The Blue State

SC-2008: Obama and Thompson lead in polls

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there.  We're lite on posts today, but we'll be back up to full speed at midnight eastern tonight with the nightowl clips.

Meanwhile, new NBC poll numbers are in from South Carolina, which are great news for Obama and Thompson.  Obama, within the last month, has vaulted ahead of Clinton.  Here are the numbers.  First, the Democrats:

South Carolina Democrats
Barack Obama - 35%
Hillary Clinton - 24%
John Edwards - 12%
Joe Biden - 2%
Undecided - 24%

Now to the Republicans.  Thompson, who is scheduled to announce his run for the White House in July, leads Giuliani, Romney and McCain:

South Carolina Republicans
Fred Thompson - 25%
Rudolph Giuliani - 21%
Mitt Romney - 11%
John McCain - 7%
Mike Huckabee - 5%
Undecided - 28%

Maybe it's not some coincidence that the two candidates on top, Obama and Thompson, are thought of as Washington-outsiders.  People on both sides of the spectrum are sick of business as usual in Washington and want change.

Romney's revisionist history about Iraq weapons inspectors

During the Republican presidential debate this week, Mitt Romney tried to justify the Iraq war by claiming that Saddam Hussein kicked weapons inspectors out of the country immediately prior the invasion:

"If you're saying let's turn back the clock, and Saddam Hussein hadopened up his country to IAEA inspectors, and they'd come in and they'dfound that there were no weapons of mass destruction, had SaddamHussein, therefore, not violated United Nations resolutions, wewouldn't be in the conflict we're in. But he didn't do those things,and we knew what we knew at the point we made the decision to get in."

Regrettably, it was the Bush Administration, not Saddam Hussein, that told international inspectors to leave right before the bombing began.

But what Mitt Romney said was not unprecedented.  Back in 2003, during the Administration's drive to make the case for war, Colin Powell claimed that in 1998 Iraq kicked inspectors out.  But in reality, Richard Butler, the head of the inspection team in Iraq, ordered his team to leave.

This may seem like something very little.  After awhile though, you grow tired of people adding to the laundry list of mis-truths about a war that is hurting an entire generation of young Americans.

Giuliani attacks Romney's Mormon faith

Taking a page out of Bush's 2000 smear strategy against McCain, this week the Giuliani Campaign circulated a story to right-wing bloggers in an attempt to instill fear about Mitt Romney's Morman religion.  This is pretty despicable:

Today, however, a blogger has provided me (on condition of anonymity)an email from the Rudy Giuliani campaign drawing attention to an article from today's Salt Lake Tribunetying Mr. Romney to a disavowed Mormon prophecy of a "White Horse" thatwill ride onto the national stage to save the Constitution.

Generally speaking, the "White Horse" myth finds that the second coming of Christ will happen when the constitution is hanging by a thread.  The man on the White Horse will ride in and save the constitution.  Giuliani's people insinuated that some people believe Romney will be that White Horse -- obviously an attempt to poke fun at the prophecy, and make a general statement about the absurdity of Romney's religion in general.

According to a column this morning in the Salt Lake Tribune, the Giuliani Campaign has apologized for the mess-up:

This "is not acceptable," said Tony Carbonetti, Giuliani's senior campaign adviser.  "We extend our sincere apologies to Governor Romney and reaffirm our commitment to running a clean campaign."

In tonight's debate, we will see more examples  of that same brand of campaign cleanliness. 

You don't recall anything, do you?

The Bush White House can rest assure that they have a friend who supports their decision not to fire Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.  Mitt Romney, on the campaign trail in Iowa, said there is a lack of evidence that points to wrongdoing.  Of course, there is some question as to whether Romney even watched the hearing:

"I haven't heard evidence to that effect yet. Testimony from the WhiteHouse or documents could show that to be the case," he added.

Romneyalso said he had not read the transcript of Thursday's Senate JudiciaryCommittee hearing, when Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma saidGonzales should resign.

Forget Tom Coburn.  The most revealing exchange of the day, I thought, took place between Gonzales and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL):

"Senator, I have searched my memory," the attorney general answered."My schedule shows a meeting for 9:00 on November 27th, but I have norecollection of that meeting."

"This was not that long ago," said a puzzled Sessions. "You don't recall any of that?"

"Believe me," Gonzales repeated. "I've searched my mind about this meeting."

"Well," the senator concluded, "I guess I'm concerned about your recollection."

The Attorney General chose the Scooter Libby memory disorder defense.  If Gonzales admitted that the meeting took place, it would contradict his previous statements.  If he said the meeting didn't take place, congressional investigators might later on find evidence that shows otherwise.  So Gonzales took the easy way out.  I guess you don't mess with people that have memory disorders.

(Video) Fox & Friends concerned with Romney's hair

Apparently, talking about a candidate's hair is Fox & Friends' way of discussing campaign strategy.  Anything substantive to say?:

Though, this certainly does not top the Fox & Friends episode when they attacked Obama for the madrassa lie.  Jon Stewart made them pay for that one.

Romney's church spokesman: Missouri will be the new Jerusalem

The phrase "all politics is local" will almost always hold true.  It is convenient for people to believe that wherever they live is the spiritual center of the universe.  Only 300 million people live in the United States.  Yet, there are more than 5 billion people on the planet.  How does that make the Midwestern United States the Messianic spot for the second coming?

Mitt Romney's church thinks the second coming of Christ will happen in this country, and that Missouri will become the new Jerusalem.  Here is church spokesman Michael Purdy:

"We believe that Christ will return again to the Earth, and while thatday is not imminent, it is our responsibility to prepare for thateventuality. One appearance will be to the new Jerusalem and anotherwill be to the Jerusalem of the old world. It is our belief that thenew Jerusalem will be established within the state of Missouri."

People are entitled to their own beliefs, regardless of whether there is evidence to support them.  Once again though, it just shows how so many people think they live in a small world that does not extend beyond the boundaries of their geographical and social reality.

Romney's pandering begins

Trying to gain support within the conservative base ahead of his almost certain presidential run, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is pushing for a ban on gay marriage in his state:

Gov. Mitt Romney plans to appear at a rally Sunday to demand thatlawmakers, who have largely ignored him on the matter, vote on aproposed ballot question that would end same-sex marriage inMassachusetts.

Last week, the Legislature again refused to takeup the question at a joint session, voting instead to recess untilJanuary 2, which all but killed the measure because a vote then isunlikely.

Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the fight won't be over until the people vote.

"No matter how you may feel about the marriage issue, people have a right to participate in their own government," he said.

Are there no new ideas inside the Republican Party?  Why does it always have to come back to gay marriage and flag burning?  Actually, I'll answer that.  When you play on people's emotions, as opposed to real issues, then it usually amounts to votes.  This kind of cheap politics is something that voters rejected in November.  But will conservatives reject it as well?

Romney may have lied

A possible scandal has developed that includes Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and could put a dent in his presidential hopes if he is indeed found liable.  The feds are investigating whether the Romney Administration lied in saying that it inspected a tunnel before it fell and killed a woman:

Federalofficials are probing scathing allegations that the Romneyadministration falsely claimed to conduct safety inspections in the Big Dig tunnel that collapsed and killed a woman in July.

    TheSecurities and Exchange Commission is zeroing in on state financialdocuments from 2005 - cited in a new report by state Inspector GeneralGregory Sullivan - indicating that Gov. Mitt Romney was reviewing the safety of the Big Dig, when in fact the administration was only checking leaks in the Interstate 93 tunnel.
    “Despiterepeated assurances to bondholders, (MassHighway and Romney’s ExecutiveOffice of Transportation) . . . did not inspect the I-90 connectortunnel section where the July 10, 2006, collapse occurred,” Sullivan’sreport states. “It is clear that casual disregard for the truth wasgrossly inappropriate.”

Let's see here: 1) Disregard for the facts; 2) Cover-up; 3) Negligence.  Reminds me of another Administration.  If these allegations are indeed true, it makes you worry about having a Bush-like Administration in power from 2009-2016.  Taking responsibility for your own actions was so 1990s!