Tag: 2008 (page 34)

Shakespeare:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

A writer named Patrick Healy yesterday critized Hillary Clinton in a tabloid-type trash article in the New York Times because of her laugh which he calls a "cackle." The implication: Hillary is a witch.

The weirdest moment was with Bob Schieffer on the CBS News program "Face the Nation" when Mr. Schieffer said to Mrs. Clinton, "You rolled out your new health care plan, something Republicans immediately said is going to lead to socialized medicine." She giggled, giggled some more, and then could not seem to stop giggling — "Sorry, Bob," she said — and finally unleashed the full Cackle.

As Media Matters has reported, Healy has been doing hit pieces on Democratic candidates for years while giving Rudy Giuliani a pass. More inexplicable is that Maureen Dowd, whom Atrios calls Wanker of the Day today, chimes in.

More...

The 100,000 member International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers today endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

Why? They say she has the best chance to win.

This is the fifth major labor union endorsement for Hillary. She leads the other candidates in overall union endorsements.

Obama got his first union endorsement today -- from a prison guards' union. Thanking the 9,000 member New York City's Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, Obama said:

"It's an honor to have the endorsement of these men and women who put themselves at risk everyday to serve on the front lines of our nation's criminal justice system." he said.

If you watch the Sunday talk shows today, you won't miss Hillary. She's going to be on all five: “Meet the Press,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “Fox News Sunday,” “Face the Nation” and “Late Edition.”

The New York Times reports she's also solidifying her lead over the other Democratic candidates.

Even John Edwards advisor Joe Trippi says so:

“You used to be able to say the front-runners — her and Obama — but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. It’s pretty clear that she has sort of pulled away.”

Obama has raised a ton of money but it doesn't appear he's catching on. What you can expect in the next few weeks: Both Obama and Edwards to criticize Hillary. The questions are, are they too late and will their attempts backfire?

Update: Here's Gen. Clark's statement.

*****

In a blogger conference call this morning, Gen. Wesley Clark endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. (Big Tent Democrat and I were both on the call. Be sure to read his separate post on the endorsement.)

Big Tent asked him for thoughts on Hillary's Iraq plan and what he finds attractive about it. Answer: Hillary understands the proper role of the Senate and the executive branch. She's aware of what the power of the Senate is given the current makeup.

She believes we should begin withdrawing forces now. So does he. She believes in diplomacy with all of Iraq's neighbors. She has said there would be no permanent presence of troops in Iraq.

Taylor Marsh asked about Hillary being Commander in Chief. Answer: She'd be great. She's loyal and will be loyal to the armed forces. She's very strong and decisive. She's been to Iraq, Bosnia and other places. He thinks the troops will be very proud of their commander in chief.

Jerome Armstrong: Would he accept the VP nomination? Answer: He hasn't thought anything about that. This is about putting the right person in the White House.

More....

Sen. Barack Obama is unveiling a new plan for Iraq in Iowa today. Huffington Post has received an advance copy of his speech and posted excerpts.

This one is curious.

"Let me be clear: there is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was. The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year - now. We should enter into talks with the Iraqi government to discuss the process of our drawdown. We must get out strategically and carefully, removing troops from secure areas first, and keeping troops in more volatile areas until later. But our drawdown should proceed at a steady pace of one or two brigades each month. If we start now, all of our combat brigades should be out of Iraq by the end of next year." (my emphasis.)

Didn't Obama, just two months ago , call for all troops to be out of Iraq by April 30, 2008?

“It’s time to set a hard date to signal a new mission in Iraq and to begin to bring our troops home. It’s time to ensure that we complete the change in mission and the drawdown of our forces, by the end of April 2008 – a date that is consistent with the date in my plan back in January.”

Why is he now extending that to the end of 2008?

After yesterday's Wall St. Journal article on fundraising bundler Norman Hsu who is a big contributor this year to Hillary Clinton and who has contributed to many other Democrats in the past three years, his lawyer responded and the media got its interest piqued.

There's still no indication there are any problems with Hsu's political contributions or activities, which began about three years ago, but the LA Times is reporting a "teaser" for a story today that Hsu pleaded guilty to grand theft and agreed to serve a three year prison sentence, but never showed up, making him a fugitive.

I did check California's criminal records database and there are entries in San Mateo County for San Francisco Municipal Court and Redwoods Superior Court for a Norman Hsu....back in 1991. No other details are included.

Hsu's lawyer says he has no recollection of pleading guilty or agreeing to prison time.

Today the Journal follows through, apparently not knowing about the criminal charges, and explains why "bundling" is a legal practice:

It is legal for individuals to ask friends, colleagues and family members to make donations to political candidates, though not to reimburse people for such donations.

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Just in case you thought Barack Obama was the candidate to knock some sense into White House and Congressional drug warriors, think again. Stop the Drug War quotes Obama's comments as printed in the New York Times:

If elected, Mr. Obama said he would establish a Drug Enforcement Agency office in New Orleans that would be dedicated to stopping drug gangs across the region.

New Orleans already has a DEA office. As Stop the Drug War says:

Obama's drug war revitalization plan for New Orleans is the latest step in his successful bid to be the worst on drug policy among the democratic presidential contenders. He's lamented the "political capital" required to repair the despicable crack/powder sentencing disparity, a no-brainer racial justice issue that even drug war hall-of-famer Joe Biden wants to fix. At Howard University's Democratic Debate on minority issues, he stood there like an idiot while every other candidate managed to address some type of criminal justice reform. He was also the last democratic candidate to pledge an end to federal medical marijuana raids, and not because they're heartless and evil, but because they're "not a good use of resources."

Sen. Barack Obama today named the Republican senators he'd work closely with as President. One of them is uber-conservative Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who Obama says "has become a friend of mine."

Via Democratic Underground:

Senator Coburn, who said that lesbianism is "so rampant in some of the schools...that they'll let only one girl go to the bathroom."

Senator Coburn, who claims he can tell if someone is telling the truth because of his medical training.

Dr. Coburn, who said: "You know, I immediately thought about silicone breast implants and the legal wrangling and the class-action suits off that. And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about silicone breast implants. If you have them, you're healthier than if you don't. That is what the ultimate science shows...In fact, there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and, in fact, they make you healthier."

Senator Coburn, who thought Schindler's List was smut, an "all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity.

More....

These are the numbers for the latest Gallup Poll.

The latest Gallup Poll, conducted Aug. 13-16, 2007, finds public support for the Democratic nomination at 48% for Clinton and 25% for Obama, giving Clinton a 23-point lead. Support for former North Carolina senator John Edwards, in third place with 13%, is similar to what he has received since May.

The remaining candidates are in the 1-2% range.

Gallup also examines Karl Rove's remarks about Hillary. Shorter version: Unfavorables this early and particularly in Hillary's case may not mean much. They also said:

It is notable that Giuliani stands as the most positively rated 2008 presidential candidate in terms of favorable ratings at 59% (with a 27% unfavorable rating), but still does not beat Clinton in a trial heat "if the election were held today".

A new poll by the American Research Group has Hillary Clinton continuing to lead by big margins in the Democratic primary race. Note how Obama has fallen ten points, from 31% to 21% from March, 2007 to now.

Edwards is up a point. And Hillary's support among women is up to 42%.

Update 8/15:: Hillary's lead over Obama is also widening in New Hampshire, according to the latest Rasmussen poll.

Thanks to Talking Points Memo for posting video of big portions of Hillary Clinton's breakout session -- including one of the two questions I got to ask her -- "How is your attorney general going to be different than Alberto Gonzales?" My question starts at 1:40 into the clip.

The other question I asked her was about warrantless electronic surveillance. I asked her if she were President, what kind of warrantless monitoring procedures would she authorize and what kind would she refuse to authorize? I haven't seen a clip of her answer to that anywhere yet.

Reportedly, there were 350 people who chose to attend Hillary's breakout session over those of the other candidates. That's 1/4 of those who attended Yearly Kos. I think any notion that Hillary was not enthusiastically welcomed at Yearly Kos is wrong. I thought she excelled during the breakout. As you can see from the entirety of the clip (not just my portion) she was cheered throughout.
As Newsweek reported, "The audience lapped it up."

Peter Daou, Hillary's online communications director, gives thanks here to Yearly Kos and those who attended.

I'm in the front row of a very packed room waiting for Hillary Clinton to arrive. She will speak at a breakout session here at noon.

Only problem for live-blogging is my battery is very low, so I won't be able to update until it's over and I get back to an electrical outlet.

If you're watching a streaming version, feel free to use the comments here to keep everyone updated.

Really big buzz in the room, lots of excitement. The entire Yearly Kos event seems to have come alive today.

More later...