The Candidates
The rhetorical gunfire continued today as the Mitt Romney camp replied to Senator McCain’s jibe that we could “wait a couple weeks” to see if Governor Romney’s position changes again on immigration and that he might use his “small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn.” Romney’s spokesman Kevin Madden responded that: “There are ways to talk about issues and this clearly isn’t the best way. The country is in the midst of a serious debate about an immigration reform proposal that takes a distinctly wrong approach on an important issue. Why would an author or major proponent of such an agreement resort to flailing about at rival candidates rather than make the case for the agreement on the merits? Clearly, someone is feeling the pressure from the political fallout of pushing such a flawed agreement.”
Contacted for their response on this free for all, the Rudy Giuliani campaign declined comment. Over the weekend those associated with the campaign did emphasize that Giuliani’s statements last Friday in Orlando indicated his concerns that the immigration proposal does not adequately address national security measures which should be essential to any immigration reform.
As of this afternoon Fred Thompson’s camp had not offered comments about McCain’s suggestion that he was “disappointed” in Thompson and that McCain believed he too had changed his position.
But stay tuned. With or without an immigration bill this week, the issue will likely provide fodder for the campaigns for weeks and months to come.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:47 pm
McCain’s saying that he’s “disappointed” in Thompson isn’t the money quote. McCain said that Thompson had “a very different position” on immigration until this bill came up.
Its apparent that McCain has only one argument for his bill, and its to scream ‘flip-flopper.’
May 21st, 2007 at 5:50 pm
No question about it, Mitt Romney flip flops more than a fish out of water. But what McCain doesn’t seem to get here is that — on this issue, at least — the base of the party doesn’t care if you’re a flip flopper or not. I hate to say it, but this is the one issue Romney has handled fairly well.
As far as Romney — or any other policician — changing their view on this issue, I would point out that the “enforcement first” crowd that is so up in arms over this deal includes a fair number of people who are not blindly opposed to amnesty in principle, but are opposed to granting amnesty on the promise of future enforcement of not-yet-passed laws, when the laws already on the books have been ignored. Had this president been more vigorous in enforcing the border from 2002-2006, he would have had his amnesty bill in ‘06 without any fuss.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:11 pm
McCain is “resort[ing] to flailing about at rival candidates” because he is done. So well done that you can stick a fork in him. He is totally off base with the majority of Republicans to the point that he has no chance of becoming our nominee now.
McCain can lash out all he wants at Romney or Thompson. At least they are on the right side of this issue. Those attacks only serve to remind us of his temper.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Giuliani is laughing his ass off right now as his two main rivals beat each other up.
Sean P makes a good point in Post #2, also.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I am afraid that McCain’s comments are becoming increasingly unhinged and ugly. His campaign needs to tamp down his uncontrollable outbursts of angry rage fast.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
McCain brought me into the Republican Party, but I’m becoming increasingly turned off by him. I still admire that he’s willing to tout unpopular stances, but his inability to even begin to substantively defend his maverick positions these days, and the arrogance he displays in expressing them, is really pretty offputting.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Uh oh…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ushi8-dRlvg
May 21st, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Tommy,
Really funny at parts, really random at other parts. I thought Rudy got the “worst” of it. I loved the “I own slaves and I’m admitting it, that’s leadership”. Absolutely brilliant parody of Rudy’s “look, I disagree with you on social issues, including the protection of the weakest among us, but i’m admitting it and that’s leadership”.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:31 pm
McCain killing Rudy was brilliant too, illustrating his seemingly inexplicable temper fits.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:33 pm
The McCain breakdown at the end cracked me up, so did the Rudy “leadership.”
May 21st, 2007 at 8:56 pm
McCain, McCain, McCain… 2008 would not be half as much fun without you… Man would I love to have a beer with that man.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:14 pm
That is a pretty cheap shot about the Guatemalans on Romney’s lawn from McCain. I would prefer constructive criticism of policy rather than attacks at this point in the debate. Besides, McCain should understand that people are not required to go and check the legal status of every worker that a company sends to do work at your house. That is the companies job. Romney would have been hung out to dry for discrimination if he had gone and demanded to see proof that the workers in his yard were legal.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Rumors are floating around that the Romney camp is set to make a major policy decision tomorrow: In seems that Romney, in a visit to the Natural History Musuem in D.C. last December, started having serious doubts about the existance of dinosaurs and the age if the earth. While not official, the expected press release is expected to read in part: “Although privately I’ve held these views for years, the first moment of relevation coming to me on a hunting trip behind my mansion in 1983, I must now reveal that I have never believed in evolution. The earth is 6000 years old, dinosaurs were used in early America as pack animals, and Pterydactyls are really large eagles that spouted feathers” More to come…
May 21st, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Just an announcement I picked up on:
Coming in September, XM Radio is dedicating channel 130 to 24 hour coverage of the 2008 elections. The channnel will be called POTUS 08. Will be nothing but election analysis.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Sh*t. I couldn’t handle that.
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:18 am
Here’s a clip of Rudy’s appearance on Letterman tonight. Giuliani explains to Dave why gas prices are where they are.
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/video_player/index/php/920908.phtml
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:20 am
Wow, I don’t know if Rudy’s aware of this, but Letterman is supposed to be a comedy show. Going on and on, without the slightest bit of levity, about energy independence, is great if you’re in a regular interview setting. It was detailed and substantive, but dry, boring, and overly long. I don’t know how much more there was to the interview, but Rudy should have really tried to be more funny in that clip (starting with “what do you do when you firs enter the white house” and ending with, I think, Rudy mentioning his possible opponents).
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:06 am
Rasmussen poll is out:
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/2008_republican_presidential_primary
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:35 am
Wow, even though Mitt is only ahead of Thompson by one point, it is his first lead over Thompson since Thompson was included in the poll. Mitt is also only three points behind McCain.
I am obviously biased, but I think this poll probably reflects the state of the race better than some of the other recent national polls. Rasmussen has proven himself to be the most accurate pollster in recent years, which also strengthens my argument.
It will be interesting to see if the first post immigration bill “compromise” polls show any significant change. I think McCain has to be worried because he doesn’t have anything to move him back up in the polls. It also looks like he may not be able to win Iowa or NH which would probably be death for his campaign.
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. In today’s politics it seems that flip-flop is the canned criticism used by politicians with extremist and unpopular positions. To the extremist republicans it’s not enough to support gun rights; you have to embrace assault weapons being passed out in schools-otherwise you’re a flip-flopper. It’s also not enough to be against gay marriage; you have to hate gays-otherwise you’re a flip-flopper. For those with unpopular stances they like to smokescreen the horrendous nature of their stance and shield it from criticism by saying that at least their consistent. Well, I for one don’t want a consistently bad President.
There is a bill before our Senate right now that will seriously harm our country if passes. McCain isn’t willing to debate the merit of this bill and would rather stoop to attacks on the person rather than dealing with the arguments against the bill. When he said F*** Y** to Senator Cornyn what he really meant was F*** Y** America. Because McCain wants to do whatever he wants and doesn’t want to answer to anybody about it. Since this bill will drain our economy of billions of dollars yearly, McCain is essentially selling out America to further his political aspirations.
Giuliani’s no comment on these issues garners no more support from me than McCain will receive. No comment on possibly the most important issue of this Presidential election. Giuliani seems to think that he can just coast into the oval office because of 9/11, but he is sadly mistaken.
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
bjalder26,
“Giuliani seems to think that he can just coast into the oval office because of 9/11, but he is sadly mistaken.”
I don’t find it sad at all.