Wednesday’s political round-up

October 24, 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:

* MoveOn.org and several liberal bloggers are organizing a push today to urge Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to support Chris Dodd’s threatened filibuster of telecom immunity. Last night, the Obama campaign issued a statement expressing concerns about the immunity provision, saying that Obama “would support a filibuster,” unless the legislation is improved before it reaches the floor. A couple of hours later, Clinton, at a press availability, said, “As matters stand now, I could not support it and I would support a filibuster absent additional information coming forward that would convince me differently.”

* In a setback for Dem recruiting, former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) announced this morning that he will not return to Nebraska to run for the state’s open Senate seat. As Roll Call reported, “With the popular Kerrey out of the way in solidly Republican Nebraska, the winner of the primary between former Gov. Mike Johanns (R) and state Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) will be favored to win the general election to replace Hagel.” Democrats are expected to turn now to either Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey or rancher-scholar Scott Kleeb, who ran unsuccessfully for the 3rd district House seat last year.

* Fred Thompson hasn’t devoted too much time to unveiling policy proposals, but that changed yesterday with the unveiling of Thompson’s immigration plan. Not surprisingly, it’s to the right of the other major GOP candidates: “Thompson yesterday became the first major presidential candidate to embrace attrition as the solution to illegal entry, saying the government should deny illegal aliens a hiding place by cracking down on the businesses and sanctuary cities that shield them.”

* Hillary Clinton had an interesting interview with The Guardian’s Michael Tomasky, published yesterday, in which she talked about Bush’s power grab and the drive to create a stronger executive. The senator talked about rolling back some of the authority Bush gave himself, but didn’t go into specifics.

* Barack Obama has a new radio ad in South Carolina, featuring Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.). “A lot of politicians call themselves our friends,” Jackson Jr. says in the ad. “But Obama has a heart that beats for our community. And he’s dedicated his life to the struggle.” To date, no candidates have aired TV commercials in South Carolina.

* RedState.org has decided to ban Ron Paul supporters from the site’s comments sections and diaries. I know Paul supporters can be fanatical, but isn’t this a little excessive?

* It looks like the governor’s race in Washington state will be a rematch of the nail-biter from 2004. Former state Sen. Dino Rossi (R) is reportedly set to challenge incumbent Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) next year.

* Remember that Republican scheme to divide California’s electoral votes? It looked dead, but it may be poised for a comeback: “Veteran GOP consultants said Monday that they were relaunching a drive to change the way California allocates its electoral college votes, aimed at helping the 2008 Republican presidential nominee capture the White House. Political strategist David Gilliard said he was taking over the ballot initiative campaign, along with strategist Ed Rollins and fundraiser Anne Dunsmore. Consultant Mike Arno will oversee the signature-gathering effort.”

* And Dennis Kucinich’s office has decided it will not comment on Shirley MacLaine’s new claim that the Ohio representative had an encounter with a UFO. Given the circumstances, that’s probably the right call.

RedState.org has decided to ban Ron Paul supporters from the site’s comments sections and diaries. I know Paul supporters can be fanatical, but isn’t this a little excessive?

Fascist pigs cannot tolerate dissent.

  • “Hillary Clinton had an interesting interview with The Guardian’s Michael Tomasky, published yesterday, in which she talked about Bush’s power grab and the drive to create a stronger executive. The senator talked about rolling back some of the authority Bush gave himself, but didn’t go into specifics.”

    you know, i’ve been bothered for quite some time now by the fact that most of the democratic candidates have not vehemently stood up and condemned the unitary executive theory and all of the related assaults on our constitution. shouldn’t this be one of their major campaign issues? or is it just me that feels this way?

  • The Kucinich situation reminds me of an episode of the sitcom “Frasier,” when Frasier Crane was endorsing a political candidate. He taped a commercial, stopped for a break before taping the same lines again, and talked to the candidate. The candidate told Frasier that he had been abducted by a UFO, and the aliens told him to run for office. When he taped the commercial a second time, everything Frasier said had a double meaning, the best line being that the candidate knew what concerned “the little people.”

    I doubt the veracity of MacLaine’s account, but I also agree that it is the right call for Kucinich to ignore it. I actually have no problem if he did have an unusual experience, but the way politics are currently, it would get in his way, even with a president who does what “God” tells him to do.

  • I think I saw somewhere that those that made the decision at RedState think Ron Paul supporters are really just Democratic trolls (and not really Paul supporters I guess). Like Democrats spend any time trolling RedState.

  • Somebody just threw a bunch of money at that California initiative. That’s the only thing that could have brought it back so quickly. Wonder who it was?

  • Just Bill,

    I’ve worried about the same thing. All politicians want power but delude themselves into thinking that they would use it for the forces of good. It reminds me of the results of wearing the Ring.

  • Since my biggest concern (though certainly not my only one) with Hillary Clinton has been that she would embrace and even expand upon the Bush/Cheney concept of Executive Superduperpowers, I was happy to read the Tomasky piece. As Steve notes, though, she did not offer specifics, and I’m not sure that a story published abroad, even in a fairly high-profile outlet like The Guardian, is sufficiently visible to lock her into this stance.

    As just bill points out, this is–or at least should be–a huge issue for progressives. The main reason I’m favorable toward Dodd’s candidacy is that he’s stood up foursquare for checks and balances; it would be nice if the rest of our contenders did the same. Also nice would be if the mainstream media did its freaking job to get candidates of both parties on record regarding the question.

  • RedState.org has decided to ban Ron Paul supporters from the site’s comments sections and diaries. I know Paul supporters can be fanatical, but isn’t this a little excessive?

    RedState bans anyone who doesn’t toe the party line and “stay in line” (as one of their moderators put it a few months ago). They’re undoubtedly supporting Huckabee now.

    The pathetic little 20-nothings who run the place are proof of the failure of home schooling.

  • That is really too bad about Kerrey. He isn’t my favorite, but he would have put NE in play. Now the Republicans can relax a fair amount on that one and spread their resources elsewhere. I hate it when that happens.

  • Why do we have illegal drugs imported into this country?

    Because there is a demand for them.

    Why do we have undocumented workers in this country?

    Because there is a demand for them.

    It would far more efficient if we punished employers than to spend a fortune on a border fence.

    Why can we do an instant background check for a gun purchase and it takes weeks/months to find out if a social security number is valid?

  • The news from Kerrey wasn’t very encouraging, and it would seem this early on that Hagel’s Senate seat is Johanns’ for the taking. I think he’ll do well against Bruning, who still lacks the name recognition that Johanns has.

    Fahey might become a hot potota, mainly due to the recent bruhaha over whether or not to build a new baseball stadium to try and keep the NCAA’s College World Series in Omaha over the next 20 years. He proposes a “recreational tax” on entertainment and restaurant businesses that hasn’t been popular with the City Council and the chamber of commerce.

    Scott Kleeb, while he lost the 3rd District, actually did a lot better than most of the pundits expected in the reddest part of the state. He was endorsed by the Omaha World Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star, and Bush had to make a trip there before the election to help boost GOP contender Adrian Smith.
    And Kleeb was the target of the infamous “Robocall” incident.

  • Neil @ 10
    It’s worse than that.
    If an illegal had to find a new employer every month who was willing to risk a fine and prosecution and potential loss of government contracts, we’d see illegal immigration plummet. There’d be too much down time.

    The core problem is, the corporate donors to both parties like workers who can’t vote, can’t unionize, and can’t get police or court protection from abuse so neither party is adopting Thompson’s approach.

    That’s two Thompson has gotten right.
    Just seventy nine to go. Keep trying, Fredo. I’ll vote for you in 2016.

  • Thompson’s approach won’t touch employers, it’s the McCain policy with border looneys thrown in.

    Still, I don’t understand why we can’t make real rules and protections for dayworkers and other jobs that immigrants fill. If you haven’t been at the bottom and done daywork, you don’t know the heartache it has – and the uncertainty if the guy who hired you is going to be nice or not.

    And yet, we need daywork – everything from filling in while a guy is sick to doing a bunch of extra arm work at a farm or business. I’ve pulled weeds for the local law partners and planted or assembled signs for real estate agencies. Jobs that need doing, but on the scheme of things, they don’t need doing often or long enough for an actual job to be made out of it.

    To help dayworkers turn jobs into businesses is what we need. To help businesses need less dayworkers. To help people who need cash now, which is the other need that daywork supplies…

    Anyhow. None of the repubs’ plans have anything to do with the actual needs of migrant workers, day workers, and disadvantaged workers.

    PS: Isn’t it the Thompson supporters who throw the weird non-sequitor posts in CB’s threads?

  • The Kucinich flap reminds me of a quote from Sam Harris:

    “The President of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. Now, if he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ludicrous or more offensive.”

    It’s a testament, of sorts, to Dennis’s loyalty that he didn’t simply throw Shirley under the bus with a comment like, “Well, I’m a politician. Sometimes I guess I go to far when I try to humor crazy people.”

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