Conservative Donnybrook

After the debate this evening, Hannity & Colmes hosted another UVOTE Poll.  Once again, Ron Paul won the poll and, as expected, Sean Hannity came absolutely unglued, shouting, “They’re stacking the deck.”

I’m not sure what “deck” Ron Paul supporters are “stacking,” because I ran a little experiment with the good folks over at UVOTE: I voted for Ron Paul twice.  The first auto-response text message thanked me for voting and reminded me to watch Hannity & Colmes for the results.  No thanks, but I’ll stay tuned just to see Hannity squirm when Paul takes a seat in the “Spin Zone,” the appropriately-named dais where H & C interview all the GOP nominees post-debate.  

After texting UVOTE a second time, I received the following message: “Y0u have already voted on tonight’s debate.  Thank you for your participation.”   Apparently, the system works: one person, one vote.

So perhaps Paul garners more support than neoconservatives like Hannity give him credit for.   When Hannity asked Paul why he thinks he always wins these Fox post-debate polls, Paul responded, ”The American people are agreeing with this…they like their personal liberties.”  Hannity looked stupified, as if he was mulling over the difference between rights and liberties in his mind, and deciding which were worse for Americans.

However, I’ll concede that Paul probably did not win this debate (I think Mike Huckabee really shined) and the moment of the night was not Paul’s, but rather belonged to Benito Giuliani when lambasting Hillary: “She made a statement last week…I have a million ideas; America can’t afford them all.  No kidding, Hillary.  America can’t afford you.”  The applause was absolutely thunderous in Orlando for Benito.  Now if he could only prove himself a social conservative and take a strong stance on cutting taxes and spending.

(Note: McCain also had a great moment when he referred to Woodstock as a “pharmaceutical event,” and noted that although it might have been a great experience he was “tied up at the time,” referring jokingly to his detention in a POW camp.)

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Julieanne Dolan, associate editor of the National Review Online and Holy Cross alum, has this piece on yet another disaster-in-the making in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Apparently, President Father McFarland is opening the doors to Planned Parenthood and NARAL, who will be sponsoring an Alliance on Teen Pregnancy Conference this Wednesday.  I really do not find this surprising, considering this is only the latest misstep in McFarland’s attempt to pander to the liberal diverse majority that comprises the student body at U.S. News & World Report’s only Catholic liberal arts college ranked in the top 50 (33 overall).

The Holy Cross Cardinal Newman Society (unaffiliated), whose mission it is to “renew the Catholic identity of Holy Cross,” has sure had a lot on its plate since McFarland  took the reigns in July of 2000.  In 2002, McFarland dismissed as trivial all concerns (and there were many) regarding a student-run production of The Vagina Monolgues, a play that lauds the vagina as “the very essence of womanhood.”  In 2003, he welcomed abortion advocate and alumnus Chris Matthews as the commencement speaker, even bestowing upon Matthews an honorary degree.  Again in 2003, McFarland chose to take a vow of silence when confronted by students and alumni who condemned the college newspaper editor’s “coming out” for homosexual marriages.

For fun, I decided to re-read Holy Cross’ mission statement.  For some odd reason, I think it read a bit differently when I was an entering freshman in 1998.  It is not until the third paragraph that the mission statement even  identifies the school as Jesuit.  Immediately thereafter, the statement almost takes pains to dismiss Holy Cross’ Catholicity: “The College is dedicated to forming a community which supports the intellectual growth of all its members while offering them opportunities for spiritual and moral development.”  Ironically, the school’s mission seems to promote the very relativism that the Church has been fighting since the Enlightenment demythologized religion for us.  Perhaps more ironic is the way the statement ends, with its emphasis on the environment of “shared responsibility” the college seeks to foster.  That is, shared responsibility for everyone but the President.

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…or you could watch this Ron Paul video and avoid all the puffery!

 Some highlights include:

1. an explanation and breakdown of the six criteria for Just War theory;

2. Ron quoting Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers…” in front of Congress;

3. Ron’s take on what the Revolution and drafting of the Constitution really mean, i.e. taking the power to unilaterally declare war away from the executive branch;

4. Ron’s take on the U.N.: “I don’t think the U.N. serves our interests at all. I’d just as soon be out of the U.N.”;

5. “The [philosophy of freedom] brings people together; the Constitution brings people together.”  Right on, Ron.  He goes on to criticize welfarism and the nanny state, which work in tandem to strip us of notions like personal responsibility and freedom.  “Giving things away,” presumably the liberal answer to all of life’s problems, has worked to the benefit of the Democrats, who claim this serves as the exemplar of  “compassionate” government.  Ron thinks compassion comes from personal responsibility and freedom.   I agree.

I think Ron’s onto something with this whole freedom “thing.”

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