Thursday’s political round-up

August 23, 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:

* ABC: “Mitt Romney has once again changed his position on whether states should be allowed to retain abortion rights. Two weeks after indicating to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on ‘Good Morning America’ that his abortion position goes beyond reversing Roe vs. Wade and includes support for a human life amendment to the Constitution as well as federal legislation that would bring the unborn under the protections of the 14th Amendment, Romney said Tuesday that he supports letting states make their own choices about abortion — a position that would be impossible if his ‘GMA’ abortion position were implemented.”

* Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert recently announced that he would not seek re-election, but apparently, Hastert won’t even bother serving the rest of his term, preferring to resign from Congress in November. Dairy owner Jim Oberweis, who has run unsuccessfully in three previous statewide bids for governor and for the Senate, is considered a leading contender to replace him.

* John Edwards appears to be turning up the rhetorical heat against Hillary Clinton. In a speech in New Hampshire today, the former senator is scheduled to say, in reference to the 1990s, “The trouble with nostalgia is that you tend to remember what you liked and forget what you didn’t. It’s not just that the answers of the past aren’t up to the job today, it’s that the system that produced them was corrupt — and still is.” Without mentioning Clinton by name, Edwards will also reportedly argue that voters should not simply replace “a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.”

* Struggling a bit, Sen. Joe Biden is retooling his presidential fundraising operation in an effort to raise more money. Biden has raised approximately $4.4 million since the beginning of the year, less than any other candidates except Kucinich and Gravel.

* Former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R-Colo.) was supposed to be the leading GOP candidate for Senate next year, but now he’s hedging on whether or not he’s even going to run.

* Karl Rove caused a fuss saying Hillary Clinton’s “unfavorables” makes it impossible for her to win the presidency. Gallup released a poll yesterday suggesting Rove (who has his own math) is misreading the numbers.

Hastert won’t even bother serving the rest of his term, preferring to resign from Congress in November.

OUT DAMN’ED BLOB!
O, What, will these pants never be clean?

Great news. I won’t be greedy and hope there is a related scandal.

  • Let’s also remember than Hastert’s predecessors as Speaker, Newt Gingrich and Speaker-designate Robert Livingston, also left office before their terms were up. Once you’ve been at the top… something something.

    A comment about that ACLU ad: it’s funny to see the ACLU comparing Reid and Pelosi to sheep, since my respect for the ACLU diminished long ago when I saw them capitulate to odious demands. I think it was the Religious Freedom, Land-Use & Institutionalized Persons Act.

  • Edwards will also reportedly argue that voters should not simply replace “a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.”

    Amen. I just have a tough time imagining HIM as other than an insider too.

    Still… Kudos, Mr. Edwards. More please.

  • I like Edwards’ message, It echoes things I have thought/felt observed for decades.
    It is the biggest problem our Democracy faces, the power of the Corporate Fascists, and yes, Hillary is a corporate fascist, but then so are most folk who make over 200K a year . They just don’t know it. Having blood money stuffed in every orfice tends to isolate one from reality.

    And too many of us on the bottom accept the disparity of wealth as “normal”.

    Which is why I still will keep a cynical eye on Edwards, and his rhetoric.

  • Mitt Romney is an idiot. A pandering, flip-flopping idiot.

    If you are opposed to abortion (and some would say he is even opposed to birth control), what sense does it make to say, “let the states decide?” If you’re willing to allow the collective population of a state to decide, why not take it down to the county or district level? And if that’s okay, why not down to neighborhoods?

    Pretty soon, you know where you are? Right where you should be, allowing each individual person to decide. D’oh!

    I really, REALLY, wish someone would call him on that.

  • Great, switch the fat, corrupt former coach with the racist, fascist, rich twit Oberweis. There are lots of reasons that Oberweis lost those elections (like hating brown people from south of Texas), lets hope the twit loses this one also. Oberweis is a rich contributor to the corrupt Illinois ‘Combine’ that includes the convicted former governor – Ryan, Fat Jim Thompson (who was on convicted felon Conrad Black’s board) and the crooked Daley family. Yep, Illinois rethugs and Dems are in the fix together both so corrupt that the smell of stolen tax dollars surrounds them like dirt does ‘Pig Pen’.

  • Karl Rove doesn’t care about the facts behind his statement “Fatally Flawed.” All he cares about is that people repeat his catch phrase. The more it is repeated, the more it takes on a life of its own. To that end, all the major press gave him what he wanted.

  • Once again you have no mention of the Best candidate out there…Hmmm.
    I wonder what Kucinich is up to today. Well according to John Nichols at “the Nation”…

    “Dennis Kucinich may not be a front runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
    But the congressman from Cleveland has succeeded in distinguishing himself from the other contenders when it comes to speaking those truths that are self-evident.
    And in an era of mass delusion and denial on the party of leaders in both major political parties, stating the obvious can be a radical act.
    Such is the case with Kucinich’s appropriate answer to the latest move by the Bush-Cheney administration to ramp up hostilities with Iran. That move — the unprecedented attempt to label Iran’s 125,000-strong Republican Guard as a “specially designated global terrorist” group — is, as the congressman says “nothing more than an attempt to deceive Americans into yet another war — this time with Iran.”
    No one who has paid even the slightest attention to the Bush-Cheney administration’s approach to Middle East affairs can doubt that Kucinich is right. Yet, his is a lonely voice of clarity amid the din of Democratic obfuscation that aids and abets this White House’s worst instincts.
    “The belligerent Bush Administration is using this pending designation to convince the American public into accepting that a war with Iran is inevitable,” argues Kucinich.
    “This designation will set the stage for more chaos in the region because it undercuts all of our diplomatic efforts,” he adds. explaining that, “This new label provides further evidence for Iran’s leaders that there is no point to engage in diplomatic talks with the United States if our actions point directly to regime change.”
    Delivering the response that should be coming from New York Senator Hillary Clinton ¤, Illinois Senator Barack Obama ¤ and especially from Delaware Senator Joe Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he isn’t campaigning for president, Kucinich argued that, “Our nation is better served by demanding sensible and responsible diplomatic foreign policy initiatives from the Bush Administration.”
    Kucinich, who has proposed impeaching Vice President Cheney for continually prodding the country toward an unnecessary war with Iran, may not get the political credit he…”
    Kucinich once again is Doing what the other candidates avoid…Remember whoever wins the democratic nomination will be the next president…We could run a dead guy after Bush and he would still win over these GOP yahoos. Kucinich/Edwards ’08…that’s the ticket. Why do you continue to ignore the best candidate out there?

  • Forget what Rove or the GOP has to say. It’s irrelevant. In MO. we ran a dead guy against John Ashcroft and the dead guy won. After Bush and with the present GOP hopefuls a dead guy would win again.

    Forget the GENERAL election. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be the next president so just pick which Democratic candidate you want for president and nominate them in the primaries because who ever it is will be the next president…guaranteed.

    Kucinich/Edwards ’08…Now that’s the ticket

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