Tuesday’s political round-up

September 11, 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:

* NYT: “At least two top members of Mitt Romney’s South Carolina operation appear to be connected to an anti-Fred Thompson Web site that was taken down today after reporters began to make inquiries about it. The Web site, PhoneyFred.org, had attacked Mr. Thompson’s conservative credentials, opening with the line: ‘Phoney Fred. Acting like a conservative.’ But Internet queries reveal connections between the site and Warren Tompkins, a South Carolina political consultant hired by Mr. Romney, and Terry Sullivan, Mr. Romney’s South Carolina state director.”

* Speaking of Thompson, during his lengthy career as a lobbyist, he apparently did some consulting work for a colleague representing two accused Libyan terrorists implicated in the Pan Am Flight 103 attack. Thompson said yesterday that he was only tangentially involved, and only dealt with court venues.

* Rudy Giuliani’s campaign emailed former NYC deputy mayors and commissioners in order to round up some surrogates who will say nice things about Giuliani’s record as mayor on camera.

* John McCain’s “comeback” strategy is apparently built around taking “ownership of the surge” in Iraq. Given that the surge policy hasn’t worked, it sounds like a great idea.

* Rasmussen has an interesting new poll out today from Massachusetts, where Mitt Romney trails Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, 60% to 34%. Given that Romney was governor of Massachusetts, this isn’t a good sign.

* Dems have been eyeing western states like Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona as the key to electoral success in the future, and there are signs the region is starting to turn a shade of blue. The Las Vegas Sun reported this week, “An analysis of voter registration reports over the past 12 months shows many more new voters are registering as Democrats — enough to tilt Nevada to a considerable Democratic majority for the first time since the 1992 presidential election.”

“Phoney Fred” is great. I wish I’d thought of it.

And the fact that some Romney goons thought of it is deliciously ironic, given his numerous flipflops to conform to his latest suckers, er, voters.

  • Does anyone know of the satire site about Mitt Romney? I heard the name yesterday on the Stephanie Miller show, but then forgot the name. TIA

  • At least two top members of Mitt Romney’s South Carolina operation appear to be connected to an anti-Fred Thompson Web site that was taken down today after reporters began to make inquiries about it.

    NeoCon cannibalism, I love it.

    John McCain’s “comeback” strategy is apparently built around taking “ownership of the surge” in Iraq. Given that the surge policy hasn’t worked, it sounds like a great idea.

    Great, can the American people have a refund? Or at least give the money being pilfered from our treasury by Halliburton and the rest of Dick’s Private Empire to the troops and their families.

  • Have you noticed that when Fred is involved in something the GOP would find icky, he was always only “tangentially” involved? He didn’t rob the bank or drive the getaway car, he just arranged for the rental. See? Tangential.

  • Irony indeed.

    I would love to see Fred become the GOOPER Nominee.

    It would be great watching that phoney tangle with any one the Democratic
    front runners or canidates for that matter.

    U are the one Grandpa Fred!

    Go Fred! Hehe

  • “At least two top members of Mitt Romney’s South Carolina operation appear to be connected to an anti-Fred Thompson Web site that was taken down today after reporters began to make inquiries about it. The Web site, PhoneyFred.org, had attacked Mr. Thompson’s conservative credentials, opening with the line: ‘Phoney Fred. Acting like a conservative.’ But Internet queries reveal connections between the site and Warren Tompkins, a South Carolina political consultant hired by Mr. Romney, and Terry Sullivan, Mr. Romney’s South Carolina state director.”

    Further proof that the way to understand Mormons (or at least Mormons named Romney) is to remove the second “m”.

    Dems have been eyeing western states like Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona as the key to electoral success in the future, and there are signs the region is starting to turn a shade of blue. The Las Vegas Sun reported this week, “An analysis of voter registration reports over the past 12 months shows many more new voters are registering as Democrats — enough to tilt Nevada to a considerable Democratic majority for the first time since the 1992 presidential election.”

    Further proof of the value of out-migration from California.:-)

  • Well, whoever made the site aside, you have to wonder about Thompson’s qualifications. It’s amazing how much attention this lazy idiot is getting. Frankly I’d have more respect for Romney if the website was his doing. Someone’s got to address the fact that Thompson’s a moron.

    By the way, it’s not that surprising that Romney’s losing the matchup against Clinton in Massachusetts. Did you really expect him to have a shot in arguably the most liberal state in the U.S? Doesn’t matter that it’s his home state, Democrats in Massachusetts aren’t going to go out and vote for Romney, or any GOP candidate, obviously.

  • “Thompson said yesterday that he was only tangentially involved…”

    If Thompson was a Democrat, he’d be reamed up both ends: not only does he help terrorists, he’s too lazy to do any actual work.

    But since he’s a Democrat, he can spin it into a slogan: Who better to defend against terrorists than a man who once defended terrorists??

  • What Racerx said, with one addition: if Romney’s going to start attacking other candidates for the sins and flaws of himself and his campaign, that’s a Bush/Rovian level of sophistication that’ll serve him well as insulation against any future attacks.

    Of course, it requires being a shameless asshole, but no good conservative would let that deter them from pursuing political power.

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  • Aside from being the bluest of blue states, even though it elected him governor, Massachusetts figured out who Romney was while he flip-flopped his way through his term. He didn’t have a prayer of getting reelected after he went flat out to get control of the state legislature in 2004 and lost ground to the Democrats. That’s right. He spent his own money, and what political capital he had left, to make the senate no longer veto proof (no way he could get a majority). All his candidates lost, and the Dems gained seats. He didn’t run again because he knew he would lose especially after spending most of his last two y ears in office out of the state doing standup comedy routines about how awful it was to be a conservative Rethug governor in hopeless Massachusetts. That resonated rather strongly around here.

    And he lost the fight he said he wouldn’t wage: On gay marriage. In 2002 he promised the Log Cabin syrup Republicans he wouldn’t fight the court decision to legalize gay marriage, and then mounted an all ourt campaign to do just that. It was the same on abortion. He assured the pro-choice constituency that, like gay marriage, he was personally opposed, but wouldn’t work to deny women the right to choose. He did the opposite.

    There is no way Massachusetts will vote for a Rethug president, but certainly not Romney even he arrived with a halo and angel’s wings. He is definitely persona non grata around here. There are a lot conservative Democrats in this state, and sometimes there isn’t much difference between them and the Rethugs, but in a national election the Democrat can count on the Bay State. Romney is toast.

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