Today I think I am ready to start back into blogging. This last month has been kind of awkward for me. Things have been pretty busy around here and blogging has had to take a significant back seat. In the middle of that, I had some computer issues and was not able to be online for an extended period of time. After fixing that problem, I have only stepped back in to the online world for occassional comments in a few places.
I have still read some blogs (mostly via Bloglines) and have even commented on a couple of posts in other locations, but I have been looking at the questions from Don and thinking that I should wait until I have sat down to answer them all before I start blogging again and, since I have not been able to sit down and think through them as much as I would like, I have not posted anything.
I have decided, however, that I am going to go ahead and post some things anyway and get to Don's questions as I have time and inclination, rather than holding up all posting until I am prepared to answer them all. (BTW, the wife of a former voice teacher of mine who has left Fundamentalism took a shot at the questions the other day and attempted to answer them regarding Fundamentalism and her answers reveal her own lack of understanding of Fundamentalim in the first place - a fact that may have contributed to their leaving Fundamentalism.)
Anyway, a couple of quick hits will have to suffice for Today's Post.
1. Dr. Kevin Bauder has recently begun a series of articles on Fundamentalism and scholarship in Central Baptist Theological Seminary's little newsletter, In the Nick of Time. SI has also posted these articles. I will probably wait until the series is complete before commenting much, but since we had a pretty good discussion regarding Fundamentalism and Scholarship here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts not too long ago, I thought I would mention it. I will say that I most likely will disagree with Dr. Bauder on this topic - since I significantly disagree with his definition of "scholar".
2. Yesterday (January 22) marked the 35th anniversary of a travesty in American jurisprudence - the infamous Roe v. Wade decision from the ????-led U.S. Supreme Court. Approximately 50 million dead babies later and America still allows this murderous blight of abortion to be practiced and championed. May God have mercy on our nation! (I have previously posted on this topic - here.)
3. The political scene is getting interesting. If Guiliani can win Florida (with 57 delegates in a winner-take-all format), his strategy may prove to be viewed as brilliant, since California (173 delegates) and New York (110 winner-take-all delegates) will likely go his way if he shows he can win in Florida (I know that polls show McCain currently in the lead in California, but I predict a Guiliani win in Florida would also result in a California win for Guiliani). I am not looking forward to this as the outcome, but it could be interesting to watch. Thompson's hit upon Mike Huckabee in the SC debate may have been a fatal blow. It likely cost Huckabee a SC win (and Huckabee was within three points of McCain), which would have been huge for Huckabee as it would have shown that he could continue to compete and he would have likely drawn more of the social conservatives over to his side (including a number of social conservative who have been left without a candidate now that Thompson is withrawing). Instead, Thomspson's slam on Huckabee will almost guarantee that very few of his former supporters go Huckabee's direction and his second place finish in SC (instead of a win) will likely keep a number of the "I like Mike, but don't think he can win" voters from voting for him - and thus, turn them into self-fulfilling prophets.
Just my quick thoughts,
Frank
Comparing the Scandinavian Countries
4 years ago
4 comments:
Frank,
The latest Rasmussen poll (prior to last night's debate) has Romney in 1st place in Florida with 27%, McCain in second with 23%, and Giuliani in third with 20%. Florida is looking pretty good for Romney right now and I think a win for him in Florida will pave the way for bigger wins on Super Tuesday. The other candidates really need to win in Florida to have much of a chance the rest of the way. Everyone but Romney is running out of money and you can't campaign w/o money. I think it's going to come down to McCain and Romney.
Andy,
The polls in Florida are split. Rasmussen and Mason-Dixon have Romney in the lead, while Insider Advantage, American Research Group, Strategic Vision, and Miami Herald all have McCain as leading. In Strategic Vision, Guiliani is in second, while in American Research group he is all the way down in fourth (behind Huckabee). I think that Romney is the one who seems to be picking up the majority of the former Fred Thompson supporters. I read a headline that says that Duncan Hunter has endorsed Huckabee, but I did not have time to actually read the report.
I wonder what would happen if the elections were in a vacuum and people had no knowledge of what others were thinking (e.g. no public polls). If we had no idea how others were viewing the candidates and only had our own views of the candidates to go by (rather than issues such as electability), I wonder if the votes would turn out differently.
Frank
I found a place that shows several of the polls. It appears now that McCain and Romney are in a statistical deadheat. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.
Andy,
Yes. Real Clear Politics has a great collection of data regarding the race and the polls.
Also, USA Election Polls also has a pretty good collection of polling information.
I read a report earlier that mentioned that McCain got a couple of big endorsements from Florida's Governor and Republican Senator recently, which may give him the push he needs. It will definitely be interesting.
The dynamics of when/if someone drops out also plays an interesting roll in this whole process. If Rudy gets trounced in Florida and is viewed as not having a chance, where does his support go?
Frank
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