January 22, 2007

1/22: Not Their First Choice

Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) 1/20 "I'm in" announcement drew heavy blog attention but few commitments of support. Few bloggers directly criticized HRC, but the best words she did receive were either for the professionalism of her online operation or a stated openness to her candidacy. HRC criticisms centered on "credibility" and "authenticity."

CLINTON: Net-Friendly

Those welcoming HRC into the race include:

• Daily Kos' Devilstower: "Is Hillary Clinton my first choice for president? She is not. In fact, I don't think she'd make my top ten. But I'm very glad to see her in the race. Yes, it's a sexist thing: I'm overjoyed to see a woman running.
• Talk Left's Jeralyn Merritt: "It is exciting to have a serious female candidate for President. I'll be anxiously awaiting her position on issues to see if she's the candidate for me."
• The Huffington Post's Mona Gable: "What I actually told [my daughter] was that the idea of having either a black or a woman president is so thrilling and wildly unexpected given the right-wing hold on this country the last six years that I couldn't begin to pick one over the other."
• DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas: "By all measures she's been a great Senator. She's got a great "story", and has taken more shit from the Right than any other Democrat in existence (besting husband Bill by a longshot). She's a tough one. And really, while Republicans may talk about swiftboating her, is there anything left for them to hurl at her?"

HRC's team also came in for praise for the online announcement roll-out. The Left Coaster writes: "Hillary is announcing her exploratory committee this weekend, using her website and an online live video webcast Q and A with the public rather than a big press conference. Props to Peter Daou, Jesse Berney, Judd Legum, and Crystal Patterson for steering the campaign towards this type of net-friendly launch." MyDD's Jerome Armstrong adds: "And as blogger savvy as John Edwards was in outreach, Clinton internet team had the email's of bloggers to notify them separate from the press (no such outreach from the Obama camp). The website has the clean, Kerry-2004 look about it. A smart "write our first post" call to action on the website."

The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum has four reasons HRC will probably win including: "She has nowhere to go but up. Seriously." Drum also links to past TWM pro and con HRC articles.

Being HRC, however, there were some negative takes as well, including:

• Kos: "Hillary would be a drag on races lower on the ballot. In fact, her potential nomination is already creating all sorts of headaches for Senate and House recruitment efforts in tough states and districts."
• TAPPED's Ben Adler: "female politicians like Hillary and Nancy Pelosi may actually pay a price for presenting themselves as mothers, as on the cover of Hillary's recently re-released book It Takes a Village. ... voters currently rate terrorism, Iraq and the economy as primary concerns. Would they entrust a person who claims caring for children is one of their primary achievements, as opposed to, say, winning a war, with the presidency at a time like that?"
• The Huffington Post's Jayne Lyn Stahl: "What she lacks is credibility. Importantly, not only did Clinton vote in favor of the war, but she was as close to a hawk as any Democrat has been since Lyndon Johnson. ... I don't question the senator's change of heart on Iraq, I would like to see more change of heart on other matters like global warming, censorship, torture, and the illegal detention of so-called "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo, and elsewhere in the world.While we've had enough preemption for at least another millennium, it would be refreshing to see a proactive, instead of reactive approach to both foreign and domestic policy."
• The Huffington Post's Steve Rosenbaum: "Hillary is struggling with words that are not her own. You can practically see the tele-prompter reflected in her eyes. Every word has been word smithed, every phrase looked at by a team of consultants. Even the subject line of the email - "I'm in. And I'm in to win"- seems to respond to some unspoken marketing concern about her candidacy."

Pollster.com's Charles Franklin tells readers HRC "has one of the longest polling records in American politics, going back over 13 years to the beginning of her time as First Lady in 1993. No other Presidential contender has this long a track record of public opinion readings." After examining the numbers Franklin concludes: "The bottom line of these data is that Senator Clinton remains a public figure who has both a large following of supporters and one who suffers from a substantial antipathy. At the moment, the Senator enjoys more supporters than opponents."

Finally, many righty blogs are linking to Hot Air's posting of SNL's opening bit featuring Amy Poehler as HRC on Chris Matthews Hardball. Allahpundit writes: "Lieberman and a precious few others aside, their "hawks" are opportunistic liars who only supported the war initially because it was politically expedient to do so. We've always known that."

DODD: Waiting To Inhale

Blue Hampshire's Dean has a rough transcript of Chris Dodd's 1/21 remarks at the home of NH state Sen. Peter Burling (D): "I think people expect us to do more than just express our opposition to the surge or the escalation in Iraq. ... And I think that people who voted for change about 8 weeks ago in this country, in this state, in mine, and all across the country, are going to be terribly disappointed in Democrats that can't do a better job than just a resolution of disapproval. I think we ought to have an actual vote, up and down, on whether we think this ought to move forward. And we'd better do it soon."

Dean adds: "Oh, and Dodd the candidate? Smart, often funny, a good talker, and a better storyteller. He hit the right notes on a number of issues. He's been in the military, and the Peace Corps, the House and the Senate. He authored the Family Medical Leave Act. But only time will tell if he can work enough living rooms and debate halls to share some oxygen with the media darlings."

Firedoglake's Howie Klein is "very proud to announce" Dodd will be chatting at FDL 1/23 at 4:15 EST.

EDWARDS: Does Not Play Well With Others

MyDD's Matt Stoller offered up some bracing constructive criticism of John Edwards campaign operation: "Though I'd probably back Edwards if you forced me to pick someone, the Edwards team is just not competent. They don't return calls. Despite being very good listeners, they don't play well with others, they are quite ineffective at coalition work, they are very top-down, and they are slow."

Illustrating, Stoller shares: " I have a well-placed friend today, a state operative not in a primary state, who got a call from a top Clinton strategist to tell him that Senator Clinton was going to call him in the next few days. Meanwhile, he can't get a call returned from either the Edwards or the Dodd camp despite having closer ties with both. This is consistent with what I know of the various operations."

Calling Edwards "The sharpest voice in the race" who "also has the best developed philosophical narrative for his run (the Two Americas)" DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas also identifies some shortcomings: "Then again, that "experience" thing hovers over him. I wonder if he'd been better served running for governor (NC has an open seat in 2008), setting himself up for that presidential bid with a bit more heft in his resume. ... Edwards also fails the "coattails" test. His Senate seat was taken by a Republican. And the Kerry/Edwards ticket failed to carry North Carolina (or any southern state, for that matter)."

Auros of Calitics gets early word out on a 2/15 "high-dollar fundraiser" for Edwards and tells readers a "short public rally" is in the works for that day in Woodside, CA. Auros writes of Edwards: "I'm not 100% committed behind Edwards yet ... But I definitely think he's the most promising of the candidates who has announced thus far."

OBAMA: Oprah Matters

Continuing his run through WH '08 Dems DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas calls Barack Obama "the best orator in the field," who is generating excitement that he "can't just make history, but he can radically change it." Before moving to his negatives, Markos adds: "He's got powerful friends like Oprah (and yes, that matters).

Kos' case against Obama includes: "e failed the "coattail" test in his home state, with Democrats losing both serious challenges to Republican districts -- the Dan Seals and Tammy Duckworth races. ... He's never had to run a competitive general election. And no, Alan Keyes doesn't count. ... But my biggest knock on Obama is that he's yet to take a high-profile leadership role on a controversial issue. It's a political advantage to be a cipher, and it should serve him well in a potential general election matchup, but it won't get me excited and eager to jump on his bandwagon during the primary."

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent offers a glimpse of Obama's fundraising push, sharing the thoughts of "a top Democratic donor" on Team Obama's "light touch." The donor shares: "His people are being very respectful, very low key ... The Hillary camp's message is, `I'm on my way to winning the nomination, line up with me.' Obama's is, `Hey, look, I'm the future, line up with me.' Obama's is more like, `Hey, we want you to be involved, not just to be an ATM machine.'"

Lefty bloggers are still smarting over Insight magazine's story on Obama's childhood attendance of a madrassa in Indonesia. The Huffington Post's Karen Russell writes: "The fact that Obama attended both a Catholic and a Muslim school in Indonesia is hardly a secret since Obama wrote about it in his best seller Audacity of Hope. The fact that he was SIX at the time makes this smear a total joke. Plus, Obama is Christian." Daily Kos' Kimball Cross tracks down the origins of the story to a 8/10/04 FreeRepublic posting "by a certain Andy Martin."

RICHARDSON: He Feels More Than Your Pain

"[A]s someone who worked with Bill Richardson's staff closely when he was in the House" The Washington Note's Steve Clemons asks Richardson: "Have you behaved inappropriately or not in public settings with female members of your government administration, jokingly or not? Have you gestured to female public servants and political appointees -- who work as colleagues with you -- and made lewd gestures, specifically pointing to them and then pointing at your crotch with a room full of media and other politicos there in the room?"

Clemons explains: "I ask it because I was not in the room when this particular incident occurred but many others were -- and rumors have long swept around Santa Fe that Bill Richardson makes a constant festive joke out of demeaning women. These incidents don't have to do with the comments by Lt. Governor Diane Denish that Richardson is a "touchy" and "feely" Governor. They have to do with questions about a far more crude kind of gesture that demeans professional women."

Markos has similar worries about Richardson writing: "And his private life is the subject of -- how should I delicately put it? -- Clintonian rumors." But overall kos is much more positive about the Richardson: "I'm eager for a serious Latino candidate. It's time my people rose to the top of the political heap. He's bilingual. I dig his resume. Rather than talk about Darfur, he got his ass over there and brokered a cease fire, and that's on top of high-profile diplomatic missions all over the world, including places like North Korea. His resume is the strongest of any of the candidates."

MyDD's Chris Bowers is also a Richardson-resume fan: "Richardson is definitely the resume, experience and accomplishment candidate. His extensive experience in foreign relations (frequent high level diplomatic envoy and Ambassador to the UN), as Governor of New Mexico (chair of the DGA, no less), and as a member of Clinton's cabinet (Energy secretary) is impressive to the point of bordering on dreamy."

Daily Kos's Devilstower links to Richardson's YouTube announcement and official campaign site.

BROWNBACK: Wonder Which Oz Character The Corner Thinks Brownback Is?

Sam Brownback's 1/20 announcement was greeted with derision at The Corner. Mark Steyn says "He's Off to Be the Wizard!" knocking Brownback's "the yellow brick road to the White House," as well as Brownback's desire to make compassionate conservatism a reality. Both Kate O'Beirne and Kathryn Jean Lopez note Brownback failed to mention terrorism at all in his announcement remarks.

Lopez adds insult to injury posting a picture of Brownback with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) writing: "Picture is from another day, when they worked together against violence in video games." O'Beirne observes: "Senator Brownback explained that we need bipartisan support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Why didn't my smarty-pants colleagues around here figure that out?"

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) advisor Patrick Hynes at Ankle Biting Pundits argues "the shabby treatment Sen. Brownback has received from National Review and at Hugh Hewitt.com" is indicative of conservatism's degeneration from a movement to an identity group."

The Brody File tells Christian Broadcasting Network readers Brownback is "the guy with no chance but social conservatives love him type candidate." Brody adds: "[I]t's amazing to watch social conservative groups stay relatively silent on Brownback's campaign so far. I'm not talking about the local grassroots. I'm talking about the national big boys like Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and other major players within D.C. Where are their voices for Brownback? ... I think they're waiting to see whether Romney gets solid traction because if he does, Romney may be their winning ticket to access and power in 2009."

MCCAIN: A Thin Red Line?

Townhall's Matt Lewis is still "certainly not prepared to endorse him" but does argue that John McCain's "voting record clearly demonstrates that he is a conservative on the issues that conservatives should care about." Barnett describes McCain as "a proven hawk who has stood with President Bush on Iraq" and "is also a budget hawk" who "has been reliably pro-life." Barnett concludes: "The bottom line is that if history is the best predictor of the future, John McCain will win the GOP nomination. ... And if McCain should win the nomination, it will be interesting to see what his conservative enemies say when he's the only person standing between us and Hillary Clinton."

Also at Townhall, Hugh Hewitt calls the upcoming non-binding Iraq resolution "McCain's Moment" and advises: "John McCain has got to publicly go after his GOP colleagues who are developing round heels, and to swing away as well as the defeatists on the other side. He should be on the Sunday shows and in print making this case, and in terms that leave no doubt about the seriousness of the moment."

ROMNEY: 44 Pro-Family Leaders Can't Be Wrong

The Right Angle's Matt Naugle forwards reports of a letter signed by "44 pro-family leaders" which "makes a convincing argument that [Mitt] Romney overstepped his role as Governor by ordering same sex marriages." Naugle notes "the letter is hosted at the website for the organization run by Brian Camenker. Camenker is the same conservative activist ... that was attacked by the Romney campaign in a very un-Presidential fashion."

WH '08 FIELD: Vote Early And Often!

Pajamas Media unveiled its "rolling" WH '08 straw which allows each person "to vote for one candidate in each party once a week." The poll intends to track "undoubtedly" changing minds "with the growing online electorate." The current GOP top five include:

Rudy Giuliani 37%
Newt Gingrich 29%
Mitt Romney 17%
John McCain 5%
Tom Tancredo 4%

The Dem top 5:

Barack Obama 44%
Bill Richardson 18%
Dennis Kucinich 12%
Hillary Clinton 8%
Tom Vilsack 5%

IRAQ: Towards Better Liberals

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman took heavy lefty blogger criticism for his 1/18 NPR appearance where, as Think Progress reports, Friedman "sarcastically said that next time, he'll "be a better liberal" and "will view the prospect of Arabs forging a democracy as utterly impossible. They're incapable of democracy."

Atrios awarded Friedman his coveted "Wanker of the Day" honors and Daily Kos' Hunter writes: "Estimates put the number of Iraqi dead above half a million people. Even the most conservative (cough) estimates confess the number to be in the multiple tens of thousands. ... That's more people than Thomas Friedman will ever shake hands with in his entire life. ... They're dead because Thomas Friedman and people like him thought they had a great idea, and wouldn't listen to any of the experts telling them they were wrong. ... What a wretch of a man. Honestly, what a foul wretch of a man."

Admitting in his first ever post at The Huffington Post that he is "not in the habit of offering partisan linguistic advice to Democrats," Frank Luntz offers advice to "still-euphoric faces of Democrat activists ... Don't twist the knife." Luntz continues: "The blogs from the Left and the Right be damned, the real center of America is upset but not bitter, anxious but not fearful, restless but not unforgiving. ... Senator Barbara Boxer can't really believe that a single woman without children is totally incapable of feeling emotional loss just because she hasn't had any children in combat, can she? Yet that's exactly what she said to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice."

Luntz concludes: "If Democrats believe so passionately that President Bush has made it wrong - and you can't really blame them - why don't they tell us how to make it right? It's as simple as that. And getting it right might actually save some lives and political careers in the effort."

DEMS: Detroit Dinosaurs Doomed

Blue Mass Groups' Charley writes it is "excellent news" that Speaker Pelosi has appointed Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) to head the new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Charley writes: "Throughout the years, one of the main obstacles to Democratic action on energy independence has been midwestern Democrats, especially those representing the interests of the Detroit Dinosaurs, the auto industry. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), for instance, has opposed mandatory increases in auto efficiency standards, while remaining a fairly reliable liberal Dem in other regards. And Rep. John Dingell sounds pretty much like a global-warming skeptic."

MyDD's Nancy Scola catalogues Dingell's connections to the auto industry, noting "Pelosi backed Dingell's primary challenger Lynne Rivers in 2002. Charly concludes: "This shows urgency, guts and vision from Speaker Pelosi. She is plainly not just going back to pre-1994 business as usual from the Democrats. Great job! And Mr. Markey -- let us know what we can do to help. We've got your back."

NC SEN: Gymnast To Face Challenge

Under the header "Another 2008 Senator wavers on Iraq" DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas links to a Charlotte Observerarticle on Sen. Liddy Dole's (R-NC) evolving Iraq position and writes: "Liddy Dole may not have a Democratic challenger yet (she will), but she's clearly already feeling the heat. ... Dole ... will have to perform rhetorical gymnastics to buck the growing anti-Bush and anti-war sentiment in her state despite being one of Bush's most loyal lieutenants."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: An Early Warning Device

MyDD's Nancy Scola links to the "senior-thesis-turned-IPDI-study by T. Neil Sroka about the consumption of political blogs on Capitol Hill." Scola explains: "Over a period of three months ending last March, Sroka surveyed House and Senate communications staffers about who in their offices are reading blogs, and what blogs they're reading." Sroka writes: "blogs might be used as a sort of issue 'radar,' an early warning device which prepares offices and senior staffers, in particular, about the issues and stories coming down the pipe."

Beltway Blogroll also links and provides a top ten favorite blogs of Capitol Hill:

10) Eschaton, Instapundit, Power Line, Salon.com, The Washington Note
9) The Raw Story
8) MyDD
7) The Corner, The Fix
6) The Note, RedState
5) Hotline On Call
4) Drudge Report, The Huffington Post
3) Talking Points Memo
2) Wonkette
1) Daily Kos

LEST WE FORGET: Basics First

Get a First Life: A One Page Satire of of Second Life advises readers: "Go Outside Membership is free ... First Life is a 3D analog world where server lag does not exist." In a special message to teens the site explains: "America's teens, your First Life dream world awaits. Hang out at the mall! Embarrass yourself in gym class! Get acne! Experiment with mind-altering recreational drugs! The First Life world is your oyster."

Posted by Conn Carroll at January 22, 2007 12:39 PM