Day: April 13, 2008
Torie Clarke: ‘Hillary Clinton Can Overplay Her Hand’
No less than Republican operative Torie Clarke seems to be right on the money about Hillary Clinton. Here’s what the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs under Donald Rumsfeld said on ABC’s This Week concerning the “people are bitter” comment by Barack Obama.
I think he can recover from this and I think he will, pretty easily. I think Hillary Clinton can overplay her hand. To prove that she’s a real person of the people, she’s out there drinking fake boiler makers, and this, and that. It’s just laughable.
[Time Magazine’s] Mark Halperin: They were real boiler makers.
Clarke: Crown Royal? Sorry, in Western Pennsylvania you don’t drink your boiler makers with Crown Royal. It’s a little bit tougher than that. But I think they may not play this that well. They may overplay this hand.
Clarke was born in Pittsburgh, so we’ll take her word on the cocktails. She’s also correct so far on Hillary’s shameless exploitation of Obama’s quite astute observation. Here’s what Obama actually said:
The true “dream ticket” in 2008 is McCain/Clinton. They agree on just about everything. Deciding which of the two of them is the bigger ambition whore is the hard part.
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.”
“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
The Clinton team wasted no time in whipping up the voters, handing out, “I’m not bitter” stickers in North Carolina. She has also taken to defending hunting, to make it seem to the bitter, ignorant masses she is pandering to that Obama was attacking it.
But the woman’s complete lack of self-awareness is so far even more evident than Clarke’s predicted miscalculation.
After a weekend spent making direct appeals to gun owners and church goers, Hillary Clinton said Sunday a query about the last time she fired a gun or attended church services “is not a relevant question in this debate†over Barack Obama’s recent comments on small town Americans.
“We can answer that some other time,†Clinton said at a press conference held in a working class neighborhood [in Scranton]…
“We have been working very hard to make it clear that we have millions of Democrats who are church going and gun-owning,†[Clinton] said. “And we are tired of having Republicans, or frankly our own Democrats, give any ammunition to Republicans because what happens then is Republicans take advantage of the situation.â€
REPUBLICANS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION?
Somebody get me a glass of water.
But speaking of predictions, I’d like to go on record now as forecasting the true “dream ticket” in 2008. If McCain wants someone as willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill the dream of the White House as he is, he should pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate. They seem to agree on just about everything. Deciding which of the two of them is the bigger ambition whore is the hard part.
Bush Family is Fund Raising. Let’s Hope It’s For the Legal Defense Fund
Gag me.
The society page of the Dallas Morning News reports the Bushes are raising big bucks. The question is, why? Political campaigns or lawyering up?
Bush Family Barbecue Attracts GOP Heavyweights
By SANDRA FAY / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Barely back from the Final Four in San Antonio, Phyllis and Bobby Ray were among 200 guests at the presidential ranch in Crawford for Friday’s Bush Family Barbecue, with President George W. Bush and first lady Laura, former first couple George and Barbara Bush, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Karl Rove was in attendance and was said to be ebullient about the current presidential campaign. Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain was in Texas on Friday and it was thought he might pop in before the evening ended.
Bobby tried to convince Phyllis the event was in honor of her birthday Thursday, but she wasn’t buying it and he’ll have to come through with something else. It’s been suggested an amount commensurate with his political gifts would be a nice gesture, but it isn’t known if that will happen.
Group president of K. Hovnanian Homes, Bobby is a member of an elite group of major donors to the Republican National Committee.
Hmmm. No mention of Jeb’s wife, Columba, attending. Maybe she doesn’t get along that well with her in-laws. I can’t imagine why. After all, Poppy Bush made it clear he loved his grandchildren despite the fact that their mother was Mexican (yes, I’m being ironic) when he introduced them to Pres. Reagan in 1988 as, “the little brown ones.”
Quote du Jour
“A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”
— Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), novelist
Alberto Gonzales Can’t Find a Job
In a world of justice, none of the loyal Bushies would find employment after they leave office:
Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.
He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought…
The greatest impediment to Mr. Gonzales’s being offered the kind of high-salary job being snagged these days by lesser Justice Department officials, many lawyers agree, is his performance during his last few months in office. In that period, he was openly criticized by lawmakers for being untruthful in his sworn testimony. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend actions from exonerating him to recommending criminal charges. Friends set up a fund to help pay his legal bills.
ACLU Calls for Independent Prosecutor to Investigate Bush-Cheney Torture Authorization
George Bush’s confirmation Friday that he authorized top officials in his administration to create torture guidelines for the CIA — in violation of U.S. and international law — has prompted the ACLU to call on Congress to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate the officials’ authorization of torture:
“We have always known that the CIA’s use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government, yet the latest revelations about knowledge from the president himself and authorization from his top advisers only confirms our worst fears,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “It is a very sad day when the president of the United States subverts the Constitution, the rule of law, and American values of justice.”
…The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.
“No one in the executive branch of government can be trusted to fairly investigate or prosecute any crimes since the head of every relevant department, along with the president and vice president, either knew or participated in the planning and approval of illegal acts,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor.”
Officials involved in creating the torture guidelines, a process that began in 2002, included Vice President Cheney and Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice, who was then the national security adviser, then Sec. of State Colin Powell, then Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft, then Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, then CIA Director George Tenet and their aides.
