First thoughts

Posted: Friday, July 20, 2007 9:24 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: First Thoughts

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carly Zakin
*** Breaking Away: If you missed NBC's David Gregory's report this morning on the problems the GOP is facing because of Bush's political issues, it appears the Republican presidential candidates didn't. Just check out Giuliani’s first clear pivot from the Bush Administration yesterday. The issue he chose to make this move was fairly easy for him: on the pursuit of al Qaeda in Pakistan. It's a credible issue from which to distance oneself from the Administration and at the same time look more hawkish. Watch for Romney and Thompson pursue similar strategies -- show distance from Bush by being more hawkish on the terrorist fight and try not to utter the word "Iraq." And it won't just be on the war… The distance candidates put between themselves and Bush will be on issues that get conservatives comfortable (like immigration).

Video: Is George W. Bush hurting the chances of Republicans running for president in 2008? NBC's David Gregory reports.

*** War Games: Per yesterday’s AP, the Pentagon called Hillary Clinton’s questions about how the US plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq “enemy propaganda.” The article: “In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.” On a relatively slow news day, the piece got plenty of play -- it even incensed the folks at Daily Kos, who lashed out at the Bush Administration. But to us, this was the most interesting part of the piece: “A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.” Who exactly leaked it to the AP? Does anyone think the Pentagon would have wanted it to get leaked? Whoever it was, the story only helped to brandish Clinton’s anti-war credentials, as well as make her look menacing to the Bush Administration. Mission accomplished. By the way, read the actual (private) letter from Edelman. It appears more bureaucratic than anything else -- as if it was never meant to make news.

*** Pot Meet Kettle: A day after Romney first criticized Obama’s recent comments in support of age-appropriate sex education, the Politico reports that Romney -- back in 2002 -- said he favored it too (although he never mentioned kindergarten). Is this yet another example of Romney being for something before he was against it? Also, note that Romney’s infamous quasi-security aide, Jay Garrity, is back in the news. He made fake badges for the staff. But come on -- badges? He didn't need no stinkin' badges!

*** Fighting With Fire? Giuliani is in Myrtle Beach, SC, where he addresses the 102nd Annual Conference of the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association. Of course, it wasn’t too long ago that the International Association of Fire Firefighters released that video blasting Rudy’s 9/11 credentials. The Giuliani campaign tells First Read that the event isn’t political and that the organization invited him. Yet even when he gets a friendly audience of firefighters, it’s in the context of that critical video. Does this mean that events with (and even endorsements from) firefighters will always cut both ways for Giuliani? If so, does it become a disincentive for him to have these kind of events?

*** On The Trail: Elsewhere today, Biden is in Iowa; Clinton is also there, where she addresses a local AFSCME union; Edwards speaks at the Young Democrats of America National Convention in Dallas; McCain raises money in Texas and Missouri; Obama holds a town hall in New Hampshire, while wife Michelle is in Chicago for the opening of an Obama volunteer center; and Richardson and Romney are also in Iowa.

Countdown to the Ames Straw Poll: 22 days
Countdown to MA-05 Special Election: 45 days
Countdown to LA GOV election: 92 days
Countdown to Election Day 2007: 109 days
Countdown to LA GOV run-off (if necessary): 120 days
Countdown to Iowa: 177 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 199 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 473 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 550 days

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Comments

//// WE HATE BUSH HE IS A MURDERER..MY bumber sticker.

Do you have it on your car, or do you slap it on across your a**? And, which one is wider?

Peg Ramsey, Indian Shores FL (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 12:33 PM)

rick, I saw that about the dollar. My wallet felt it too.

Desmond (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 12:35 PM)

Again...where is the evidence that Hillary's campaign leaked the letter?

Carrie, NW Iowa (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 12:47 PM)

HP Boston/ no offense but the earth doesn’t revolve around a huge vagina, hillary you say is running a "smart and crafty campaign" others would say she's running a "deceptive and coldly calculating campaign".
she is and always has been part of the established politics as usual click in d.c., we need some one who isn't deeply entrenched in the politics of washington, if she were elected she would turn her back on working america to sooth the wealthy elite that have always been her buddies, and stick her head in the trough of the lobbyists, but the even bigger problem is she can't win the general election, that's why the corporate run media loves her so, just imagine edwards has mommy parts and vote for him, otherwise you will just be getting rudy elected

MK,MO (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 12:51 PM)

Jerry and RH

Have been listening to the two of you spout your BS for months and have just one question to ask.

Which of you is Shawn Hannity and which is Bill O'Rielly

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:00 PM)

Breaking News-The Shrub to get a colonoscopy....Cheney to take temporary control.GOD HELP US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!QUICKLY LETS IMPEACH NOW!

juan,ft lauderdale,fl (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:03 PM)

Brad in Wisconsin----you are the best ---you explained everything in a clear concise way that cannot be twisted---even by hannity

HMT (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:15 PM)

We are all strong enough to endure the sacrifices of others

After all, it's only about 150,000 troops and their families (less than 1% of the USA population) who are making the sacrifices over and over and over . . .

So endure it.

You've got to be kidding. No one of real conscience can make this kind of statement and expect to be taken seriously. If the number was only one it would be too many.

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:18 PM)

Juan, I'll volunteer to shove the hose up his ....

HP, Kansas (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:21 PM)

Well no kidding MK, the world revolves around a small penis. In fact right now we have a penis in charge, see what a great job that penis has done.
A penis would never be "cold and calculating", they all thinks they are WARM AND WONDERFUL!

H P Boston (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:23 PM)

I just saw that Cheney is going to be president for a short time tomorrow while Bush has a colonoscopy. This is very frightening. How much damage to democracy can Darth Cheney do in that time? Is anybody else concerned?

Mary, Illinois (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:23 PM)

Breaking News-The Shrub to get a colonoscopy....Cheney to take temporary control

HOW WILL WE BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE?????

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:31 PM)

I am sick of Tony Snow and his hee-haw smug answers to the questions he is asked.Smart ass ----oh but wait he has cancer---so what -many of my friends do too and I have lost family to this evil disease----they did not turn into bull sh-- liars and decievers because of it.Bush looked under the val office rug for WMDs 2 years ago---did not seem to bother so many then ---just the people that already had disgust for him.

HMT (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 1:34 PM)

SO what is the differenc between Cheney and a colonoscopy?

HOT DAM (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 2:00 PM)

All the women in here should think of their sisters around the world. None of you would be able to say 1/1000 of what you say here. Just talking to a man that is not a brother, cousin or husband gets you lashed or stoned. Freedom for women around the world lessons the need to kill the enemy. After WW2 the japeneese women got freedoms and their economy exploded and they are friends with us.

Dealing with the Arabs currently no matter the country a women has no respect in any negociations. Condi's biggest problem is that she is looked upon as less than a camel no matter how smart she may be. we are about 50 years from that changing.

A president Clinton will be just the same unless in her first meeting with them she just pulls out one of those big curved swards and loops off the dome of somebody.

With the enemy of this generation being so sexist it is important to have a man as President. This is not sexist, but reality. The US will have a women president one day in the future and that will be about 2020.

Power respects power and weakness begets ridicule and further attacks. Bill Clintons biggest deficit was he was never a fighter. Never in his whole life did he ever throw down to defend himself. Bubba never had his mates back in a bar fight.

If the Democrats would just talk about winning and kicking butt there would be no contest. Cutting and running is not a strategy. Are we raider nation or a power puff team.

Alan in Phx (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 2:28 PM)

Alan in Phx

IDIOT!!!!!!!
You couldn't see the obvious if it jumped up and bit you in the butt.

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 2:39 PM)

The President will be just like all you lefty-loons here. He too will have a stick up his butt. His though is temporary.

Siles Van Burane (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 2:41 PM)

Alan - Strangely enough, the fact that she was female didn't seem to be a huge disability for Margaret Thatcher...and that was 20 years ago. I had this same disucssion with my mother not long ago, and she raised that question. I told her that I think it would be very sad if we defined ourselves, and who we choose as our leaders, by the lowest common denominator, i.e. those nations that give women no rights and no respect. If that means the leader of Iran won't come to the table with President Hillary Clinton, so be it. BTW...what are the odds of the Iranian leader meeting with the American president anyway?

Aside from which, notice what you said - Condi is negotiating with the Arab nations. Not the President, but the Secretary of State. Diplomacy is typically delegated to members of the State Dept. unless there is something significant that requires the president himself to be in attendance.

Carrie, Eastern Iowa (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 2:52 PM)

Alan in Phx and Siles Van Burane

Alan - You are absolutely 100% correct, Cut and run is not a stategy. it is a Rovian creation so that guys like you can have something to say when your puney brains can't think of anything else to say.

Siles - Small correction, the doctors will not be able to put a stick up W's butt because his inflated head is in the way

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:09 PM)

"Cut and run is not a stategy."

It most definitely is a strategy. De-funding the war is the "Cut", and what the troops will need to do when there is no more money to fund the things they need to fight with is "Run".

Cut and Run.

Siles Van Burane (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:21 PM)

I still have not heard one positive thing from Hillary on what her agenda is. Besides leaving the Iraqi's to the mercy(?) of Iran. No platform, nothing original. Just a one song harpy.
Go to imwithfred dotcom and listen and read someone who is talking thoughtfully and positively on issues that need addressing within America.
And to anutcrackhead in TX: so glad your our first line of cannon fodder when the illeagal immigrant wave washes on Texas's border. Good riddance.

RH Oregon (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:26 PM)

The way I see it, the big news of Bush's colonoscopy is proof that the world revolves around a big a--hole!

Olivia (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:34 PM)

Rick WS: "Those bushies just don't get it do they? This is a constitutional republic, not a military dictatorship"

I thought we were an autonomous collective.

Terry Jones (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:44 PM)

Sorry

Cut and run IS NOT A STRATEGY

Defunding is what we do when we finally accept the fact that what we are doing is wrong. That the money we are spending and the lives we are losing are no longer worth the failed policy of the war. That is not cutting it is responsible reaction.
As for running. No one, to my knowledge, (except those of you that don't yet get it)has ever professed the argument that our troops should have to run. The necessary funding and protections to exit the war will always be there.

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:45 PM)

RH

If inwithfred.com is thoughtful and positive then we are in trouble. Although I agree that the topics are important, the message on this site is hollow and without substance. Just like the senate career that represents this man.

As for the illegal immigrant issue, that topic should be the #1 issue being discussed. Your comment although coarse and biting highlites the fact that controlling our borders is the most important issue that threatens all of us.

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 3:58 PM)

Edward, Tampa, FL: A majority of Senate Democrats voted AGAINST THE WAR.
It was only opportunists like Hillary and Joe Biden who VOTED FOR WAR. Hillary voted against Sen. Levin's amendment, asking Bush to exhaust diplomatic means before going to war. WHY ? Why would she vote against this amendment ? Because she wanted to look 'stong' and 'presidential'.

Improving her image at the cost of a few thousand American lives and a few tens of thousand of Iraqi lives. I guess that's OK for Hillary supporters.

RH Oregon: 'Your crimes against humanity statment is hogwash' An unprovoked war against a country that hadn't attacked or threatened us is a war crime. Torture is a crime against humanity. Stress positions and 'water boarding' are crimes against humanity.
Abolishing Haebeus Corpus and using illegal wire taps are just crimes. Lying to the American people about WMDs is just wrong. Outing a CIA agent is a crime. Take your pick ....

Sierra. San Francisco (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 4:02 PM)

No matter how many pretty words you put around it, no matter how fast you spin, no matter how many euphemisms are made, it is still the same. When you boil it down, take all the masks off, peel away all the fancy language, it is one just one thing:

Cut and Run.

Siles Van Burane (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 4:03 PM)

Not trying to change your mind, but you just proved that no matter how you argue it "Cut and Run" is nothing more than BS

ANUTKRAKER, TX (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 4:26 PM)

RH, exactly how much do they pay you for your dribble? You say the Dems should be talking about what to do for this country...what the hell has bush done? Besides that, your goose stepping republican senators are obstructing every damn bill to be voted on. It's apparent that you follow their logic of support the Party not the Constitution. Another useless pos for them to toss. God Help America

Don in LA (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 4:43 PM)

What, no John McCain politcal obituary today?

nuanced (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 5:36 PM)

Thatcher never had to go up against jihadis. For a more accurate example, we must point to the reign of Pakistans female president Benhazir[or Benazir] Bhutto,who was the lightning rod for the formation of the Taliban in the late 1980s and who engendered fundemental Muslim outrage throughout the region.Her own political corruption was also a detriment which the jihadis made propaganda usage out of. Her PPP Party is now being targeted by al Qaeda and the Taliban.Their take?''No woman shall be in any position of power''.
Of course, both Rice and Pelosi in their respective visits have been largely brushed aside or in Pelosis case, patently ignored.There is no reason whatever,especially in a Hillary presidency coupled with an Iraq retreat,which will make the US seem even weaker,to expect that this person will engender even minute respect in the Middle East. If this be a most sexist attitude,blame the Muslims. Not American voters.

Lee Holmes (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 5:39 PM)

Carrie, Mrs Thatcher time was more spent on the russian cold war then the arabs and I would venture a guess tha any negociations at that time and now are done by the Home Secretary and that was a man.

Condi is negociating for the president, but her effectiveness is limited. They do not listen when a womon speaks. Clinton had the same problem when Albright was SOS. She was dismissed out of a conference room by the Arabs because they thought she was the cleaning lady, it was not until they saw her credentials that they let her stay. These guys even have the room and chairs wiped down after it is defiled by a women.

Hey Anut in TX try having a relevant comment then an ad hominem attacks. Defunding will never happen. For all the blow hard speeches and protestations the funds will continue.

And yes all of the candidates should start every speech with now fast are they going to shut down the southern border, in fact they should be having a race to see who could do it the quickest.

Alan in Phx (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 5:57 PM)

Alan in Phx, you convinced me that only a Muslim president can negotiate a mideast peace.

nuanced (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 7:01 PM)

God Bless Undersecretary of Defense, Eric Edelman. Clinton made it a "Political" stunt when she went around saying in her speach on 6/27/07 (made not on the Senate floor) that she wrote a letter in the first place. Don't buy into her self-rightouse Indignation. If they want Bush fine,Go after him (what little that has accomplished) but leave our troops out of their passion play.

Memmie, Connecticut (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 7:12 PM)

nuanced - there is no peace without victory. We did not negociate peace with the germans, we killed them and they surrendered, same with the Japanese. What we need to do is stop talking and start using the real new weapons that we have and stop pussy footing around. Minimalist military operations only prolong things. The US has some realy cool things that could use field testing.

Alan in Phx (Sent Friday, July 20, 2007 7:47 PM)

Carrie,

The fact that the constitution provides the authority for the congress to defund the war is a much stronger statement about its role in this democracy.

Full Stop.

You might want to interpret any paper as you wish but the constitution is pretty clear about the role of the congress on the funding of the war.

yiannis, baltimore MD (Sent Saturday, July 21, 2007 2:13 PM)

Jim: Since when did it become a crime to criticize Jack Murtha simply because the ones doing it are civilians who may have never served? Better get that vision checked again.

Lee Holmes (Sent Saturday, July 21, 2007 3:21 PM)

Lee Holmes, India just elected their first female President. Isn't that country a neighbor of Pakistan?

Desmond (Sent Saturday, July 21, 2007 4:49 PM)

Desmond:With a Hindu majority.Not an Islamic one.

Lee Holmes (Sent Monday, July 23, 2007 3:44 PM)

HP in Kansas, thanks for posting that story I wrote about Tim Marr and his research on the Moros of the Philippines. But please, that was an article that appeared in a copyrighted magazine called Endeavors, a University of North Carolina publication. (http://research.unc.edu/endeavors)
please attribute such things in the future.

thanks,
mark derewicz

mark derewicz, Carrboro, NC (Sent Friday, July 27, 2007 3:45 PM)

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