January 2008 - Posts
Tonight at 8PM ET tune it for Keith's Special Comment about the President who would rather protect the telephone companies from the law than the American people from the terrorists.
Here's an excerpt:
President Bush has put, protecting the Telecom giants from the laws…ahead of protecting you from the terrorists.
He has demanded an extension of the FISA law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but only an extension that includes retroactive immunity for the Telecoms who helped him spy on us.
Congress has given him, and he has today signed, a fifteen day extension, which simply kicks the time bomb down the field, and has changed nothing of his insipid rhetoric, in which he portrays the Democrats as 'soft on terror' and getting in the way of his Superhuman efforts to protect the nation... when, in fact, and with bitter irony, if anybody is 'soft on terror' here it is Mr. Bush.
Keith fans, you're in for a doozie tonight. Not only willl we have our traditional, super-awesome Countdown show at 8et, but we will also do a special post-debate coverage Countdown at 10pm (after Senator Clinton and Obama duke it out on CNN). Then at 11et, we'll do an updated version of the 10 o'clock show and at midnight it's back to the original Countdown re-broadcast. It's almost wall to wall Countdown (with a little Dan Abrams goodness sprinkled in) so cancel your plans, put the kids to bed early and make a fatty sandwich...this is going to be good.
Rudy, Edwards Bid Farewell : How both candidates arrived at the end of the their respective campaigns could not have been more different: The Republican, Rudy Giuliani, completing a free-fall that saw him tumble from hero to zero...The Democrat, John Edwards, ending a race in which he consistently ran third -- once, even second -- in every contest... setting the agenda for the field... yet failing to break through. But, in our fifth story on the Countdown, the finish line the same: they're both out -- but what Senator Edwards does next could have a big impact on the long, slow march to the Democratic Presidential nomination. CONTINUED >>
From Kenya to Camelot : And 47 years and eight days since John Fitzgerald Kennedy guaranteed himself -- if he had not guaranteed that place previously -- a place among America's greatest political speakers. "And so my fellow Americans," he said, at his inauguration 47 Januarys ago, "ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country; My fellow citizens of the world -- ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do, for the freedom of man." It can be argued that since President Kennedy's assassination, this nation has sought a successor -- some saw the late leader's younger own brother as that man; for a time after his death in 1968, the last of the Kennedy brothers, Ted, was considered. Today, in our fifth story on the Countdown: accurately or not, successfully or not, marked the second stage of a campaign to present Senator Barock Obama of Illinois as that successor.CONTINUED >>
Several huge storylines we're following today. The Kennedy clan backs Barack Obama in a rally in Washington...the race in Florida tightens for the Republicans ...and all of a sudden Florida is an issue with the Democrats. Senator Clinton, apparently ignoring the agreement to ignore Florida, is preparing to declare victory there tomorrrow night. Could another controversial election in Florida be deciding who will be the next president?
And oh yeah, President Bush delivers his final State of the Union Address tonight. We'll have the latest on all of this, including our own State of the Union that may differ slightly from Mr. Bush's. Big show...hope you can join us.
The Race Tightens Up : One day until the South Carolina Democratic Primary. And the two-candidate showdown...May have indeed morphed back... into a three-horse race. Supporters of John Edwards have been disappointed before -- Nevada collapsed from what the campaign considered a three-way dead heat into Edwards getting four percent. But in our number-saturated fifth story on the Countdown: In late polling in South Carolina: Senator Edwards... up 40% in the last four days, to a close third... Senator Barack Obama down 10%... With Senator Clinton holding steady somewhere in between.CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post had a must-read article yesterday on the specifics of how Obama & Clinton are trying to win on Super Tuesday. Their strategies may differ slightly, but it all comes down to just one thing. Delegates. Both sides still crunching the numbers even though analysis by the Associated Press has determined that "the race for delegates is so close in both parties that it is mathematically impossible for any candidate to lock up the nomination on Feb. 5". Looks like we are in this for the long haul.
Radio Daze : Nobody in either campaign actually said this...But if you listened carefully, you could almost hear it. "The settlement of the radio problem, which has now been achieved, is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all campaigners may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the other campaign chairman, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you... I believe it is peace for our time." Our fifth story on the Countdown: the great truce of South Carolina: the Obama campaign dropping a new radio commercial blasting Clinton, right after the Clinton dropped a new radio commercial blasting Obama. Is McCain the One to Beat? : John Edwards claims that John McCain is the Republican to beat in a national election, starting to ring true. Even if, in our fourth story on Countdown, Edwards himself isn't actually in a position to be the one to beat him. CONTINUED >>
A House Divided Before the Iowa Caucuses those who might have seen impending political cannibalism... saw it wearing **Republican** colors. Our fifth story on the Countdown: maybe not. One Democratic presidential candidate hinting she and her supporters will back whoever is nominated. But a second hinting... just the opposite. The third... Senator John Edwards... joins us tonight. CONTINUED >>
More Clinton vs. Obama vs. Clinton : If the first Clinton campaign for president, in 1992, was defined by its "War Room"... The current one might wind up being remembered by another candidate's "Truth Squad". Our fifth story on the Countdown: "The South Carolina Truth Squad," to be precise, established today by the Barack Obama campaign. It was the infamous news commentator Boake Carter who observed that in war truth is the first casaulty... If you didn't realize it already -- in politics, truth is not only not a casaulty... it multiplies. CONTINUED >>
Chill" Bill : "He needs to chill a little bit." The House Majority Whip, one of the heavyweights both of African-American politicians, and of South Carolina politics -- Congressman James Clyburn -- maintained both his neutrality in the Democratic presidential nominating race, and his perspective on what has elsewhere been described as a fight, a brawl, and a rift, between former President Bill Clinton, and would-be President, Senator Barock Obama. Our fifth story on the Countdown: With the next primary, in Clyburn's state, just five days away, Mr. Clinton needs to chill, as the Congressman put it, a little bit. Mr. Clyburn also said Mr. Obama needs to be circumspect in invoking Ronald Reagan, whose "agenda for this country caused angst for African-Americans in this country... Just be careful you don't cross the line."CONTINUED >>
We're here folks...big day in politics and Keith be live all night (from 6p to 10p et) with Chris Matthews and all the rest of the best team in politics. So far we know Mitt Romney has taken the Nevada Caucus (apparently the Mormons came up big for Mitt, and Ron Paul is running second). We have the SC GOP primary and Nevada Dem Caucus yet to call so stay with us!
****Update***** One of the more interesting stories unfolding today is the Bill Clinton claim of voter suppression by the Culinary Workers Union. TPM Election Central has the story , and the audio of the Clinton claim.
Nevada! Nevada! Nevada! The wait until the Nevada Caucuses and the Republican South Carolina primary can now be measured in hours...And the wait until Rudolph Giuliani uses actual footage of the 9/11 attacks to promote his bid for the White House... is over. In our fifth story on the Countdown... the word of the day on the campaign trail today: mistakes. Those who were overcoming them... those who were trying to... and those who seem determined to bury their candidacies -- and their own common decency -- for good. We begin tonight with the Democrats. CONTINUED >>
Viva Las Caucus For Senator Pat Leahy the correct Barack Obama Presidential analogy is from 1968 -- when he supported Bobby Kennedy over Lyndon Johnson. But it was the President to whom Obama himself compared himself -- that has the heads of Democrats -- and not a few Republicans -- swimming. Our fifth story on the Countdown: two days until the Nevada Caucuses -- a huge court ruling about them -- and a tale of two Presidents, past. We begin with the endorsement... CONTINUED >>
How the West Is won : As the looming recession may even get the attention, as his Middle East Photo-Op tour ends, of President Hoover -- sorry, President Bush... The Democrats vying to succeed him sprang from the dialed-back, solicitous, team-player debate in Las Vegas, to a campaign trail where they stopped hitting each other over the head with mallets marked race and gender -- and started hitting each other over the head with mallets marked "You Sound Like Bush." Our fifth story on the Countdown: there goes the Treaty of Las Vegas. CONTINUED >>
Showdown in Nevada Less than an hour from a unique convergence on the 2008 political calendar: At the same time as polls close in Michigan... in our fifth story on the Countdown: the Democrats will begin debating in Las Vegas. The Democratic National Committee having stripped Michigan of all of its delegates because it moved its primary in front of Super Tuesday... the leading candidates are instead focused on this Saturday's Caucuses in Nevada. CONTINUED >>
A House Derided In the Monty Python movie masterpiece "Life of Brian"... Two rival groups seeking to expel the Romans from 1st Century Jerusalem run into each other in the palace of Pontius Pilate. The "Campaign For Free Galilee" and "The People's Front Of Judea" immediately begin to fight -- not against Roman guards -- but against each other. The title character, Brian, shouts: "We mustn't fight each other! Surely we should be united against the common enemy!" At that point all the members of The "Campaign For Free Galilee" and "The People's Front Of Judea" go dead silent, pause for one beat, and then answer, in unison: "The Judean People's Front?" Brian has to remind them, he meant the Romans. Our fifth story on the Countdown: any similarity at the moment between the campaigns of the leading Democrats seeking to expel the Republicans from Washington, and The "Campaign For Free Galilee," "The People's Front of Judea," and "The Judean People's Front" is purely... total. CONTINUED >>
As Countdown reported tonight, Rep. Dennis Kucinich just filed the first RECOUNT motion of 2008 in New Hampshire.
Could it be a harbinger of things to come?
Clive Thompson, in an excellent piece for the New York Times Magazine, warns that as Florida was to 2000, as Ohio was to 2004, so Pennsylvania might be to 2008.
Gulp.
Race & '08 From the Campaign for Change...To... Change the Campaign. Our fifth story on the Countdown: going into New Hampshire, it was all about change -- or as Americans used to call it -- "reform" -- going into Nevada and South Carolina:, It's the economy, stupid. That issue, named by voters in New Hampshire as the most important facing the country... And with the fight for the Democratic nomination heading West... the always evolving Senator Clinton pouncing on the theme that won her husband the White house. Speaking of former President Clinton... the man some have called the first black president of the United States, was doing all he could to keep Mrs. Clinton's campaign from heading South in the wake of comments that both have made on race. CONTINUED >>
Here's the Rudy Giuliani ad that Countdown produced in response to Rudy using Keith and Dana Milbank in his "Super Bowl" ad . Enjoy. (big thanks to talkingpointsmemo.com for doing all the 9/11 research , and C&L has the entire segment ).
Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina, Florida and Maine all precede it. But there's little doubt that this year's Super Duper Tuesday is make or break.
For the Democrats, it's a chance to pick up delegates in 22 different States
For Republicans, 21 states are up for grabs. Well, 20 and 2/3, considering that West Virginia is only holding a caucus to settle 2/3 of its GOP delegates. The remaining third have to wait until a Primary on May 13th
Given the unprecedented number of states voting on Feburary 5th, we asked NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd (who heads up the must read "First Read" blog) what states the major candidates both expect and need to win on Super Tuesday. He shared a little of his analysis with us on Countdown Thursday night, but we couldn't get to everything. So, with the huge caveats that this could all change within any given day, hour or minute, and that it's OUR analysis, not the campaigns, here's the rest. CONTINUED >>
In and Out The endorsement is American political legend, but the last utterly decisive one might have been William Jennings Bryan backing Woodrow Wilson 96 years ago. Ask Howard Dean about Al Gore's endorsement. Or John McCain about Gary Bauer's in 2000. Or Rudy Giuliani about Pat Robertson's, which preceded by a seeming 17 minutes, the falling of the heavens on his candidacy last month. So today, John Kerry endorses Barack Obama... and Hillary Clinton cheers?CONTINUED >>
This little chestnut slipped past us on Monday ...John McCain tells a crowd in New Hampshire that he's not making any calls on bringing troops home or keeping them in Iraq, he's leaving that up to General Petraeus.
In March of last year it was General Petraeus who famously said regarding the insurgency in Iraq
"Any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq,"
If the military alone can't put an end to the insurgency, should their (Petraeus) leader make the lone judgement on when to take American Forces out? Doesn't the future President have to be involved in that decision?
Stunning results last night, and while Senators Clinton and Obama begin their post-New Hampshire trek around the nation, we're still wondering what happened. We'll do a complete C.S.I. NH, trying to sort out what accounted for the huge late swing to Clinton, how so many pundits and pollsters got it wrong, and what it means for the road ahead. It will be an almost all '08 show tonight...and good news for all you who miss the 8p and 12a et shows, we'll be repeating a third time tonight at 10p et. Hope you can join us.
P.S. Big news for the Obama camp...the Illinois Senator has bounced back with a big Nevada endorsement .
All About Obama It is hard to believe that after six years of being buffeted by Republicans ranging from Saxby Chambliss to Dick Cheney to Rudy Giuliani about how only they can keep the Nation safe from terrorism, and that Democrats equal Death... That any Democrat could walk into a primary polling booth in New Hampshire tomorrow and vote for a Democrat who just did virtually the same thing. But in our fifth story on the Countdown tonight: on a day in which she had already teared up at one moment and then attacked Barack Obama the next... on a day in which she had already invoked Martin Luther King and President Johnson in a dubious analogy to herself and Senator Obama... Senator Hillary Clinton this afternoon played the Al-Qaeda card. CONTINUED >>
The Day After Democratic Caucuses, and Republican Straw-Voting, in Iowa with stirring and even historic outcomes, especially for Barack Obama. Bringing with them to those winners and other candidates the sweet smell of success and finality and even a whiff of inevitability. With only 54 more primaries, caucuses and conventions, between tonight and a month from tomorrow. Our fifth story on the Countdown: Iowa -- your mileage may vary. With the flying political circus of both parties having headed to New Hampshire... John Edwards is our guest tonight. CONTINUED >>
We Shall Start The Iowa Caucuses. The last vestiges of a labyrinthine 19th Century political maze that used to end in the proverbial smoke-filled backroom, with "favorite sons" and "103rd ballots"... The only remaining part of our system that truly looks like the 1912 Democratic Convention. Where 100-thousand Republicans participating in what amounts to a Straw Vote would be considered a remarkably large turnout...Where Democrats can go in, vowing to support one candidate, and get cold feet, or get talked out of it, and have to cast an anything-but-secret vote that isn't really a vote, to award delegates who aren't really delegates, to establish a front-runner who isn't really a front-runner. As we await the interpretations of the entrance polling from many of the 1,781 caucuses -- and we will have some guidance for you, momentarily -- let us recap the last day of campaigning. CONTINUED >>
Well, you've made it through a year of postulating posturing and pasta (what?) all the way to the official kickoff of decision 2008. Tonight, we have an all politics version of Countdown planned for you...all the days events, late breaking news polling results...and once the corn hits the fan, Keith and Chris Matthews will make the calls for the winners. The Olbermann/Matthews combo will then take you through all the results, all night...so we hope you can join us.
Countdown to the Caucuses: Iowa. Consisting of one one-hundredth of the nation's population... An estimated six percent of whom will caucus tomorrow... Meaning the first milestone of the campaign to elect the 44th President will be determined by six one-hundredths of one percent... of the country. In our fifth story on the Countdown, with such wrong-end-of-the-telescope proportions... it should perhaps come as no surprise that the outcome of tomorrow's Democratic contest could hinge on... Dennis Kucinich.
CONTINUED >>
