Tuesday’s political round-up

August 21, 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:

* CNN: “A liberal blogger has filed a federal complaint against former Sen. Fred Thompson, the actor and unannounced Republican candidate for president, accusing him of violating election laws as he ponders his entry into the race. The blogger, Lane Hudson, submitted his complaint to the Federal Election Commission on Monday saying Thompson has raised far more money than he needs to explore whether to run for president.” Legally, Thompson, as an exploratory candidate, can raise money to travel, conduct polls and pay for other expenses related to “testing the waters” for a political campaign right now, but not hoard the money for later use — but that’s exactly what Thompson appears to have been doing.

* Speaking of Thompson, the campaign-in-waiting suffered another departure last week, with spokesperson Burson Snyder announcing her resignation. Snyder said she plans to pursue a “better professional fit.” She’s part of several major staff shake-ups with Team Thompson over the last few weeks.

* Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) continues to look increasingly vulnerable next year, with the far-right Washington Times reporting that the senator’s “close backing of President Bush on immigration and the Iraq war is costing him support among Kentucky Republicans, and, according to some party members, hurting his chances for re-election.” McConnell may even face a GOP primary challenge from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Forgy.

* Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) sex scandal apparently hasn’t hurt his support in Louisiana. A new Southern Media & Opinion Research poll shows Vitter enjoys a 66% approval rating.

* Barack Obama picked up a helpful endorsement today from Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), an Iraq war veteran.

* Everyone’s seen the video of Giuliani expressing his support for taxpayer-funded abortions, right?

* And the Boston Globe had an amusing item yesterday on Mitt Romney’s wholesome choice of words: “Romney often sounds as if he has stepped out of a time machine from 1950s suburban America, golly-ing and gosh-ing his way across the nation, letting out the occasional ‘Holy cow!’ after something really shocks him.” Romney claims not to have used profanity since high school.

Good for Romney.

Haven’t we had enough of president-types so comfortable with the f word?

After profanity goes mainstream, it’s the absence that become shocking, I guess.
Romney used it in high school, when it was age-appropriate; or, at least, age-expected.

  • McConnell certainly has done nothing for the average citizens of the State of Kentucky, that’s for sure. He is simply a cog in the corrupt, power hungry, racist republican party, and has done nothing but side with Bu$h and line his donors and business partner’s pockets with tax payer cash. HOWEVER, the alternative, Ben Chandler, would not be that much better, despite being a Democrat. I have copied an exchange we had below:

    His response to an email I sent him about warantless wiretapping:

    Thank you for contacting me with your views regarding S. 1927, the Protect America Act of 2007. As your representative in Congress, I think the most important part of my job is to understand your concerns so I can better represent the Sixth District in our nation’s capital.

    As you know, S. 1927 permits the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to authorize, without a court order, the acquisition of foreign intelligence regarding individuals “reasonably believed” to be outside of the United States, regardless of whether those individuals are communicating with U.S. residents. The measure does not, however, authorize the government to directly conduct electronic surveillance. Instead, the government could order communications service providers to turn over records relating to suspects outside of the country.

    While this bill is not perfect, I support it because I believe there is a serious and pressing need to update our Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act laws to address new technologies since the original law was passed in 1978. This bill will simply patch this hole in the law temporarily for six months at which point it will expire. Democratic leadership has expressed the intent to write and pass a new bill this fall which will respond to the Administration’s proposals but tighten the surveillance powers granted to the executive branch before the six month expiration date on this bill.

    This bill was passed in the Senate on August 3, passed in the House on August 4 and signed by the President on August 5, 2007. Please rest assured I will continue working to promote national security while striving to protect civil rights and liberties.

    I appreciate the time you have taken to contact me about this matter. I hope you will stay in touch and contact my Lexington or Washington offices if I can be of any further assistance.

    Sincerely,

    Ben Chandler
    Member of Congress

    And here is my response:

    Mr. Chandler:

    You responded to my inquiry of your support of S. 1927, the Protect America Act of 2007. You stated in your reply that you support this bill. I don’t think you understand the severity of allowing President Bush and his administration these types of powers; they have demonstrated time and time again they have no regard for the Constitution, civil liberties, the rule of law, and checks and balances. I am all for protecting Americans from terrorist attacks, but we simply can’t change our way of life out of cowardice and fear. That is not American, and when we do react in this manner, we give the terrorists victory; for their goal is to change our way of life.

    Based on your response, I can no longer support you, and you will not get my vote next time you are up for re-election.

    Regards,

  • Gosh-a-rooty, that Mittley-iddily sure smells scrumdillyocious!

    I’m with JKap. Fornicate him!*

    *(I haven’t used bad language since an earlier post at CR.)

  • Re: Mitt’s tender vocabulary

    Oh, and one more thing. What’s with Mitt using the “Holy cow!” thing? Is it just me, or does it seem that Mitt is trying to align himself with the “religious” right wingers that recently dumped on the Hindu minister who was leading a prayer (in honor of James Madison, perhaps?) in our Senate chamber last month.

  • Golly, Mittens, looks like the bible thumpers would rather vote for someone that swears like a sailor (cough, Cheney, cough) than vote for someone they regard as a cult member.

  • Romney and his five sons: “We don’t smoke, drink or curse – that’s for other people to do. We don’t serve in the military – that’s definitely for other people to do.”

  • Mitt Romney–the Ned Flanders of American politics.

    As for Vitter, something to remember when some bozo starts talking about values voters.

  • Guess I can wave goodbye to my presidential aspirations. See, I didn’t even curse in high school. It’s the darndest thing.

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