Feb. 11, 2008
McCain's Doubletalk (With Video)
It's all part of the manufactured storyline McCain's campaign has tried to create by claiming to be a critic -- no, THE critic -- while being the number one supporter of the Bush Iraq policy.
You see this in a number of ways, but one of them is trying to claim it was just President Bush -- not him -- that thought this would be a "day at the beach."
He wants to pretend he never said that "success will be fairly easy." Or that there's "no doubt in [his] mind that once these people are gone that we will be welcomed as liberators." And nevermind when he said "I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time."
Karl Rove's Endorses John McCain, McCain Embraces Rove (With Video)
QUESTION: Karl Rove?
MCCAIN: Oh I, listen, he ah. Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America. I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice.
QUESTION: I was wondering about that, right...
MCCAIN: He beat me. I certainly would be glad to get his advice. I don't think I'd want to revisit how he did it. And I mean that. Not about South Carolina. I mean I don't feel like reliving my defeat.
QUESTION: Are you worried about, he uses very aggressive tactics is that something that--
MCCAIN: I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations.
Rove On McCain: From 2000 (With Video)
Here's what Rove had to say about McCain eight years ago
Jan. 18, 2008
Mitt Romney's Phantom Lobbyist Army
Romney says that he "doesn't have lobbyists running my campaign" and that he "doesn't have lobbyists at my elbows that are arguing for one industry or another industry and I do not have favors I have to repay to people who have been in Washington for years."
Mother Jones decided to look into it.
The truth is that Romney is tied closely with many lobbyists. The AP reporter Romney exchanged sharp words with later reported that several Romney aides and advisers are lobbyists. Additionally, as the Nation first reported, Romney has accepted more money from lobbyists and received more endorsements from lobbyists than any other Republican presidential candidate.
The lobbyists who have endorsed Romney have represented, in 2007 alone, nearly every part of the health care and financial services industries, the NRA, members of the tobacco industry, and gambling interests.
Read more from Mother Jones, including a partial list of the phantom army of lobbyists that Romney says he doesn't have.
Rudy Uses Images Of 9/11 In Campaign Ad
Rudy Giuliani's new ad, running in the West Palm Beach area, uses actual video footage from 9/11 to promote Rudy's candidacy -- and includes this surprising line about the terror attacks:
"When the world wavered, and history hesitated, Rudy never did."
The suggestion appears to be that Rudy's response to the disaster was better than that of literally the rest of the world -- better than Bush's, better than that of the first responders or the people depicted in the ad running from the disaster, better than America as a whole. Indeed, Rudy's response showed him to be stronger and more unshakable than all of history.
Jan. 7, 2008
Thompson's Last Stand
Former Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tennessee) provides an important lesson in effective campaign messaging.
Sen. Thompson is relying on a strong showing in South Carolina to propel his candidacy to the White House. CNN reported this afternoon that the Thompson campaign is joking about South Carolina as "Custer's last stand."
Of course, General Armstrong Custer was defeated and killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Apparently, Sen. Thompson didn't learn anything from the opening scene in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Sen. Thompson either doesn't know history, doesn't want to stick around in the race, or both. (To be fair, Sen. Thompson has a history of remembering the facts wrong, or not at all.)
They Never Learn, Do They?
Giuliani's New York canvassers are trolling Red Sox Nation in Yankees garb, in advance of the primary:
Some Rudy Giuliani volunteers bused here from New York City struck out as they went door to door in advance of Tuesday's Granite State primary while wearing caps or jackets of the hated New York Yankees.
"Some people really don't think," said a person with knowledge of the situation.
"You're in the middle of Red Sox Nation wearing stuff from their enemy. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Strike two?
Ron Paul to Cross Picket Line... Again
Republican presidential candidates are jumping ahead of one another to cross the picket line of workers who have public opinion handily on their side. First, it was Mike Huckabee, who said he didn't realize that he was going to be crossing the line.
Up next, Ron Paul, who will appear on the Tonight Show this evening.
As ThinkProgress points out, this isn't the first picket line that Ron Paul has crossed. In December, Paul appeared on The View -- despite the striking writers. He later said that he "doesn't care about the unions or the pickets."
Dec. 18, 2007
Huckabee Not Ready for Meet the Press
He wants another couple weeks. What exactly has he been doing the past 11 months?
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is refusing to let his staff put his name forward as a guest with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press." "There is no way he'll do it without at least two weeks of prep time and we can't do that now," says a new arrival to Team Huckabee in Iowa. "He's focused on winning Iowa, not playing 'gotcha' and being embarrassed on 'Meet'."
Russert is believed to have wanted Huckabee for the 23rd or 30th, but has been put off.
Maybe he's not ready for primetime? He's been facing mounting scrutiny as he campaigns.
Not Ready For Primetime? Huckabee Facing Mounting Scrutiny As He Campaigns
Now that the soft-spoken Huckabee has emerged as the darling of the GOP field and is surging in polls, he has earned the weighty burdens of a true contender: heightened public scrutiny and the not-so-welcome assaults from his GOP rivals.
During a campaign swing through Los Angeles on Monday, the former Arkansas governor had to respond to an attack ad on his record of granting clemency to criminals, criticism about his slight about President Bush's foreign policy, and questions about a 10-year-old comment he made about women subjugating themselves to their husbands.
Huckabee also had to answer questions Monday about the criminal history of a wealthy Beverly Hills businessman, one of his top financial supporters in California, who was hosting an afternoon fundraiser for him.
SHOCKER! Rudy Exaggerated Record on US Attorney Service
ON "Meet the Press" a week ago, Rudolph W. Giuliani attempted to deflect criticism of his close relationship with his former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, by saying that his misjudgment of Mr. Kerik had to be weighed against his other accomplishments. "How can I not have pretty good judgment about the people who work for me and not been able to turn around the United States attorney's office?" he asked. But Mr. Giuliani's claim to have turned around the Manhattan United States attorney's office is not only untrue, it is an insult to the outstanding men and women who have served in that office over the last 50 years.
Dec. 12, 2007
The Republican candidates debate in Iowa today and Giuliani touted his "transparent" governance while he was a mayor of New York. As this video shows, Rudy Giuliani's government in New York City was far from "transparent" with Giuliani fighting basic public oversight.
Mitt Romney has a deep understanding of why American jobs go away, he's been responsible for thousands of good paying American job being gutted for Wall Street's benefit during his career buying and selling companies.
- The Democratic Party's Internet Team
Sounds Kind of Like My Dog Ate My Homework
Giuliani continues to offer questionable excuses on Judi security expenses:
And Rudy is still trying to make the case that by funnelling payments for police details through the loft board and similarly obscure agencies his administration was incredibly transparent about the whole thing:
"These accounts were discoverable. If these had been paid directly by the Police Department, it never would have been discovered, because they are exempt from Freedom of Information."
From this, we gather that the Giuliani strategy on this issue is to keep giving the same answers over and over, even if they don't make any sense, in hopes that they'll eventually become accepted through repetition. But really: Isn't this the lamest of all the excuses and explanations he's come up with?
Who Cares What Our Intelligence Says?
Not Fred Thompson:
"They're undoubtedly intent upon nuclear weapons. I don't care what this latest NIE says. That's foolishness that represents our own inability to get a handle on it more than anything else."
-Fred Thompson yesterday
Dec. 4, 2007
Giuliani's Clients Come Back To Bite
Vanity Fair unveils an investigative article about some of Giuliani's clients since he left New York. The article describes conflicts of interests that arose while Giuliani represented the companies while running for president.
Asher was, and remains, a complicated, fascinating character. A high-school dropout, he had strung together a bunch of computers and harnessed their combined power to sift through vast databases. He eventually developed a far more powerful system called Matrix that had the Orwellian capacity to fish out likely terrorists from vast troves of cross-referenced information. After 9/11, Asher had interested the Bush administration and numerous state law-enforcement agencies in acquiring Matrix. He had a problem, though: in his youth, he'd been a cocaine smuggler. Asher had come clean, and gone so far as to help the D.E.A. stop other traffickers. But if he was going to interest the government in his system, he needed some very heavy character references. Who better than Rudy Giuliani?
"The first time I met him, he did a demonstration for us at my office," Giuliani told Vanity Fair after Asher casually suggested the ex-mayor might talk about him. "When I saw it I immediately realized that this was a technology that would have been very helpful to us even when I was the mayor and putting together programs for reducing crime to help us find serial killers, abductors of children, and of course terrorists."
Today, Asher was tied to an ongoing bribery investigation of Michael Carona, the Republican sheriff of Orange County, CA.
When Hank Asher reached into the bag and pulled out the two $15,000 gold Cartier watches, the holiday crowd at Carmine's restaurant on 44th Street in Manhattan noticed, patrons recalled. Later, so did the U.S. attorney in Orange County, Calif., and soon yet another of Rudy Giuliani's business partners was embroiled in a bribery case.
Asher, identified by the initials H.A. in Overt Act 59 of a federal grand jury indictment against Orange County sheriff Michael Carona, had handed the diamond-encrusted Cartier baubles to the wives of the sheriff and his deputy, and with that, assured himself a place in a federal indictment that was looming.
Asher is not charged with any crime in the indictment. But his expensive gifts are clearly part of the corruption investigation.
It's War in Iowa For Republicans
Phone/email campaign highlights Giuliani's shady inner circle and includes mentions of "pedophile priest" accusations.
Rudy Giuliani's dirty laundry is being aired all over Iowa in a slew of phone calls and e-mails to potential voters.
The messages mention the indictment of Giuliani's ex-business pal and police chief Bernie Kerik and accusations that childhood friend Msgr. Alan Placa covered up for pedophile priests.
The calls about Kerik were made by a pro-Mike Huckabee group called TrustHuckabee.com. It was unclear who circulated the e-mail about Placa, who works for Giuliani's consulting firm.
Push Pollers for Huckabee!
Mike Huckabee boasts about running an above-the-mud campaign that does not smear his GOP rivals, but a group founded by some of his supporters appears to be doing just that.
The group, Common Sense Issues, launched a series of automated calls to Iowa Republican voters Sunday. The calls offer negative information about Huckabee's rivals and positive information about the former Arkansas governor.
The group's executive director, Patrick Davis, dubbed the calls "personalized educational artificial intelligence," and admitted they are designed to promote Huckabee.
Oh. Nevermind. It's not a push poll. It's a "personalized educational artificial intelligence." Of course.
Do As I Say, Not As I Lobby? Giuliani Firm Lobbied Against Anti-Terrorism Efforts
Although Rudolph W. Giuliani is campaigning as President Bush's staunch ally in the war on terror, his law office has lobbied Congress on behalf of legislation that the Bush administration calls a threat to antiterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Mr. Giuliani was not personally involved in the lobbying last year on behalf of the company's client, the American wing of a dissident Ethiopian political party known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, leaders of the group said.
But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani's name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal.
Nov. 9, 2007
Democratic Party Put Romney's Past Position On EBAY
Having already sold off all his previous positions on every important issue from choice, immigration to the minimum wage the Mitt Romney campaign is asking his supporters to sell off their past on EBay to help fund Romney's campaign. To help remind voters about all of Mitt Romney's old positions the Democratic Party listed a Mitt Romney flip-flop kit on auction at Ebay.
Rudy Won't Rule Out Kerik Pardon
ABC News is reporting that Bernard Kerik will be indicted, causing more headaches for the Giuliani campaign that continues to stand by him. And if that's not enough, today the NY Daily News reports that Giuliani won't rule out pardoning Kerik if he was convicted and Giuliani was president.
People are tired of Bush-style cronyism that led to Giuliani recommending Kerik for the top Department of Homeland Security post, and for the same reason, this won't play well either.
So what is this whole indictment about? For details, see TPM Muckraker's take on this.
And as a side-note, Giuliani said he'd pardon Scooter Libby. What a platform to run on...
Rudy and Bernie: Through the Years
Through the years, Bernie Kerik and Rudy Giuliani have been the best of friends. We've put together this presentation to give a little background that should shed some light on how we got to where we are today, with Kerik indicted "with, among other felonies, fraud, tax evasion, obstruction, filing a false loan application, and making an assortment of false statements when applying for various federal posts, including Homeland Security secretary."
And here's what Governor Dean had to say about this controversy earlier today:
The fact that Rudy Giuliani shepherded the career of Bernard Kerik despite his ethical problems speaks volumes about the Republican Party and its candidates. This scandal represents the latest chapter of the Republican culture of corruption and cronyism that voters have already rejected. From Tom Delay to Scooter Libby to Jack Abramoff to Bernard Kerik, the Republican Party has too often rewarded cronies at the expense of the American people.
Rudy Giuliani's attempt to minimize this scandal suggests that just like President Bush, the same Republican culture of corruption would be the norm in a Giuliani White House.
And let's remember, he didn't just try to minimize this, he went further and was actually praising him as late as a couple days ago.
Nov. 7, 2007
Extremist Republican Pat Robertson Endorses Rudy Giuliani
With some fanfare Rudy Giuliani accepted the endorsement of one of the most extreme members of the far right, Pat Robertson. Shortly after 2001 Pat Robertson blamed the 9/11 attacks on because the government was more liberal. As Greg Sargent point out he agreed with Jerry Fallwell when Fallwell explained that we deserved an attack.
"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve," said Falwell, appearing yesterday on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club," hosted by Robertson.
"Jerry, that's my feeling," Robertson responded. "I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population."
Falwell said the American Civil Liberties Union has "got to take a lot of blame for this," again winning Robertson's agreement: "Well, yes."
Even some conservatives are asking whether Rudy Giuliani agrees that Americans, and not Al-Qaeda terrorists are responsible for the tragic attacks on 9/11.
[Update] Will Bunch connects two dots and reminds his readers that Robertson called for the assassination of one of Giuliani's business clients.
Romney Endorser Says Romney's Flip-Flopped and Romney's Family Isn't Sure Who To Support
What a rough couple of days for Mitt Romney, first one of his newest endorsers calls him a flip-flopper.
Paul M. Weyrich, an elder statesman of the religious right, said yesterday that he believes Mitt Romney has made a sincere conversion from a supporter of abortion rights and gay rights into an opponent of both.
"I believe that he has flip-flopped in our direction, if you will - the direction of the values voters - and I think he will stay there," Weyrich said in a telephone interview, the first since he endorsed Romney. "I think he has a good deal of presence and ability to explain things, and so I think he's the candidate this year."
Meanwhile, Romney's cousin isn't sure who she's going to endorse.
Heather Krueger, whose last name changed when she married, said she last saw "Uncle Mitt" at a family funeral a decade ago. While she called him an uncle, she said they were actually second cousins.
Though Krueger was "getting more and more excited" about Romney's candidacy, she hasn't yet decided whom she will vote for in the January primary.
"I'm staying open," she said.
Giuliani's Business Clinet Come Back To Haunt Him
Despite the fact that he's running for President, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is still being paid by his firm, Giuliani and Partners who are representing foreign governments and companies. The Wall Street Journal reports that Giuliani isn't being upfront about details about his clients and the lobbying that his company is being paid to perform, even when it comes to foreign governments.
Rudy Giuliani is one of the few candidates ever to pursue the White House while maintaining a high-ranking role in a private-sector firm.
But since he became a candidate for president, the Republican front-runner has rebuffed all calls to disclose details about the clients and dealings of Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm he founded in 2002.
Some of those clients have controversial records. Among those he hasn't disclosed is the government of Qatar, a Persian Gulf state to whom the firm provided security advice, according to the former U.S. ambassador there. Qatar is a strategic U.S. military ally and energy supplier, yet also a country that has been criticized for its conduct toward al Qaeda -- a potential political pitfall for a candidate pitching himself as an uncompromising foe of Islamic terrorism.
Nov. 2, 2007
Romney Campaign Celebrates Blackwater Ties
Republicans like Mitt Romney just can't bring any change to American foreign policy. Mitt Romney's counter-terrorism advisor is also the vice-chair of Blackwater.
Blackwater's chief executive, Erik D. Prince, has testified before Congress about the killing of Iraqi civilians allegedly by Blackwater agents, but Black, who is vice chairman, has said little on the matter. Asked about the killings during a speech in Texas last month, he declined to comment beyond saying he had confidence in Blackwater agents.
Black, who did not respond to requests for an interview, is a fervent promoter of an expanded role for Blackwater, which is not named for him. In April 2006, he stunned a conference of former special forces soldiers by proposing to deploy Blackwater troops to global hot spots, including humanitarian crises such as the massacres in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Health Care Group Tells Giuliani To Pull Misleading Ad
From the Concord Monitor:
A state health care advocacy group has asked former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to pull his latest radio ad, in which he cites inaccurate public health statistics.
In the radio ad, Giuliani, a Republican presidential candidate, talks about his battle with prostate cancer, using it as a springboard to explain why he thinks his health care plan is superior to plans proposed by Democratic presidential candidates, which he calls "socialized medicine."
Giuliani's health care smear is just the latest in series of exaggerations:
But here’s what I don’t understand: Why isn’t Mr. Giuliani’s behavior here considered not just a case of bad policy analysis but a character issue?
For better or (mostly) for worse, political reporting is dominated by the search for the supposedly revealing incident, in which the candidate says or does something that reveals his true character. And this incident surely seems to fit the bill.
The fact is that the prostate affair is part of a pattern: Mr. Giuliani has a habit of saying things, on issues that range from health care to national security, that are demonstrably untrue. And the American people have a right to know that.
Nov. 1, 2007
Giuliani Makes Up Health Care Facts
After initial reports that Rudy Giuliani was misrepresenting prostate cancer statistics in his new ad several media sources have started to fact check Rudy Giuliani's latest ad. The Washington Post's fact checker says that Giuliani is, "simply wrong when he claims that his chances of surviving prostate cancer are almost twice as high in the United States as in England, under a "socialized" medical system. We award Giuliani four Pinocchios."
Even after various organizations have shown Rudy Giuliani's facts about health care are wrong, Rudy Giuliani's campaign now says that they'll continue to use the incorrect statistics.
For Giuliani, It’s The Story That Just Won’t Die.
Now Kerik being sued for ‘stiffing’ his lawyers:
Bernard Kerik has one more legal problem on his hands.
The scandal-tainted former police commissioner is being sued for allegedly stiffing a law firm on a $202,384.04 tab after its lawyers helped keep him out of jail.
The suit filed yesterday by Fulbright & Jaworski comes as Kerik faces a possible federal indictment on charges of bribery and tax fraud. His problems continue to be a drag on former boss Rudy Giuliani's presidential hopes.
NYC City Council Starts Investigation of Radios Used By Firefighters On 9/11
Prompted by years of media reports and a recent web video about faulty radios carried by NYC firefighters who were trying to rescue thousands of workers from the twin towers, a member of the NYC City Council is starting an investigation into the radios and whether a no-bid contract led contributed to NYC spending millions on faulty radios.
In the midst of his presidential candidacy, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani now faces a looming government investigation into his handling of the radios used by firefighters on 9/11.
The investigation, which will examine how the FDNY ended up using faulty equipment during the terrorist attacks and why Giuliani gave a no-bid contract to Motorola for that equipment, has been endorsed by New York City Councilman Eric Gioia, chair of the city's oversight and investigations committee.
"I will do everything in my power to get answers, to get the truth," said Gioia, a Democrat. "These families deserve answers and really the entire city and our country deserve answers."
Oct. 30, 2007
Rudy Finding Time to Write His Own 'Intellectually Engaged' Radio Ads
Rudy Giuliani: Intellectually-Engaged Renaissance Man.
Maria Comella, a Giuliani campaign spokesman, said the former New York City mayor is an avid reader of City Journal and found the passage in the article himself. He cited the statistics at a campaign stop, and the campaign used a recording from that appearance in the radio advertisement.
The campaign did not attempt to independently verify the statistics, Comella said.
"The citation is an article in a highly respected intellectual journal written by an expert at a highly respected think tank which the mayor read because he is an intellectually engaged human being," she said.
Ezra Klein: "Giuliani vs. The Facts"
Earlier today, I noted that Giuliani received his care for prostate cancer while still mayor of New York, which meant he was probably receiving insurance through the state of New York, utilizing one of those government-regulated purchasing pools he terms "socialism." Commenter anonymiss does me one better:
[T]he technique used on Giuliani, prostate brachytherapy--using radioactive seeds--was pioneered in the modern era by a physician in Denmark, and brought to the US by one of his students.
http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/cgi/reprint/50/6/380.pdf
You'd think a guy whose life was saved by bradytherapy would admit, however grudgingly, that European socialized medicine ain't all bad.
And Tyro chimes in:
Given that the average age of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer is 70 (src), clearly a large number of patients are being treated by Medicare, America's very own form of socialized medicine.
So Giuliani's case for the superiority of our "free market" health care system goes something like this: While on health insurance provided by New York state, he was treated, using a surgery developed by Europeans, for prostate cancer, a disease that most commonly afflicts those covered by the federal government's single-payer health care system. Take that, Europe/national health insurance.
Oct. 29, 2007
Rudy Giuliani Misrepresents Important Health Care Facts
The Republican presidential nominees haven't had a stellar track record of being forthright about policy discussion--but in a new radio ad describing his cancer diagnosis, Rudy Giuliani misrepresents several important facts about health care. In a post titled "Rudy's fuzzy healthcare math," ABC news notes that,
But the data Giuliani cites comes from a single study published eight years ago by a not-for-profit group, and is contradicted by official data from the British government.
According to the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics, for men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1999 and 2003, the "five-year survival rate" -- a common measurement in cancer statistics -- was 74.4 percent.
The statistics show that the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer victims in the UK has been steadily rising to approach the survival rate Giuliani cited for the United States.
Ezra Klein argues that not only is the data fuzzy, but that the actual rate is virtually the same between both the United Kingdom and the United States.
England and America have virtually the same mortality rates from prostate cancer. In England (as of 1997), 28 males of every 100,000 died from prostate cancer. In America, the number was 26.
Problem is, most of those cancers simply aren't deadly, or even necessarily damaging. They're slow-moving and benign. It's like saying we have a lower death rate from car crashes because we record more near-misses in the statistics.
For Fred Thompson, Success In Iraq Means 'Not Getting Blown Up'
Well, I guess this would be one way to measure success...
He said it was going to take a while to get the situation under control and described his definition of success in Iraq as people being able to worship without fear of being blown up and political leaders being able to meet without fear of being blown up.
Oct. 23, 2007
Giuliani Comes To Aid Of Accused Child Molester
From ABC News:
Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani hired a Catholic priest to work in his consulting firm months after the priest was accused of sexually molesting two former students and an altar boy and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.
The priest, Monsignor Alan Placa, a longtime friend of Giuliani and the priest who officiated at his second wedding to Donna Hanover, continues to work at Giuliani Partners in New York, to the outrage of some of his accusers and victims' groups, which have begun to protest at Giuliani campaign events.
[...]
At a campaign appearance in Milwaukee last week, Giuliani continued to defend Placa, who he described to reporters as a close friend for 39 years.
McCain Hypocrisy on Earmarked Projects
John McCain may be making an issue out of earmarks for other members of Congress, but he's been hypocritical about earmarks that support causes in his home state.
And yet, less than two years ago, it was McCain who was on the receiving end of rebuke over a pet project deemed overly parochial and "porkish." In February 2006, McCain teamed up with fellow Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl on a bill to direct $10 million over five years to help create the William H. Rehnquist Center at the University of Arizona Law School.
The bill never passed, but Democrats and even some government watchdog groups perceived McCain's project much the same way the Woodstock memorial was greeted among the Republican presidential hopefuls.
"It was an earmark in training," Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, recalled for the Huffington Post. "This is how bad projects get started... The Senator has generally been good on these issues. But if you want to criticize, you should be ready to take it on the chin."
Mitt Romney Buys Support In South Carolina
Mitt Romney's strategy to win the Republican nomination: buy it. First, the Associated Press reports on Romney's endorsements in South Carolina.
Last week, Romney won the endorsements of Bob Jones III and Robert Taylor, the founder's grandson and a top dean respectively here at Bob Jones University.
He also gained the backing of Don Wilton, the immediate past president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and pastor of a nearby megachurch, as well as Dr. John Willke, a founder and past president of the National Right to Life Committee.
During the same one-week period, the former Massachusetts governor eked out a win in a straw poll at the socially conservative Values Voter Summit in Washington.
Then the New York Times reports that Mitt Romney is buying most of his support with hard dollars from his PAC.
Some movement conservatives are buzzing this week about a new report that Mitt Romney, a millionaire buyout investor and prodigious fundraiser, made some strategic donations to a number of well-connected conservative groups in the pivotal early primary state of South Carolina.
Harper’s magazine reported this week that a state political action committee Mr. Romney set up in South Carolina gave an unspecified sum to the Palmetto Family Council, the state affiliate of Focus on the Family; $5,000 to an organization that sponsored a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution; $2,000 to a coalition of conservative Charleston school board candidates called the A-Team; $1,000 to the South Carolina Club for Growth; $1,000 to a school choice group called South Carolinians for Responsible Government; and $500 to the anti-abortion group South Carolina Citizens for Life.
Keep reading "Mitt Romney Buys Support In South Carolina"
Oct. 22, 2007
Giuliani Shuts Out Kerik
Refuses to allow connected witnesses:
Rudy Giuliani's law partner has been told to monitor the criminal probe of disgraced ex-NYPD boss Bernard Kerik, which threatens to muddy up the former mayor's bid to become president.
As part of his sensitive assignment, Marc Mukasey has thwarted Kerik's lawyer from interviewing witnesses who might help his defense, sources told The Post yesterday.
[...]
Marc Mukasey's task to keep an eye on Kerik's criminal investigation shows Giuliani's concern with how the legal fate of his former NYPD and correction commissioner could affect his presidential campaign, sources said.
Scandal At the Values Voter Summit
The straw poll of Republican presidential candidates at the Values Voter Summit last weekend has resulted in controversy and a contested vote count.
Immediately after Tony Perkins announced the result of the FRC Action straw poll, in which Mitt Romney edged Mike Huckabee by 30 votes out of 5,775 cast, Huckabee boosters cried foul--and reporters peppered Perkins with questions about the legitimacy of the poll.
Turns out that Huckabee won a majority of the votes cast in person at the Values Voter Summit, 51 percent, and Romney only took 10 percent. Some unknown number of votes were cast online by people who also attended. But other votes were cast anytime online between August and Saturday. That’s how Ron Paul showed up in third place with 865 votes even though he was picked by only 25 in-person voters.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, apparently spoke with Mitt Romney at length over the weekend. Perkins later refused to tell reporters who he voted for.
Oct. 15, 2007
Rudy Giuliani Not Prepared For 9/11
Rudy Giuliani knew that New York City firefighters had faulty emergency radios--and he did nothing.
Brave New Films has documented how more lives could have been saved on 9/11 if Giuliani had acted to provide firefighters with the equipment they needed. Watch the powerful new video:
They're All From The Bush Wing Of The Republican Party
On Friday Mitt Romney, the candidate who's flip-flopped on every major issue of the last generation, stood on stage and stole a phrase from Governor Dean and the late Senator Paul Wellstone by saying he represented the "Republican wing of the Republican Party."
Senator John McCain reacted, trying to paint himself as more conservative, but after opposing health care for children and supporting an endless war in Iraq it's safe to say that all the Republican candidates represent the George Bush wing of the Republican party.
Fred Thompson Proposes Social Security Cuts
Fred Thompson's Social Security program is all or nothing.
The Thompson campaign provided an example under which a $40,000-per-year worker born in 1975 would receive $1,562 per month under the current system, compared with $1,424 a month under Thompson's proposal. An $80,000-per-year worker's benefit would go from $2,469 to $2,085.
"For future retirees, instead of having nothing, which is what they're headed for under the current situation that's unsustainable, they would have protection," Thompson said in the Oct. 9 debate in Michigan.
Thompson's economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, said the Tennessean is considering proposals that would soften the impact of the cuts, but details have not been finalized.
See also Fred's weekend schedule.
Mitt Romney Loses Nevada Straw Poll To Ron Paul
The embarrassing part is that Mitt Romney actually showed up...and Ron Paul didn't.
Ron Paul won the GOP presidential straw poll conducted by organizers at the Conservative Leadership Conference held at the Nugget Casino this weekend "by a large margin," according to an organizer.
Paul won with 33 percent, Romney came in second with 16 percent and Duncan Hunter was just behind with 15 percent. "Undecided" was fourth with 11 percent, and Thompson and Giuliani were next and ahead of the rest of the pack--all in single digits. Raw numbers haven't been provided, but there were approximately 430 registrants at the opening of the conference.
Although many of the Republican presidential teams had surrogates representing them at the conference, Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter were the only candidates to speak at the conference, and the victor himself was not there.
Oct. 12, 2007
Kerik-Gate Headache Continues For Giuliani
The New York Daily News reports the Kerik business partner, and close friend Bernard Kerik may have some legal headaches soon.
Bernard Kerik's legal nightmare is about to get worse, with federal prosecutors expected to file charges against the former police commissioner that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned.
The indictment, expected next month, could prove to be an embarrassing obstacle for Kerik's former mentor Rudy Giuliani, who is cruising at the top of the polls heading into the presidential primary gauntlet.
The bribery allegations against Kerik stem from a secret meeting at a bar in Tribeca, according to two sources familiar with the federal probe.
Kerik's lawyers recently agreed to waive the statute of limitations on the tax charges until Nov. 17, which will allow them to make one last plea to try to ease the pain.
As Greg Sargent points out Kerik isn't some distant associate of Rudy Giuliani.
Lest this get forgotten, it's worth remembering that Rudy personally advocated for this fellow to be the chief of Homeland Security -- that is, to be the chief defender of our nation against what Rudy terms the Terrorists' War on Us.
Send Fred Thompson Back To The Minor Leagues
More bad reviews for Fred Thompson's first foray into the debate.
Thompson's debut wasn't a disaster, but it was far from a tour de force. His opponents have had months to burnish their sound bites to a lapidary shine. Thompson doesn't have sound bites yet; the lines he seemed to have practiced came out soggy instead of crisp. He did get better as the evening wore on, but he gave Romney and Giuliani no reason to stop sniping at each other -- or Hillary Clinton-- and turn any serious fire on the new guy.
In fact a blogger did the research and found that Fred Thompson spent more than two minutes stuttering, confused, and stumbling over his own words.
Congratulations To Vice President Al Gore
Vice President Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. He'll share the prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Governor Dean released the following statement this morning after news that Vice President Gore was awarded the prize.
"I want to congratulate our former Vice President Al Gore for winning the Nobel Peace Prize today. No other person has worked harder or done more to draw much needed attention to the crisis of global climate change, one of the most critical issues facing our planet. Future generations will thank him for his work to save our way of life. But the fight is far from over. His example should motivate each one of us to commit ourselves to doing everything we can in our own lives to save our precious planet."
Oct. 11
Standing On Stage Was Really Exhausting...
Fred Thompson, sick and tired of being... tired... canceled a New Hampshire trip scheduled for Friday with no explanation.. For the moment, at least, he's remaining in Tennessee where he currently has no public events announced.
And one Iowan began asking, where in the world is Fred Thompson? From the Des Moines Register:
Chuck Davis, a 49-year-old Republican from Urbandale, was getting frustrated.
He was ready to support Fred Thompson for president. He wanted to help - grab a yard sign, make some phone calls.
He checked the candidate's official Web site, but found no information about any Iowa headquarters. He found a local phone listing for Thompson. Tommy Thompson.
Mitt Romney's Tough Talk On Taxes
The talk doesn't match up with his record:
On the presidential campaign trail, Romney brags about a $3 billion budget shortfall he said he closed as governor, without any tax increases. He doesn't mention the more than $400 million in fees he raised instead. He also raised more than $300 million by closing so-called corporate loopholes, a revenue-raising measure the business community calls a tax increase. [...] When Romney ran for governor in 2002, he refused to sign a no-tax pledge. Now, as a presidential candidate, he boasts that he is the only major candidate to sign such a pledge.
He also touts his record of "strong fiscal leadership" as governor. However, in a recent "Fiscal Policy Report Card" on governors, The Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, gave him a "C."
Bush's Upside-Down Rhetoric On The Economy
Continuing his lame duck attempt to rewrite the image of his presidency on the economy, the White House tried to claim credit for reducing the deficit today.
Since President Bush came into office the federal deficit has risen by more than 3 trillion dollars to over 9 trillion dollars, even while the Bush Administration continues to rack up more spending on Iraq and more tax cuts for the a tiny sliver of the richest Americans.
In 2001 President Clinton left President Bush a budget surplus of $284 billion dollars. To accommodate the increasing debt, last month Congress had to raise the debt ceiling for the fifth time since Bush has come into office.
White House spokesperson Dana Perino tried to pin the blame on the deficit on the Clinton Administration, a myth that has been repeatedly debunked.