For the Ferret Lovers, Rudy Giuliani

I know that, despite my best effort to dislodge them, a gigantic block of my readers are civilization-hating ferret-coddlers. Follow this link to hear Mayor Giuliani's thoughts on the matter, in the form of his response to a call on his radio show that he had while he was Mayor.

The amazing part of the performance is that he's so earnest in first equating a request for the Mayor to follow the law with mental illness, and then imploring the man to seek qualified medical help. For his own good. Because really, he needs help.

This guy? After Bush?

On the other hand, I would love to see him do the call in show as President!

Kerik and Rudy

Friends forever:


Awwwww. Isn't that sweet? I can identify... nothing brings out the amor in me like those chilly fall days!

Giuliani's Weird Phone Call

Ok...



Yet according to David Brooks, Giuliani is having a terrific week!

George Will reports that this is the third time Giuliani has taken a call from his wife during a speech. Oklahoma, Florida, and now (before a truly skeptical audience) the NRA. "And in Oklahoma he walked off the stage, took the call, and as I get the report, never came back." That's weird.

The weirdness is amplified by the fact that he wants her to sit in on cabinet meetings, another real problem for those on the right. Historically, of course, the GOP balks at having wives take such an active role in government.

Put it together, and the most brutal interpretation steps to the fore: He's whipped, big time. Maybe she's a stern woman in all contexts, and that's his fix. It only took him 3 wives to find it! Good for him - I'm all for letting your freak out, but this is just one more thing that dooms his primary attempt.

McCain Plays the Fool on MTP

Poor St. McCain, they made him eat so many of his words on his Sunday appearance:

The Republican Nominee, Rudy Giuliani

So, TBA finally emerged, and guess what? He's a lazy Hollywood sleaze-bag who doesn't go to church and got "paid handsomely" playing Washington Lobbyist for an Abortion Rights group. Needless to say, he wasn't the sensation that the TBA-candidate could have been. Just think, 25% of the country thought it could have been Jesus. That's hard to live up to, I know, but this guy doesn't come close:


Now, it's not like Thompson's entrance totally flopped. He's second in the polls, but running against Mitt Romney, who's already strongly positioned in the same traditional conservative roll and on the way to the nomination via early wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Thompson should split off some of that group, leaving Rudy to reap the rewards:


So, Thompson may have sewn it up for Mr. Whipped Cross-Dresser, the spitting image of a Republican nominee. Woops.

... Ahhh, personal attacks. The low-hanging fruit of politics. Of course, Republicans are generally wrong on the policies as well, but unfortunately, with negative personal narratives this strong, you can be sure it will have a more powerful impact on both the swing and base voter than the nuances of difference on Iraq. (ed. post for another time: because by the time of the general election the Republican will have ceded to the Democrats position of a limited presence, sadly still more than 50000 troops.)

Rudy and the WTC Command Center

Another reason to ignore Rudy.



Unlike his poor cultural fit for the Republican nomination, this video showcases one of the real reasons he should be opposed.

Obama-Oprah '08

Whoa! Oprah is taking an active role in the Obama campaign.

Oprah Winfrey, the nation's wealthiest African American and host of an afternoon television program, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in May. Now, she is in discussions with his advisers about playing a broader role in the campaign -- possibly as a surrogate on the stump or an outspoken advocate -- or simply bringing her branding magic to benefit his White House bid.

Shouldn't this do it? I mean, she sells reading, of all things. In America. It bears imagining that she could do the same for voting.

Of course, the counter-argument is that Oprah viewers are die-hard Hilary voters. I wonder.

Romney and the Straw Poll

It looks like Romney is still on course to win Iowa, with his meager victory in their straw poll last weekend. If he can maintain the lead in Iowa, he'll also win in his neighbor New Hampshire, and the nomination will be his. With the momentum created by winning the compressed schedule, I think we'll get a stampede to a nominee just as we did last cycle.

The one detraction is the fact that, despite spending millions, he still wasn't able to break 1/3 of the vote. Governor Huckabee, who I thought had the best chance of taking the traditional Republican vote (being an ordained minister), finished second with 18%, and apparently only spent around $100,000.

Of course, neither McCain, Giuliani, or Thompson showed up, so the whole affair's relevance is called into question.

YKos: Hilary Evades the Nail

I was late to the convention this morning because somehow my pass was not with me, so I had to run back home and catch the next train. I came into Clinton's session late, so I wasn't able to strategically position myself, dooming my chance to ask a question. Luckily, two of the five questions she took were about the issues of tyranny I wanted to raise... of course, they weren't as biting as mine. But she answered them perfectly.

Clinton is a very interesting candidate. She really is pitch-perfect. Despite the fact that she's already clearly running a general campaign (see Iraq War), she still gets on famously with this activist slice of the Democratic Party.

I'm at the Presidential Candidate's Forum right now, and even here, poor Senator Gravel doesn't get any questions. He's looking pissed-off over there. Edwards is tearing it up... he's really quite impressive as well. I've never been a big fan of Edwards. I don't know what exactly he lacks, so I've always just called it Voltage. Well, he's got it today. Hairs are standing on end here. Neat.

Maybe it's just that all of these people are better in person. Except Richardson.

YKos: Nailing Hilary

I'm primed for tomorrow. I got the very last Hilary Clinton pass this afternoon, right after it was confirmed that Hilary is, in fact, going to be here. I know what room she'll be in, and I'm going to camp the tables next to the microphones. So help me, my voice will be heard:

I opposed this war because I knew Saddam's decades-old WMDs were useless, because there was no articulated plan for the post-war, because the ethnic tensions in Iraq could spark into civil war, and because you cannot decrease terrorism by inflicting "collateral damage" on hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. I knew these things before the war. Did you?

I think that's a pretty good question... especially when you've got Mr. Sound-Judgement Obama in the race. But then again, I am at YearlyKos, so the Iraq War will probably be well covered. How about:

Madison, one of the most conservative of our Founding Fathers, defined tyranny as the combination of executive, legislative, and judicial power in one man or office. By asserting his right to break the law by spying on Americans, and by suspending Habeas Corpus, Bush fulfills that definition. When you're President, will you repudiate Bush's precedent and return us to Constitutional rule, or will I have to call for your impeachment as well?

Maybe that would be a better use of this singular opportunity.

The Military Loves an Anti-War Message

Here's a shock for the conventional wisdom.

Ron Paul, the crusading Republican maverick of this presidential race and the only Republican running who showed the foresight to have opposed the Iraq War before it began, is doing far better than expected. Despite Rudy Giuliani slamming Paul at the first debate for suggesting that the Terrorists don't simply hate us for our freedoms, Ron Paul is gaining ground. You may have heard that he had more cash on hand recently than the establishment frontrunner, John McCain. We all had a chuckle at that.

The BIG surprise, however, is that in the last quarter the majority of political donations from military personnel in the Republican nomination went to Congressman Paul.

Somehow this doesn't fit into my talk-radio fueled world-view. How odd that they would mislead me. Who would have thought that the military might not like being used for wars of choice, with no national interest at stake, with insufficient resources, no exit strategy, and for ever increasing deployment lengths and ever shortening recoup times at home. Wow. That's a shocker.

GOP Primary First to Jump Ugly

Oh, smack. McCain shows more of his desperation by mercilessly mocking the poor varmint-shooting flip-flopper, Mitt Romney.

For the establishment GOP candidate - the long foreseen frontrunner - to be sinking to such attacks is truly surprising. Anyone but McCain would be well on his procession to coronation with the Republican nomination.

FoxNews GOP Debate Observations

The largest applause lines of the night all seemed to consist of hearty endorsements of our country's "Enhanced Interogation Techniques," even going so far as to long for the fictional Jack Bauer in Brit Hume's hypothetical hour of need. To hear the party of moral values advocating torture so enthusiastically, like the crowd at a dog fight, should cause significantly more cognitive dissonance in me than it does. Instead, the supression of human (or even Christian) decency for political expediency seems like par for the course within the Republican Party.

Also, I still can't get over Fox allowing applause. "You gotta be kidding me" was my first reaction. I liked it even less as the applause did exactly what it was intended too - create a cliquish popularity contest designed to completely marginalize any idea even slightly outside the Republican mainstream. It is a silent means of controlling the content of the debate - far more effective than outright censorship.

Hagel-Bloomberg '08

Calling all Democrats! Donate to Hagel and encourage a third party run! He's on the brink, with just a little push needed to get him to jump. Actually, given the way he ends this interview (video), I think he's planning it already. He concludes by offering an absolutely glowing endorsement of Bloomberg - the type of endorsement normally reserved for children of adoring grandparents or running mates - and then wistfully comments that it would be an amazing thing if a boy from Nebraska and a big city mayor could get together for the betterment of the country.

Hagel-Bloomberg '08, baby! Believe me. He lays it on that thickly.

From Hagel's naturally independent and yet Republican perspective, this is the perfect time to torpedo the electoral chances of his party in order to serve a greater good - that of incubating credible third party politics in this country. The Republicans overwhelmingly think they're going to lose anyway, so scuttling the effort further with a Republican independent ticket doesn't look like much of a betrayal.

So, fortunately for America, this will guarantee a Democratic victory in '08, which means that we will finally begin addressing the largest threats to America. Unfortunately for political junkies like me, however, this sucks almost all the fun out of the process, since the conclusion is foregone. Oh well. I'll take that trade.

Guffaw!

Remember the farmer family that Rudy's campaign snubbed because they weren't rich enough to demagogue the inheritance tax? You knew it would only be a matter of time before he got hit on the issue, and McCain is the one taking the swing:

Senator John McCain put in a personal call today to an Iowa woman that was
snubbed by Rudy Giuliani's campaign, asking to meet with her and apologizing to
her on "behalf of all politicians," the woman told me this evening.

"John McCain personally called me -- today, this afternoon," the woman, Deb
VonSprecken, told me. "Wow. He said, `I want to come and meet you.'"

...

In his call to Deb, McCain apologized to her on the Rudy campaign's behalf and asked if he could come see her, the woman says. "He apologized on behalf of all politicians," she told me. "He just apologized in general. He was really sweet. I recognized his voice from TV. He was very, very polite, funny."

In asking to come visit with her, "He started teasing me and saying, `We're doing a security check. I'm homing in on satellite,'" Deb tells me. "I said, `No, no, don't do it.' We were laughing. It was incredibly nice."

McCain, that old charmer! Shameless flirt!

If McCain, the normally preordained GOP establishment candidate, feels the need to stoop to shots like this, you know the GOP nomination process is a mess compared to the orderly procession to coronation we normally see from the authoritarian party. If he can get this attack media play, maybe it will even buoy his campaign by sinking Giuliani's.

Rudy the Farmer Hater.

Rudy's campaign has been caught in what would be a career ending gaff for a Democrat:

Last weekend Deb and Jerry VonSprecken of Olin received a call from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign office asking them if they would be interested in holding a campaign rally on May 4, after she had donated to his campaign.

“We thought it would be an honor and agreed,” said Jerry.

Because I'm citing it, you know it doesn't end well. You should read it yourself, but I'll give away the punchline: the farmers were too poor to warrant a visit.

Incidentally, they shouldn't have been surprised that this farmer's family wouldn't be covered by the Inheritance Tax, since almost zero privately owned farms are large enough to incur the tax. It really is a tax only on the very-wealthy.

Romney Gave to Planned Parenthood too!

Oh dear!

Former governor Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, gave a $150 donation to the abortion-rights group Planned Parenthood in 1994, at a time that Romney considered himself to be effectively "pro-choice," the Romney campaign confirmed today. Campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said Mrs. Romney has no recollection of the circumstances under which she donated the money…read on

Wow. That'll be a stumbling block. Remember that this is occurring just a week after Giuliani decided to fully embrace his pro-choice position because of donations to the same group The rain just keeps falling for the Republicans.

Hello Fred Thompson.

Thoughts and Predictions on the Primaries

This election is gravy for the Democrats. Here are my thoughts.

Republicans:

• John McCain - The old Maverick has tried like hell to shred the tires on the Straight Talk Express, literally embracing Bush. He's got Bush's institutional support sewn up, and that's far more important in the Republican Primary than in the Democratic, since the tendency for the GOP to nominate frontrunners is well documented. Unfortunately for him, the base still hates him, never having forgiven the original sins of campaign finance reform and having that black illegitimate child. Add in his position on immigration and the base will never trust him, no matter how much warmongering he engages in. Support for the Iraq War will, however, succeed in pushing away all independent support. It was the independents that made McCain in 2000, and they'll unmake him now.
  
• Mitt Romney - There is already a dolphin following Mitt Romney around the country. His name is Flipper, and there's no shortage of material for him to work with. Poor Mitt Romney... it was inevitable. It'd be like Ben Nelson trying to get the Democratic nomination - no, even less likely than that. I mean, Romney was a Republican running for the Senate in Massachusetts against Ted Kennedy. The poor guy had to strenuously disavow everything he now has to embrace. That being said, he "looks presidential," rakes in the cash, and has spent it to create the best organizations in the early primary states. When the other candidates start spending money to tarnish him, we'll see if he can maintain his lead. If he's able to swing a victory in Iowa or New Hampshire he will immediately become the prohibitive favorite. Amongst the currently declared, he has by far the best chances of winning the nomination, cult membership notwithstanding.
  
• Rudy Giuliani - When I saw this video of Rudy in drag, enjoying getting felt up by Donald Trump, I sorta stopped paying attention to his candidacy. What's the point? With positions like this he knows that his only chance is to win the nomination by decisive victories in the big blue states, notably California, on the Super Primary day, February 5th. Once again, I have to bear bad news... the way I see the psychology of campaigns working, with such a hugely extended process, the momentum from the Iowa/New Hampshire week wont hardly be dented in the two intervening weeks before February 5th. Rudy is sunk.
  
• Newt Gingrich - Although the man gave the Republicans the great Revolution in '94, he also critically overplayed his hand, thinking the country at large hated Clinton the same way he did. Furthermore, we have in Newt yet another critically challenged marital history, with Gingrich's ultimate moment of shame coming when he pushed divorce proceedings on his hospitalized and cancer stricken wife. Hypocrisy abounds with the former Speaker of the House, and the Christian conservative base notices.
• Mike Huckabee - An ordained Baptist minister with a story of personal adversity? Shouldn't this guy be the candidate of the religious right? Heck, where is the religious right? Or has David Kuo's call for a boycott of elections by evangelicals actually resonated? Huckabee would be a favorite any other year, but he just can't seem to raise any money or get any attention - sort of prerequisites for the job. Of course, when the electorate starts paying attention in the final month maybe they'll realize they don't have an evangelical candidate and make him competitive in spite of the party elders. In Iowa 40% of the Republicans are self-described evangelicals, so he could make serious moves in a short time.
  
• None of the Above - Now here's the real star of the Republican nomination thus far. The poor GOP can't be happy with the bunch of serial adulterers and flipfloppers they've got lined up. There's not one of them that exemplifies the "family values" rhetoric that is so necessary for firing up the base. Remember, 29% of Americans still support President Bush, and 25% believe that the 2nd coming of Christ will occur this year. Something tells me these are the same people. It's difficult to imagine a path to the nomination that doesn't include them. There will continue to be dissatisfaction with the field until a conservative angel descends on the process. Who that will be, I have no idea, but if Romney doesn't own it in Iowa, None of the Above has my prediction.

Democrats:

• Hilary Clinton - My primary problem with a second Clinton Presidency is that, were she elected for 2 terms, we would have two families controlling the Oval Office for 28 years. We are a country of over 300 million - I think we can diversify our leadership pool a tad. That being said, she's scary-competent. It would be awfully nice to see a Democratic campaign well run, leading to a well run White House. Both would represent a much-needed change. For realism's sake, I've got to put my prediction on Hilary.
  
• Barack Obama - This man set me on fire at the 2004 convention. Admittedly, after hearing Kerry speak so extensively, I was ready to be disproportionately impressed by someone who could give a freaking speech. I remember George W. Bush's renomination speech distinctly. It brought tears to my eyes. I believe Obama has the potential to bring people together in a way that the historically divisive Hilary Clinton will find difficult or impossible. This has real value in my eyes. There is a substantial amount of healing that needs to be done in the country after what Bush has wrought, and Barack is the right candidate to get it done. I'll be rooting for Obama.
  
• John Edwards - I know lots of people who really like John Edwards... I just don't really get it myself. I mean, sure, he's from the south and is therefore somehow more electable. My reticence about his candidacy is amorphous. Something about him makes me uncomfortable. I just don't feel, from his responses, that he's got the voltage I want to see in my President. When things start getting tight in Iowa we'll see if he opens up the rhetorical mains.
  
• Joe Biden - Now there's a man with voltage. I don't care if, at times, he does go on. I myself have a torrid love affair with the comma, so who am I to judge? There may be problems with message discipline in the full national campaign, but ultimately I would rather have a gritty, less polished man as my President. It makes it easier to trust them, and I trust Joe Biden. With the celebrities at the top of the race, Biden doesn't stand a chance, but I'll push hard for him as VP.
  
• Bill Richardson - I want to like him, but once again, he's not quite ready for prime time. I have a very similar feeling about Edwards.
  
• Al Gore - The former Vice President will win the Oscar, of course, but that wont be enough to push him into the race. We'll see if winning the Nobel Peace Prize is enough to make him take on Hilary. If he enters the race he will be the Anti-Hilary candidate that the disaffecteds will rally to, and if enough others drop out of the race, he has a real chance.

There it is. Let's see how I do.

McCain and the Immaculate Hack

It's not often that you see a case of a vandalized national website with no investigation spawned from the violation, but that's exactly what we have here. This was the holy grail, my friends - the immaculate hack, born without sin.

John McCain's web site was stealing a graphic that some one else was hosting. Like a good little admin, the operator noticed the flood of traffic "surging" from McCain's domain, plucking a single file off his server thousands of times a day, and did the natural thing. He changed the graphic into a little text package... see if you can pick it out below:


Can't stop now cuz it's HaXor for Life!

Edwards on the McCain Doctrine

Edwards (video) begins the process of hanging the loss of the Iraq War and the deaths of hundreds or thousands more of our men and women on the neck of John McCain by calling Bush's Escalation the McCain Doctrine. Well done, John Edwards. I'll remember this one.