Aggressive Questionable

Concord, NH -

I don't know which is worse, Giuliani blaming torture on the "liberal media" or the audience applauding him. The Caucus (who recently linked to a piece I worked on) reports from Mr. Mayor's latest trip to Iowa as he talks about waterboarding as torture.

"Well, I’m not sure it is either. I’m not sure it is either. It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it. I think the way it’s been defined in the media, it shouldn’t be done. The way in which they have described it, particularly in the liberal media. So I would say, if that’s the description of it, then I can agree, that it shouldn’t be done. But I have to see what the real description of it is. Because I’ve learned something being in public life as long as I have. And I hate to shock anybody with this, but the newspapers don’t always describe it accurately."

(Applause)

Read all about it!

Fightin' Words

According to J. Martin, Rudy is putting out a new radio ad wherein he claims to be Liberals' worst nightmare. Sorry, Rudy, that moniker's already been taken (ffwd to 4:15 or so into the clip to see what I mean, or just watch the whole thing):




But if we are really talking about hard hitting, we'll go to this frame. Witness what Joe Trippi wrote in an e-mail to Edwards' supporters today:

"If you want to know why we need change in Washington – and I mean real change, not just trading corporate Republican insiders with corporate Democratic insiders – then just look at Senator Clinton's schedule for today.

Today at noon, Hillary Clinton will be hosting a fundraiser in Washington, DC for a select group of lobbyists with an interest in homeland security.

Tickets for the Clinton fundraiser are $1,000 a ticket and $25,000 per bundler. And for that money you get more than a meal – you get to attend one-hour breakout sessions in four different areas of homeland security that will include House Committee Chairs and members of Congress who sit on the very committees that will be voting on homeland security legislation.
...

Today's Clinton fundraising event is a "poster child" for what is wrong with Washington and what should never happen again with a candidate running for the highest office in the land.

That no one in the Clinton campaign – including the candidate – found anything
wrong with holding this fundraiser is an indication of just how bad things have gotten in Washington – because there isn't an American outside of Washington who would not be sickened by it."

Sickened! Corporate Insiders! It is a lurid page straight out of the Ralph Nader handbook, and I like it.

This move, however fraught with risk, will undoubtedly catch flack from other campaigns and the parts of the soft-bellied media, but I'm glad to see someone taking the gloves off over an issue like money-for-access.

Can't wait for the debates!

Giuliani Time

I skipped my scheduled Giuliani visit today, citing a busy weekend schedule and Max Piana's birthday. Until next time, Rudes! Meanwhile, Fred Kaplan over at Slate completely rips to shreds Rudy's latest Foreign Affairs article, giving credence to Joe Biden's oft-stated judgment that Rudy is in need of a lunch-eatin'.

Instead, I thought we could watch one of Rudy's many hilarious(?!) and/or questionable(!) videos from his days as hizzoner. There is more where that came from, at Giuliani Time.

Tentative 3Q Schedule

Because I know you lovvvve to keep tabs on me.

Thursday, August 16 - Dennis Kucinich, Dover, NH 2pm
Friday, August 17 - Rudy Giuliani, Merrimack, NH 9am
Saturday, August 18 - Londonderry Old Home Days 10am
Sunday, August 19 - Mike Huckabee, Concord, NH 11am
Sunday, August 19 - Ron Paul, Hollis, NH ?
Tuesday, August 21-Saturday, August 25 - Men's Retreat, Pemi River, New Hampshire, a lot of beer a lot of girls and a lot of cursin'. Plus swimming in the healing waters of the Pemi river and maybe even a visit from John Edwards. I guarantee this, if he dares come to Lincoln, Campton or North Woodstock I will invite him out for a run on the trails behind Sam's Tire Barn, a swim at the town beach and a Pemi Pale Ale afterward. That's the One America I'm talkin' about. This doesn't just go for Edwards, who will be doing a biodiesel bus tour that week. Nay, I will submit the same challenge to any candidate who has the sound judgment and vivacity to come to the North Country and potentially dip in the Pemi.

Honestly, I might not make it up to Giuliani. 9am? What a d-bag.
Same goes for Ron Paul whose event, in concert with the Hillsborough Country Republicans annual picnic, requires an $18 dollar donation to the party. F that. We'll see about some guerrilla tactics. Now as Ali G would say, bring on the "loose hippie bitches" and the GOP. But either way, "dis is da earliest I's ever been up!" Get EXCITED. Get PUMPED. Tell ya' friends. Get your Read on!

Bold initiatives. Bold leadership. Bold blogging. Welcome to Flava Qountry.

Ahoy,
BTB

P.S. as schedules become updated, my schedule changes. Looks like I won't have to wake up at 7 to see Giuli on Saturday, but I don't want to change it so that I can keep my Ali G joke in here. Booyakasha!

Hide Your Daughters!

If the press comes a-knockin', that is. But if it is a Republican lawmaker, hide your sons!

In today's HuffPo, RJ Eskow has a good article about where you should and should not go when discussing public candidates. Stemming from the Slate piece on Giuliani's daughter and all the blog-a-gaga about Jeri Thompson, Eskow determines that getting personal with persons who aren't the candidate is acceptable only when it is a matter of judgment or hypocrisy. I would have to agree. I found it pretty disturbing that a Slate journalist would attempt to contact Giuliani's daughter (who is a juvenile, by the way) to ask her about her facebook support groups. Here at 3Q, we avoid that entirely by not asking the candidates questions at all. And we certainly don't talk to underage girls. But like I mentioned earlier, it is more than okay to drag hypocrites through the dirt like my boy Dan Savage. Especially sexual hypocrites!

By the way, New Hampshire is big these days. President of France big. When you saw that picture (from the link) of Sark the Shark wearing those aviators and yelling at the journalist, weren't you thinking Dr. Leo Marvin all the way? Take a vacation from your problems.

Now one more Savage Love bit - his rant on George Bush and sexual abstinence from last week is terrrrific!


Dale's Pale Ale (on draft even!),
BTB

Stinky Bedfellows

Orono, ME -

Two quick reads about Giuliani here and here. The first is about his relationship with bosom buddy and uber-political crook Roger Ailes, and the second one is about the promotion of a vulture fund buddy into the role of Senior Policy Advisor. This just in, new policy to include scamming poor countries and failing businesses. Rudy '08!

P.S. Real Candidates don't go to the Hamptons.

And yeah, no need to excoriate me for shamelessly ripping of today's Times, cuz damn it was a good one. Self-flagellation should be punishment enough.

Lastly, I will try to put up a few more fluff pieces over the remainder of the week, but internet time could be limited for the QuabbinBlogger. I am heading up into the Maine woods to refuel my spiritual mojo, and seek some truth for the late summer campaign push. Meantime, see you in the woods.

DC Madam Speaker

Aha! The first moral casualty of the DC Madam is none other than Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who just happens to be Giuliani's Southern chairman. Sex and Drugs are now taken. The question remains, which Rock & Roll star will be the next campaign chairman for America's Corrupt Mayor?

Friday Clearinghouse

Welcome to the Friday Clearinghouse, a new feature here at 3Q where I'll be tossing down some of my favorite links from the week. It may not happen every Friday, and it may not happen every week, but for now we're going with it. In fact, while most of this post was written on a Friday, here it is Wednesday night.

Bill Richardson has launched a terrific website, No Troops Left Behind, poking a thumb in the eye of both parties. Even though he, in my opinion, botched the ideal launch of the slogan by using the word "zero" for emphasis the line is a killer. Though hardly the basis of a campaign, this is the kind of chicanery that wins the hearts and minds. Kudos to Bill.

Spoofed on the Borowitz Report, and certain to be widely panned by jilted Democrats, Ralph Nader gave an interview recently wherein he ponders another White House run. (Full interview here, at 1:44 into the transcript.) Most of the interview pertains to corporate welfare and it's disharmony with the spirit of America, but the interview invariably turns to '08, where Ralph gives his take on most candidates. It is interesting to hear how he sees them, mostly in terms of how bought they appear to be. His take on HRC is the most vicious, and rightly so: "She is a political coward," Nader said. "She goes around pandering to powerful interest groups on the one hand and flattering general audiences on the other. She doesn't even have the minimal political fortitude of her husband." Put that in your poll and smoke it! There is an article about Nader in the brain somewhere if any more noise is made, and in the meantime I would recommend catching a recent documentary if you get the chance, An Unreasonable Man.

It turns out that the electorate has a crush on more than just Obama. Here is Nashville's love song to F. Thompson. As it turns out, the Fix has uncovered a hate song, as well, coming from the far right. Love or hate, the "choice" is yours.

I'm not sure if Giuliani is considering changing his authoritarian stances on anything, but I am sure his SC state chairman might suggest some drug war efficacy in light of his recent cocaine indictment. That won't play well in the South.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I am strongly considering devoting at least one paragraph a week to point out what a schmuck Sam Brownback is. In this campaign youtube video he not only bumbles nearly every sentence that comes out of his mush mouth, but he also closes his entry by saying that he is travelling "acrosst America". Oh man, we gotta get this guy out of the race.

So much to say, so many beers to drink, so little time.


Opa Opa at the Spoke-a,
BTB

Everybody's Rockin'

There has been some rough chatter on Iraq lately, what with the new authorization bill coming up. As John Kerry puts it, "I’m voting no on this bill. I’m tired of the false choices of Republicans and all the recycled spin of old battles and the political calculations that do nothing for our troops who bear the real costs of this war. Bottom line: we support the troops by getting the policy right, and this bill doesn’t do that." Giuliani, who doesn't vote, put it to another non-voter, saying that John Edwards (like many other Dems) is in denial. But certainly the most prescient attack came at the hands of Ron Paul, who held a press conference to educate Mr. Mayor himself on 9/11 policy. Paul suggested that Giuli read the following books:
“Blowback” by Chalmers Johnston, “Dying to Win” by Robert A. Pape, “Imperial Hubris” by Michael Sheuer (former head of the C.I.A.’s Osama bin Laden Unit), and of course The 9/11 Commission Report.
Best of all is that he called out Rudy for claiming not to have heard of Paul's assessments. As I mentioned earlier this week, that's a bunch of hooey. Witness the following youtube video from the Domenation series for some more background.



"I don't think he's qualified to be president," Paul said of Giuliani. "If he was to read the book and report back to me and say, 'I've changed my mind,' I would reconsider."

Back on the Trail

Welcome back to Quabbin Qountry. Before we begin, I would like to thank the Toshiba Corporation. They sent me an AC adapter, still under warranty, to replace my broken one in under 24 hours. Literally, I placed the call Wednesday at 3pm and had a box on my porch, even way the hell out at the qabin, when I arrived home from track practice on Thursday. My joy was immeasurable. I missed the internet, and I missed the blog. Without further ado, back to the show.

Paul Krugman made a good point in yesterday's Times that maybe Bush isn't so bad relative to the rest of his party-goers. The scene from last week's debate where almost all of the gang of ten would-be nominees were falling all over themselves to be the one to say that they would inflict the most torture on terrorist bad guys was chilling, indeed. It wasn't just what the candidates had to say that was disturbing, it was the audience's reaction. It was the kind of feeding frenzy where the more blood the speaker could invoke, the hungrier the audience grew as they loudly growled with lusty approval over lines like the following
Giuliani: "And I would -- well, I'd say every method they could think of"
Romney: "Some people have said, we ought to close Guantanamo. My view is, we ought to double Guantanamo."
Hunter: "One sentence: Get the information. Have it back within an hour, and let's act on it."
At least Duncan had the respect to close his statement by saying "and I will take full responsibility" for the backlash of any torturous activity. Does that mean he would do a retaliatory self-waterboarding? Probably not, but if we take him at his word he would at least admit to it and say that he believed in it, and let history judge him as such.

There was one bright spot to the whole torture exchange, when Brit Hume gave John McCain the last word, having been the only one to go against the hard party line. He responded with this: "Yes, and the interesting thing about that aspect is that during the debate, when we had the detainee treatment act, there was a sharp division between those who had served in the military and those who hadn't." Virtually every senior officer, retired or active- duty, starting with Colin Powell, General Vessey and everyone else, agreed with my position that we should not torture people. . .So yes, literally every retired military person and active duty military person who has actually been in battle and served for extended times in the military supported my position, and I'm glad of it." I am glad, too.

Here are a few thoughts on some of the candidates. The Fix gave it's grades, but here we go from the 3Q perspective.

Tommy Thompson: Let's start with the former Wisconsin governor by treating like a cube of sharp, yellow cheddar - Stick a fork in him. This man was frightening to watch, purely from a physical standpoint. He has no discernible neck. It didn't help that he sounded vague and desperate every time he opened his mouth.

Sam Brownback: The highlight of his day for me was watching him pretend to be compassionate when asked about a rape victim being forced to carry the child of the ruthless criminal who violated her. He gives a half grimace and a reassuring nod as he begins by saying, "hat would be a very difficult situation, and it is a very difficult situation," before proceeding to completely ignore the situation and saying "will that (abortion) make the woman in a better situation if that's what takes place? And I don't think so." Of course not. Of course this woman's life will be better if she gives birth to God's rape child. I'm sorry, Sam, but your so-called "pro-life, whole-life" motto is thoroughly de-bunked every time you say "I will do it. I'll move aggressively forward on it" in reference to "deliberately and methodically" attacking other countries. Aren't confused, poor Africans God's children just as much as the rapist's bastard child? What a crock.

Mike Huckabee: Huckabee scored the most points of any of the middle-tier candidates, if only because he appears articulate and can handle the conservative banner better than any of the front-runners. There have been numerous articles saying the same thing and wondering why he hasn't taken off, and why he has raised so little money. So it seems likely that he will be the candidate that could have been, but at least he got off the most memorable zinger of the night when he said, "We've had Congress that's spent money like Edwards at a beauty shop." Hey-o! Even better, he mentioned it in reference to incurring a "fair tax" that would potentially get a lot of the IRS BS out of the way. He also seemed very even-keeled when he stood up for his tax increases to build roads and protect schools. Let's hope for the Red-State-blooded Americans out there that he will pick up some momentum. Plus, he lost a hundred pounds and ran a marathon. Props to that.

Tom Tancredo, Jim Gilmore: Meh. Not really worth a recap.

Ron Paul: Paul certainly did himself a disservice to goal of achieving the Republican nomination down at USC, but at least he went down guns blazin'. Even though he is a Libertarian, he didn't flout the notion that tax cuts alone will save our economy. He continually referred to fiscal discipline being a two-way street of reducing spending before we reduce our income. Certainly not cutting taxes while starting a war. He called out 9/11 a few times, initially saying, "we were spending $40 billion on security prior to 9/11, and they had all the information they needed there to deal with the threat." Damn. He proceeded to get himself into some trouble when he took the path of honesty and humility, admitting that American foreign policy necessarily impacts the views of hostile forces in the Middle East, a bad idea in the face of 9/11 bulldog/opportunist Rudy Giuliani, who then called him out by saying "I don't think I've heard that before." Really, Rudy? You've never heard that explanation before? What a sham. Don't bring that false exasperation to Quabbin Qountry any time soon. It belongs in one place and one place only - the Vlad Squad bench. Keep it real. I digress.

At any rate, Mr. Paul stood up to Rudy, but the damage was done. The crusty old Southerners in the audience were eating up Giuli's rabid terrorist-bating, and Ronnie was done. But not for me, as his best line was yet to come. After the debate's torture debacle (Paul was not questioned) he went out of his way to say, "but you know, I think it's interesting talking about torture here in that it's become enhanced interrogation technique. It sounds like Newspeak." Word. Second only to my horror at the crowd's reaction was my incredulous wonder at why the candidates were pussyfooting around the word torture in their defenses of it, calling it enhanced techniques and never readily admit to the direct question about waterboarding. Paul knew, though, and he dropped it like it was hot.

After that I couldn't really go on, and I ended up flipping more and more frequently to AMC where they were showing The Karate Kid. In other words, I got tired of watching the real Cobra Kai, and opted instead for the fictionalized version, where at the end even Johnny shows some mercy. Much the same today, I lack the strength to summarize the Big 3 other than to say that they were seemingly the strongest candidates. McCain kicked Romney's ass in the tete-a-tete and was honorable on torture, but was far from a sure winner. Giuli creeped me out with the red meat routine, and Romney is articulate but too easily damaged with the flip-flop attack. But hey, only EIGHT MORE MONTHS 'til New Hampshire!!! Time is a-wastin'!

. . .

The Sunshine Boy, unfazed by Huckabee's zinger, wrote a pre-emptive op-ed in the Huffington Post today, calling on Americans to take seriously their task on Memorial Day to remember the great sacrifices of American soldiers not by slapping a "Support Our Troops" magnet on their car, but by making a real effort to get the troops sent home from the current debacle in Iraq. I applaud him for the gesture. It is my belief that too often these days, in a world of instant leisure and long work days for so many, we have forgotten the purpose of national holidays. We see them as a free day to go to the beach or to be able to drink three nights in a row instead of actually pondering the meaning of the event. I think it is important for politicians to sincerely advocate their true celebration, and better yet to lead by example. Full disclosure: I will probably use it as an opportunity to drink three days in a row, but will accept any and all thoughts of good will to do the right thing. We're in this together, after all.


Sipping a Smuttynose from the banks of the Sawmill River,
BTB

New Hampshire, New Polls, Same Attitude

In a poll conducted Friday by the American Research Group, former Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) jumped into the fray with 10% of the likely New Hampshire Republican primary vote, pulling support away from most every candidate in the field and making it a potential 5-man contest with McCain (23%), Giuliani (19%), Romney (17%) and Gingrich (11%). Thompson, of course, is the Freddy-come-lately of the GOP nominees, having said a couple weeks ago that he was considering a run. The motive for this being that there were no credible conservatives in the upper echelon of the Republican ranks, with Brownback and Huckabee gaining little more than 2% outside of their home states. Thompson, then, would be the standard-bearer of the right. Today's Caucus touched briefly on the issue, which we will discuss more later, but not until we watch The Hunt for Red October.

In other news, it looks like Hillary Rodham is erasing some of Vilsack's campaign debt in a possible QPQ. No surprise from QQQ. And I really hate to beat a dead source, but I gotta give props to Lamar Smith (R-TX) for at least sticking it the Clintons, regardless of Bubba's legitimacy. Smith asked Bill to speak to a congressional subcommittee on Presidential pardons about the Rich pardon, among others. Clinton declined, of course.

On a more earnest note, Rudy reminds us that we must stay vigilant against terrorists. Hey Rudy, better watch those "S"s, especially in the Red States! But who am I to talk? Rudy can point to his new perch atop the fix's Prez line and drop a fatty cry of "scoreboard!" while I sit at home and drink bourbon while the rain falls heavy outside my cabin windows.

Some more fun from the Hill, our boy Jim Webb suffered a minor foible when one of his aides was arrested for carrying a loaded pistol into the capitol building. It seems the guy was a former Marine, and just not ready to roll through the city without a piece. Point being, don't fuck with Webb.


Sorry for the delays. But things could be on the up-and-up, it's $3 drafts at M&D all week, and the forecast is for rain. Rain, and wind.

Bluebird,
BTB

The Moon Is So Bright,

To paraphrase Timbuk3, I Gotta Wear Shades.

The amount of moonlight coming down on Quabbin Qountry was tantamount to LUNAcy. I hopped out of the cabin around 8:15 tonight, and my first few steps alongside the neighbor's pasture were chock full of sheer giddiness. I literally bounded down the lane for the first hundred meters or so until the shade of the trees finally kicked in to cloud my vision ever so slightly. By the time I got down the hill near Cadwell I began to harbor illusions that I could run in the woods. Obviously, I gave it a try. I made it roughly 55 seconds down the trail before I turned around, partly out of wariness of the dark, partly out of my inability to keep pace along the shadowy, rocky path. Nevertheless, I put in a solid 2 minutes on trail at 8:20pm in January. It would be a stretch to find much negativity in that.

Now here we are, one more 3Q entry in the books, and one year closer to Presidential Go Time according to the last two digits of today's date (1/03/07). Happy New Year. After a Dem-happy December (Dem-cember, if you will), the GOP is back in the limelight with mixed results. The most newsworthy event, if you count media coverage, ended up being Rudy's folly. Giuliani made headlines today with a leaked document allegedly stolen from a staffer, copied, and replaced in it's original briefcase. The paper, hardly containing anything surprising, went over the possible hurdles for a Rudy candidacy.

All along I had found most of the skepticism over the former NYC mayor's candidacy a bit questionable, but now I am starting to see it. We here in Quabbin Qountry are all for seeing RWG toss his hat in because of his leadership qualities and presumably bipartisan nature, but his messy divorce and the Bernie Kerik baggage should be a tough sell especially in the Republican primaries. Granted, personal lives should be withheld from politics to an extent, but there is something to be said about one's character when he leaves his wife immediately for someone else, and then the ex- summarily hates him. It is one thing to get a blow job at your desk, it is entirely another to be boinking around so seriously. I imagine this plays doubly so in early primaries like South Carolina and Iowa.

The Kerik affair is truly the most intriguing bit of his entire campaign. Many of you will recall that Bernie once seemed like the American Dream come true - son of a New Jersey prostitute done good - and a tremendous choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security. But then came nannygate and, ultimately more devastating, Regangate. My favorite part about all of this, if Rudy ends up running and if Kerik becomes a major issue, is that OJ Simpson will play a role in Presidential politics. Judith Regan, Bernie's one time sordid lover, was recently axed from a prominent position at HarperCollins publishing allegedly for anti-Semitic comments...but clearly for her decision to publish OJ's memoir, If I Did It. The "It", of course, refers not to sex but to the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Unbelievable. In fact, I sincerely hope this becomes an issue.

The other news, of course, pertains to Mitt Romney's filing for a Presidential exploratory committee. Much like Edwards earlier in the week, Mitt was overshadowed but both the Rudy scandal and the Ford funeral. Poor Mitt; not only did his Lieutenant get completely destroyed in the election to replace him, but he can't even make the local NPR news. At least, not when I was listening. On the bright side, at least Rom was able to make the historic Lone Walk today, following the footsteps of "Silent" Cal Coolidge, John Hancock and Michael Dukakis.

I'm Mitt Romney, and I disapprove of my 2nd page headlines.

Now for the lighter side. Let us take a moment to mock fundraising. In the spirit of Dubya's Rangers and Pioneers, Mitt Romney has decided to go political with those designated as "First Ballot Chairman" responsible for $250,000 in contributions in the campaign's first 30 days, "First Ballot Vice Chair" for $100,000 in donations, and "First Ballot Member" $50,000. Rudy, meanwhile, is going baseball, calling his top donors "Team Captain", "MVP", "All-Star" and "Slugger". "Slugger"? Wasn't that the name of Buddy Cole's softball team? Oh, those confused Republicans. And last but not least, outgoing Florida governor John "Jeb" Bush has chosen to include within his gubernatorial portrait a blackberry and a bible. You heard right, not only can he talk to God but he can e-mail him, too!

On a more somber note, my condolences go out to friends, family, and general populace who were saddened by the shooting death of a Foss High School student on school grounds this morning in Tacoma, Washington. We here in Quabbin Qountry wish, along with the rest of the world, for a more peaceful new year.



Sipping a Val Dieu,

BTB