Live Blog: New Hampshire Republican Debate
Posted: June 13, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Democratic Politics, Economy, Republican presidential politics | Tags: 2012 presidential election, CNN Republican Debate, live blog, New Hampshire, Robert Gibbs 67 Comments
Tonight’s Republican freak show has just begun. If you’re watching or listening, please post your reactions in this thread. You can watch the live stream at CNN. Candidates appearing in this debate are Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney.
For some reason, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was left out of the debate.
Among those invited to the participate in the debate include Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Ms. Bachmann has yet to declare her candidacy, leaving many to claim the debate is simply a move to boost ratings.
A number of Republican leaders were also extended invitations, the news networks said. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Donald Trump were also extended invitations. Mr. Daniels, Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Trump publicly announced their intentions not to run for president, while Mr. Huntsman declined the invitation, CNN said.
CNN is allowing audience members to ask questions directly to the candidates and they are also encouraging viewers to use social media while watching the debate. On twitter you’re encouraged to use the hashtag #CNNDebate.
At the Daily Telegraph, conservative columnist Toby Harnden has a list of 10 things to watch for in the debate. According to Harnden, former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs is at the debate. At the Chicago Sun-Times, Lynn Sweet runs down “Team Obama’s GOP Debate Game Plan.”
Here are the details:
*Gibbs is in New Hampshire booked for a series of national and regional interviews before and after the debate. Exclusive: On Tuesday morning, Gibbs will hit the a.m. talk shows: CNN’s American Morning, Fox and Friends, CBS’ Early Show and MSNBC.
*Flooding the zone. Obama 2012 top strategist David Axelrod was deployed to CNN in D.C., where he guests on the debate pre-show, “John King, USA.”
*Democratic National Committee top spokesman Brad Woodhouse will handle post debate spin room duties at the debate site, St. Anselm’s College.
*The DNC is deploying folks to work all social media-Twitter, web, etc. during the debate and will run a fact check operation.
*The DNC is also doing what is called pre-buttal, taking aim in particular at Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney.
Donald Trump’s Deep Thoughts on Abortion, Religion
Posted: April 19, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, abortion rights, Surreality, U.S. Politics, We are so F'd | Tags: 2012 presidential election, ABC Good Morning America, abortion, Donald Trump, evangelical Christians, fundamentalism, George Stephanopoulos, idiocy, NBC News, religion, Savannah Guthrie 39 Comments
I’ve never been very interested in Donald Trump. To be honest, until today I had never actually heard him speak two consecutive sentences. Trump has given several interviews lately, and based on watching them and/or reading the transcripts, I must say the man strikes me as a complete idiot. Next to him, the “P” woman looks slightly above average in intelligence.
Trump addressed his “pro-life” stance with Savannah Guthrie of NBC News and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. Here are his words of wisdom on the subject.
Vaugn Ververs at MSNBC’s First Read:
Donald Trump appeared stumped when asked [by Savannah Guthrie] about the legal principle that served as the cornerstone for the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion….
Guthrie: “Is there a right to privacy in the Constitution?”
Trump: “I guess there is, I guess there is. And why, just out of curiosity, why do you ask that question?”
When pressed to explain how his position on the right to privacy “squares” with his anti-abortion position, Trump responded: “Well, that’s a pretty strange way of getting to pro-life. I mean, it’s a very unique way of asking about pro-life. What does that have to do with privacy? How are you equating pro-life with privacy? ”
Guthrie asked, “well, you know about the Roe v. Wade decision.” Trump responded, “yes, right, sure. Look, I am pro-life. I’ve said it. I’m very strong there.”
Trump left the interview still not seeing a connection between a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion and the right to privacy. What a loon!
On ABC’s Good Morning America, George Stephanopolous asked Trump directly about the fairly recent change in his abortion stance.
Stephanopoulos: At that time, you were also pro-choice. Now you say you’re against abortion. When did you change your mind on that?
Trump: I would say, you know, a while ago. Quite a while ago.
Stephanopoulos: Why?
Trump: Because a number of cases, but in one particular case, I had a friend and I have a friend. And he would– did not want a child and his wife didn’t want a child. And they were going to abort. And they didn’t do it for very complicated reasons. And now they have the child. And it’s the apple of his eye. And he said, “Thank God.” He changed also, by the way. “Thank God, I didn’t do it.” And I’ve seen that, and I’ve seen other things. And I am pro-life.
That makes a lot of sense. Some rich golfing buddy of Trump’s didn’t want a baby but then changed his mind after the baby was born. Therefore all women must be forced to bear children they don’t want.
Maybe a religious conversion contributed to the change in Trump’s views since 1999 when he told Tim Russert he was pro-choice? He assured David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network that he (Trump) is church-going Christian.
David Brody: You talk a lot about business obviously, but talk to me a little bit about how you see God. How you see God in everything from what happened to your brother (he died of alcoholism at the age of 42) to how your life is today.
Donald Trump: I believe in God. I am Christian. I think The Bible is certainly, it is THE book. It is the thing. I was raised and I gave you a picture just now and perhaps you’ll use that picture I found it from a long time ago. First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica queens is where I went to church. I’m a protestant, I’m a Presbyterian. And you know I’ve had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.
[….]
Brody: Do you actively go to church?
Trump: Well, I go as much as I can. Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there’s a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I’m a Sunday church person. I’ll go when I can.
He’ll go on Christmas and Easter and when he can the rest of the year? I’m not sure Trump understands the evangelicals any better than he understands the U.S. Constitution. Maybe Trump is actually secretly auditioning for a new reality show? He can’t possibly be serious about running for President of the U.S. Can he?
Indiana’s Mitch Daniels: 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee?
Posted: February 24, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Anti-War, Barack Obama, Elections, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, We are so F'd | Tags: 2012 presidential election, Chris Christie, George W. Bush, George Will, Governor Mitch Daniels, Harley Davidson motorcyles, Jeb Bush, Marlon Brando, short people 28 Comments
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels
Lots of Republicans are urging Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Will he do it? Can he win?
Who’s touting Daniels? New Jersey Governor Chris Christie loves the guy.
Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, said Wednesday that his counterpart in Indiana, Mitch Daniels, is the only prospective Republican presidential candidate who is honestly talking about how to confront the nation’s biggest fiscal challenges.
Jeb Bush thinks Daniels is “the best Republican candidate.”
Jacksonville’s Florida Times-Union reports that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush favors Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for president in 2012.
Bush reportedly told a private reception for business leaders, “Mitch is the only one who sees the stark perils and will offer real detailed proposals.”
Daniels’ speech at CPAC 2011 was very well received, and get this–George Will introduced Daniels to the CPAC audience as “the thinking man’s Marlon Brando,” apparently because Daniels likes to right around the Indiana countryside on a Harley Davidson chopper. Judge for yourself.
Mitch Daniels on his Harley
Marlon Brando in "The Wild One"
Daniels has some other problems too. For one thing he thinks Republicans should forget about social issues and focus on economic ones (cutting deficits, natch). Conservatives are not at all happy with Daniels for asking Indiana Republican legislators to withdraw their proposed “right to work” bill. In addition, he reportedly is a pretty serious policy wonk who likes to talk to his fellow wingnuts as if they were adults.
By far, the most important speech at CPAC was delivered by two-term Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana at Friday night’s banquet. It was an eloquently crafted, intellectually compelling call to arms against the red-ink forces of the national debt. Daniels, who was George W. Bush’s budget director, proposed dramatically revamping Social Security and Medicare as he called for “an affectionate thank you to the major social welfare programs of the last century.”
What was most striking about Daniels’ speech, which inspired careful listening rather than pep-rally applause, was that it treated his CPAC audience as adults rather than as just another constituency group demanding pandering. Whether it was dismissing the easy-answer attacks on earmarks (“in the cause of national solvency, they are a trifle”) or suggesting that most voters do not appreciate the sharp-edged rhetoric of the Republican right (“it would help if they liked us, just a bit”), Daniels’ speech was an exercise in speaking truth to conservatives who have the power to derail a presidential candidacy.
Come on, that’s never going to work with Republican primary voters!
On top of that, several media outlets reported today that Daniels was busted for drugs when he was in 1970 when he was a junior at Princeton. And it wasn’t for possession of just a little pot, either.
Read the rest of this entry »
Late Night Open Thread: What the Dems Could Hit Romney With If They Weren’t Complete Wimps
Posted: January 3, 2011 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Crime, Democratic Politics, U.S. Politics | Tags: 2012 presidential election, animal cruelty, Democrats, Mike Dukakis, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Willie Horton 29 Comments
This is kind of funny in a sick way. Mitt Romney has a couple of problems similar to the scandal that destroyed Mike Dukakis’s presidential run.
The paroled jewel thief who died in a shootout with slain Woburn police officer John “Jack” Maguire could become Mitt Romney’s Willie Horton should the former GOP governor run for president in 2012, some political strategists said.
But others say the circumstances are entirely different from the notorious furlough walkaway case that helped torpedo Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.
Two of six Parole Board members who unanimously agreed to release triple-lifer Dominic Cinelli, 57, from prison last year — Thomas Merigan Jr. and Candace Kochin — were appointed by Romney in 2004.
Mitt had an earlier “Willie Horton”-type problem too.
Romney, whose spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, faced accusations he was soft on crime during the 2008 race when a judge he’d appointed released Daniel Tavares Jr. from jail on personal recognizance — a man who’d served 16 years for hacking his own mother to death. Tavares was awaiting trial on new charges he assaulted two correction officers.
Four months later, Tavares shot to death Washington state newlyweds Brian and Beverly Mauck.
But those stories are nothing compared to Mitt’s problem with animal lovers. It was a supposedly “humorous” story about a family vacation told by Romney in an interview with The Boston Globe:
“Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family’s hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon’s roof rack. He’d built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog,” read the article.
Eventually,
“A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who’d been riding on the roof in the wind for hours,” the article said.
After his son noticed the liquid, Romney pulled the car over and hosed down Seamus at a gas station before putting him back into the crate on top of the car and continuing on with the drive.
Read the article to find out what kind of torture this treatment was for the dog.
Perhaps Romney’s Republican primary opponents will spread these stories far and wide. I hope so, because this man should never be President. But if he gets the nomination, I don’t expect the wimpy Democrats to use this stuff, do you?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Recent Comments