PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. | Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney called the United Nations a failure on Thursday and said he would support a new coalition of the free nations of the world.

The former Massachusetts governor said the U.N. Human Rights Council has repeatedly condemned Israel while taking no action against nations with repressive regimes.

“The United Nations has been an extraordinary failure of late,” Romney said in response to a question at a pancake house along the coast of early voting South Carolina. “We should withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council.”

Wilmington Star

Romney is right on this and I am glad to hear someone address the issue.  The United Nation is nothing but a cesspool of corruption and has become increasingly anti-American, all the while we are their largest source of funding.  Apparently the adage “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” doesn’t resonate with those nimrods.

Republican Sam Brownback will drop out of the 2008 presidential campaign on Friday, people close to the Kansas senator said Thursday.

Trouble raising money was a main reason for his decision, said one person close to Brownback, who requested anonymity because the candidate had not yet announced his plans.

Brownback, a lesser-known conservative contender, is expected announce his withdrawal in Topeka, Kan.

The senator is widely expected to seek the Kansas governor’s office in 2010, when his term — his second — expires. He had promised in his first Senate campaign to serve no more than two terms.

Associated Press

It’s about time.  Now if a few of the other laggards would step aside there might be enough time for the realistic candidates to have actual debates instead of a sound bite contest.