Only one man is strong enough to provide security for his mistress: Rudy Giuliani be thy name.

Hilarious.

Rudy Giuliani | No Comments »

Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton, Colo.) fuses together Lyndon Johnson’s infamous fear-mongering “Daisy” ad with his rabid disdain for immigrants to come up with this television commercial.

The version posted to YouTube is in poor quality with the audio out of sync with the video.

Here’s LBJ’s infamous “Daisy” ad from 1964:

Tom Tancredo | 2 Comments »

Despite claiming on Sunday that he “will win” New Hampshire primary, it looks like Senator John McCain’s campaign war chest is a little light and he needs money.

Campaign officials confirmed a report that McCain may borrow money to finance television ads, mailings and other expenses in those states and in South Carolina. The Associated Press reported that the line of credit would be $3 million.

For McCain, taking a loan would be another admission that his campaign is in desperate straits. Once considered the Republican front-runner with seemingly unlimited resources, his campaign faltered over the summer after failing to raise as much money as his rivals.

Michael D. Shear cautions against counting out McCain’s campaign, citing the Democratic primary in 2004:

But taking a loan does not necessarily mean a win is completely out of reach. In 2004, Democrat John F. Kerry took a similar late-season loan, secured against his personal house, and used the money to secure his nomination.

However, Political Machine’s Dave discounts this comparison:

The important difference is that John Kerry was the fall back candidate so when the Howard Dean campaign collapsed, John Kerry was still there to fall back to. If Rudy collapses in January, John McCain is not the fall back candidate, in fact there are three fall back candidates before we even get to McCain: Romney, Huckabee, Thompson.

The McCain Campaign Death Watch continues. In recent weeks, there was continuous talk of McCain as the comeback kid, a narrative the media just loves to ride, but it is hard to surge if you don’t have any money.

Fundraising, John McCain | 1 Comment »

From TIME Magazine:

After a debate in New Hampshire, one of [Tom Tancredo’s] staffers walked up to a guy in a shark costume and asked him if he was a Ron Paul supporter. “No. They’re all nuts,” replied the shark. “I’m just a guy in a shark suit.”

(Hat tip: Mathew Gross, Deride and Conquer)

Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo | 1 Comment »

So says Colin Delany of e.politics and techPresident:

What a strange way to run a blog all around — normally, an article title links to a standalone version of the post, not to some outside piece. The way the Guiliani site is set up, I don’t see how you can link to a particular article, leave a comment or trackback, or do just about anything else you expect to be able to do on a normal blog. It’s as though they decided to create a blog-like piece of communications technology without the actual blog features. The only piece of reader interaction? That click-counter, whose sole effect is to make it look as though the site is essentially unread. Nice, um, job.

On the Web, Rudy Giuliani | No Comments »

Fred Thompson made an off-the-cuff joke about his presidential chances that have people asking if Ol’ Freddie has his heart in the race … again.

Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Carl Cameron of Fox News said into his microphone: “The next president of the United States has a schedule to keep.” Standing beside him, a deadpan Mr Thompson interjected: “And so do I.”

As some Thompson aides looked bemused and others cringed, a taken-aback Mr Cameron, Fox’s chief political correspondent, exclaimed: “You can’t do that kind of stuff!” [emphasis added]

Carl Cameron, you may remember, was the FOX News reporter in 2000 who was assigned to cover George W. Bush while his wife was campaigning with the then-Texas Governor’s sister, Dorothy. You can do that, ey Carl?

In related FDT news, the Thompson campaign unveiled two new ads that will be running nationally.

FDT rails against rights coming “from government.” I don’t think anybody truly argues rights are “from government.” The idea is that government protects rights.

Secondly, you will notice that while FDT speaks of “so long as you play by the rules, you have a fair shot” — an obvious wink at race relations and the immigration issue — the entire video is wall to wall white people.

Fred Thompson | No Comments »

Rudy Giuliani told the Associated Press:

“Bernie Kerik worked for me while I was mayor of New York City,’’ Mr. Giuliani told Philip Elliott of the A.P. “There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik. But what’s the ultimate result for the people of New York City? The ultimate result for the people of New York City was a 74 percent reduction in shootings, a 60 percent reduction in crime, a correction program that went from being one of the worst in the country to one that was on ‘60 Minutes’ as one of the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails.”

“Sure, there were issues, but if I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape,” Mr. Giuliani said.

Somebody may want to double check those figures. Word has it that Giuliani is loose with the numbers.

Advisors, Rudy Giuliani | 1 Comment »

Sunday’s Washington Post added a new name to the endless list of Republican campaign associates/criminals this election cycle.

Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.

Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the “first day founders.” Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of “Thompson’s Airforce.”

Here’s Phil Martin’s rap sheet:

Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation. […]

Archived Florida court records provide details of the various cases against Martin, including alleged sports-betting activity, a cocaine deal he arranged with an undercover sheriff’s deputy and carried out through a middleman, and the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana to an undercover detective for $3,400. Martin produced the marijuana from the trunk of his 1973 Cadillac as he and the detective were parked behind a Tampa area department store, according to the arrest report.

According to court records, close friends and an ex-wife, Martin arrived in Tennessee from Tampa about 1985 while serving probation for his various offenses. He set up a series of businesses, starting with the Puzzle’s Pizza parlor. He opened a hardware store, and friends say he began trying to recruit business partners for more ambitious real estate ventures.

Tell me if you heard this one from another leading Republican candidate:

Thompson’s campaign said the candidate was not aware of the multiple criminal cases, for which Martin served no jail time. All are described in public court records.

Karen Hanretty, Thompson’s deputy communications director, said yesterday that “Senator Thompson was unaware of the information until this afternoon. Phil Martin has been a friend of the senator since the mid-1990s and remains so today.” Thompson communications director Todd Harris added that Martin was not subjected to the campaign’s standard vetting process because “he’s a longtime friend.”

“There’s not a campaign in the world that has the ability to research every one of its supporters going back more than 20 years,” Harris said.

The Post digs into the Thompson campaign’s dealings with Martin:

Martin has been more than just a key fundraiser to Thompson, though. The use of his plane eases a major logistical burden stemming from the intense demands on presidential candidates this year for appearances in more than 20 states holding early primaries. It also may have saved the campaign at least $120,000, given that Federal Election Commission rules allowed Thompson to reimburse Martin for the use of the private jet at the commercial ticket rate until Congress changed the rules in September.

Thompson has reported reimbursing Martin $102,330, without specifying precisely where he flew on the plane, or when. But a comparison of flight records for the plane, kept by the tracking firm FlightAware, and news accounts of Thompson’s campaign appearances this year shows that since June the plane has made more than two dozen stops that coincided with Thompson campaign events.

(Hat tip: Jeralyn Merritt, TalkLeft)

Advisors, Fred Thompson | 1 Comment »

The November Blog’s Noah found an odd quote from Senator Kit Bond (R-Missouri) who, apparently, needs a refresher course on the U.S. Constitution:

“America is hungry for a President who will say what he means, and do what he says. The American people want and deserve a genuine leader, and that is Rudy Giuliani,” said U.S. Senator Kit Bond. “Rudy has the leadership qualities and the experience to handle whatever challenges America faces in the next 10 years.”

Uh, Kit, presidents can only serve eight years, not ten.

Or, Rudy is planning on pushing a constitutional amendment to expand presidential terms from four to five years each?

Endorsements, Rudy Giuliani | 6 Comments »

It is no secret that Rudy Giuliani has trouble reconciling the self-constructed fantasy land with reality: on his role in September 11 and healthcare. Now, he is lying about his attacks on the foreign policy experience, or as he said, lack there of, with Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware).

Now if attacking the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for, get this, lacking foreign policy experience was dumb, lying about it is a monumental mistake. Greg Sargent notes the whopper of a lie Giuliani tells later.

We’re not sure what to make about this, really. It seems pretty clear cut. In the first interview, Rudy was asked explicitly about Joe Biden and foreign policy experience and he suggested very directly that Biden didn’t have any, summarizing Biden’s record thusly:

“It’s one thing to speak about what you want or even pass laws about it. It’s another thing to actually do it. Foreign policy experience to me means being an ambassador, being in the state department.”

Unless I’m missing something, Rudy explicitly used the words “foreign policy experience.” But then Rudy was later confronted about his contention that Biden Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Biden lacks said experience. And he responded that he hadn’t attacked Biden this way at all. “I didn’t mention foreign policy.” Rudy said. Of course, Rudy did in fact “mention foreign policy.”

Biden responded:

“Today’s comments come from a guy — Rudy Giuliani — who said Dick Cheney, the architect of Bush’s failed policy in Iraq, was a great choice for vice president and who recommended the now discredited Bernie Kerik to be Secretary of Homeland Security. Once again, Rudy has demonstrated his complete lack of knowledge of U.S. foreign policy.”

This was just an incredibly stupid move on the part of Giuliani, and coming on the heels of his campaign’s decision to continue to cite incorrect statistics despite being told they are inaccurate. Dumb. Just plain dumb.

On the other hand, this provides a huge opportunity to his primary (and, if he makes it that far, general election) opponents. It would be incredibly wise for Republicans to pounce on the false legend about Rudy and “foreign policy experience.” The absolute truth is he had foreign policy happen to him.

Rudy Giuliani | 7 Comments »