Political Roundtable: News, Opinion and Commentary

Edwards’ Party Role Clouded By Allegations

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:04:20 +0000

John Edwards’ reluctance to refute allegations that he had an affair and child with his former videographer could jeopardize his potential role as a Democratic National Convention speaker and surrogate for his party’s presumptive nominee.

The former North Carolina senator has been relatively low-key since dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary race in January.

But his reputation as a passionate populist who trumpets social issues most dear to the Democratic Party would arguably make him a shoo-in as a top speaker in Denver.

Edwards’ role at the Democratic convention, where Barack Obama will be formally nominated for the presidency in late August, has not been solidified — but his silence on tabloid reports alleging he had an affair with video producer Rielle Hunter could make him Kryptonite to Democrats.

“If he’s going to be a spokesman on working-class issues … in the fall, he’s going to have to get it resolved. It ain’t going away,” said Democratic strategist and FOX News contributor Bob Beckel.

Democratic convention hosts and the Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Beckel, a former convention planner, said the lack of a categorical denial by Edwards of an affair and love child could hamper his ability to speak out on poverty and campaign for Obama in the lead-up to the November election.

Beckel said Edwards probably wouldn’t be featured too prominently at the convention anyway, but that his silence raises suspicion.

“Let’s put it this way, if you believe perception rules in politics … the fact that it has not been knocked down raises more questions every day. … Then people say, ‘Why isn’t it knocked down if it’s not there?’ … I would not want to necessarily be in the Edwards’ bedroom in the morning, you know, that is not what I would consider a safe zone.”

Edwards denied the allegations when they first flared late last year. But in recent weeks he and his inner circle have clammed up, either trashing the tabloid nature of the stories or refusing to answer reporters’ questions.

He dodged questions on the matter from FOXNews.com last Wednesday at an AARP conference in Washington, D.C., and will not return calls placed by his local newspaper in North Carolina.

If he wants to have a role in the convention or any other significant role in the Obama campaign or a potential Obama administration, I think he has to credibly respond to it, Don Fowler, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told FOXNews.com.

The silence is probably going to accentuate how much that rumor is repeated,” Fowler added. I have great admiration and empathy for (Edwards) and I certainly hope that it all gets cleared up in an acceptable and satisfactory fashion. But the reality of politics is â€¦ that these kind of things do get into the media and they require response.

Just weeks ago, Edwards was floated as a possible running-mate pick for Obama. Now his name is rarely mentioned on that list, as the speculation turns more toward current office holders like Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh.

Obama parted ways with his top running-mate screener Jim Johnson following reports that he may have gotten sweetheart deals from a mortgage lender. The presumptive Democratic nominee is bound to be even more stringent in making sure his vice presidential pick is squeaky clean.

Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, an author and Obama supporter, said convention planners can hardly deny Edwards a speaking role, but unless he unequivocally discredits the charges, his role will be diminished.

“It would be sort of party suicide to take someone with that kind of scandal and place them up,” Hill said.

“At a moment where the Democratic advantage partially hinges on not only the public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration but also the wide range of scandals … over the last three years of the GOP … it would be unwise for the DNC to prominently position someone who has ethical issues swirling around,” he added.

Edwards Role At Convention Compromised

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:43:31 +0000

Photo Courtesy: The National Enquirer

Lee Stranahan, meet Cassandra.

“Democracy on the Web” turned tyranny of the majority for writer, blogger, and media maker Lee Stranahan. Stranahan dared to predict the conundrum in store for progressives with rumors swirling around John Edwards and a baby born to one of his former campaign staffers. Members of the Daily Kos caused Stranahan to be banned from the site for addressing the story and pleading with Edwards to do the same.

Stranahan advised Democrats to clean house themselves now or have it cleaned with a media circus later:

It seems to me that this is going to be a tsunami-sized scandal for the Democratic Party and right now the coming typhoon of press coverage is close to breaking.” The Huffington Post

Now McClatchy News reports Edwards’ role at the Democratic Convention is in jeopardy:

If Edwards fails to clear up the story in short order, he risks party officials deciding not to have him speak or, if they do, creating a distraction from a week focused on Barack Obama accepting the nomination.

‘If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is ‘no,’ he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention,” said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee
Edwards can put the rumors to bed by issuing a strong denial and castigating those who heaped hurt on his family’s trials. Or he can confirm the story, take his lumps, and maybe ask people not to heap more hurt on his family than he has. Either way, it’s in the interests of the party he act now…just as Stranahan said almost two weeks ago.

Stating The Obvious

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:40:56 +0000

A prominent conservative Republican has stated the obvious:

In a tough year like this, Democrats could probably have defeated Republican John McCain with a flawed, but seasoned candidate like Hillary Clinton. But long-suffering liberals convinced their party to go with a messiah rather than a dependable nominee â€” and thereby they probably will get neither.

â€” The author, Victor Davis Hanson, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal and the 2008 Bradley Prize.

You can’t say that we didn’t ceaselessly WARN the party that this would happen. You, me, Larry Johnson, and many other brave bloggers. Why the party allowed the hard left — the “authoritarian leftists” — to have its way is beyond me. Most of them are very unreliable Democrats anyway. If their preferred candidate, for ANY position, isn’t nominated, they stew and grouse, preferring to stay in a snit and allow the Republican opponent to win. In 2004, I personally watched as the hard left’s preferred candidate lost the Washington state gubernatorial Democratic primary to Chris Gregoire. (He WAS a fine candidate, but he lost. That’s life.) The hard left did NOTHING to aid her general election campaign. What happened as a result? She won, by just over 100 votes and only following weeks and weeks of recounts. For the hard left, it’s “my way or the highway.” Now she’s in a tough reelection bid against the same Republican who is backed by a huge number of highly motivated Republicans still fueled by bitterness over the outcome they are certain was illegally won. Do you think the left will come to her aid this year? I seriously doubt it, even though she has pandered to them by endorsing Obama (a huge mistake she will rue when the GOP runs ad after ad showing her on stage with Obama).

SUPERDELEGATES: It is not too late to change course!

(more…)

Really, Is Obama Naive?

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:33:56 +0000

So yesterday I see the clip showing Obama answering one of McCain’s stupidities directly. Today I see this via
I don’t begrudge Obama R&R, but can’t he and the Democratic Party figure out a way for him to get his rest without setting himself up for an article such as this? Good grief!

Fortified by daily workouts at the gym, he looks fit. But his face seemed drawn as he addressed a town hall meeting here Wednesday, the toll of a week spent parrying Republican rival John McCain’s charge that his antidote to the energy crisis is tire inflation.

Ever thought of pacing yourself, Senator, and getting some good managers?

Then there’s this:

Arrangements are being made to accommodate reporters (at a cost of $11,500 each for the week), but the campaign is putting out word there probably will be no real news.

Right, the news is going to stop because Obama is on vacation? You could always throw a barbecue. The press just luv them some barbecue.

Nancy Pelosi And Barack Obama On Drilling- No, No, No, Videos

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:19:07 +0000

OK, we can’t drill our way out of the current gas price crisis, but the mere lifting of the off shore drilling ban by President Bush took the wind out of the speculator’s sails and the price of a gallon of gas dropped below $4.00 per gallon, and without a single additional drill bit hitting earth!

Barack Obama says no to drilling. He says put more air in your tires. Well we cannot inflate our way out of it either.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi also says no to drilling. In this video she says she wants to use the strategic petroleum reserve instead of exploring for more oil. Using the petroleum reserve unless we are absolutely unable to get oil elsewhere, or have to fight a war is the epitome of irresponsibility. She will not allow an up or down vote on the floor of the House because she knows it will pass. She has another agenda. Too bad it is not the agenda of the American people.

We need an alternative to oil. But while we are looking for it, people need to drive to work. Having these irresponsible Democrats in charge of the congress is bad enough. If they control the Presidency and the congress there will be no hope for low income Americans, the ones most affected by high gas prices.

Remember to inflate your tires on your way to the polls in November. If that doesn’t save you any money, vote no on irresponsibility, vote no on Democrats.

NYT: Non-Partisan Voters Practically A Third Party

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:09:06 +0000

At least, that paraphrase is my interpretation of a recent bit of news-commentary on the statistics of party affiliation:

the share of the electorate that registers as independent has grown at a faster rate than Republicans or Democrats in 12 states. The rise has been so significant that in states like Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, nonpartisan voters essentially constitute a third party.

read the rest of the New York Times article here

Of course, being the mass-media establishment that it is, the Times chose to focus the piece on the fact that the Democrats are gaining significant ground on the Republicans, rather than take much time to consider what it means that more and more people are registering their discontent with the two-party circus.

My take: The mainstream media is very content to throw out tidbits like this suggesting that third-parties may be due for a rise in November. After all, if something big did happen, they would want to be able to say that “they were on top of it,” supposedly chronicling history in the making. The truth, quite obviously is that history is being written and made on the blogosphere, that intense web of text, links, audio, and video. On the blogosphere there are far fewer and less powerful editors, thus content flows more freely and opinion is not pitched to the lowest common denominator (bizarre crime stories and celebrity politicians). Where non-partisan discontent will end up finding a home in November is still up for speculation. These people need to know that they have a choice. Minnesota’s state fair is just around the corner and I plan to be there with the Constitution Party, letting people know that there is a choice between McCain and Obama and his name is Chuck Baldwin. The more that concerned citizens, people who are smart enough to know that the two-party system is failing them, are aware of alternatives, the more likely it is that they will get over their fears of “wasting their vote” and do the right thing. 2008 may not see the election of a third-party candidate, but, if we really push for it, this may be the year that millions of voters embrace third party politics. So get out there yourself. Eat food on a stick and let people know that they have a choice!

Opening John Edwards’ Back Door

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:19:14 +0000

.

“He absolutely does have to (resolve it). If it’s not true, he has to issue a stronger denial,” says a Democratic strategist who ran Edwards’ 1998 Senate race. “It’s a very damaging thing.

“The big media has tried to be responsible and handle this with kid gloves, but it’s clearly getting ready to bust out. If it’s not true, he’s got to stand up and say, ‘This is not true. That is not my child and I’m going to take legal action against the people who are spreading these lies.’ It’s not enough to say, ‘That’s tabloid trash.’”

No, it isn’t and Edwards’ continuing silence, while understandable on the personal level, does not bode well for his reputation and any future role on the national political stage.

Inouye Will Be Inouye

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:07:36 +0000

It’ll be interesting to see if Hawai’i Sen. Daniel Inouye draws any flak from fellow Democrats for going to Alaska to campaign with embattled Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, Inouye’s best friend in the Senate whose re-election is in trouble after he was indicted for corruption.

You’d think a Democratic senator helping a Republican would rankle party leaders at a time when Democrats hope to win enough GOP Senate seats to achieve a veto-proof majority â€” with Alaska a prime target of opportunity.

In Hawai’i, lesser Democrats have been brought up on charges for consorting with the opposition.

This isn’t the first time Inouye has put friendship ahead of party. Local Democratic activists objected in 2006 when he continued to support Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman after he lost the Democratic primary and ran as an independent.

The Hawai’i Democratic hierarchy did a tap dance to duck punitive action against their titular leader, and Inouye finally let them off the hook by finding an excuse to drop his support for Lieberman.

But it’s hard to see that happening with Stevens as long as he remains unconvicted and stays in the race.

Not only does their personal friendship run deep after serving together for 40 years, but they’ve forged a unique political alliance as senior members of the appropriations and commerce committees that has enabled both to bring home big pork no matter which party is in power.

Good enough reason for Democrats to look the other way?

The Southern Strategy Of The 21 Century

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:12:04 +0000

Nixon formulated it, Reagan mastered it, and Bush inherited it, but are changing in the beloved region. I’ve wrote about the upset victories in Miss. and La earlier this year. And the Democratic strategy of keying in on local conservative candidates to run on the core social conservative issues while offering the Democrat solution and agenda. Personally, I don’t know how much longer that strategy will work when Pelosi and Reid are truly showing the Democrat agenda. Nonetheless, there has been some success and the numbers are showing a shift in the national sentiment that can’t be ignored.

This Wall Street Journal article, The New Southern Strategy, by Greg Hitt offers great detail explaining the strategy and likely results if fortunes do not change.

A quick excerpt.

Spurred by the souring economy and a newfound willingness to embrace conservative candidates, the Democratic Party is running its most competitive campaign across the South in 40 years, fielding potential winners along a rib of states stretching from Louisiana to Virginia, the heart of the Old Confederacy. Sen. Barack Obama’s ability to excite African-American voters in certain Southern races could provide an additional boost, too.

The party’s rising prospects point toward a once unthinkable goal: a reversal of the “Great Reversal,” the switch in political loyalties in the 1960s that made the South a Republican stronghold for a generation. If the current picture holds, Democrats could use the Southern strength to help craft a workable Senate majority and expand their majority in the House of Representatives. At the very least, it widens the field of competitive seats, forcing Republicans to fight fires in once-reliably solid areas.

Obama Vacations While Clinton Attacks Bush

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:07:23 +0000

Oh, great. I guess it’s time for another shirtless Obama photo op.

I wish now that I had noted all of the days that Barack H. Obama has taken off since last December. Campaigning must be GWBush hard for him. Oh, well. The Obamas are off to Hawaii on vacation, where they’ll be able to demonstrate to the voters . [/sarcasm]

Meanwhile, Senator Clinton has a few choice words for the Bush administration:

By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
August 6, 2008

Tucked away on the Cayman Islands sits Ugland House, an unassuming, nondescript building of modest scale and size. However, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), this five-story office building is home to more than 18,000 corporate entities, nearly half of which have U.S. ties.

In the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes. To no one’s surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the Bush administration has rewarded the company in April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq.

There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse are legion — from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same company. In another scam, the Pentagon awarded a $300 million contract to AEY, Inc., a company run by a 22-year-old who fulfilled an ammunition deal in Afghanistan by supplying rotting Chinese-made munitions to our allies.

But the fraud and waste are not limited to the war. In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA awarded a contract worth more than $500 million for trailers to serve as temporary housing. The contractor, Gulf Stream, collected all of its money even though they knew at the time that its trailers were contaminated with formaldehyde.

While touting fiscal responsibility, President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1 ratio.

If we’re going to get serious about putting our nation’s fiscal house in order, let’s talk about putting an end to billions in no-bid contract awards to unaccountable contractors. Let’s talk about the number of lucrative contracts and bonuses being paid for duties never performed, promises never fulfilled, and contracts falsely described as complete. And let’s talk about reforming the federal contracting system so that we can take on the real waste, fraud and abuse in our federal government.

I’ve proposed a comprehensive overhaul to root out corruption in no-bid contracts and other shady deals. Reforms must include the following:

- Instead of rewarding companies that exploit tax shelters and incorporate in tax havens, let’s ban the federal government from contracting with companies that hide profits offshore.

- We should put in place safeguards so that contracts are awarded to responsible companies that abide by the law and complete the work they’re hired to do.

- Let’s put a stop to the disgraceful practice of giving bonuses to contractors for work never performed, which has been allowed to happen in Iraq and throughout the federal government according to the GAO and inspectors general.

- We need to increase transparency and competition in the contracting system, and to stop the ideological privatization of critical governmental functions.

In 1941, as the U.S. mobilized and entered World War II, then Sen. Harry Truman proposed and chaired the Senate Special Committee to investigate the National Defense Program. Over the course of three years, Truman set about investigating a president of his own party in order to discover and eliminate wasteful and fraudulent spending. By some estimates, the “Truman Committee” saved the American people some $15 billion — more than $165 billion in today’s dollars.

Truman took on the war profiteers because he understood that when the lives of Americans hang in the balance, we cannot afford to misuse even a single dollar. In the Democratic Congress, we’ve proposed a new Truman Committee to address the waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan that has already taken place, a proposal stymied by the president and his allies. And my proposal would prevent waste, fraud and abuse in future contracting.

Of course, we need far more than a Truman Committee. We need the Truman spirit in the White House, where the buck finally stops.

No wonder Barack H. Obama says,

Duh.

“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”
-Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

: Delilah didn’t do it.
Judges 16:19– And she made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.