Shape Up, Punks! 
Michael Reagan is taking a break from identyfying New Reagans in order to diss the post-catastropy Republican field.
” We are attaching ourselves to certain individuals, and as a result we have become a party of people and not a party of principles. We are Romney-ites, or Huckabee or Giuliani devotees, or McCain-ites, or supporters of Gov. Sarah Palin – when we need to be just plain Republicans…In the Balkans, warfare between factions was the status quo. As Republicans, if we continue to Balkanize and fail to unite, then fighting one another will be our party’s status quo.”
Stirring words from a man who upon his death compared Gerald Ford with Saddam Hussein.
Who’ll Be Next In Line For Heartache 
A relative unknown came to storied New Hampshire, home of America’s crustiest voters, seeking their backing for president. He rode the back roads aboard an iconic vehicle, taking his message to the faded mill towns which spawn our presidents.
No, not that one.
It was George Bush’s “Victory Express,” the motor-coach that carried him throughout New Hampshire in 2000.
Which Bush lost. 
Now the bus Bush road to defeat can be yours!
The Politico points to the exciting auction already underway on eBay, where you can own this metallic remnant of a humbler George W. Bush.
And that’s not all! There’s hardly a failed Republican presidential candidate of the last two decades, announced or otherwise, who hasn’t spent time on this doom patrol.
Alexander. 
Dole. 
Gingrich. 
Pataki. 
Gramm. 
Frist. 
Kemp. 
Romney.
The Loser Express’s final service to America was this year, 
when it rolled to it’s final disaster as the Rudi Giuliani campaign bus.
Negative Barometer 
Just in time for yet another gathering at the Reagan Library, the Los Angeles Times reports that incessant Reagan name checks have a negative correlation with Republican primary success. At least for Rudy Giuliani.
Looking at the indictment of BFF Bernard Kerik, Rudy Giuliani turned to the comforts of history.
Of a sort.
Down through the ages, what American political figure best compares to the allegedly mob-friendly, home improvement scamming, Judith Regan boffing dirty cop?
Richard Nixon is summoned from the shadows:
“Richard Nixon had this very serious problem, but his breakthrough with China was one of the historical things that happened in the 20th century. You can’t take that away from him.”
Every jot and tickle of drama surrounding access to Hillary Clinton’s papers gets extensive play in right wing blogs, generally along the lines of “I wonder what she’s hiding” or “Hmmm.”
We can now watch with interest the reaction to the Chicago Tribune’s blow by blow of the ever changing status of Rudy Giuliani’s papers.
After his failed attempt to extend his term in mayor’s office by three months, Rudy’s thoughts apparently turned to History.
As his mayoralty entered it’s final days, the Giuliani appointed Records Department Commissioner signed an agreement transferring his administration’s papers to the Rudolph Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs. The Commissioner says he agreed to give away the papers because the municipal archives’ staff had been halved under Giuliaini:
“We went from 92 people in ’93 to 44 in 2001…That’s the largest percentage drop of any city department. The archives were overstressed.”
The agreement gave Giuliani veto over releasing papers: “”whenever Rudolph W. Giuliani has a personal interest or right in a document separate and apart from the interests and rights of the city, his approval shall be required before any such document may be released or disclosed by the center to the public.”
Protests , lawsuits, and City Council legislation turned this back, with Rudy eventually dropping the language and returning the papers. Or so he says.
The city’s records chief says he thinks he got them all, but “I couldn’t testify in court that every paper came back.” And New York historian Michael Wallace told the Tribune “There should always be an asterisk next to any citation of the Giuliani papers, saying … ‘The chain of public custody of these documents was broken…He had to be sued repeatedly to get him to disclose even the most inoffensive material …Somebody with that kind of track record, you don’t want to turn over to him the task of archiving his papers.”
At the time the agreement was signed the Rudy center was but a gleam in the incorporating attorney’s eyes. Even today it’s only existence is as files at Rudy’s corporate offices.
