When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Wednesday, February 6, 2008
CHICAGO -- Sen. Barack Obama predicted Wednesday that Republicans will have a dump truck full of dirt to unload on Hillary Rodham Clinton if the former first lady wins the Democratic presidential nomination, and said he offers the party its best hope of winning the White House this fall.
At a news conference on the morning after Super Tuesday, Obama offered some pointed advice to members of Congress and other party leaders who will attend the national convention this summer as delegates not chosen in primaries or caucuses. He said that if he winds up winning more delegates in voting than the former first lady, they "would have to think long and hard about how they approach the nomination when the people they claim to represent have said, 'Obama's our guy,'" he said. The Illinois senator won primaries and caucuses in 13 states on Tuesday, while Clinton won eight and American Samoa. Obama and Clinton were in a tight race in New Mexico. Obama said he had won a majority of the 1,681 delegates at stake, although The Associated Press tally showed several hundred yet to be allocated. Asked about Clinton's recent comment that she would not allow herself to be victimized by the type of Swift Boat-style attacks that were leveled against Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 race, Obama said he had been vetted by his opponent in the nominating campaign. "I have to just respond by saying that the Clinton research operation is about as good as anybody's out there," he said. "I assure you that having engaged in a contest against them for the last year that they've pulled out all the stops. And you know I think what is absolutely true is whoever the Democratic nominee is the Republicans will go after them. The notion that somehow Senator Clinton is going to be immune from attack or there's not a whole dump truck they can't back up in a match between her and John McCain is just not true." It wasn't the only point at which he said he would do better against the Republicans in the fall. "I have no doubt that I can get the people who vote for Senator Clinton. ... It's not clear that Senator Clinton can get all the people I'm getting," he said. Obama sought to claim the permanent underdog's role in the race, saying the New York senator is backed by a "political machine honed over two decades." At the same time, he said the more he appears before voters, the better he does on primary days. He said he intends to campaign in the states next up on the calendar -- Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington vote on Saturday; Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday.
Romney Drops Presidential Bid, Stuns CPAC Audience by FOXNews.com Thursday, February 7, 2008
Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign Thursday, telling a stunned conservative group that continuing his uphill battle against John McCain would hurt the Republican Party and make it more likely that the Democratic candidate would win the general election in November.
“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention … I’d forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win,” Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference. “Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”
As early as yesterday, the Romney campaign was drafting a road map to winning the nomination, despite trailing McCain badly in the race for delegates. But according to a campaign spokesman, Romney decided to drop out as he was writing the CPAC speech late Wednesday. He repeatedly cited the Iraq war effort in his decision, saying he agrees with McCain in his approach to fighting terrorism.
“This isn’t an easy decision. I hate to lose,” Romney said Thursday, as many in the crowd booed the decision. “If this were only about me, I’d go on, but it’s never been only about me. I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America in this time of war, I feel I have to now stand aside, for our party and for our country.”
The news was surely a blow to the CPAC audience, which appeared largely unaware of the former Massachusetts governor’s plan in the minutes before his speech. At least one Romney staffer was crying as he prepared to give his speech.
The decision moves McCain closer to the GOP nomination than he’s ever been. But McCain could get a tense reception when he speaks to the same conservative audience later in the afternoon. McCain’s been fighting to shore up support among the far right wing of the party, and many conservatives are skeptical of the Arizona senator.
Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham introduced Romney as the only conservative running for president Thursday.
“I will continue to stand for conservative principles; I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism,” Romney said to cheers and applause as he closed out his speech.
Campaign aides said Romney was technically suspending the campaign. He had spent an estimated $35 million of his own money to fund the increasingly longshot bid. By suspending rather than quitting he will be able to continue to collect donations from contributors.
But Romney would have been hard-pressed to continue in the race. He has steadily lost ground over the past few weeks to McCain, whose victories on Super Tuesday made a comeback for Romney extremely difficult. Romney’s departure from the race means McCain’s bid is nearly assured.
McCain is leading Romney by nearly 3-1 in the delegate count, 703-293, and Romney had also been losing ground to Mike Huckabee, who picked up nearly as many victories as he did on Super Tuesday.
“One of the biggest barriers to Mitt Romney becoming the nominee was Mike Huckabee,” Time magazine writer Mark Halperin, who was first to break the news, told FOX News. “I don’t think Huckabee stands much of a chance to overtake McCain either, but he certainly stood in Mitt Romney’s way.”
Huckabee’s staffers say they’re staying in the race.
Huckabee national chairman Ed Rollins told FOX News that Romney’s exit “gives us a chance to run and contrast ourselves against McCain.”
McCain still is trying to unite conservatives in an effort to look ahead to the general election. McCain, who has traditionally skipped the big CPAC event, can’t afford to stay away this year. Last year, McCain placed fifth in the CPAC straw poll, behind Romney, Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. Brownback and Giuliani are now out of the race and supporting McCain, but the conservative chorus against him has grown stronger since he began collecting victories in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries.
Evangelical leader Pat Robertson told FOX News Radio Thursday morning that he and other evangelicals would not support McCain, citing his temper.
Robertson referenced a Wall Street Journal article describing him as a “capped live volcano,” adding: “You never know when he’s going to explode … If you’ve got a guy who’s the commander in chief with his hand on the red button, I just don’t know, I wouldn’t like to be in WWIII, and I just have a feeling he wants to show how macho he is and we might just get ourselves in something we don’t want.”
Other conservatives take issue with his more moderate stances on illegal immigration, global warming and other matters.
But McCain, known for his independent streak, could still sell his conservative credentials, which include hawkish national security positions, a 100 percent anti-abortion record, appointing constitutionalist judges to the bench and fiscal discipline.
Romney’s departure from the race came almost a year after his formal entrance, when the Michigan native declared his candidacy on Feb. 12, 2007, at the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation in Dearborn, Mich.
Over the ensuing 12 months, Romney sought the support of conservatives with a family values campaign, emphasizing his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, as well as his support for tax cuts and health insurance that would benefit middle-class families.
He sought to cast McCain as being outside the mainstream of conservative thought, but McCain traded with charges that Romney was a flip-flopper on social issues.
Throughout his campaign, Romney was questioned by voters and the media about his Mormon faith. Hoping to assuage voters skeptical of electing a Mormon president, Romney spoke on Dec. 6 in College Station, Texas, explicitly recalling remarks John F. Kennedy made in 1960 in an effort to quell anti-Catholic bias. He vowed to serve the interests of the nation, not the church, if elected president.
Romney’s original goal was to score back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, clearing the field and creating momentum to roll through Florida — where he enjoyed the support of top aides to former Gov. Jeb Bush — and seal the nomination in the Super Tuesday contests.
Instead, Romney was beaten Jan. 3 in Iowa by Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who received an unexpected outpouring of support in the caucuses from voters identifying themselves as evangelicals.
Five days later, Romney suffered a second consecutive defeat in New Hampshire, when McCain won the primary in part with the support of independents attracted to his self-styled maverick campaign.
He won the Michigan primary and Nevada and Wyoming caucuses early on, but his seven victories on Super Tuesday were not enough to compete with McCain’s wins in delegate-heavy states like New York, New Jersey and California.
FOX News’ Shushannah Walshe and Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Right now, I'm thinking the theme song for this country should be somewhere between "Another one bites the dust" and "Sha na na na, Sha na na na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye."
Newsmax Poll: Most Say Obama Wins Nomination Thursday, February 7, 2008 By: Newsmax Staff
An Internet poll sponsored by Newsmax.com reveals that respondents overwhelming believe Barack Obama will win the Democratic presidential nomination.
In the poll of more than 110,000 people — begun after John Edwards dropped out of the race — more than twice as many respondents chose Obama over Hillary Clinton as the Democratic winner, and twice as many said they would vote for Obama rather than Clinton.
The Republican race remains extremely tight, however, with John McCain narrowly outpolling Mike Huckabee.
Newsmax will provide the results of this poll to major media and share them with radio talk show hosts across the country.
Here are the poll questions and results:
1) Who do you believe will win the Democratic nomination for president in 2008?
Barack Obama: 67.7 percent
Hillary Clinton: 32.3 percent
2) What is your opinion of Hillary Clinton?
Favorable: 31.4 percent
Unfavorable: 68.6 percent
3) In a race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who would you vote for?
Barack Obama: 66.9 percent
Hillary Clinton: 33.1 percent
4) In the Republican race for president, who would you vote for?
MSNBC's Chelsea comment angers Clinton By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
A distasteful comment about Chelsea Clinton by an MSNBC anchor could imperil Hillary Rodham Clinton's participation in future presidential debates on the network, a Clinton spokesman said.
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on Friday excoriated MSNBC's David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party "superdelegates" on her mother's behalf.
Wolfson called Shuster's comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting.
"I, at this point, can't envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network," he added.
MSNBC said Shuster, who apologized on the air for his comment, has been temporarily suspended from appearing on all NBC news broadcasts except to offer his apology.
"NBC News takes these matters seriously, and offers our sincere regrets to the Clintons for the remarks," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said, adding the network was hopeful the debate would take place as planned.
Clinton and Obama are scheduled to participate in an MSNBC debate Feb. 26 from Ohio, which holds its primary March 4. The Clinton campaign has pushed hard for as many debates as possible with Obama, but Wolfson said the Feb. 26 debate could be jeopardized.
Wolfson pointed to what he called a pattern of tasteless comments by MSNBC anchors about the Clinton campaign. Weeks ago, "Hardball" host Chris Matthews apologized to the former first lady after suggesting her political career had been made possible by her husband's philandering.
Shuster told The Associated Press he has tried to reach Clinton to apologize.
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama, called Shuster's comments "deplorable" and said they had no place in the political process.
Superdelegates are elected officials and other members of the Democratic National Committee who serve as upledged delegates to the party's convention. They're expected to play an important role in selecting the party's nominee if the delegate contest between Clinton and Barack Obama remains close.
Presidential hopeful John McCain is being billed as the Republican that liberals can live with, but his credentials as a “bipartisan progressive” are in fact a “lazy, hazy myth,” according to liberal pundit Johann Hari.
“The truth is that McCain is the candidate we should most fear,” writes Hari, a columnist for The Independent in Britain, in an article that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Not only is he to the right of Bush on a whole range of subjects, he is also the Republican candidate most likely to dispense with Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.”
Hari writes of McCain: “Rage seems to be at the core of his personality. Describing his own childhood, McCain has written: ‘At the smallest provocation I would go off into a mad frenzy, and then suddenly crash to the floor unconscious. When I got angry I held my breath until I blacked out.’”
McCain has distinguished himself as an uber-hawk on foreign policy, according to Hari, who is on the editorial board of The Liberal magazine.
“To give a brief smorgasbord of his views: At a recent rally, he sang 'bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb-bomb Iran,' to the tune of the Beach Boys' ‘Barbara Ann.’ He says North Korea should be threatened with ‘extinction.’
“McCain has mostly opposed using U.S. power for humanitarian goals, jeering at proposals to intervene in Rwanda or Bosnia . . .
“So why do so many nice liberals have a weak spot for McCain? Well, to his credit, he doesn't hate immigrants: He proposed a program to legalize the 12 million undocumented workers in the U.S. He sincerely opposes torture, as a survivor of it himself. He has apologized for denying global warming and now advocates a cap on greenhouse gas emissions but only if China and India can also be locked into the system.”
Hari concludes: “These sprinklings of sanity — onto a very extreme program — are enough for a superficial, glib press to present McCain as ‘bipartisan’ and ‘centrist.’”
2. McCain-Romney Rancor Dates Back to Olympics
The acrimony that developed between John McCain and Mitt Romney cannot be blamed simply on the heated primary campaign for the GOP presidential nomination — the two Republicans were at odds years ago over the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Romney took over operation of the then financially strapped Olympics in Salt Lake City in February 1999, and set out to enlist new corporate sponsors and fix a large budget shortfall.
Then in September 2000, McCain spoke on the Senate floor against what he called the “staggering” cost the federal government faced in helping stage the Games.
“The American taxpayer is being shaken down to the tune of nearly a billion and a half dollars,” McCain declared.
He vowed to “do everything in my power” to delay or kill “this pork-barrel spending,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Romney responded by arguing that taxpayers would need to provide only $250 million, and said he was “quite confident” the Games would receive the funding they needed.
In early 2001, McCain sought to shift $30 million from the Treasury Department, earmarked for law enforcement personnel at the Olympics, to the Pentagon, but the measure was defeated.
Romney, in his 2004 book “Turnaround,” wrote that McCain and others in the Senate were threatening to revoke the tax deductibility of corporate sponsorship, which would “nail the coffin of the Salt Lake Olympics and future Games.”
The clash over Olympics spending, “which dragged on for two years, helps explain some of the acrimony that now characterizes the race between the two front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination,” the Times observed.
In the end, the federal tab — not including construction or improvement of highways, transit systems, and other infrastructure — totaled about $400 million, and the Games were a financial success.
3. Obama Wants Plane Conversations Off the Record
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has touched off a dispute with the press by insisting that conversations he has with reporters on his campaign plane are off the record.
The issue arose during a Feb. 2 flight when Obama entered the press section of his plane and began speaking with several reporters, including Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times.
“When Obama noticed that the red lights of the journalists’ recorders were on, including Zeleny’s, he said that the conversation was off the record,” politico.com reported.
Zeleny protested that he couldn’t take the conversation off the record. Obama answered a few more questions and returned to the front of the plane.
“In my view, whenever he comes back on the plane to talk to reporters, he is on the record,” Zeleny told politico.com.
“We’re not on the plane, in my view, to have private talks with presidential candidates. We’re here to report what they are saying and give our readers a better idea of their campaigns and their candidacies.”
But Jen Psaki, the Obama campaign’s traveling press secretary, responded: “There has never been a press corps in the history of our nation that got as many interviews as they wanted.”
Obama’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has also said at times that a conversation at the back of her plane is off the record, although more recently her campaign said those talks would now be on the record.
4. George Soros Funding New Liberal Advocacy Group
Billionaire financier George Soros is contributing $2.5 million to a new political organization that promotes Democratic causes in the 2008 elections.
A year-end campaign report filed with the IRS and uncovered by The New York Times confirmed an earlier Newsmax report disclosing that the group, Fund for America, was organized by Taco Bell heir Rob McKay, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and Anna Burger of the Service Employees International Union.
The SEIU matched Soros’ contribution.
Newsmax reported in November that the liberal activists had joined forces to form the so-called 527 group — named for a section of the tax code that allows such an organization to attempt to influence elections as long as it discloses donors and expenses.
Fund for America is expected to air television ads and take other political action designed to help Democrats win the White House and retain control of Congress, Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times reported.
The organization will also focus on direct mail and door-to-door canvassing.
5. Freshman Democrats Face Money Woes
Several first-term Democrats in the House of Representatives have fallen behind their Republican opponents in fundraising as they battle for re-election.
Chris Carney of Pennsylvania raised $230,000 in the fourth quarter of last year, while one of his potential GOP rivals, businessman Dan Meuser, raised $390,000.
Nick Lampson of Texas raised more than $120,000, but four of his prospective Republican opponents took in more than that in the last quarter.
Steve Kagen of Wisconsin was outraised by Republican John Gard, and GOP challenger Jeb Bradley, a former congressman, topped Democrat Carol Shea-Porter in New Hampshire, The Hill newspaper reported.
“After finishing last year on a high note with two special election wins, Republicans are growing increasingly energized,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “With the election year upon us, we are confident that this committee and our candidates will continue to prove that we will have the necessary resources to compete and win in the fall.”
On the Republican side, a number of incumbents fell behind their Democratic challengers in fundraising in the fourth quarter, including Don Young of Alaska, Sam Graves of Missouri, Dave Reichert of Washington, and Tom Feeney of Florida.
6. We Heard . . .
THAT Hillary Clinton was likely taken by surprise when her old friend Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination two weeks ago.
Just last August at a Clinton fundraiser in Martha’s Vineyard, Caroline, her husband Ed Schlossberg and their three teenage children “were all there, front and center, supporting her,” a source told the New York Post’s "Page Six" column.
“We hear Caroline’s children pressured her into supporting Obama.”
THAT John Mellencamp’s reps have asked John McCain to stop playing the rocker’s songs at campaign rallies.
Mellencamp’s songs “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” have boomed out over the loudspeakers at some recent McCain rallies, Rolling Stone reports.
Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat and supported John Edwards before he dropped out of the race.
THAT Michael Savage has extended his contract with Talk Radio Network as his ratings continue to soar across the country.
Savage’s show “The Savage Nation” is now the third most popular radio talk show, according to Talkers Magazine.
“We are proud to extend Michael Savage’s contract,” said Mark Masters, CEO of Talk Radio Network.
“Michael is always challenging the audience and himself. I think this is the main reason he continues top be a ratings juggernaut, coast to coast.”
Savage was the recipient of Talkers Magazine’s Freedom of Speech Award for 2007.
McCain is far from a conservative! He is not rep/conserv....he is rep/dem!!! Sometimes ya just can't tell the difference!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I'm beginning to wonder if it is too late to turn this spending ship around. There are millions of people out there with their hands out and a government willing to fill them. While there are people losing their jobs due to outsourcing and downsizing, who will be left to pay for these handouts? SOCIALISM! What a mess!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
And I predict Obama will get the dem nomination. It will be McCain - Obama. And I think the 'charming', 'charismatic' Obama may just be the next president of the United States. Oh God, give me the strength to get out and vote this year, cause I don't wanna!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I have barely survived all of the presidencies since Reagan!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I have to agree with you on that one Bumble. There doesn't seem to be any decent candidates running for President anymore because of either dirty politics or not having the many millions of dollars needed to buy the election.
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