Thursday’s political round-up

August 2, 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:

* If you haven’t seen it, Mitt Romney has a new web video in which he pretends to chat with his family about whether to run for president. It culminates with one of his sons concluding, “I don’t think you have a choice. I think you have to run.” As Christopher Orr added, “Remarkably, in all the weighing of pros and cons, none of Romney’s kids points out, ‘But Dad, you’re a pro-choice, pro-gay moderate who’ll have to lie through his teeth to appeal to conservative voters.'”

* Rudy Giuliani’s record of exaggerations continues. In the latest example, his campaign is exaggerating its list of “new” endorsements by including endorsements that have already been rolled out.

* This may be more of a local story, but I like to think it might speak to a larger trend: Chris Koster, the Republican front-runner in Missouri’s upcoming Attorney General race, has switched parties and is now a Dem. “My vision for the state is not a far-right vision,” Koster told The Kansas City Star. “I am a hindrance to them, and they are to me. It seemed like a good time for a separation.”

* NYT: “The Democratic Party will announce on Thursday a state-by-state effort to identify potential problems in how elections are administered before the 2008 presidential election.” Good.

* He’s not quite back to work yet, but Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), still recovering from a brain aneurysm, is now considered a top target by National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.). “It’s time,” Ensign said, stressing emphatically that he and all of his colleagues continue to pray for Johnson’s full recovery. “Obviously, we are all still concerned. But this is a United States Senate seat. He was a top target before his health problems and he’s still a top target.”

I don’t know if anyone caught this, but a front page WaPo story on how officials at Chiquita went to DoJ (Chertoff) and disclosed how they were paying protection money to a Colombian paramilitary group (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia – AUC) on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations. According to Chiquita after disclosing this and saying they would have to pull out of Columbia if they couldn’t pay the group, Chertoff said yes it is illegal but wait for more feedback. But to Chiquita says Chertoff never got back to them so they continued with the payments thinking DoJ was going to help them in some way. However, DoJ is looking to charge officers in the company because the payments continued and are saying that Chertoff told them to stop payments.

Some of this could be miscommunication, but all I could think of was that even in 2003 the DoJ seemed to be ill-run and while the issues are clearly different, I thought back to the Arthur Andersen prosecution and how that was managed poorly as well. I guess I post this just as another piece of the puzzle on how the DoJ has gone off the rails during Bush 43’s administration.

  • Was reading a USAToday story on how Bill O’Reilly and Joe Klein agree that the Democrat presidential candidates are intimidated by the far left. I know Klein is a bit of a wanker and don’t even get me started on Bill, but Republicans politicians and most especially, their current crop of presidential candidates is far more in fear of and beholden to their “extreme” wing than the Democratic candidates are. When will talking heads stop think it is the 1980’s and 1990’s? Why doesn’t Klein talk about the right and their constituent groups and how the presidential candidates are bending so far backward to appease their crazies that they are in danger kicking themselves in the face.

  • Chris Koster, the Republican front-runner in Missouri’s upcoming Attorney General race, has switched parties and is now a Dem. — CB

    What I find encouraging about this switch is that he had been the front-runner *without* it. Ie, he’s not switching for expediency’s sake, but more likely on principle.

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