Fantasy Politics USA

Mitt Romney is worth about 350 million and now he has decided to give some of that cash to his own campaign. This is the second time he has donated to himself, and he might do it again before the fundraising deadline at the end of the month. We don’t know for sure how much, but he will have to disclose it when they do their financial reports. Romney says the 4 million that he has already spent on commercials is why he had to dig into his own bank account. He claims that he lacks name recognition since he is only a one term governor. “One of the things I’ve had to do that you don’t have to do if you’re name is McCain or Giuliani is introduce myself to people in Iowa and South Carolina and New Hampshire,” Romney said. During the first quarter Romney raised a record amount of 23 million, of which 2.35 million came from his own contributions. Romney said his second quarter contributions will be less because they have spent so much time campaigning and debating. Also he states that new candidate Fred Thompson is getting some of his contributions. Also on Monday Romney gave a bit of support to his aide that is being investigated for impersonating a police officer. Aide, Jay Garrity, took a leave of absence from the campaign on Friday due to the investigations. “I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this and I think other people would be wise to do the same thing,” Romney said. “He’s a good guy and wish him the very best, but this is really now in his hands.” He is a real good guy that thinks he can bully people, and impersonate a police officer. With 350 million dollars, why is this guy asking us for money?
Alan Cosgrove

John Edwards wife Elizabeth Edwards was in San Francisco to help kick off the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade. While there she stated she was all for gay marriages. She acknowledged this was at odds with her husband beliefs. She said, “I don’t know why somebody else’s marriage has anything to do with me. I’m completely comfortable with gay marriage.” This was the first time in it’s 30 year history that any presidential candidate or spouse has ever attended their events. Mrs. Edwards said that John has “deeply held belief against any form of discrimination,” so he supports gay unions, just not gay marriages. “John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted,” she said. “That’s up against his being raised in the 1950’s in a rural southern town. I think honestly he’s on a road with a lot of people in this country are on….They’re struggling with this. Most of the gay and lesbian people I know… have seen their friends and family walking down that same road.” She added, “but it’s a long distance from where we are now to the pews of a Southern Baptist church. So, John’s been as honest as he can about that.” In the past it has been reported that John Edwards is uncomfortable around gays. He is such a pretty boy, that maybe he is still in the closet about all this. I’m glad to see his wife has an open mind.
Alan Cosgrove

Barack Obama spoke before the church he joined over two decades ago, The United Church of Christ, on Saturday. He told the UCC’s national convention that some evangelical leaders have “hijacked” the faith to create division. He was talking about right wing evangelicals. Obama said, “Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart.” “Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us,” Obama said. He accused them of playing politics with religion. “At every opportunity, they’ve told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design,” he told the crowd at the national convention. “There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich,” Obama said. “I don’t know what Bible they’re reading, but it doesn’t jibe with my version.” The UCC is known as the most liberal of the Protestant faith. In 1972 they ordained an openly gay man, and two years ago they endorsed same-sex marriage. Obama joined this denomination twenty years ago at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Some have criticized his church for what they call “unbiblical “teachings because of the stances they have taken with gays, and because of their emphasis on social justice. This is the same bunch that calls Mitt Romney’s religion a cult though.
Alan Cosgrove

John McCain apologized for comments made in April by his County Chairman Chad Workman. Workman made these comments at a meeting of Republican activist. He was questioning whether Mormons were even Christian. He referenced an article that said that Mormons supported the terrorist group Hamas. He also said that Mormons treated their women the same way the Taliban treats their women. He could not be reached for any more comments. A spokesperson for McCain said, “we apologize for any comment made concerning Governor Romney’s religion. … Such comments are inappropriate and unacceptable.” This apology comes only days after Sam Brownback’s campaign also apologized for sending emails that were critical of the Mormon faith. The attacks on Romney’s religion only show the weakness of his opponents arguments. Maybe at the debates they can pull out the cult platform. A persons faith should have little to do with their ability to run this country. We just had six years from a born again Christian, that totally screwed up this country. These candidates should stick to the platforms, and stay away from the religious bigotry.
Alan Cosgrove

An aide for Mitt Romney has had to step down due to police probes about him impersonating a police officer. Jay Garrity, who is Romney’s director of operations, and is often at his side, is accused of leaving a message on an answering machine. On the message Garrity identifies himself as “Trooper Garrity.” He was pretending to talk to someone, and was complaining about erratic driving on the message. Garrity’s attorney claims that Garrity did not make the call. Since then, he told a reporter that was tagging along that he had ran the plates of his car, and that he needed to drop off the caravan. In New Hampshire, where they were at, it is illegal for citizens to access the state’s license plate database. Because of these two incidents Garrity has had to step down from his position with Romney. His attorney denies the sequence of events. This was not the first time for Garrity. In 2004 he was fined by Massachusetts authorities for the same thing. He had a Crown Victoria with lights, sirens, and other law enforcement items on it. At the same time he was employed by Romney as gubernatorial chief of operations. Sounds like Garrity has a bad case of, “don’t you know who I think I am?”
Alan Cosgrove

Mike Bloomberg announced on Tuesday that he was dropping his affiliation with the Republican party. He is tired of the two party system saying, “The government at all levels is becoming more partisan rather than less.” “I’m particularly upset that the big issues of the time keep getting pushed to the back and we focus on small things that probably only inside the Beltway are important,” he said. “When you talk to people around this country, they care about who’s going to pay their Social Security, they care about who’s going to pay their medical care, they care about immigration, about our reputation overseas.” These are pretty national issues for the mayor to be concerned about, but he says, “Nobody is willing to talk about those things, and I think that that’s exactly what the candidates should do. I’m going to speak out on those issues, and by not being affiliated with the party I think I’m going to have a better opportunity to do that.” Today Bloomberg was celebrating the 50 millionth call to his 311 telephone information system at a news conference. During the news conference Bloomberg said, “My intention is to be mayor for the next 925 days and probably about 10 hours.” And then he added, “I’ve got the greatest job in the world and I’m going to keep doing it.” That sounds like he isn’t going to run for president in 08. But then he later added, “The more people that run for office, the better.” He also said that pollsters are “wasting their time” by including him. Just like Newt Gingrich and Al Gore, Bloomberg is playing the non-candidate game. This allows them to promote an agenda without facing the criticism of the other candidates. After the other candidates tear each other up these non-candidates can jump into the race, fresh and unscathed. With all the dissatisfaction with the 20 declared candidates, these non-candidates have a great chance to upset the apple cart and win a presidency.
Alan Cosgrove

Paul Simon will join up with Chris Dodd on tour in Iowa July 3 – 7. A spokesman from the campaign says, “Simon and Dodd have been close friends for many years and Simon has been a longtime Dodd supporter.” There will be several stops in both northern Iowa and western Iowa. Dodd is calling it the “river to river” tour. According to Dodd, “Paul is a long time friend, and one of the most important voices in American music, and he has been tireless in his service to the greater good of people throughout our country and the world.” Dodd said that Paul Simon’s, “music and his commitment to bettering our world reflect the leadership that my campaign is all about.” He is right. His campaign may as well be called the “Sounds of Silence,” because very few are listening to him. His campaign slogan could be “I Am a Rock.”
Alan Cosgrove