Oy. 26 minutes, 72 throat clearings (phlegm count courtesy of Keith Olbermann) and a whole lotta yawns.  But what can you expect when the theme of last night's RNC was "Service: The Courage and Service of John McCain"?  Really? That's the best they could come up with?  

Freddie of Hollywood hit all the expected points, calling unvetted and scandal-ridden Vice President Sarah Palin a "breath of fresh air."  Honestly, scandals and lack of transparency?  Sounds like just more of the Bush administration, but maybe that's just me.  There were two things that caught my attention, though.  One was a really inappropriate slam against Biden: 

Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit. Well, give me a tough Alaskan Governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union - and won - over the beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.

Does that sound to you like Thompson is suggesting that Biden is a DC Partier?  Biden, the man, who by all account, takes the train to and from DC to Delaware to be with his family each night?  You stay classy, Fred.  Besides, we all know what an "outsider" Palin is turning out to be. 

But with the convention theme centering around John McCain's service, it was inevitable that McCain's time as a POW would be discussed, in painstaking detail.  But Fred let something slip, perhaps unintentionally, that I think Dems should run with:  (h/t Mark Nickolas)

Now, being a POW certainly doesn't qualify anyone to be President.

But it does reveal character.

Um...wasn't that pretty much EXACTLY what the GOP went after Wes Clark for saying?

Transcripts available at The Corner at the National Review

What a shame. I was really looking forward to all those gratuitous 9/11 references.

Republicans revamped their convention plans for a second day, dropping former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as keynote speaker Tuesday night while trying to determine President Bush's role in the political pageantry celebrating John McCain's candidacy for president.

In Giuliani's speaking slot were former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, one of McCain's rivals for the Republican nomination, and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrats' vice presidential candidate in 2000 and now a McCain supporter. Republicans say the two will talk about McCain's life and their friendship with him.

In other convention-related news, President Bush will address his fellow Republicans tonight. Jon Perr takes a look back at Bush's (broken) promises to the nation from eight years ago at his own convention.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

This is what aggravates me so much about the Sunday "news" shows. There is so much lying and muddying of the waters so that the average American--who doesn't have the time to read judicial decisions--doesn't understand that the Supreme Court basically told the Bush administration that they are operating outside of the established laws of the country for the third time in the way that they are prosecuting their War on Terror™. Former Senator and indolent presidential contender Fred Thompson appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos to provide his "Law & Order"-honed gravitas to the false assertion (and GOP platform) that the recent Supreme Court decision saying that Guantanamo detainees have a right to habeas corpus is somehow destroying this country.

After years of trying to make the unitary executive a more powerful branch of the government, the GOP seems upset that the Court would remind them that new laws enacted would be subject to review by the judicial branch...that whole Constitution thing being more of a suggestion than a system of government, apparently. Thompson claims that our laws are more liberal as they ever have been, which is odd, considering that the ones they sought to strike have been in place since the founding of the country. In fact, referencing Marbury v. Madison (1803), Justice Kennedy wrote: *

(T)he writ of habeas corpus is itself an indispensable mechanism for monitoring the separation of powers. The test for determining the scope of this provision must not be subject to manipulation by those whose power it is designed to restrain.

But I guess it's too much to ask for a Republican to actually respect the Constitution.

Transcripts below the fold

*Corrected to properly attribute quote 

Continue reading »

Download | play Download | play

It's no secret that Chris Matthews has a mancrush on Senator John McCain, but I think he needs to take a step back and look at reality -- stat. During his Power Rankings on Monday's Hardball, Matthews contends that because John McCain is expected to do well on Super Tuesday and is likely to be considered his party's nominee for President, and has Rudy Giuliani stumping for him, he will LOOK presidential, therefore, he has the best shot to win the White House in '08.

So because McCain LOOKS presidential, tens of millions of Democrats will suddenly go brain dead and vote for a man who is running on a platform that runs counter to what they believe in and put another warmongering, anti-choice Republican who is despised by the base of his own party in the White House for another four years.

I put together a little mashup of the segment because by and large, there was little to be found outside the ordinary -- what is outside the ordinary (and logical thought) is Tweety and Howard Fineman somehow trying to make people believe that McCain already looks like the presumptive Commander In Chief and that both Obama and Clinton will have a hard time competing against him. Fineman actually brings up the Bay of Pigs...

It's been glad knowing you. This isn't surprising that he left the race after his speech to nowhere. I can't wait to see Lady MacCheney have to go on teevee and tell us why Fredrick of Hollywood is gone baby gone. A terrible candidate that ran a snooze-athon of a campaign.

Download | play Download | play

MSNBC's Shuster and the WaPo's Cillizza comments on the demise of Hollywood Fred. It looks like he won't endorse any of the remaining candidates. Erick at Red State is spinning Fred's departure like crazy, (It's not the end of Fred) but he tells us that Fred doesn't like the GOP field that's left standing:

I spoke with one of Fred's advisors a little while ago. We should note that Fred Thompson has not and will not be endorsing any of the other candidates. My understanding is that with no strong clearly conservative person in the race, he saw no point in endorsing

That's got to hurt McCain I would imagine. Here's a new commercial for the Dems. "Even Fred Thompson can't endorse a Republican for President!" Or something like that...

Fredrick of Hollywood just gave a speech in SC that was full of sound and ___, signifying nothing...WTF was that?

Olbermann: What was that about?

Matthews: We were snookered.

Off Camera: What the?

Olbermann: Apparently the people that were asked to sacrifice were you and me...

Download | play Download | play

Update: I changed back to FOX and Hume cut away for a Romney interview in the middle of Fred's speech and said that they had microphone problems. It sounded fine to me. Kinda looked like they had a few minutes with Mitt so FOX cut to him. Then they came back to Fred finishing up. Brit asked a reporter what happened and she said basically "nothing" but that Thompson was headed to Tenn. to talk with his mother...

RedState's obituary:

So long, Fred; we hardly even knew ye.

So, Fred Dalton Thompson, as you ride slowly and quietly off into the sunset, not a hollow man but -- most unfortunately -- the owner of one of the most hollow campaigns that I can recall, the words...

So long, Fred; we hardly even knew ye.

Update: Jane Hamsher: "Enjoy the SchadenFred"

This is an election that is clearly, if irritatingly, about "change," and the Wingnut Best n' Brightest wanted very much to nominate a relic. Fascinating. All their yesterdays are lighting these poor dopes to electoral defeat, and that would be sad were it not so comical.

Jackie reads Dunlap the riot act for saying GOP candidate Fred Thompson came in fourth place in Iowa, when he actually came in third. If you like Fred Thompson, sausages and E.T., you'll love this one...

No matter how flawed the process in Iowa, one side benefit of the caucuses is some wheat-chaff separation. Candidates who fail to meet their own (and the political establishment’s) expectations invariably start to feel pressure to withdraw. More often than not, they do, resulting in a trimmed-down field.

The Republican roster of candidates has already been pared down in advance of the caucuses (Gilmore, Brownback, and Tancredo all dropped out), but by the weekend, the field looks like it’ll get a little thinner still.

Several Republican officials close to Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign said they expect the candidate will drop out of the race within days if he finishes poorly in Thursday’s Iowa caucus.

Thompson’s campaign, which last spring and summer was generating fevered anticipation in the media and with some Republican activists, has never ignited nationally, and there are no signs of a late spark happening here in Iowa, where even a third-place finish is far from assured.

This reality — combined with a fundraising drought — left well-connected friends and advisers of Thompson Wednesday evening predicting that he will pull the plug on hype and hope before the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary....

“Without a solid third-place finish, there’s no point in going on,” a Thompson adviser said Wednesday. “It was an honorable race, and he turned out to be a good candidate. The moment had just passed.”

This comes, of course, just a few days after Thompson conceded to a group of voters that he’s “not particularly interested in running for president.”

Stay tuned.

There was a big brouhaha over this report that said Thompson really didn't care if he was President and hates the campaigning process. He was misquoted though about wanting to be Preznit and went on to FNS to explain why he isn't consumed with politics, but you know, even in trying to defend himself, he lacks that "fire in the belly."

Download | play Download | play

And about his drop in the polls---well, you just have to look at the right poll on Real Clear Politics I guess...(h/t Heather)

  There’s shameless right-wing pandering, and then there’s this level of shameless right-wing pandering.

Janice Easley’s fury over illegal immigration boiled over Saturday as she confronted Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson at the Music Man Square museum.

She said she recalled a film about Mexicans who wanted to take over California and New Mexico. Calling illegal immigrants a taxpayer burden, she wondered whether Americans could march in the streets of Mexico and demand welfare. When Iowans call up the power company, she said, “everything is in Spanish; it’s sickening.”

“You are so, so right,” Thompson responded. English should be the national language, he told the retiree, and immigrants bear some of the blame for the home-loan crisis. “A lot of them couldn’t communicate with the people they were getting the mortgage from,” he said.

I’ve seen the Republican field link immigration to national security (terrorist will sneak across the Mexican border), and link immigration to the culture war (Roe v. Wade allegedly made immigration necessary), but linking immigration to mortgages and sub-prime loans? That’s a new one.

We already know Republicans have a hard time being funny, and even being catchy is a stretch for them, but when I found this hilarious video at Daily Kos I thought C&L readers would like to share in the unintended laughs.

In response to the Obama Girl videos by Barely Political, the right has now produced a pro - Fred Thompson video depicting a man showing how much he loves his favorite candidate -- ok, he doesn't love Fred, he just loves his politics. Filled with right wing fallacies and talking points (see liberty, freedom and of course, 9/11) this belly laugher shows just how uninformed people on the right are about the state of their country and what the Republican party truly stands for in the Bush era. Enjoy...

And I thought Bush said the new NIE proved his restructuring of the intelligence community worked:

Some Republicans in Congress are second-guessing a government intelligence report that Iran has abandoned its nuclear weapons program. They want a second opinion.

The National Intelligence Estimate, released last week, concludes Iran halted its weapons development program in 2003 and that the program remained frozen through at least the middle of this year. That reversed a key finding from a 2005 intelligence report, which said Iran was intently developing a nuclear bomb. An unclassified summary of the new report was released specifically to correct that impression.

So why are these Republicans going against our Commander in Chief during a time of war? Even Fred Thompson is going against the President and calling the new NIE "foolish". Perhaps we should listen to Fred. He also raises the concerns of the "Soviet Union" in going after Iran.

I think people quickly dismiss Fred's assertions, but they don't realize Fred's background. He was involved in a highly secretive CIA mission years ago that involved a rogue Soviet submarine commander wanting to defect. If it wasn't for Fred's involvment, this would have never happened and the Soviet's would have had the tool necessary to sneak their nuclear weapons only miles off our shores. We have obtained part of that operation manual which can be seen below the fold.

Continue reading »

Download | play   Download | play   h/t Heather

When asked what each would do to improve the primary educational system here in the US, the solution for candidates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson?  Choice--vouchers (naturally), charters, home-schooling, etc.  Essentially, anything rather than looking at the actual problem and finding solutions.

Only problem, gentlemen, conservative think tanks can tell you, "vouchers don't work" and won't address the underlying problems. 

Generally speaking, when the conventional wisdom is that you're just fundamentally lazy, it doesn't do your presidential campaign much good to actual confirm those rumors by your actions.

It looks like the end is nigh for Freddie of Hollywood's campaign. He has decided for an "all in" stance for the January 3rd Iowa caucus evidently. His New Hampshire campaign operation is folding and he has failed to even get 500 signatures to place him on the Delaware ballot. Considering his standing is falling drastically in Iowa, (and Huckabee's are skyrocketing, leading to some fairly nasty direct mails from FDT about Huckabee) things aren't looking so good for the "Law & Order" candidate.

Watch this less than flattering portrait from a Columbus/Cleveland news station (apparently, he's underwhelming Ohio too), featuring our good buddy Cliff Schecter. When was the last time you can remember a liberal politico like Cliff being asked to comment on a Republican candidate?

Download | play    Download | play   (h/t Heather)

In a perfect world, there are some areas for which we would no longer need a "debate" and could move on to finding solutions.  The question of whether waterboarding is torture should not need debate.  The question of global warming should not need debate.  Global warming is real.  The scientific community agrees--that is, those not on the payrolls of major polluters like Exxon.  

But leave it to CBS and anchor Katie Couric to keep pushing the framing that the debate lies with the existence of global warming and its causes.  And in the interest of "informing" the electorate (when in reality, they are simply retarding the discussion), Couric poses that question to the 10 major candidates.  Of course, two of the candidates question global warming--Republican Fred "Why'd I wake up for this?" Thompson and Mike "I reject evolution, why not all other scientific documentation?" Huckabee.

Think Progress:  Huckabee responds that "scientifically," he doesn't know whether global warming is "overblown." Thompson goes a step further, claiming that the "state of entitlements" and "extremists" who "want to do drastic things to our economy" are the real problems:

THOMPSON: There are a lot of unanswered questions. We don't know to the extent this is a cyclical thing. This may or may not effect very much. The extremists are the ones who want to do drastic things to our economy before we have more answers as to how much good we can do and whether people in the other parts of the world are going to contribute. It's the fact that our entitlements are bankrupting the next generation. We're spending the money of those yet to be born and we can't continue that way.

Thompson and Huckabee are wrong. The debate is over about whether manmade global warming is a threat. Even members of the Bush White House have admitted so.