Category: Presidential Campaign

Journamalism at NPR

No Comments

I heard the story today about Hillary Clinton going to a restaurant in in Iowa, and having her picture taken with a waitress, but not leaving a tip on NPR.

The story was untrue, the campaign says that they paid $157, and left a $100 tip, and it was confirmed by the restaurant manager.

So much for Journalism, at least the journalism of David Greene, at NPR.

Update, NPR has a correction:

Editor’s Note: Since this story aired, Hillary Clinton’s campaign contacted NPR to say that the campaign paid Maid-Rite a bill for $157 the day of Clinton’s visit and left $100 in tip money. NPR contacted Maid-Rite manager Brad Crawford, who confirmed that a bill was paid and tip money was left. Crawford, who was not in the restaurant at the time, said that he believes a campaign staffer left the money with one of his employees, but “where Hillary was sitting, there was no tip left.”

How about a little fact checking in the future.

Kerik Expects Indictment Next Week

No Comments

Seeing as how the statute of limitations expires on November 15, this is not surprising in the least.

The most basic point is that Guiliani plucked this guy out of obscurity, and he will be going to jail because he is mobbed up.

Of course, there is also the bit where used an apartment that had been donated to the city for the benefit of ground zero workers to f%$# Judith Regan, but he’s still Rudy’s guy.

It raises the obvious question, just how will Rudy screw up in selecting his inner circle next? Is he going to select a pedophile priest or something?

Oh….Wait…He already has.

Pat Robertson Endorses Rudy Guiliani; Brownback to Endorse McCain

No Comments

For anyone else, I’d call it a sign of the apocalypse, but for Pat Robertson, I just ask how much he got for selling his endorsment. There are very few more venal and self serving creatures on this planet.

As to Brownback and McCain, it’s no big. They are both Senators, and far closer on issues than most people recognize. Additionally, I could not see him endorsing Romney, he’s a Mormon from Massachusetts, and Huckabee and he were gunning for the place in the campaign, so he was an unlikely choice.

Of course, I pegged Brownback as the Republican nominee, which goes to show that my powers of prognostication stink.

Fred Thompson Clown Show: This One Should Win an Oscar™

No Comments

OK, this one takes the cake. Philip J. Martin’s until, his resignation the chairman of Thompson’s “First Day Founders” team, has felony convictions on drug charges.

Martin pleaded guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979, the Washington Post reported Sunday. In 1983, Martin was charged with cocaine trafficking and conspiracy stemming from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, the newspaper reported. He pleaded no contest.

It’s one for a contributor to have a record, but this guy was a major public player.

Edwards Proposed 2 Year Ban on Direct to Consumer Drug Ads

No Comments

I’m not sure if the courts would shoot this one down, the SCOTUS lately has been very much in favor of “commercial speech”, but it could be tied to the expedited drug approval processes used. His point is a valid one though, many of these drugs have, at best, a limited improvement on effectiveness for some people (tests on blood pressure medication found no benefit from the newer drugs.

It is the consumer who pays for these ads, both just covering the costs, and through people demanding new drugs from their doctors when the old drug works as well.

Ron Paul is a Spammer

No Comments

Well, it appears that botnet of compromised machines are sending out email pimping for Ron Paul.

It should be noted that the article does note that the researcher who discovered this has no evidence of any connections between the Paul campaign and the botnet spammers.

Given the genuinely altruistic bent of spammers, it is possible that these people are just acting out of the goodness of their hearts, just like Dick Cheney does.

Fred Thompson Clown Show: Gun Control Edition

No Comments

Remember Freddie Thompson getting all freaked out about the UN and guns?

He referred to a August 2006 declaration of the Human Rights Council Sub-commission

Urges States to adopt laws and policies regarding the manufacture, possession, transfer and use of small arms that comply with principles of international human rights and international humanitarian law;

Also urges States to provide training on the use of firearms by armed forces and law enforcement personnel consistent with basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law with special attention to the promotion and protection of human rights as a primary duty of all State officials;

Further urges States to take effective measures to minimize violence carried out by armed private actors, including using due diligence to prevent small arms from getting into the hands of those who are likely to misuse them;

Ummm…let’s see….This threat to the 2nd amendment is a statement that people make and sell firearms responsibly, that they train soldiers and police properly, and that you do your best to keep guns out of the hands of bad people.

Pretty scary stuff.

Edwards Goes on the Attack

No Comments

He’s going after Hillary Clinton’s character. There are a number of reasons that this might be a winner.

  1. The Clinton machine, and by this, I mean the wider net cast in Bills machine, and not just Hillary, is sold out and intellectually corrupt, if not legally so, see my posts on the adventures of Mark Penn, union buster for what is typical.
  2. Hillary has on a number of occasions made some rather spirited defenses of lobbiests.
  3. Washington, DC, where Hillary is finally accepted, is morally, spiritually, and ethically bankrupt.
  4. This is the leading concern of people about Hillary in the polls.

That being said, with 63 days until the Iowa caucuses, I think that the best tack might be to make sure that everyone there is well organized. A very small percentage of Iowa Dems go to the caucuses, and it’s all about organization, organization, organization, and organization.

Then again, it might be too bloody late for anyone to stop her.

This Has Got To Be the Definitive Line On Barack Obama

No Comments

This is from Kevin Drum, who I read regularly, “I guess I’m sympathetic toward Hillary but really, really wishing that Obama would give me a good reason to change my mind and support him instead.”

Let me make this clear, Obama is now at the bottom of my list. I believe that he engaged in gay baiting in an attempt to get votes in South Carolina, but for those who are not so convinced, think about this, if the “it politician” of the 2004 convention can’t sell you, the one who was touted as the future of the party and the nation, how can he sell the rest of the country.

My conclusion, he got lucky in 2004. His primary challengers self destructed, and then his general challenger did, after which he faced Alan Keys, against whom I could win.

Until he shows that he can do something about that luck beside mouth platitudes, he will not make this sale.

Obama Uses ‘Phant Framing on Social Security

No Comments

Barack Obama has chosen the meme that social security is in crisis as his first line of attack against Hillary Clinton. The fact that we have “only 40 years” or so to fix it is something that we need to act upon RIGHT NOW DAMMIT!!!!

I have to go with Chris Bowers’ analysis:

Obama made it clear he would not run as either a partisan Democrat or a partisan progressive from the start.
Back on Sunday, playing on the whole “what happened to the Obama of 2004” theme, the Carpetbagger Report notes we should have seen that Obama was not going to run as a partisan from the start

……

We should have seen that Obama wouldn’t run as either an ideological or Democratic partisan from the start. His 2004 convention speech made that perfectly clear. We should also have seen that a bruised and battered Democratic activist base, after years of defeat, being called traitors, and inability to get Republican to compromise on anything at all, wasn’t exactly willing to just throw their hands up in the air and say to Republicans:

…..

That wasn’t going to happen, even though it would have helped Obama if it had. Democrats, especially the under 50 progressive creative class portion of the party, don’t just want conservatives to finally stop attacking them so everyone can finally all hold hands. Instead, for once, they actually want to win. Unfortunately for Obama, he offered them milquetoast unity instead.

Now, in reaction to being pushed by the progressive base on McClurkin, Atrios notes the many ways that Obama lashes out against progressives:

Aside from the adoption of right wing frames, this kind of statement is incredibly insulting to both the LGBT community who are apparently “hermetically sealed from the faith community” and to the “faith community” which is apparently defined as nothing more than a bunch of anti-gay bigots. Not to mention the Democratic Party, which apparently includes no actual religious people.

It’s really just insulting to everyone, with a touch of “shut the hell up I know best.”

This isn’t new. Obama has done this before. In fact, during 2006, he repeatedly engaged in the long-standing practice of chastising progressives for not being nice to people of faith:

…..

Obama has long criticized the left for being hostile to Americans of faith whenever he was pushed on this topic. In fact, he often made such criticisms without even being pushed. As such, there was no reason to expect that his reaction to criticism of choosing McClurkin, or really his reaction to any progressive criticism, would be any different. If Democrats and progressives criticized anything in his campaign that had to do with faith, those same Democrats and progressives would simply be told that they aren’t properly reaching out to people of faith. At the same time, he has consistently failed to offer progressives and Democrats any red meat, no matter what Republicans would do or say. This is a clear pattern for Obama. We should have seen it coming.

(emphasis mine)

Obama is well spoken, but for whatever reason, and my guess would be his loss to Bobby Rush early in his career, it is clear that he holds liberals in disdain, and it is clear that he wants to be considered one of Washington, DC’s “very serious people”.

The problem is that Washington, DC’s “very serious people” are always wrong. They were wrong on Iraq, they were wrong on social security, they are wrong on Iran and tax cuts, and they continue to be wrong when they say that the adults will take charge in the Bush White House.

Chris Dodd Dated Princess Leia

No Comments

The New York Times has some interesting insights into Chriss Dodd.

Mr. Dodd, who had a very public bachelorhood after his first marriage ended (dates with Bianca Jagger and Carrie Fisher) before settling down in 1999 with a wife, Jackie Marie Clegg

So he dated Princess Leia, but more significant is his fathers work as a prosecutor at the Nuremburg trials.

His issues with torture and warrantless wiretapping really stem from his experience with his father, who he clearly admired greatly, and a very large part of his work on civil right is about living up to what he considers his fathers heroism at Nuremburg.