Tuesday’s political round-up

April 3, 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:

* Following up on yesterday’s Q1 fundraising reports, John McCain’s campaign announced yesterday that it had collected $12.5 million in the first quarter of 2007, giving him the third best tally among the GOP candidates. According to The Politico, “McCain’s camp blamed his lackluster report on the senator’s relatively late official entry into the race and his attention to Senate business, particularly the war in Iraq. But Campaign manager Terry Nelson acknowledged that the campaign ‘had hoped’ to do better.” The late-entry excuse doesn’t much work (McCain’s been unofficially running for over a year), and the Senate excuse isn’t much better (official duties didn’t hurt Clinton or Obama).

* Possible presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said over the weekend that the U.S. should abolish bilingual education so that people aren’t speaking “the language of living in a ghetto.” Last night, on Fox News, Gingrich said his statement “did not refer to Spanish.” So, which language was he referring to? Gingrich said, “Now, I’ll let you pick — frankly, ghetto, historically had referred as a Jewish reference originally. I did not mention Hispanics, and I certainly do not want anybody who speaks Spanish to think I’m in any way less than respectful of Spanish or any other language spoken by people who come to the United States.”

* Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), hoping to cast himself as the candidate best positioned to end the war in Iraq, has unveiled a new website — Head to Head ’08 — to “contrast his statements on the Iraq conflict to those of his opponents for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.”

* Rudy Giuliani is the only top Republican presidential candidate not to endorse a South Carolina measure that would force women to look at fetal ultrasounds before having an abortion. A campaign spokesperson said the bill “a good example of a matter best left to the states to decide.”

* And the latest Newsweek poll showed surprisingly limited support for another Al Gore presidential run. The poll found that only a third of registered voters want the former VP to run again, while a majority (56%) do not. Among Dems, 47% want him to run again, while 39% do not.

Um, Newt, since Spanish is the “other” language in bilingual education, I’n not sure how there can be any other interpretation to your fucking bone-headed, racist bile.

  • Once the Democrats win in 2008, can the winner make Joe Biden Secretary of Watching for the coming Ice Age, or something equally important???

  • So in an effort to lessen the insult to the Hispanic population, Newt digs himself in even deeper by an oblique reference to ‘ghetto’ being a Jewish reference. Does he even know what’s coming out of his mouth before he utters it? I think not.

    I remember seeing years ago the transcript of one of his very expensive (for his hosts) talks to some business group. It was an endless string of unrelated gibberish that make him sound like a total moron.

    Looks like he hasn’t changed a bit.

  • “Now, I’ll let you pick. . .” so each individual group can think I am referring to them, and I will have offended all of them, not just Hispanics, or even just Hispanics and Jews.

    Caution: Brilliant political mind at work!

  • re: republican presidential candidates supporting the SC measure to force women to look at fetal ultrasounds before having an abortion

    Yes, but when will republican candidates and SC residents be forced to look at the remains of every dead serviceman returning from Iraq before voicing their opinions about pre-emptive invasions and indefinite occupations?

  • CB, why surprisingly? “And the latest Newsweek poll showed surprisingly limited support for another Al Gore presidential run.” The msm created a narrative for Gore that all the reality in the world will never replace. This man, who would be and would have been a wonderful president, is widely perceived as a serial liar, a joke. And the msm maintains this perception with every piece they write. To this day.

    Gore knows this. One very good reason not to run – the kool kids don’t like him.

    The Daily Howler has done fine work on his issue, as did Digby the other day: “Across the board — from The Washington Post to The Washington Times, from The New York Times to the New York Post, from NBC’s cable networks to the traveling campaign press corps — journalists don’t even bother to disguise their contempt for Gore anymore.” http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/digging-dirt-by-digby-following-up-on.html

    We have many reasons to hate the msm political journalists – this is one of the most important. They gave us W.

  • Gingrich is a hoot! Yes, you meant Yiddish because so many people are speaking it and marginalizing themselves today. Maybe he’s talking about how many people call him a schmuck.

  • And the latest Newsweek poll showed surprisingly limited support for another Al Gore presidential run. The poll found that only a third of registered voters want the former VP to run again, while a majority (56%) do not. Among Dems, 47% want him to run again, while 39% do not.

    Well, I must be among the 14% of Democrats who have “conflicted emotions” on the question. While I would love to see Gore as President because it would be so nice to have an intelligent president who actually knows things, I’d hate to see what will happen to Gore when the right wing goes after him. All the lies, all the bullshit, all the crap, would be raised again, and Gore (and us) would be spending half his time trying to get the truth out about the lies, rather than campaigning on the issues. Yes, it will happen to anyone who runs, but none of them will get hit with the stupid crap Gore was hit with – which the halfwits of the MSM will latch onto since they’ve been there before – and I just wouldn’t wish this on him (or us).

    And yes, if he stays out, it will be a case of the best candidate didn’t win because he didn’t even run, and that is proof of how bad politics in this country have become. God damn the Republicans.

  • What is this, 1900? Can’t wait to hear Gingrich railing against all those damn Irish and Italian papists flooding through Ellis Island.

  • Funny, I immediately associated the Gingrich “billingual” and “ghetto” references to some school systems teaching ebonics – didn’t the Oakland CA school system famously try this a few years ago? But gawd forbid anybody call the cancerous-wife-dumping Newt a racist.

    Hey – how soon till the next Swan commerical?

  • Well, I have to say that I agreed with Newt’s first comment – a first, I assure you! – about getting Spanish-speaking children into English, ASAP. It’s the best way to get them into the economic mainstream in this country.

    Okay, you can yell at me all you want. I’ve got good liberal credentials in every thing else!

  • So if you speak a language other than English that means you’re Jewish?

    I’m sure glad that Newt cleared that up!

  • I’m probably the only one who has read That Hideous Strength but just in case you haven’t and might one day read it:

    [SPOILER ALERT]

    Every time a ReThuglican opens his/her mouth I think of the scene towards the end of the book where the baddies all start speaking in gibberish and when they attempt to explain what they come out with increasingly nonsensical syllables.

    Now, if they all get squashed by an elephant my irony meter will take out the block when it blows.

    Thanks Newt, we couldn’t build a better enemy if we tried.

  • The poll on Gore is hardly surprising. There was another a couple months back that showed he had the highest negatives of any Democrats they asked about, even higher than Hillary (though Newt Gingrich’s negatives beat them all). Gore may be on a P.R. upswing thanks to his movie, but he still leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of many just as Kerry did since he’s a proven loser, even if he did win the popular vote. Also, you have to factor in that this man picked Joe Lieberman as his running mate and look how his stock has fallen since then. Of course, some of us older folks will never forget he and Tipper and the PMRC.

  • From Glenn Greenwald today:

    NR’s Rich Lowry, who attended a Giuliani event in New Hampshire last night, reveals statements made by Giuliani explaining his views of presidential war powers that are at least as extremist and disturbing as the ones revealed this weekend:

    Rudy to Bush: Ignore Congress?

    Rudy was asked about the Iraq supplemental. He said he finds it “irresponsible and dangerous.” Then he began to muse about, after a veto, “would the president have the constitutional authority to support them [the troops], anyway?” He said he’s a lawyer so he wouldn’t offer an opinion “off the top of his head,” then he proceeded to do just that.

    He seemed to suggest that Bush could fund the Iraq war without Congress providing funding, but it was confusing. In an interview with a New Hampshire TV reporter after his remarks, he seemed more categorical and said, since the war had been authorized by Congress, the president has “the inherent authority to support the troops.” But he added, “You have to ask a constitutional lawyer.”

    It really should go without saying that (as even Bush supporter Rich Lowry recognizes) these comments ought to be a major media story. One could even argue that, standing alone, they are office-disqualifying. Particularly in light of Giuliani’s belief in process-less arrest of American citizens, this really is a complete repudiation of how our government works, of the most basic and unquestioned constitutional principles of our republic. Literally.

  • I’m with Newtered, I am sick and tired of my Jewish gardeners speaking Yiddish all day. Are they mocking me, are they going to steal my Kosher pickles, WTF ??

    If you want to live here, you had better start speaking Republicanize. Got it !!

  • Re: Newsweek Poll
    What it shows is that many already have a favorite and a late entry from Gore would hurt their favorite’s chances.
    BTW: what a lousy website (could it be any slower?)…you would think MSnbc would have figured out this “internet thing” by now.

    –
    As #6 says: Go Bill Richardson!

  • FYI, “ghetto” is an Italian word (actually Venetian, which is different) meaning “foundry” (from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw. The island where the Jews were forced live (and not just in The Merchant of Veniceplaques commemorating the round-up of Jews from that ghetto during WWII. The Nazis took away people who lived there as late as August of 1944. The Axis was on its way to losing the war, but still they wasted resources on exterminating people who could do them no possible harm.

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