…and we are all along for the ride. Alan Keyes announced that he is running for President of the United States and will be participating in a debate this evening in Florida. He is a unique individual and brings a new aspect to the Republican Presidential field.

Today we found out that the Huckabee for President official campaign blog added us to their blogroll today. Cruise on over to check out the former Arkansas Governor's campaign for President at www.mikehuckabee.com.

The name of the gentleman leaked to become Attorney General was ! announced as the President’s nominee for Attorney General this morning.

Judge Michael Mukasey was nominated by Ronald Reagan to the federal bench in 1987. In his role as a federal judge, he has presided over a number of high profile national security cases and is viewed as an expert on such subjects.

He takes the unusual step of actually reading laws, which perhaps makes him uniquely qualified to be Attorney General. In a 2004 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, he commented that the Patriot Act had, “become a focus of a good deal of hysteria, some of it reflexive, much of it recreational,” and that “[i]t helps not to conduct the debate in terms that suggest it gives the government the power to investigate us based on what we read, or that people who work for the government actually have the inclination to do such a thing, not to mention the spare time.”

Mukasey was the judge in the Jose Padilla case and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.

As we head into the weekend, it is comforting to see that others wish to exercise their free speech rights. Today, we learn that Lee Whitnum is seeking the Democratic nomination to run in the Fourth Congressional District in Connecticut.

Ms. Whitnum’s claim to fame up to know was she was John Kerry’s girlfriend between rich wives. She posted some of her thoughts and memories about the junior Senator frmo Massachusetts on the Iternet in 2004 and published a book under a pen name, “Hedge Fund Mistress.”

She joins Jim Himes in the Democratic race, telling the Greenwich Time: “I plod along, unlike someone like Jim Himes, who represents the privileged Greenwich person,” Whitnum said. “I represent the population of the 4th Congressional District.”

She also has a cat, named Mena.

Congressman Chris Murphy’s canned response to President Bush’s address to the nation should give every Connecticut resident pause. You may disagree on why American troops are in Iraq. You may think that the war was wrong, immoral, a lie or whatever the hate propaganda Moveon.org spew out on a daily basis. But Murphy’s fundamental misunderstanding of the conflict that faces this nation, his naivette and softheaded approach to life and death matters would be comical if the issue was not so serious. Both he and Joe Courtney make a perfect couple in Washington, content in the bossom of a party that runs from every fight and lights candles at every concert.

Thursday night, Murphy assembled some friendlies at the Slade Middle School in New Britain to assess the President’s address. They even had a political science professor from CCSU on hand to ring her hands and wail about how America has become the problem.
The first-term Congressman was almost reciting the liberal mantra and Moveon.org spiel verbatim. Don’t believe a four-star general who has been on the ground, believe the General Accounting Office. Don’t believe that providing security means democratic institutions will follow or my favorite, the implication that America is creating more problems and is seen as the bad guy.

According to the New Britain Herald Friday,

“Murphy also made the point that military success noted by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, does not necessarily lead to political success.”

Really - is that it works? Oh, military success, meaning peace and security does not create an atmosphere of political organization, the growth of commerce and a stability to everyday life? So by that logic, we need more chaos for their to be political success - like the U.S. Congress?

But there was an even better comment, according to the Herald:

“Murphy said for America to gain allies “we need to be seen less of a bully and more of a friend.” America, he warned, cannot continue to afford this war.

Allies don’t come your way because your friendly and offer them candy bars and Britney Spears videos. They stand with you when you stand with them, shed blood if need be and hang in there when the Chris Murphy’s of the world say “never mind.”

And Murphy has still refused to repudiate the rantings of his main sponsor in his winning 2006 campaign, Moveon.org, which ran an over-the-top full page ad in the New York Times, assailing Gen. Petraeus, calling him “General Betray Us.”

Moveon.org spent over $500,000 destroying Nancy Johnson in 2006, including the charming ad which superimposed blood on the 12-term, mother and grandmother’s hands.

What Us Worry?

An interesting article from Politifact.com, the former Senator from Tennessee frequently went his own way in the defense of federalism. It is now becoming an issue for his Presidential campaign. Thompson is quoted this way in the article: “I’ve cast a couple of 99-1 votes. I was the ‘1′ during my career up there,” Thompson told a crowd in Sioux City, Iowa, on Sept. 7, 2007. “My staff went nuts, you know, said this is the ruination of everything. I said, ‘No, no, no, we’ll just put out a little statement and explain this is just Fred being Fred.’”

Thompson seems to be one of the few candidates talking about federalism. Only the days and weeks ahead will determine the popularity of that message.