Oh my. Strict constructionist judges? That’s what every kid hopes to see under the tree Christmas morning!
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From the category archives:
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy “9/11″ Giuliani’s new advert puts forth a horribly false meme: that the Iranian hostages were released within an hour of Reagan’s inauguration (true) because Reagan was “tough on terror” (false).
Unfortunately for Rudy’s version of history, what actually happened was the release agreement was signed the day before the inaugural… and was negotiated by the Carter White House (led by Warren Christopher).
But why let facts get in the way of a good rant? “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
NINE ELEVEN!
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A town hall meeting from 2001 where Rudy shows what he’s all about.
Yeah, a Giuliani Administration would be a huge improvement over the chuckleheads we have now. (Rolleyes)
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Will pigs fly next?
Okay, I have to quickly say that I live in Virginia and our Democratic party had a great night last night – we took back control of the state senate, again emphasizing that Virginia is not really a “red” state.
Back to the subject of this post…seriously, Pat Robertson is endorsing Rudy Guiliani? What happened to all his “preaching” against gay marriage, abortion rights, etc.? Looks to me as though the thought of Hillary Clinton as president is making Robertson crazy. I guess he’s looking anywhere for someone who might be able to beat her (I’m not sure Rudy is the man for the job, but let him try.).
In Guiliani, he will find someone who will be happy to keep the march towards a police state going, but I don’t think Robertson will get the theocracy he desires.
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The implosion of the GOP is the fruits of their own labor. They worked so hard to court the far-wingnut-right, especially the “Values Voters”, that those hardline evangelical groups feel entitled to get their ideal GOP candidate. They aren’t very happy.
In June, [Focus on the Family's James Dobson] said: “I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision. If given a Hobson’s – Dobson’s? – choice between him and Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I will either cast my ballot for an also-ran – or if worse comes to worst – not vote in a presidential election for the first time in my adult life. My conscience and my moral convictions will allow me to do nothing else.”
Many far-right groups appear on the verge of abandoning the GOP (which is already pretty damn far to the right, if you look at the vast majority of the candidates in the race) for not being far enough to the right. Even RABid is getting in the act, with Naugle stating that Rudy “9/11!!!!!” Giuliani is “too liberal.” The dude is socially moderate – at best! – and about the biggest neocon running for President!
That noise you hear? It’s the sound of the GOP imploding.
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Two thoughts: 1) Wow! and 2) Particularly considering it just so happens to be Iowa, it will be extra interesting to see how this ongoing story will play out alongside the presidential primary election.
From the Chicago Tribune:
DES MOINES, Iowa – A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa’s law banning gay marriage and ordered the county recorder to permit gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Less than two hours after word of the ruling was publicized, two Des Moines men applied at the Polk County recorder’s office for a marriage license, and for the first time the application was accepted. The process of granting a license to marry in Iowa takes three days. [click to continue…]
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Talk about sleeping media. Curiously not many are talking about the fact that Rudy Guiliani quit the Iraq Study Group. Apparently raising political dough was more pressing than figuring out ways to make our country and the world safer and end the mess in Iraq. Odd. Fred Kaplan over at Slate is on it:
If you don’t read Newsday, you might not know (I didn’t until this week) that Rudy Giuliani was an original member of the Iraq Study Group—the blue-ribbon commission co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton—but he was forced out after failing to show up for any of the panel’s meetings.
Forced to quit for being a now-show. Good stuff. The reason he was missing meetings is because he was raising dough. Lots of it:
On April 12, 2006, he was giving a keynote address at an economics conference in South Korea for a fee of $200,000. On May 18, he was giving a speech on leadership in Atlanta for $100,000.
Now. Absent from the discussion will be all the wingnuts who have been banging on President Clinton’s speaking engagements. Ahum. The President. Not candidate. The man was one. Ahum.
So what does this all reveal about Rudy the candidate and Rudy the man?
But—given a chance to elevate his standing, serve the country, and get educated on the nation’s most pressing issue—Rudy went for the money.
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Rudy might not be smoking crack. But his South Carolina Chairman can sell ya some.
Damn…
Rudy and the crack slanga:
ht TPM
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According to NRO, it’s true. Rudy will stop peddling fear by continually using 9/11 for his own political gain. What else could this mean:
I am making 12 Commitments to the American People. They are intended to lift our vision from the rearview mirror to the road ahead.
OK Rudy. We’re gonna hold ya to that one. Let’s put him on the clock.
Oh, and one more thing. To go from the rearview mirror to the road ahead? You gotta lower your vision.
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Too damned funny:
(ht Dave at PO)
Ron Paul then comes in a close second in the end to Romney. Rudy not the frontrunner if you ask Fox News texters. I’m hearing they’ve been fumbling about trying to downplay the accuracy of their own poll all morning. Too funny.
The takeaway might be that principled positions like Paul’s stand on the war and McCain’s stand against torture are what wins over voters…not 5 year old jingoistic fearmongering screeds. Has the Rupert Murdoch liberal bias already begun to creep in?. Or maybe it’s this.
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Did anyone see this in the conservative main stream media? (Of course you didn’t)
In a May 3 article, the Anamosa Journal-Eureka (Jones County, Iowa) reported: “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.” According to the article, the VonSpreckens, who “have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle,” agreed to the proposal and prepared for a 75-100 person rally. However, according to Deb VonSprecken, the Giuliani campaign later canceled the event, telling her: “I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.”
(ht MediaMatters) [click to continue…]
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Interesting. The Guiliani Planned Parenthood flap appears to be coming from the McCain camp. First, The Politico reports:
The returns have been on the public record for years, but the detail about Giuliani’s support for Planned Parenthood — along with e-mailed copies of the returns — was provided to The Politico by aides to a rival campaign, who insisted on not being identified.
The McCain camp then makes their hay:
The reports, in turn, led the top campaign strategist for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to suggest Tuesday that Giuliani’s position was unacceptable for a Republican standard-bearer.
“He’s well outside the mainstream of rank-and-file Republicans on this issue, not only as someone who is pro-abortion, but someone who has supported one of the most radical pro-abortion groups in the country,” John Weaver, the McCain strategist, said in a telephone interview.
Weaver’s remarks came a day after McCain had said it would be tough for a Republican who favored abortion rights to win the nomination.
“I think it’s one of the fundamental principles of a conservative to have respect and commitment to the dignity of human life, both the born and unborn,” McCain told the Associated Press in Iowa.
Don’t take long to put 2 & 2 together.
Here’s the problem. McCain opens himself up to scrutiny of his own “fundamental principles of a conservative”. Look back to 1999 when John was not in support of reversing Roe v. Wade, yet now all of a sudden he is.
Glass houses John. Glass houses.
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One of the big storylines out of the Republican debate was how everyone (and I do mean everyone) was trying to stake a claim to Reagan’s legacy.
Ten Republican presidential candidates wanting to replace
President Bush embraced a more popular president, conservative icon
Ronald Reagan, at every turn in their first debate of the 2008 race.“Ronald Reagan was a president of strength,” Mitt Romney intoned. “Ronald Reagan used to say, we spend money like a drunken sailor,” said John McCain. And Rudy Giuliani praised “that Ronald Reagan optimism.”
One by one, [the ten candidates] invoked Reagan 19 times. In contrast, Bush’s name was barely uttered; the president’s job approval rating languishes in the 30s.
“They went out of the their way on multiple occasions, no matter the question, to associate themselves with Reagan,” said Mitchell McKinney, a political communication professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “They tried their best to not be explicitly bashing or attacking Bush. Most of them tried, in some way, to take a pass on that.”
However, it’s impossible to talk about Reagan’s legacy without mentioning George W. Bush for one reason and one reason only: Dubya is Reagan’s legacy. [click to continue…]
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A Nation of Bedwetters
by Brian on September 26, 2007 · Comments
This article by Rick Perlstein perfectly underlines what a bunch of sissies we’ve been over the entire Ahmadinejad visit. I’ve made this comparison elsewhere – why can’t be behave like we did when Nikita “We will bury you” Khrushchev visited during the height of the Cold War in 1959?
In 2004 I thought this country was full of neocon idiots. Now I realize that we are a bunch of weak-willed sissies. We are collectively terrified of Lite-Brites and tin-pot dictators on the other side of the world who can’t even control their own countries. And we’ve been made that way by the conservative scare-mongering (Perlstein points out that the John Birch Society was doing the same stuff neocons are now back then). I’m actually to the point of revulsion with all this cowardice. Cowardice hidden behind blustery bravado.
Afraid of terrorists. Afraid of people who say bad things. Afraid of homosexuals. Afraid of criminals. Afraid of atheists. Afraid of black people. Afraid of hispanics. Is this what we’ve become? A nation of people who carry concealed weapons out of fear? Who attack other nations because of fear? Who freak out because some kid has a home-made LED display on her chest out of fear it might be a bomb? Who preach hate towards homosexuals or immigrants because of an irrational fear that granting equal rights to others will somehow invalidate the rights of the privileged? Who react in terror when the bigoted President of another country requests to visit Ground Zero?
If this is what we’ve become, I’m disgusted at our national character. We used to be great.
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