Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced three new radio ads to run in New Hampshire and Iowa in an e-mail to supporters today. (The links in the e-mail redirect to the main page, however.)
The ads are “Garbage Can,” “Will Do,” and “Out of Control.”
Buckeye State Blog’s Jerid, angered by former Governor Mitt Romney’s approving smile of the Obama/Osama sign while campaigning in South Carolina, took his frustration to the northeastern Republican candidate himself at a town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Romney initially tried to dodge the question, claiming he doesn’t read all the signs, but that excuse is just nakedly false. TMZ posted two pictures: (1) Romney posing with a supporter holding the sign and (2) one of him showing off the sign approvingly to the gathered crowd.
Obviously, Romney is lying. He saw the sign and played to worst of the right-wing crowd. Now he’s not willing to take the heat for his despicable pandering.
Secondly, when confronted with this unfortunate discrepancy, Romney’s only response to a relentless Jerid asking how he could compare any American to bin Laden was to tell him to “lighten up.”
Kudos to Jerid for not only asking the question but pressing Romney on it. This is exactly why I like the “YouTube Election.” Get the bastards on tape.
[Updated 7/23/07, 11:55am by Matt Ortega] Jerid has yet another trick up his sleeve. As it turns out, prior to the town hall event, he approached the former governor with a print out of the TMZ images for his autograph. And wouldn’t you know it, Mitt Romney signed it.
Mitt Romney — he doesn’t read things, just signs them. (Or holds them up in approval, as it were.)
The maker of OxyContin and three of its executives were fined $634.5 million yesterday in federal court for misleading the public about the addictive qualities of the drug. Apparently that’s the best deal that Rudy Giuliani was able to arrange as a defense lawyer for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.
Giuliani will likely echo Fred Thompson’s line about the need to separate the lawyer from the client. Interestingly enough, Howard Udell was Purdue’s top lawyer and was included in the punishment.
But perhaps more significant than Giuliani’s defending of Purdue is his work for them as an image-building consultant.
“Purdue produces one of the most effective pain management medicines in history, which helps millions of people around the world,” Giuliani said in a 2005 interview, Newsday reports. “… A balanced approach to the problem is necessary in order to both prevent drug abuse and continue to provide appropriate and effective care to the millions of patients… ” (more…)
TMZ obtained photos of former Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) standing and holding up a sign that equates Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) to Osama bin Laden while meeting with South Carolinian supporters.
And, of course, “momma” is missing a second “m.” Or, as TMZ notes, maybe they are opposed to modern art?
The AP has more on the story of top Romney aide Jay Garrity’s exploits as a phony police officer. Garrity, who is currently “on leave” from the campaign (meaning, notably, that Romney has not fired him), allegedly made fake badges while working for Romney in Massachusetts:
An aide to Republican Mitt Romney used fake badges so he and other members of Romney’s advance staff could gain access to closed areas and, in one instance, avoid paying a highway toll, according to a published report.
Jay Garrity, a Romney aide who is on leave for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer in two states, manufactured the silver badges with a Massachusetts state seal while Romney was still governor, the Boston Herald reported, quoting unnamed campaign sources. Garrity then gave them to at least two fellow logistics aides, both of whom remain with Romney’s presidential campaign.
Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to use a badge without authority, an offense punishable with a fine up to $50.
Again, is there anything about Mitt Romney that isn’t phony?
Following the mass exodus of McCain campaign staffers, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert announced that he, too, is leaving the campaign. Although not a paid staffer, Colbert removed his e-mail from McCain’s e-alert list.
Timing is everything in politics, and pundits are starting to whisper that Fred Thompson is waiting too long to get in the race — a blunder that could have serious consequences for the former lobbyist.
The Hill notes the frustration of “Fredheads” waiting for their guy to make up his mind:
Fred Thompson enjoys an unprecedented groundswell of grassroots support,” the page reads. “Fredheads believe in his potential. Fredheads know he can very well be the next president of the United States. This support should be nurtured, not pushed aside and asked to stand-by forever.
“The time has come. Enough with the ambiguities. Enough with those around you being more decisive than you are.”
Marc Ambinder suggests that Thompson is in danger of losing control of the narrative:
The media and the conservative elite are running out of patience. Just get in already — or announce an exact date. McCain’s seeming collapse is an opportunity to strike now; waiting could bring regrets. A campaign cannot run on fumes, nor can it run on a weekly Sean Hannity armpit snuggle. The longer Thompson waits, the more likely the story becomes the waiting rather than the candidate.
Is this Thompson’s much-reported laziness at work (er, no pun intended)?
Standing next to those Star Wars costumes, meanwhile, is about as close as Rudy Giuliani has ever gotten to a uniform. He’s not alone in the Republican field, though. Joe Conason has a great piece today about GOP draft dodgers Romney and Rudy, each of whom managed to find some mighty creative ways to get out of going to Vietnam.
Democrats.org picks up on this graf:
Today Giuliani’s problem is not avoiding military service but explaining how and why he avoided it. A spokesperson for the candidate recently told New York Magazine that he “has made it clear that if he had been called up, he would have served,” which doesn’t quite expiate his strenuous efforts to make sure that never happened. Giuliani opposed the Vietnam War for “strategic and tactical” reasons as well, according to his flack. Of course, that sounds much like the bipartisan dissent against the Iraq war that he now dismisses so contemptuously.
This is via Wonkette, who notes:
[T]here is actually a political demographic for the opera-loving cross-dressing Manhattan fascist. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the rest of us, they are adult Star Wars fanatics, and there are only about a dozen of them in each state.
Gary Andres explains how it isn’t just Democrats who are looking at a real possibility of winding up in a brokered convention next year. Republicans may find that none of their candidates will be able to take a majority of delegates into St. Paul, though for different reasons.
The wild cards in the GOP process are the “winner take all” primaries, used by Republicans in 20 states. Andres observes that Giuliani is well positioned to work around poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire by winning key early WTA states like Florida, California, New York, and New Jersey. Still, other frontrunners may be able to counter:
But Fred Thompson and Mr. Romney may also do well in other early WTA states like South Carolina, (47 delegates), Georgia (72 delegates), Missouri (52 delegates) and Tennessee (55 delegates), which all take place on or before February 5. And Mr. Romney’s current lead in New Hampshire and Iowa could bode well for generating momentum going into the WTA primaries. This all has the makings of a topsy-turvy end-game.
A brokered GOP convention would be a fascinating exercise in testing the relative strengths of different parts of the conservative coalition. Is it likely? Maybe not. But it’s perhaps a stronger possibility this cycle than it has been in quite a while.
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