Thursday’s political round-up

October 4, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Yesterday afternoon, Hillary Clinton picked up one of her biggest union endorsements yet, winning the support of the American Federation of Teachers, which has 1.4 million members nationwide.

* The fight between the DNC and Florida Dems is getting even uglier: “Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is to file a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing the Democratic National Committee of violating the constitutional rights of four million of the state’s voters by refusing to seat its delegates at the party’s national convention next summer. The suit also accuses the committee of violating the Voting Rights Act, which protects voters from racial discrimination.”

* Barack Obama seems anxious to turn torture into a campaign issue. He emphasized it at DePaul the other day, and his campaign was quick this morning to hammer the administration over the NYT revelations. In a statement I received via email, Obama said, “Torture is how you create enemies, not how you defeat them. Torture is how you get bad information, not good intelligence. Torture is how you set back America’s standing in the world, not how you strengthen it.” Chris Dodd, meanwhile, released a strong statement of his own.

* Bob Novak said the GOP still can’t get over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith: “In my travels, I find his religious preference cited everywhere as the source of opposition to his candidacy.”

* On a related note, McCain’s not sure if Mormons are Christians.

* Ron Paul raised eyebrows this week by reporting an impressive $5 million in contributions in the third quarter, close to John McCain’s haul, and five times the amount raised by Mike Huckabee.

* Fred Thompson said on Fox News yesterday he’s not anxious to chat with James Dobson. “I don’t particularly care to have a conversation with him,” Thompson said. “If he wants to call up and apologize again, that’s okay with me.”

Bob Novak said the GOP still can’t get over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith: “In my travels, I find his religious preference cited everywhere as the source of opposition to his candidacy.”

On a related note, McCain’s not sure if Mormons are Christians.

As someone who was a clse-up witness the formation of the Religious Right (I met John Whitehead years before he pimped Paula Corbin Jones), this is spot on.

Mormons do not profess the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed, and Romney will never be accepted by the religious right, who have been taught in their churches that Mormonism is a Cult like Scientology.

I can’t WAIT to see how South Carolina chews him up and spits him out.

  • Ron Paul raised eyebrows this week by reporting an impressive $5 million in contributions in the third quarter, close to John McCain’s haul, and five times the amount raised by Mike Huckabee.

    More importantly, According to Paul’s website, “The antiwar candidate received nearly 50% of the total money donated to all Republican Presidential Candidates”

    “Lots of military people turned out to be aware that our campaign got more donations from soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines than any other,” said Paul in a statement on his website. “Funny, that made a big impression in Congress too. Many of my colleagues were amazed and encouraged that you can be against this unconstitutional and disastrous war, and get military support.”

    …

    Paul said it is “an outrage that we are accused of not supporting the troops” and called it a “scam when the warmongers claim to be pro-soldier.”

    http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/pauls-active-service-member-donations-get-noticed-2007-08-03.html

    So much for the argument that leaving Iraq before the “mission is accomplished” would undermine troop morale.

    See figures here:
    http://www.ronpaulonline.com/content/view/124/127/

  • About this Florida thing—I just can’t seem to grasp how Nelson is bringing out the Voting Rights Act—unless he’s declaring Floridians to be a unique subset of “Homo Sapiens.”

    And when did Dobson apologize to UnAware Fred “the first time?” This should pretty much be “a sign unto the religious wingnuts” that the GOP doesn’t think it needs them any more.

    Finally, I think Paul might be siphoning some money from the moderate part of Dobson’s legions who are starting to get fed up with the whacko crap. The fact that a portion of the right is moving toward a candidate who can look at their social issues from an out-of-the-box aspect could be a reason behind Dobson making his “threat.” Taking credit for something that’s already in progress has been successful for Guys like Dobson and Robertson before….

  • Fred Thompson is a buffoon, but at least he knows the right way to deal with Little Jimmy Dobson and his ilk. Nice one, Fred. If every other major figure would follow his example in that area, the world would be a much nicer place.

    I’m reminded of Churchill’s famous quote in regard to Stalin which went something like, “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”

    Nice one, Winston.

  • “Hillary Clinton picked up one of her biggest union endorsements”

    I don’t know what it is. I just can’t warm up to Hillary’s candidacy, and I don’t understand her overwhelming leadership in the polls. Are Americans so shallow that they can only respond to name recognition (the brightest bauble on their TeeVee screens)?

    I’d like to hope that national polls are meaningless, that internal structures within early primary states will surprise everyone. But I’m having a hard time believing that anymore … TeeVee reality IS reality, increasingly.

    Ugh.

  • Ed, I think it is more than name id. In this case, it may well be nostalgia. After 7 years of Dubya, those Clinton years — which most people like even at the time, judging from his end-of-term approval ratings — look like heaven, and they want a return to “the Clinton years”. And then there is a slice that wonders how it is that a dozen other countries have had women leaders but not us (and who thinks a little less testosterone might improve things). And then there is a DLC slice. And undoubtedly there is the name id slice you mention. And then there is a slice that actually like her for her positions, personality etc (although that slice seems a little small). But those slices add up to a pretty good sized pie after a while.

  • Ron Paul is cool, but if he’s not the Republican nominee, we should all vote for the Dem in the general, whoever she may be. -Haik

    Or vote for whomever you want to, as is your right as an American.

    If I weren’t a long time reader, Haik, I’d swear you were trolling.

  • Not only do most ‘evangelical Christians’ consider Mormons a cult (with which I will agree), they also consider the Catholic church a cult as well. That’s the real reason that Kerry had no hope of winning…not only was he pro-abortion, he was a member of the cult.

  • RacerX: You should forward that Ron Paul link to Rush Limbaugh.

    And what in god’s name has Bill Nelson been smoking? Political parties have no official status under our constitution. They have complete authority to make their own rules and enforce them as they see fit and they answer to no one other than their own membership regarding how they choose their candidates. If a party wanted to decide who they put on the ballot with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors they have every legal right to do so. What an ass.

  • “The fight between the DNC and Florida Dems is getting even uglier: “Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is to file a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing the Democratic National Committee of violating the constitutional rights of four million of the state’s voters by refusing to seat its delegates at the party’s national convention next summer. The suit also accuses the committee of violating the Voting Rights Act, which protects voters from racial discrimination.”

    Will someone please explain to me why Howard Dean is now pursuing a 49-state strategy that includes kicking out the Democrats in one of the two most important states in the coming election??? Florida has more votes than those halfwits in New Hampshire and Iowa combined. Let them fume. We need enthusiastic Democrats in Florida, and it’s not like it’s the Democrats in Florida who are doing this – it’s the Republican majority in the Florida legislature, doing this because they know they can wipe out the Democrats by depressing the vote with this.

    I don’t know why I am surprised, watching “Democrats” snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again. Whatever “Democratic wing of the Democratic Pary” Howard Dean is from, it’s not mine. I didn’t like him in 2003 and he’s done nothing since to prove me wrong.

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