Thursday’s political round-up

November 15, 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:

* The latest debate for the Democratic presidential candidates will be in Las Vegas tonight, and aired live on CNN. The event, hosted at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada, will air at 8pm ET.

* After a couple of weeks of heartburn over a New York plan to offer driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, Hillary Clinton finally took a firm stand on the policy yesterday, announcing after the demise of the plan that she’s against it: “I support Governor Spitzer’s decision today to withdraw his proposal. As president, I will not support driver’s licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system.”

* On a related note, Barack Obama embraced New York’s controversial license plan, even after Gov. Spitzer announced he’s pulling it. Obama spokesman Bill Burton added, “When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it’s easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them.” Ouch.

* Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the longest-serving Republican House Speaker in history, will announce his imminent retirement from Congress today, though it’s not clear exactly when he’ll give up his seat. “Hastert is expected to tell the House Republican Conference of his decision on Thursday afternoon, and then make his final floor speech sometime after that.” Pelosi has already scheduled floor time for Hastert’s announcement.

* Believe it or not, we still don’t know exactly when the New Hampshire primary is going to be: “The Union Leader reports that Secretary of State Bill Gardner said he will not set the primary date this week. Instead, Gardner is waiting on news from Michigan about whether their rogue January 15 primary law, which a judge invalidated for technical reasons, will go forward or not…. He has been hinting/threatening at a December date, but most observers expect the primary to be held on January 8 if the Michigan law is upheld.”

* Oh my: “Per the Jewish news service JTA, top Giuliani aide Ken Kurson told a Jewish audience last night in New York that if Bill Clinton was ‘the first black president,’ than the former New York mayor would be the first Jew to reach the White House. Kurson was referring to Giuliani’s support among Jews in New York and, presumably, his backing of Israel. The aide, who co-authored ‘Leadership’ with the former mayor, also noted that he’s a proud Jewish gun owner.”

* Boston Globe: “Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, saying the Democratic Party has been persistently hostile to opponents of abortion rights, asserted yesterday that the support of many Catholics for Democratic candidates ‘borders on scandal.'”

* The co-chairman of Joe Biden’s South Carolina campaign said if the Delaware senator finishes as low as fourth in Iowa, “the national press will follow him and give him momentum to go on.” I really don’t think that’s true.

* And finally, New Jersey Gov. Jon Bon Jovi (D)? Stranger things have happened.

It’s nice to know that even Saint Obama is capable of cheap shots…

  • “the national press will follow him and give him momentum to go on.”

    Yes. The vestigial media will give a Dem momentum. Is this sort of like Joe-mentum from a few years ago? How’d that work out?

  • Hillary damaged herself by waffling on the drivers’ license issue. Republicans will be talking about it for the next twelve months (if she’s nominated) to stir up their xenophobic base.

    Cardinal O’Malley has his toe very, very close to the line in his mixing of church and state. I guess he’s smarter than the average Southern Baptist preacher.

    “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials…” – John F. Kennedy, 1960

    JFK obviously was not Cardinal O’Malley’s kind of Catholic.

  • Hey! Cardinal O’Malley! The Republicant Party has been openly hostile to minorities, gays, the poor, the middle class and opponents of the war (y’know killing ACTUAL people). The support of Catholics and The Church for Republican candidates IS a scandal. That, and the bishops’ protection and support of pedophiles.

  • Don’t get the licenses for illegals.
    “We need to know who these people are!”
    Why?
    If they don’t hit anybody, we don’t need to know and if they hit somebody and they don’t hit and run… they get to stay in the country? You want to get THAT past the electorate?

    Little correction. 7 of 8 candidates will be in the debate tonight.
    Gravel failed to raise $1,000,000 in order to qualify. Kucinich raised $1,100,000.
    Biden pulled in $6.5 million so it’s rather absurd to claim Kucinich is competitive but Gravel isn’t.
    No doubt the corporate media sponsors will correct this oversight… and ban Kucinich too. Then the Dems can get down to business and seriously tack right.

  • No doubt the corporate media sponsors will correct this oversight… and ban Kucinich too. -williamjacobs

    They do that by ignoring him, already.

  • I don’t think Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley knows what scandal means, if he thinks that Catholics voting Democrat is one. (And apparently the majority of his flock do, the poor dear.)

  • I wish they would ask better questions during the debates.

    We need to know if a paticular candidate is for deportation by attrition or amnesty. If it amnesty, we need to know how they intend to avoid putting the USA into bankrutcy, as the ecomists are warning that we must bring in legal best and brightest immgrants who put more into the economy than they take out. Then we can have some low skilled workers who need to be carried for a generation.

    We need to know if the candidate is for North American Union and what their plans are if they are. Hilliary’s website about 6 months ago when I check it said she was for open borders. She has backed off that now.

    We need to know why none of the Dem candidates who are in the Senate have sponsored a bill to fix the immigration problem.

    This election could well determine the fate of our country. According to a Bush gov. document obtained by Judicial Watch,Bush has been secretly making policies for a North American Union, as Americans would resist North American integration and he is implementing them “by evolutionary stealth”. He supposed has agreed to completely open borders by 2010. Look at the facts:

    1. Bush open the border and stopped enforcing our immigration laws.
    2. Bush is denies he is creating a North American Highway, and his aide confirmed that to Congress, one minute before outlining exactly where the highway was to be.
    3. Bush was frantic to get Mexican truckers to have open access to American markets. Luckly some membes of Congress were on the ball and put a temporary stop to it.
    4. Bush pushes really stupid amnesty plan that only benefitted employers.
    5. Bush stopped building the fence, When pushed he started again… very slowly.
    6. Bush declared tough enforcement in August, then pulls the national guard and 1/2 the border patrol off the border.
    7. Bush declared tough enforcement in August but the bill for employer verification was not properly authroized. Bush does nothing to correct that.
    8. Mexican President Caldreson says that there is no border, that Mexicans have a right to live and work anywhere in the USA. No USA politcan says anything. No American media up roar. Strange.

    See www. stopnorthamericanunion.com

    Unless we elect a President and representatiaves that are pro deportation, pro rule of law and anti North American Union, we will not be around much longer.

    Will the last person in the country we used to call America please lower the flag.

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