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"I'm only going to say this once. I did not have marching excercises,
with that man...Mr. King, I never did. Not once."

SEVERAL of my readers are asking me to weigh in on the MLK debacle that the Team Romney campaign let come about rather carelessly. MANY are accusing Mitt of waxing Billy-Jefferson on the matter, so here goes...

First off it is easily evident through a simple look at the records that Mitt never "saw" his father march with Dr. King. Libs have already picked up on this and are beginning the whispering campaigns in African American communities across the country.

This is exceedingly, profoundly, negligently, and absolutely painful to Mitt's cause - because as sad as it is to admit it - there are many voters in African American circles who are insulated from the mainstream. So insulated they listen only to "black" radio, "black" television cable. Forget the blogosphere, and "new media" in these circles in Chicago, Philly, Detroit, New York etc. this will now become a problem that he will likely not be able to climb past.

Doubt you all me want on that point, but I've probably done more exclusively black media in the nation than just about any other white evangelical Christian conservative pundit - maybe ever. I've worshipped in more African American churches, I talk to the largest community of church going African Americans in the nation every single day... Doubt me, sure its your choice - but I am not wrong.

Coupled with the fact that Mitt's "faith of his fathers" was openly hostile towards blacks until he was "in college" and if there had never been an MLK flip/flop at all - suspicion, whispering, and lack of trust would have cost him votes to begin with.

Now it turns out that Mitt's exact words weren't true and in election cycles those "read my lips" moments ALWAYS get used against you.

And here's the most horrific part of all of it: IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THIS WAY!

Primarily because George Romney - Mitt's father was such an ardent supporter of Dr. King in so many ways. All courtesy of Geraghty the Indispensable.

1. 1963: Governor Romney Participated In Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Freedom Marches" In Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

2. As Governor Of Michigan, George Romney Fought For Civil Rights And Marched In Support Of Martin Luther King Jr.

3. In 1965, George Romney Led A March In Michigan To Protest Selma.

4. Martin Luther King Jr. "Spoke Positively" About The Possible Presidential Candidacy Of George Romney.

5. George Romney Attended King's Funeral In 1968.

6. After King's Assassination, George Romney Declared An Official Period Of Mourning, Ordered All Flags To Be Flown At Half Staff And Said King's Death Was "A Great National Tragedy."

I mean seriously compare George Romney's response to King's murder as compared to "Rev." Jesse Jackson's plunging his hands into MLK's blood and smearing it on his sweater so that he could claim "mantle being passed."

What Mitt's people should have done from the beginning of this campaign cycle was to as one aspect of his campaign already be reaching out to African American voters - some of which if they registered as Republicans for GOP Primary dates could help him in tight races where a high level of mistrust still exists for many as it related to Rudy Giuliani.

Huckabee's bonafides amongst African Americans is perhaps the highest I've ever seen amongst a nationwide race for office. Mitt has deficiencies on this level - not personally - but caused by the perception of his faith (which HE chose to emphasize), and now the stumble on the facts concerning MLK...

But it didn't have to be...

"I--hhhh just lihhhke to lihhhhhhhe"

Boy did CNN do some nice spin/damage control for their channels' namesake. All morning long on NewsTalk radio - this "idea" of Billy Jeff's was being promoted as though the deal had already been inked.

Turns out Billy Jeff is so out of touch with actual reality that he can no longer determine the difference between when he HAS spoken with someone...or... not:

"Well, the first thing she intends to do, because you can do this without passing a bill, the first thing she intends to do is to send me and former President Bush and a number of other people around the world to tell them that America is open for business and cooperation again," Clinton said in response to a question from a supporter about what his wife's "number one priority" would be as president.

But live from planet earth came HW's actual response and feelings on the matter:

Former President Bush’s chief of staff Jean Becker said that he “wholeheartedly supports the President of the United States, including his foreign policy. He has never discussed an ‘around-the-world-mission’ with either former President Bill Clinton or Sen. Clinton, nor does he think such a mission is warranted since he is proud of the role America continues to play around the world as the beacon of hope for freedom and democracy.

"...read my lips..."

Honestly... what kind of half-crazed-self-inflated ego do you have to have to believe that someone's not going to call you on this kind of gamey action?

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2pm:
Americans have become completely immune to cheating - it no longer bothers us - we don't correct our kids, in fact we love it! On the baseball cheaters: "When they violate their bodies, they're sending a terrible message to America's young," Bush said. Another headline reads: "Once campaign killers, traits like infidelity less of an issue among the voters today." Pastor's steal sermons, students buy term papers, even the cute Little Debbie commercial... It is epidemic, it is out of control, and there is no way to fix it... or is there? 800.345.WMCA.

3pm:
I've gotten a little more aggressive in my own taste for Christmas cards...so has President Bush. Barbara Walters was shocked, shocked I say that she received a Christmas card that proclaimed Jesus as Lord. Then she fretted, "Now does this also go to agnostics, and atheists and Muslims?" Truth is she is being duplicitous I'm willing to wager that she gets upwards of 30% of all her Christmas cards each year that have some biblical reference. It's not the message that bothers her - its from the source - and its offensive to some. So is it pushing the envelope to make your Christmas card greeting evangelistic, Biblical, "Christ" oriented? Does it put stumbling blocks in the way of bringing people to salvation? 800.345.WMCA.

3:55pm: The McCULLOUGH PUNCH
When going negative hurts!

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"Buh Bye to REAL New York Radio..."

Please forgive my random and harsh critique of one of my competitors WABC - formerly the "most listened to newstalk station in the nation."

When I first came to New York for my first visit, on a blind date - with whom I had been set up, a leggy blonde pundit who is rather familiar in conservative circles, the first bit of radio I was exposed to was the WABC morning show - Kurtis and Kuby. Years later when they added the legendary Warner Wolf, and of course their all-too-dry morning news voice George Webber - they had an absolute combination of News and what was happening and opinion from nearly every New Yorker's perspective.

Citadel bought the legendary station this last year - and railroaded Program Director genius Phil Boyce into dumping the Kurtis/Kuby show - which had previously beaten Imus like $2 streetwalker in every ratings book in recent memory.

This morning on my way to work at New York's original talk radio station - my flagship AM 570 WMCA, I was treated to one of Imus' regular guests - some forensic scientist - who took her leisure dumping on the family of Billy Graham, who I might remind you just lost the love of his life Ruth in June of this past summer.

Classless, tasteless, garbled speech patterns that hardly anyone can hear on an AM frequency - Imus on WABC is the radio equivalent of being served the contents of the camel's cud after having previously being given premium filet...

First off, Hillary lunches in Iowa, gets the meal comp'd, takes the waitress' story uses it as part of her speech - and didn't even leave a tip...

Then she said, she did... Meanwhile the waitress still says she didn't.

But not wanting to let the possibility to exploit people go to waste, Hillary's official MySpace page released this new effort this morning:

Beware though, having read the fine print there's nothinig indicating that Hillary's picking up the check.

And in all honesty who would want to "lunch with Hillary"? Do you remember when she went to Iraq? None of the troops wanted to sit with her?

That's opposed to this guy:

Who, if you remember, didn't sit down to eat with them until he had served them for Thanksgiving

I'm struck by the strangeness of the tone the NYPost took with this piece on Katie Couric addressing the National Press Club.

"Penchant for dating younger men?" Usually code for... well you know...

Is that supposed to be a slam, or an innuendo as to her predilictions?

I'm not really sure - but the craziest thing of all is the stupidity of Dan Rather quoted at the end:

"I don't believe Ms. Couric knows all the facts," Rather told The Post yesterday. "When they come out, she may well change her mind."

No Dan, when she said you erred egregiously - she was accurate. When you decided to use fraudulent sources, in an election cycle, to in essence make up the "proofs" of the claims that you intended to turn the outcome of an election cycle on - you did err.

Just because you have no integrity - doesn't make Katie Couric ignorant. And you calling her ignorant doesn't make it so either...

Mitt's disingenuous, "I'm not responsible for the FredSpoofSite..." tap dance was silly. Which was sad because I thought he acted honorably in the Senator Craig scenario.

But Rudy has also enjoyed some more silly moments lately... leaving the impression that he's more than ok with illegal immigration...

A misdemeanor IS a crime. It may not be a felony, but it is a crime. It is a violation of law and sovereignty. And whatever the Mayor MEANT, what he chose to SAY and how the 1000's of news outlets wrote the headlines: "Rudy says Illegal Immigration shouldn't be a crime," could not have been a worse slogan to be branding himself with. It just reminds everyone that the Mayor is a huge fan of the entire Sanctuary City policies that gave us three dead Newark kids who were, by all accounts, the shining stars of their communities.

FRED went on offense this week and tackled Hillary, he stayed clear of saying anything nasty about an opponent in GOP circles and in doing so stayed "above the frey." And according to Rasmussen it is a strategy that is WORKING!

Since Labor Day look at the movement:

Still don't know why George Will and Ryan Sager are so openly hostile to Big Fred, but I think eventually they may see more merit in his candidacy than they presently do...