Monday’s political round-up

August 13, 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:

* Mitt Romney backed off from comments he made last week, when he equated his sons’ efforts on behalf of his campaign with military service in a time of war. Yesterday, on Fox News, he took it all back. “I misspoke,” Romney said. “It’s not service to the country, it’s service for me, and there’s just no comparison there.”

* Barack Obama took on the “black enough?” question at the annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention late last week. “What it really does is really lay bare, I think, that we’re still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong,” he said, adding it’s the same sort of suspicion many blacks face when they attend a predominately white Ivy League institution. CNN reported, “[T]hat’s when he issued this provocative challenge: Instead of asking Obama if he’s black enough, black journalists should dig deeper, and ask why there exists this mistrust in black America of a black man like Obama running for office? Bottom line: Obama nailed it.” I hope so; can the media stop talking about this now?

* NYT: “It looks as if the Republican presidential candidates, at least most of them, will be participating in a YouTube debate after all. The forum is now set for Nov. 28, the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. The campaigns of Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator John McCain have signed on, according to CNN, which will broadcast the event.” The Romney campaign is apparently the only one still hedging on whether to participate.

* Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) announced late last week that he’s intent on keeping the Iowa caucuses in January, and has no interest in moving them up to pre-Christmas December. “The bottom line is Iowa will have the first caucus in the nation and we’re going in January,” Culver said during an interview in his office. “There’s only so far that I think people are willing to be flexible. This is a 2008 presidential selection process. It should start in 2008, and I expect that it will.”

* The Maryland Republican Party is “nearly broke.” The Baltimore Sun reported that the “state GOP treasurer’s report from July 31 shows the party had $4,615 in cash and $50,500 in debt. Because of lackluster fundraising, the party operated at a $103,536 deficit in the first six months of the year.” The party’s major annual fundraising event, the Red, White and Blue Dinner, was expected to bring in about $150,000. It actually netted $15,572.

The party’s major annual fundraising event, the Red, White and Blue Dinner, was expected to bring in about $150,000. It actually netted $15,572.

Sounds like it’s time to switch from the Red, White and Blue Dinner to the Blue Plate Special.

  • Just how black is Obama supposed to be? He is half-caucasian, after all.

    In fact, I see him as nicely epitomizing interracial harmony, sort of a walking billboard for all of us just getting along.

  • I was really pleased that Culver came out last week strongly in favor of keeping the caucuses in January. The thought of a pre-holiday caucus date had me really concerned … turnout is crucial and what better way to torpedo the caucuses than to put them right before the holidays. Culver did the sensible thing and put the kibosh on that speculation. It’s the first impressive thing he’s done in office as far as I’m concerned, but he’s still new on the job and sure beats the alternative he ran against (Nussle). I can deal with a post New Years caucus, as I think most engaged Iowans can as well, but the thought of a pre-Xmas caucus was a disastrous idea.

  • Mitt Romney backed off of comments he made last week, when he equated his sons’ efforts on the part of his campaign with military service in a time of war. Yesterday, on Fox News, he took it all back. “I misspoke,” Romney said. “It’s not service to the country, it’s service for me, and there’s just no comparison there.”

    You didn’t misspeak, Mitler, you put party above country just like the rest of the Reich Wing Corporate Leninists.

  • Obama isn’t really “black” at all. He’s half Kenyan and half European, but he is not the descendant of African slaves like the people in Spike Lee movies. He doesn’t carry the generational psyche of slavery, Jim Crow, share cropping, segregation, the civil rights movement, the urban ghetto or the LA Riots. He grew up in Hawaii and in Indonesia, and was raised mainly by white people.

  • Well, it is nice to know that the Maryland Republican Party now looks like America: in debt and desperate.

  • Does it really matter, Haik? If he stood on a street corner in Washington DC with his arm outstretched the taxicabs would still pass him right by.

  • I’ve heard shit like this before, too. Been called a Banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside.) It used to piss me off till I realized that in many ways I am. I grew up in mostly white towns, went to mostly white schools, have many white friends and mostly dated white women. I am a creature of this environment despite my “pure” Asian genetics. In many ways, I can empathize with Obama.

    Doesn’t matter what Obama is as long as his policies and ideas are sound and sensible? Being Black enough? So what. I think that many Americans have a long way to go when dealing with race (that includes blacks.)

    Got a taste of this during a visit to friends in SoCal, I once stopped at a local “authentic” Mexican eatery and had dinner. I got this strange feeling that I was being watched. It turns out that I was as many of the patrons were gawking at me as if they had never seen an Asian man enjoy Mexican food before. I got the impression that my Asian ass was unwelcome here, but I just ignored it. I’ve never experienced this in Toronto where I’ve been sometimes the only non-whatever in the whole place.

  • Haik,

    What? Since when does Black mean descendent of a slave? Plenty of people all over the world consider themselves Black and are not linked to slaves.

  • “What it really does is really lay bare, I think, that we’re still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong,”

    What a very nice way of saying some people still have their heads lodged up their arse. Every candidate for mayor in DC (since they finally got Barry the hell out of there) has had to put up with this stupid crap. People who ask the question should be forced to define “Black enough,” preferably while attached to some sort of shock generating device.

    “It’s not service to the country, it’s service for me, and there’s just no comparison there.”

    Or there was a comparison until someone called my dog abusing arse on it and then I decided there wasn’t a comparsion.

    I just realized that there’s no point in trying to pick the ReThug Cand. that I hate the most because I hate them all, just for different reasons.

    The Maryland Republican Party is “nearly broke.” The Baltimore Sun reported that the “state GOP treasurer’s report from July 31 shows the party had $4,615 in cash and $50,500 in debt.

    I’m not that good at math but it seems that if one’s debt exceeds one’s cash, one is BEYOND broke. Or are they using Karl Rove’s The Math? Oh well, it still makes me happy. Maryland ReThugs tend to be various shades of Purple rather than Red. I’m not surprised the GOP in my state has taken a pounding after long association with That Which Dwells in the Oval Office.

    He doesn’t carry the generational psyche of slavery, Jim Crow, share cropping, segregation, the civil rights movement, the urban ghetto or the LA Riots.

    [Hb]

    Would you care to define generational psyche of slavery etc, or will you just go ahead and concede you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about?

  • Was George Bush black enough? Hispanic enough? Catholic enough? White enough? Italian enough? Poor enough? Middle-class enough? Northeastern enough? Tall enough? How about the Rooster, or McCain or Romney or HRC or Edwards or whomever the hell you choose? Too good-looking? Not good looking enough?

    Enough of the blank-enough already. What kind of president would each make?

  • Sorry for the tangent, but after Iowa Victory Gardener made the passing comment about keeping the caucuses in January being the first good thing new Democratic Governor Culver has done, I need to put in a pitch. In less than a year in office, Culver (admittedly working with a Dem legislature) raised the minimum wage, raised teacher pay, raised the cigarette tax, reversed the Rethug ban on stem cell research in Iowa, created a dedicated position to enhance use and production of renewable energy in Iowa, allowed Iowa’s military families free use of the Iowa Communication Network to make video calls to loved ones in combat. . . what’s not to like? (And remember, this is on the heels of 8 years of a Dem governor who didn’t accomplish that list on his own watch.)

  • Thanks Zeitgeist (#12). Clearly I’ve been more nationally obsessed of late and haven’t paid close enough attention to what’s going on at home. Point very well taken. Culver’s on the right track (thanks for the reminders of a few items I had known but let slip) compared to Nutsack, that’s for sure. Didn’t mean to demean him at all, just that this decision taken so firmly really impressed me, not that he hasn’t accomplished anything so far. Have to admit I was dubious at first, but I was a Fallon supporter and Culver was the fall back guy for me. He’s young and got time to grow… let’s just hope he keeps on the right track and stays away from the DLC.

  • Haik has proven with this obnoxious and rascist drivel he’ll pretty much say anything anti-Obama in his fanatical support of Hillary and he probably shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than a common troll.

  • How can we ever have campaign finance reform leading to public financing of campaigns if we keep stretching out the length of the campaigns. Right now media organizations are drooling over the amount of money they will get even after raising their charges to well above what should be the max.. Nothing would please these groups more than stretching Presidential campaigns out to last a full 2yrs. Oh the money to be made.

    Putting it on an individual basis, if you were the one who had to pay the cost of a campaign, and it were figured to an average amount per month, you would want the number of months to decrease to save money. Well, with public financing of campaigns you will be the one paying the monthly cost.

    The whole process, from nomination to election should not last more than 6mos maximum. And the cost should be fixed. Campaigning should not be officially allowed until May or June of the election year. That is when the “Campaign Season” should begin, and dear tags…er…a…I mean…a…campaign bids should be announced.

    That would go a long way in getting rid of campaign profiteering

  • Its worth noting that Obama actually is, I believe, a descendant of a slave…or, rather, a “domestic servant”, his grandfather, under British rule Kenya.

    The facts of that statement are disputed, of course, by the same people who claim Obama is a closet Muslim bent on destroying the U.S. or whatever, so take that it all with a grain of salt (or make sure to don your trusty tin foil hat)

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