Monday’s political round-up

January 22, 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:

* Though the news was easily overshadowed by Sen. Clinton’s announcement, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) announced over the weekend that he will seek the GOP presidential nomination. It sounded as if James Dobson helped write the remarks: “The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public lives and institutions,” Brownback said during his speech in Topeka, Kan. “We need to embrace our nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust,’ and not be ashamed of it…. To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation. To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.”

* Billionaire philanthropist and Democratic donor George Soros had to choose between backing Clinton or Obama in the presidential primaries. He reportedly decided late last week to back Obama.

* Newt Gingrich said yesterday that he would run for president, but only if there’s no frontrunner by Labor Day. “You sound as if you think about running for president as a last resort, not as a first resort?” Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked. “Exactly,” Gingrich answered. “I mean, nobody’s ever said it quite that way, but you’re right.”

* Bush’s advertising team from 2004 — best known for creating an ad about John Kerry windsurfing — will now be John McCain’s advertising team.

* In related news, a political consulting firm with close ties to Karl Rove has taken on Rudy Giuliani as a client.

* In Connecticut, Sen. Chris Dodd (D), who is currently running for president, announced that he will not seek another Senate term in 2010, no matter what happens in his White House bid.

* And Roll Call reports today that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has not yet decided on a favorite 2008 presidential candidate, but at this point, seems to be strongly leaning towards former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R). Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is also reportedly leaning heavily in Romney’s direction.

“We need to embrace our nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust,’ and not be ashamed of it

What we really need to do is embrace the former national motto “E Pluribus Unum” (“Out of Many, One”), which rightly defined our country until it was replaced by the Christianists in the 1950s. One shouldn’t have to believe in God or “a god” in order to be an American regardless of what Christian thugs like Brownback say.

  • Dodd has said he may be running for president. His move is just a technical move to be able to use his money for the presidential campaign.

    http://politicalinsider.com/2007/01/not_so_fast_lamont.html

    “In order to transfer all of his money he raised for his 2010 re-election to his [White House] campaign account without penalty, he had to file a statement with the FEC saying he wouldn’t run. It’s simply an accounting thing, nothing more. In fact, should Dodd not be elected [President] in ’08, he, indeed can legally open a new Senate 2010 account. He did this so that he could raise maximum amounts from donors who gave to that 2010 campaign account.”

    In addition, “an inquiry to Dodd’s campaign about the above mentioned story prompted the following response from spokesperson Beneva Schulte: ‘It’s a legality that isn’t an indication of future plans.'”

  • Call me a cynic, but perhaps the reason Boehner and Blunt are leaning towards Romney is because they believe that if elected he would be a weak president and thus the power of Congress might increase to fill the void.

  • Soooooo, Newt Gingrich figures he can ride into town on his big white….posterior and save the nation just because he’s, well, Newt Gingrich.

    Do you guys want to tell him just how delusional that notion is, or shall I? Delusion is the natural state of affairs for Newtie and his merry band of lunatics, but this really takes the cake.

  • earth to brownback: the FIRST thing we need to do is to take god out of our public lives and institutions. period.

  • …George Soros had to choose…

    Did he have to? He could just wait until the primaries were over, and then donate to the nominee. Unless Soros has a strong favorite at this point, the only reason to donate to candidates is because they need $100 million by the end of 2007, and the only way to get there is to appeal to the likes of Soros (because that’s where the money is).

  • Remember, Newt has always seen himself as “the teacher” for western civilization. In between getting blown by staff members in stairwells, writing cheesy revisionist fiction, and blaming Democrats for mothers murdering their children, that is. In this history of his grandiose delusions, this is relatively small beer.

  • Brownback The Foot Washer may play well in the Wingnutopia that is Kansas, but the guy’s so far right that me makes Pat Robertson look like a moderate.

    I wonder if some of these people actually think they can win, or if they just do this to get certain issues out in the nation’s dialog while barnstorming the country on someone else’s dime.

  • I watched Achilles last night. Brownback’s Almighty-talk sounds so much like the warrior tribes calling on Apollo and Zeus and them. It’s insane talk if you’re the least bit practical.

    I wonder why film-makers still have the ancients talking with British accents and stilted grammer?

  • I’m glad to see that Soros has decided to back Obama rather than Hillary, because the best way to put a Democrat in the White House in 2008 is to get her the hell out of the campaign as quickly as possible. She cannot win, all she can do is drag the rest of the party down into the swamps of Hillary-hatred that exist in this country – and not solely among Republicans.

  • * Bush’s advertising team from 2004 — best known for creating an ad about John Kerry windsurfing — will now be John McCain’s advertising team.

    * In related news, a political consulting firm with close ties to Karl Rove has taken on Rudy Giuliani as a client.

    It’s a race to the crossroads to see who can make a deal with the nastiest devil.

  • Dale #10 writes: “I wonder why film-makers still have the ancients talking with British accents and stilted grammer?”

    It’s because in English it sounds epic and in Amurican it sounds ridiculous.

    I remember fondly Tony Curtis in Taras Bulba (spelling?) saying something like “yonda is the castle of my fatha.” Now, if Peter O’Toole had that line…

  • just bill (@#5)—I’d settle for :the FIRST thing we need to do is to take Sam Brownback out of our public lives and institutions. period. :

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