Fantasy Politics USA

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were in Baton Rouge, Louisiana today to speak before the National Conference of Black Mayors. They both used the time to bash President Bush. Clinton said the Bush’s response to hurricane Katrina was a display of “incompetence.” “It is a great injustice that you would deny the resources to your own people, but that shouldn’t surprise us, because many people are invisible to this president,” she said in a morning speech. Obama was later, and they moved his speech into a bigger venue to accommodate the bigger crowd. Obama used his time to criticize Bush’s policies in Iraq. He pointed out that there was a senator from Louisiana that voted the wrong way to help override President Bush’s veto of an Iraq war spending bill that set a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. Obama also criticized President Bush’s policies concerning hurricane Katrina. The Bush administration has said that more than $110 billion has been committed to the Gulf Coast for rebuilding since the 2005 hurricanes. Most of that went to Halliburton and their subcontractors Kellogg, Brown & Root. This is the same bunch that has ripped off America in the Iraq war and failed to take care of our wounded solders when given the job to keep up the Walter Reed VA hospital. It is no wonder the Bush administration response looks like a display incompetence when he keeps hiring Dick Cheney’s con-artist friends with no bid contracts.
Alan Cosgrove

Fred Thompson wasn’t at the debate last night, but he still is getting the most press these days. It is rumored that he will jump into the race sometime this summer. He is getting support from all over, including from some of Ronald Reagan’s closest allies. Michael Deaver, Ronald Reagan’s deputy chief of staff, says, Thompson is someone “that could really make a difference”…. “He is very popular in his party. He could change this whole thing and turn this primary system upside down.” Clark Judge, a White House speechwriter for President Reagan, said, “Fred Thompson, like Ronald Reagan, is a man of tremendous substance. There is a sense in the party that none of the candidates is quite ‘it’.” Thompson is also all over the blogosphere. You can find his articles on RedState.com, the Pajamas Media blog, National Review Online and his own blog, The Fred Thompson Report. There are articles on the internet about Fred Thompson every day. And, in addition to his recurring role on TNT’s Law and Order, we will get to see Thompson on an HBO movie premiering May 27, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” In this movie Thompson has a small role as President Ulysses S. Grant. It even has a scene with Thompson in the White House.
On Friday Thompson spoke before the influential Lincoln Club of Orange County. The Lincoln Club played a big role in Ronald Reagan’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns and remains a much-sought audience for national Republican candidates. The fact that he was there instead of the ten that debated the night before shows Thompson’s strength. He talked about taxes saying, “taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from working, saving, investing, and taking risks. Some economists have calculated that today each additional dollar collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as two dollars worse off. To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible.” He discouraged the massive growth of the government saying, “The growth of government is not solving these problems; it’s causing a lot of them.” To read the whole speech,click here. Walks like a candidate, talks like a candidate…. Don’t worry Fred Thompson fans, he will announce soon that he is running.
Alan Cosgrove

The ten Republican candidates met for an hour and a half for their first debate tonite. They talked about abortions, and the Iraq war. Just like the Democratic debate it was a bit subdued with very few attacks on each other. They did evoked the legacy of Ronald Reagan just as expected. Reagan’s name was mentioned 19 times. They all agreed that abortions are bad. Only Giuliani said it would be OK to accept Roe V Wade as precedent. “It would be OK to repeal it,” Giuliani said. “It would be OK if a strict constructionist viewed it as precedent.” All the others are all down with repealing Roe V Wade. They all agreed the war in Iraq was a good idea except for Ron Paul. According to Ron Paul, “We should have a foreign policy of non-intervention”…”Throughout the 21st century, the Republican has benefited” from a “humble foreign policy.” On the other side was, “It’s on the right track,” McCain said of the war, while at the same time saying it was “terribly mismanaged . … We now have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made.” “I want to get our troops home as soon as I possibly can, … but if we leave in the wrong way, … you could have a regional conflict develop,” said Romney. Giuliani said, “We should never retreat in the face of terrorism. Terrible mistake.” For the most part the candidates veered away from President Bush and his policies except for Giuliani who said, “I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time on September 20th, 2001, to put us on offense against terrorists,”….. “I think history will remember him for that. And I think we as Republicans should remind people of that.” McCain showed his toughness when asked about immigration. He ignored the question and instead used the opportunity to talk about bin Laden, “We will bring him to justice,” McCain said. “I will follow him to the gates of hell.” The candidates talked about varies tax cuts. McCain called for the repeal of the alternative minimum tax, saying it was hurting middle-class families. Giuliani endorsed altering that tax. Ron Paul said, “Poor people pay more” in taxes. “We need to get rid of the inflation tax with sound money.” It was hard for any candidate tonite to break from the pack. There where no winners or losers in this debate. With this mundane bunch it might be possible for the ones that didn’t show up to break into the lead early this summer. Watch out for Fred Thompson, Newt Gingrich, and Chuck Hagel all standing on the sidelines watching. One winner was Hillary Clinton, who was mentioned more than all the other Democratic candidates put together. I also liked Chris Matthews putting on the pressure with the stem cell question, “With Nancy Reagan sitting right here…” Only Giuliani and and McCain said they would support stem cell research, even with Nancy watching them.
Alan Cosgrove

The Secret Service decided on Thursday that Barack Obama will get Secret Service protection already. This is nine months before the first vote is cast and the earliest yet for a Presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton has Secret Service protection, but that is normal for former first ladies. The security wasn’t prompted by a particular threat to Obama, just as a general precaution because he is a high level black candidate. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff authorized the security after meeting with a bipartisan congressional advisory committee. The members of the congressional advisory committee are the Speaker, the House and Senate majority and minority leaders as well as one additional member. Pretty sad commentary on the country when we have to protect a candidate just because he is black.
Alan Cosgrove

Tonite the Republican candidates will gather in Simi Valley at the Ronald Reagan Library to participate in the first Republican debate. There will be ten candidates on stage and it will be moderated by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. It will be broadcast live on MSNBC, and co-hosted by Politico.com where you can also watch it live. Nancy Reagan will be front and center at the debate and I am sure Ronald Reagan will be mentioned several times. This is where the fun comes in. You can make it a drinking debate. Anytime Ronald Reagan is mentioned, drink up. It seems that Ronald Reagan is what all these guys want to be like. Just skip right past the Bush’s, and go back 25 years ago to the Reagan revolution. Those were much different times. The country had just lived through Jimmy Carter, and the Iranian hostage crises. Being a popular Republican was not that hard. Today they are campaigning behind an unpopular President and the country stuck in an unpopular war. The tables are turned. It is time the Republicans came out with a new candidate, not some recycled ghost from the past that none of these guys can hold a candle to. With a little over 8 minutes time allowed for each candidate this debate might not offer much more. Hopefully a backbencher candidate like Ron Paul will stir things up enough to open the Republican’s eyes, or 08 will be a “slam dunk” for the Democrats, just like it was for the Republicans in 80.
Alan Cosgrove