November 29, 2007
The story summary: According to Politico, Giuliani expensed many trips to Southampton (where his then mistress was based) to City Hall using a security detail that cost tens(maybe hundreds) of thousands of dollars. The kicker: the city auditors conducted an investigation right after Giuliani left office–not now–and was “unable to verify that these
expenses were legitimate”. The expenses were billed to obscure agencies that no one had heard about to cover it up. One obscure agency “the Assigned Counsel Administrative Office” was billed $400,000. The auditors kept asking for an explanation after America’s Mayor left office; America’s Mayor denied citing security. P0liitco just got documents that reveal the auditor’s efforts…
Giulinai calls it a hit job, likely prompted by opposition research. But that doesn’t explain why city auditors right after he left office could not locate a legitimate reason for the expenses, and were puzzled by the fact that the expenses were charged to ridiculous sources.
There are many reasons not to vote for Giuliani. His thuggish authoritarian narcissism is the principal one and we have ample proof of it–the way he decided to locate the WTC center, his attempts to censor the Met, his attempts to marginalize the 911 firefighters, etc. This is an incident that validates all of those characteristics and confirms what we already know: this man is not fit to be president.
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Giuliani | 
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Posted by AAH4
November 28, 2007
Fred Thompson
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Where He Stands Now: Mr. Thompson is actually not standing right now, he needs a quick break, but he’s due to take a stand on something any day now. Oh, and he’s also managed support in the 15% range, which should only increase as Americans are exposed to the holiday bombardment of Law and Order marathons.
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Why He Stands a Chance: Americans are idiots.
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Who Stands Up For Him: Let’s see, there’s Marjory from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she’s seen every episode; Thomas James Jr. from Braxton, Mississippi, got him through law school; Lionel from Jefferson City, Tennessee, his brother once played poker with Fred…the list goes on.
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Lingering Questions: In the words of D.A. Arthur Branch: “who is that stupid S.O.B. anyway?”
John McCain
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Where He Stands Now: John McCain stands strong, he won’t bend for nobody, he understands torture, and he’s a true maverick. In fact, his dynamic approach has lead to a steady drop in his support as other candidates have surged, his staff is in disarray, and his message ranges from bomb Iran to close Guantanamo.
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Why He Stands a Chance: Rumors that some Republican voters may actually care that he has by far the most experience in politics, military, and international affairs compared to the other Republican candidates.
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Who Stands Up For Him: People who are more likely to vote for a Democrat.
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Lingering Questions: Why not just hang it up and secure your spot in the Hall of Fame for politicians that most people actually like?
Previously Published By The American Idiots at The Fletcher Ledger.
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Fred Thompson, McCain, Republicans | 
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Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 27, 2007
Hate to break up this brilliant stretch of holiday cynicism with some truly depressing truths, but these are some solid takes on Huckabee et al.:
I couldn’t agree more with Slate’s Walter Shapiro: Mike Huckabee is a huckster and a foreign policy lightweight.
And this Mark Helperin piece has been blogged about extensively and there’s plenty to argue about in it, but I must say, these two paragraphs are spot-on:
Case in point: Our two most recent presidents, both of whom I covered while they were governors seeking the White House. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush are wildly talented politicians. Both claimed two presidential victories, in all four cases arguably as underdogs. Both could skillfully serve as the chief strategist for a presidential campaign.
But their success came not because they convinced the news media (and much of the public) that they would be the best president, but because they dominated the campaign narrative that portrayed them as the best candidate in a world-class political competition. In the end, both men were better presidential candidates than they were presidents.
I would only add to this that with Clinton, we got lucky.
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Foreign Policy, Huckabee, Press | 
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Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 26, 2007
So Kucinich suggested that Ron Paul would make a good running mate.
Not quite perhaps what the Unity08 people had in mind…
So we abolish the federal reserve and use the building for the new Department of Peace?
Amusingly, Ron Paul (I suppose we don’t call him by just his last name since then everyone would ask “Paul Who?”) is showing a heck of a lot more motion than Dennis - he’s got an impressive operation. He and Huckabee are seriously screwing with people’s expectations for the Grand Old Party.
No Comments » | Kucinich, Ron Paul | Permalink
Posted by cdog
November 26, 2007
Barack Obama
- Barack is busy practicing the audacity of hope by ardently hoping that his immaculate brilliance will overcome voter concerns about his experience. And he has a case to make. In a loose paraphrase of his inimitable words, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney had the longest resumes in Washington and look at the glories their reign has wrought.
- Obama also has proven he has a backbone of sorts: pressed by a reporter pandering to the imaginary heartland as to why he doesn’t wear his US flag pin, Obama declared the flag pin says nothing about patriotism; after all, “Alberto Gonzalez [the attorney general] was wearing a flag pin the whole time he was shredding the constitution.”
Hillary Clinton
- Somewhat equally audaciously, Clinton is hoping that voters overlook their gender chauvinism and realize that she has the knowledge, experience, and toughness, to kick some global ass.
- She has a very good case to make. She has been more commanding than any of her Democratic competitors in each of the debates, and swaps away insinuating questions from moderators without blinking. When asked if her competitors were piling on her based on her gender, Clinton replied, “I don’t think they are piling on me because I am a woman…I think they are piling on me because I’m AHEAD.” Huge and justified applause ensued.
John Edwards
- Close in the polls to Obama and Clinton in the early primary states, Edwards has struggled with raising the phenomenal amounts of money his Democratic competitors have. But his southern drawl, his genuine rags-to-riches story, and his classic progressive rhetoric appeals to the heartland (or at least so the campaign hopes).
- His wife, a cancer survivor and patient, has plaintively noted: “We can’t make John black or a woman, but we shouldn’t be penalized for it!”
No Comments » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by AAH4
November 25, 2007
Rudy Giuliani
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Where He Stands Now: Way out in front on the national polls against Republicans and is fairing well when paired in hypothetical polls against Democrats. The Mayor of New York City during the crisis of September 11th, Rudy Giuliani also spearheaded the recovery effort for New York City after 9/11 and he was an instrumental leader of our nation’s largest city when terrorists attacked; he stands strong against the terror that threatens our borders as it did on September 11th, 2001…
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Why He Stands a Chance: Because it’s actually possible to mention 9/11 exactly 911 times in a 30 second campaign-advertisement.
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Who Stands Up For Him: The Wall Street Journal, The Federalist Society, Fox News, Pat Robertson, Norman Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes…
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Lingering Questions: Will supporters remain blinded by glaring contradiction of their support?
Previously published by The Fletcher Ledger
1 Comment | Giuliani, Republicans | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 21, 2007
In honor of surging pole numbers, a media frenzy, and the work of Chuck Norris and Ric Flair, today’s edition of the Holiday State of Play features:
Mike Huckabee
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Where He Stands Now: Like a former-governor from Arkansas before him, Mr. Huckabee hopes to continue to surge into the national spotlight with a hokey mix of musical theatre and folksy jargon that will win the hearts of Iowans and Wall Street financiers alike…he’s a distant fifth in national polls but has sextupled his support in Iowa over the course of the last six months.
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Why He Stands a Chance: Rudy Giuliani supporters may soon realize that the guy with the guitar from Arkansas is actually the candidate they meant to give money to.
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Who Stands Up For Him: Have you heard of Creed? Yeah, their groupies are waiting outside of the Huckabee ’08 Bus right now.
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Lingering Questions: What does “foreign policy” mean?
Previously published by The Fletcher Ledger.
No Comments » | Huckabee, Republicans | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 20, 2007
In the interest of completing work beyond blogging, I’m going to go with the ‘half-ass holiday’ approach for a few days, and re-post some candidate profiles that ahumayan and I have been working on over at a sister site, The Fletcher Ledger. Start off with the Mitt, and I’ll be posting more throughout the week.
Mitt Romney
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Where He Stands Now: The former Governor of Massachusetts (not bad eh?), CEO of Bain (can he get me an interview?) and the Winter Olympics (huh?), and a Harvard Business School grad (yes, you can hold it against him) is struggling in most national polls but has a ten point lead in both Iowa and New Hampshire, two critical early-voting states that could disproportionately determine which candidate a party nominates (hmmm, when you write it down like that it makes you wonder if it may not be the best electoral democracy in the world…nope, still the best).
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Why He Stands a Chance: Have you seen his jaw? He has an amazing jaw. And his hair hasn’t moved since 1997. He defines “presidential” in Rushmorian terms and yes, these things matter in the most perfect democracy on the planet.
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Who Stands Up For Him: 86% of Utah; 48% of Idaho; 19% of Wyoming; 11% of Arizona…
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Lingering Questions: Can the greatest secular democracy in the history of civilization overcome religious bigotry when it comes to electing its leader?
No Comments » | Republicans, Romney | Permalink
Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 15, 2007
Yesterday, Barack Obama set himself apart from the other candidates by releasing an aggressive and comprehensive plan for technology and innovation policy [be sure and click the "technology and innovation plan" link for the full PDF]. To be fair, Edwards is the only other candidate who even has a plan, but technologies policy happens to be the focus of my own research, and I must say, Obama’s policy framework is bold, progressive, and flies in the face of the entrenched Washington-think regarding telecom policy. While it’s only a framework, he seems to get that the government can play a vital role in fostering the deployment of critical ICT infrastructure and he understands the massive value-added in enhancing America’s connectivity in every sense of the word.
Yes, he has the rhetoric down, but there are also the makings of more tangible policies that could really contribute to actually achieving it. Take the point-by-point section on “Deploying Next-Generation Infrastructure” for example: redefining broadband, reforming the universal service fund, requiring open wireless networks and the rest are all talking points candidates touch on and many even propose individually (and almost all of which piss-off assorted entrenched interests in the Washington/Telecom game). But Obama is bringing all of these points together and developing a cohesive platform with a solid ideological foundation. Where Edwards presents useful benchmarks of connectivity, Obama proposes fundamental reforms and initiatives for achieving them.
Of course, various advocates would like to see even more in the way of tangible promises that go beyond rhetoric, but I think Obama has gone above and beyond what would be expected of a candidate in addressing these issues. This is particularly salient when you consider the wealth of special interest that has contributed to the status quo in the telecom policy sphere. In fact, a good measure of how Obama’s fairing on the campaign trail will be in the degree of activity you see at the FCC - if voters take him seriously and the Commission takes these policy plans seriously, you can bet Chairman Kevin Martin and friends will be rushing to accomplish whatever they can before an Obama arrives and changes everything.
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Posted by Andrew Bennett
November 15, 2007
ODB’s post poses an excellent question - how should we winnow candidates who get to present their views to the mass audience?
Why wasn’t Karl Krueger up there with the other guys? He’s filed with the FEC, and is an official candidate. If he’s too much of a long shot, why was Gravel there? Now that Gravel is gone, why not Kucinich?
These decisions are fraught with difficulties, but the current non-decision of letting everyone (well, almost - sorry, Mike) up there dilutes our opportunity to hear from the people who are the ones who might have a shot.
Tough call. Anyone have a good suggestion?
We’ve had tons of debates - it would be nice to see more winnowing, faster. The month of January will effectively be the time in which everyone will make up their mind - and when we have to split the limited attention of the populace all these ways, there’s less chance to be informed.
No Comments » | Debates | Permalink
Posted by cdog
