Committeeman

Linda Ackerman – National Committeewoman

Keith Carlson – CRP Treasurer

Steve Baric – CRP Secretary

The Steel and Baric endorsements come four days after the LA County GOP opted for the same.

Of course, the arguably competitive race is for National Committeeman. "The unanimous vote reflects the strong support Shawn Steel has among San Diego delegates," said local GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric. "He will make a fantastic National Committeeman and bring tremendous value to the CRP board."

Here also is the Red County… Read More

State Assemblyman Ted Gaines — thought to be one of the strongest candidates to replace retiring Congressman John Doolittle — anounced that he would not seek the CA-04 seat, but instead would focus on relection to his Assembly seat.

That leaves already declared candidates former State Senator Rico Oller, war hero Major Eric Egland, and Auburn Councilman Mike Holmes still in the race.

Also rumored is former CA-03 Congressman Doug Ose. Ose, who has shown he’ll tap personal resources to win, is considered a strong candidate in the race. Ose has been making calls, but has yet to declare his intentions.

Local pols will remember that Ose and Oller have sparred in the past when Marry Ose (his sister) ran for the seat Doug vacated in keeping with his 3-term limit pledge. In the end, Dan… Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger, you ran for Governor as a strong supporter of term limits and an opponent of career politicians who are too often disconnected from their constituents. Time is running out for you to stand by his words of support for term limits and oppose the deceitful scam known as Proposition 93. The closer to election day you come out against 93, the less impactful your opposition will be…

You made a very clear case – that there needed to be a package deal. That you could support term limits reform of some sort, but only if it was tied to the legislature placing a fair redistricting measure on the ballot along with it. Of course, they did no such thing.

I know that you care a lot about what newspaper editorial boards think about major policy matters – so I am sure that you know that 14 newspapers – including the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Fresno Bee, the Riverside Press Enterprise, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Modesto Bee, the Bakersfield Californian, the Orange County Register, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the San Bernardino County Sun have already… Read More

In an email to me Duane DiChiara expressed some passing interest in my last post on the Orange County election reform legislation that referenced election "reform" restrictions in ancient Rome. His email inspired me to jot down a few more items herein that might cause political reformers to think some of their ideas may not be so new.

Take, for example, the Freedom of Information Act, or as it is known more appropriately in California, the Public Records Act. Reformers passed these laws in the post-Watergate era to try to make government more transparent, of course, to help the public gain access to government writings.

Government writings, chronicling of events, and public access to them, however, are nothing new.The keeping of official records was an early feature of the Roman state, over 2,000 years ago.Butdo you know why they kept these records? Because the Governmentcould take no formal action without first formally ascertaining the will of the gods, which required the keeping of records. Thus, government records were a matter that also involved religious authorities, who kept an annual register ofgovernment… Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger, you ran for Governor as a strong supporter of term limits and an opponent of career politicians who are too often disconnected from their constituents. Time is running out for you to stand by his words of support for term limits and oppose the deceitful scam known as Proposition 93. The closer to election day you come out against 93, the less impactful your opposition will be…

You made a very clear case – that there needed to be a package deal. That you could support term limits reform of some sort, but only if it was tied to the legislature placing a fair redistricting measure on the ballot along with it. Of course, they did no such thing.

I know that you care a lot about what newspaper editorial boards think about major policy matters – so I am sure that you know that 14 newspapers – including the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Fresno Bee, the Riverside Press Enterprise, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Modesto Bee, the Bakersfield Californian, the Orange County Register, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the San Bernardino County Sun have already… Read More