Monday’s campaign round-up

January 14, 2008

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:

* In South Carolina, Rep. James Clyburn (D) had hinted last week that he would endorse a presidential candidate, but he’s since backed off. On Friday night, Clyburn said he will remain neutral.

* South Carolina’s conservative Republican governor, Mark Sanford, had an interesting editorial the other day praising, of all people, Barack Obama. Sanford explained from the outset that he wouldn’t vote for Obama, but added, “Obama is not running for president on the basis of his race, and no one should cast their ballot for or against him on that basis. Nonetheless, what is happening in the initial success of his candidacy should not escape us. Within many of our own lifetimes, a man who looked like Barack Obama had a difficult time even using the public restrooms in our state. What is happening may well say a lot about America, and I do think as an early primary state we should earnestly shoulder our responsibility in determining how this part of history is ultimately written.”

* John McCain won the endorsement of South Carolina’s largest newspaper Saturday, The State, which praised McCain’s “independence.”

* Michigan’s Republican primary is tomorrow, and the polls are all over the place.

* On a related note, Michigan appears to increasingly look like a must-win state for Mitt Romney, but he vowed yesterday to stay on, regardless of the results.

* WSJ: “Barack Obama’s campaign released details of an economic-stimulus plan Sunday that would focus on tax rebates and one-time Social Security benefits sent out immediately, something it championed as superior to a Clinton proposal announced Friday.”

* Las Vegas Review-Journal: “An off-the-cuff comment Hillary Clinton made in Las Vegas on Thursday has ignited a national firestorm. Answering a shout from a man in the crowd who said, “I’m married to an illegal woman,” Clinton shot back, ‘No woman is illegal,’ grinning as the packed Mexican restaurant at which she was speaking exploded in cheers. That comment, reported in Friday’s Review-Journal, caught the attention of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and the Drudge Report and led to nearly 1,000 angry comments on the newspaper’s Web site.” Sounds to me like Hillary got this one exactly right.

* New line of attack from the Clinton campaign against Obama: he was a “part-time state senator” in Illinois.

* James Pinkerton, a former aide in the H.W. Bush White House, and a prominent conservative pundit, has left his media role to join Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. Another sign of grudging establishment credibility?

* Rudy Giuliani supports a national insurance backup fund because … wait for it … it reminds him of 9/11.

* It looks like Dennis Kucinich won’t qualify for the Democratic primary ballot in Texas.

* And Kucinich won’t qualify for the next presidential debate, either.

Clinton shot back, ‘No woman is illegal,’ grinning as the packed Mexican restaurant at which she was speaking exploded in cheers. That comment, reported in Friday’s Review-Journal, caught the attention of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and the Drudge Report and led to nearly 1,000 angry comments on the newspaper’s Web site.”

If by chance this quote were to cause her to lose the general, it would only prove that this country is beyond salvation and that it is time to move to Canada after all.

Those 1000 angry commenters are scary freakin folks.

  • Admittedly, that was a politically brilliant line on Hillary’s part. When pressed, she CAN genuinely connect with the public. Why she relies on a more tactical, mechanical approach when she has it in her to do better is beyond me!

  • I think Clinton should effective-immediately tell her staff to halt the mud-slinging and choose some more substantive approaches.

  • “* New line of attack from the Clinton campaign against Obama: he was a “part-time state senator” in Illinois.”

    How on earth can this be an attack? The legislature in Illinois is part-time. Are people getting a little trigger happy?

  • “Barack Obama’s campaign released details of an economic-stimulus plan Sunday that would focus on tax rebates and one-time Social Security benefits sent out immediately…”

    Isn’t that equivalent to a tax cut?? I thought tax cuts didn’t stimulate the economy.

  • Clinton shot back, ‘No woman is illegal,’

    I love wit, the ability to rapidly respond appropriately to any situation without relying on a pre-built Repertoire. Apparantly Hillary has got it.

    Considering the lame response Obama gave (“You’re likable enough”) at the debate nine days ago, I’d say he doesn’t.

    Not a compelling attribute for a President, but it doesn’t hurt.

  • “* New line of attack from the Clinton campaign against Obama: he was a “part-time state senator” in Illinois.”

    How on earth can this be an attack? The legislature in Illinois is part-time. Are people getting a little trigger happy?

    That’s the Clinton campaign. They thrive on low-information voters and lazy “journalists” who will parrot an attack e-mail, and the facts be damned.

    On the merits, I prefer Obama’s “part-time” record of accomplishment to Clinton’s seven years of enabling Bush on the big issues… though she sure has shown “leadership” in the vital area of naming post offices around NYS.

  • Jr, that is a little disingenuous. Across the board, or regressive, tax cuts have not proven to stimulate the economy — the wealthy essentially “horde” that marginal benefit, it has never proven to trickle down.

    But Democrats have always said that targeted stimulus works. At the beginning of the Bush Downturn, Dems were promoting an increase in the Earned Income Credit. That has three benefits: it encourages work, it helps those who need it more than the rich, and the marginal benefit is much more likely to be immediately injected into the local economy.

    For reasons they could never really explain publicly, the Rethugs didn’t like that suggestion; they preferred more tax cuts for the top 1%. Greed is always better than rationality.

  • About those “scary freakin folks”: it wasn’t only about what Hillary said. It was also the fact that it was Hillary who said it.

    I think that CB’s patented “Horton” rating system needs a bit of tweaking. Horton was a evil thug whose kind is all too common. But he never would have become a “household name” without the efforts of the slimy Lee Atwater, adviser to the campaign of GHW Bush, whose evil compares well to that of Horton himself. Therefore I suggest renaming the ratings points to “Atwater-Hortons.”

  • On the merits, I prefer Obama’s “part-time” record of accomplishment to Clinton’s seven years of enabling Bush on the big issues… though she sure has shown “leadership” in the vital area of naming post offices around NYS.

    Hey, that can be harder than it looks! Good ol Steve King of Iowa blocked someone’s post office name in California, and suggested that a post office be named for McCarthy.

  • “Greed is always better than rationality”

    Yet the facts (as stated by the Department of Treasury) show that since 1990 (and at a greater rate since the Bush tax cuts) the top 1% and 5% of the population are paying a greater amount of the entire tax bill of the US. But that’s a little fact that you regret to mention.

    Also, please cite me some facts that support your claim “Across the board, or regressive, tax cuts have not proven to stimulate the economy” From what I understand, the econoomy has grown at a pretty decent clip for an extended time since ’02.

    Zietgeist, who is being “a little disingenuous???”

  • Talk about the pot calling the kettle black – what’s sHillary’s attendance record in the place she went to so she could run for President been like? Even 50%????

    Mark Sanford congratulating Barack Obama for being a “Responsible ni, er, I mean Negro” and telling that collection of inbreds who voted for him to “show the world how nice we are” makes me want to puke. That he thinks he’s showing what a “responsible leader” he is to write that drivel is pathetic.

  • I love wit, the ability to rapidly respond appropriately to any situation without relying on a pre-built Repertoire. Apparantly Hillary has got it …

    Not a compelling attribute for a President, but it doesn’t hurt.

    Unfortunately, Hillary’s most “compelling attribute” is her ability to inspire indignation in conservatives and pinheads, guaranteeing an increase in voter turnout for the other side.

  • Lance: I love wit, the ability to rapidly respond appropriately to any situation without relying on a pre-built Repertoire. Apparantly Hillary has got it.

    Considering the lame response Obama gave (”You’re likable enough”) at the debate nine days ago, I’d say he doesn’t.

    You wouldn’t think that by watching this clip.

    I’d say he wins the battle of “wits.”

  • From what I understand, the econoomy has grown at a pretty decent clip for an extended time since ‘02.

    Laugh.

    You must have a good stash of oxycontin or somethin’.

    In apples-to-apples comparisons of annualized data, these indicators of the country’s economic well-being show mostly negative change during President George W. Bush’s administration, compared to mostly positive change during President Bill Clinton’s administration.Link (Just one of many.)

    This is older data, but I feel pretty confident the current credit crisis and housing slump will provide some pretty dismal top-line numbers for BushCo’s final two years. Once we get the full numbers down the road (after multiple revisions and incomplete data sets), I’m guessing they show a slide into recession in Q2 or Q3 2007, which’ll take us all the way through 2008 (at least).

    Even looking at market performance only, Bush’s reign is pretty miserable.

    So much for the Heroic CEO President.

  • bee thousand said: “Unfortunately, Hillary’s most “compelling attribute” is her ability to inspire indignation in conservatives and pinheads, guaranteeing an increase in voter turnout for the other side.”

    I’ve always wondered why I’m supposed to be bothered by the fact that Hillary is hated by people who don’t believe in evolution, civil rights, human rights, equality, justice, fair wages, ecology, species preservation or global warming.

    Sometimes it’s good have enemies. Then when you implement policies they oppose they can’t whine “but I thought you weren’t going to do that!”

    Most of the people who HATE Hillary I don’t want voting for my Candidate because I want my Candidate to stand for policies they hate anyway. You don’t have much of a f**king mandate to ensure evolution is taught in schools if your trolling for the votes of creationists.

    etc., etc., etc..

  • …The State, which praised McCain’s “independence.”

    Did the endorsement use scare quotes, too? Because that would’ve been appropriate. “McCain’s such a maverick, he sticks with the establishment even when it’s unpopular!”

  • JRS Jr. said: “…since 1990 (and at a greater rate since the Bush tax cuts) the top 1% and 5% of the population are paying a greater amount of the entire tax bill of the US. But that’s a little fact that you regret (sic) to mention.

    (I think he means “neglect” to mention.)

    I often see this argument from defenders of the Bush approach to tax cuts. But they never bring up what has been happening to the incomes of the top earners who are paying all these taxes. Their incomes have been skyrocketing! That’s why they are paying a larger share of the taxes. The income of the bottom 95% is flat. Without some mention of that, the percentage of taxes paid by the people in the top percentiles is misleading.

    Theoretically, all this wealth in the top percentiles is supposed to be trickling down to everyone else. Why isn’t that working out?

  • Hannah @ #9, that video was hilarious. I still wouldn’t vote for Romney but I would hire the guy who made that vid in a hot second. Thanks for passing it along.

  • the Hillary quote about being a “part time” senator:

    “…then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president,” she said.

    That is RICH coming from Hillary. Pot calling the kettle black, just a bit?

  • Good response by Hillary on the “illegal woman”. I wonder if someone followed up with if she’s married to a US citizen all she has to do is fill out the paperwork for a green card, no big deal.

    New line of attack from the Clinton campaign against Obama: he was a “part-time state senator” in Illinois.”

    How on earth can this be an attack? The legislature in Illinois is part-time. Are people getting a little trigger happy?

    I believe her campaign is referring to Obama “None vote” in Washington. If you look at his voting record he’s been absent a number of times, some of them due to campaigning.

  • New line of attack from the Clinton campaign against Obama: he was a “part-time state senator” in Illinois.”

    How on earth can this be an attack? The legislature in Illinois is part-time. Are people getting a little trigger happy?

    I believe her campaign is referring to Obama “None vote” in Washington. If you look at his voting record he’s been absent a number of times, some of them due to campaigning.

    I also suspect it is this: she has argued she has more experience in that she has been in the US Senate longer. Obama’s camp has countered that he has several years of state senate experience. Noting that Illinois has a part-time session (like many states) implies that his “extra years” of state experience should be cut in half, that he really counters her US Senate experience with “extra months” of state service.

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