Archive for February, 2007
Per the Boston Globe a leaked Romney memo tells us:
- His hair is too perfect
- He a John Kerry-like waffler
- He dislikes France
- He dislikes Hilary Clinton
This comes, not from an adversary, but from a 77-page internal PowerPoint presentation about Romney’s strategy obtained and published by the Boston Globe. Rudy Giuliani experienced a similar leak last month when his self-critical strategy briefing ended up in the hands of the New York Daily News. Guliani’s critique was a much greater leak, however, as there was new information as well as several zingers, such as his $100 million war chest goal and details about his lucrative consulting business.
Zip your lips folks!
February 28th, 2007
Rolling Stone National Affairs Daily » Blog Archive » Weathervane McCain: Throw Rummy Under the Bus
I agree with a lot of what this guy is saying. I really like McCain. He’s been will to take principled stands, though it has cost him the support of the more extreme wing of his party. It has also cost him a presidential nomination. he’s decided that a little compromise is OK. But at what cost…
Forget the kick-a-guy-after-he’s-been-run-over-by-a-train aspect of McCain’s remarks. McCain is clearly trying to distance himself from the failings of this war. As David Gergen put it to me recently: “John McCain’s fortunes are tied Iraq; he’s the tail to that kite now, because the president has embraced the McCain formula of more troops, and the probability is that this kite’s not going to fly very well.”
…
So Rummy makes a convenient scapegoat. But what chafes my hide is that McCain, alone among sitting senators not named Warner, could have been instrumental in forcing the president to remove Rumsfeld earlier. Years earlier. And yet John McCain offered instead his silent consent to Rummy’s historically incompetent leadership.
This is no longer a man of principle. This is a man so rapt by the idea of becoming The Decider that there is no ideological jujitsu he’s unwilling to perform to gain that power.
February 20th, 2007
I got these via email today and thought they were a riot.
Choose Your Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign Slogan:
- Please ignore the Middle-Easterny name.
- Because the whole “slow-witted Texan with a safe-sounding name” thing didn’t work out so well.
- Face it, America: It’s me or the Ice Woman.
- Once you go Barack, you never go back.
- Barack: Cultural Learnings of Books and the Enlightenment for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of America
- Hey, what’s the problem? You elected Marion Berry *twice*!
- Not Hillary Clinton for president.
- Your last chance for a black president before the country’s overrun by Mexicans.
- Straight Outta Cul-De-Sac
- He beats Hillary hands down in the bathing suit competition!
- After our last president, we need one Hussein.
- Obama: Just pretend he’s Irish.
- Restoring English as the official language of State of the Union addresses.
- C’mon, you KNOW you want to see Trent Lott piss his pants!
- America: Movin’ on up!
- It’s time for a different B.O. in the White House.
- As American as imam’s apple pie!
February 16th, 2007
I enjoyed: Barack Obama’s On-Point Message Man - washingtonpost.com, particularly:
“I wanted to win or lose based on who I am and not some concoction that somebody told me the public wanted,” says Deval Patrick, whom Axelrod served in his successful race to become the first African American governor of Massachusetts last year, Patrick’s first campaign. “I talked to a lot of different media consultants and so forth who were brought to me by someone who knew there was such a thing as a media consultant. Of all of them, David seemed to me to be the one most determined to respect my commitment to be myself.”
Amen. Barack Obama has made some great remarks of late and no doupt many were scripted in some back room. I thought the sound byte might not be well suited to him but he’s done well. From what I can tell reading the paper, Barach Obama kisses babies and rescues baby seals. He helps old ladies accross the street and comes to complete stops at at stop signs. I think he’s making all the right moves so far.
February 15th, 2007
Sen. Barack Obama toured Iowa this weekend and was then back in DC this morning. I’m very impressed with the guy. one thing I’m just noticing from press, such as this washingtonpost.com article) is how well he performs in person. He stands up to protesters taunting him and pushes back against the media when they’re out of line. He is running a scripted campaign, but it doesn’t feel that way.
When protesters shouted for us to bring troops home now, he replied “Come on. We’re on the same side guys.” Bush (and most folks… not just to knock Bush) would have patiently waited for security to remove them. Earlier, he tried to engage protesters to include them in the dialogue before they were thrown out (apparently they refused to be engaged). Dealing with hostle uninvited bullies trying to hijack your world tells alot about a man in my opinion.
And his comment in the post article about his swimsuit picture was playful enough and truthful enough that swooning journalists had to have been left with a blush and a “shucks you caught me” grin. He headed the unknown-and-lacks-substance argument off at the pass — at least with those journalists. he’s had some critism about his web2.0 site having some hiccups this morning, but I think he’s running his campaign exactly how he needs to to stay true to himself and be taken seriously.
February 12th, 2007