May 31, 2007
Hotline After Dark: Come On In, The Water's Fine
Talk of the TV last night was focused on the Atlanta man under federal quarantine for tuberculosis and Fred Thompson testing the WH '08 waters.
FNC's Hume: "The actor and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson will move a step closer to a formal presidential campaign June 4th when he forms what's referred to as a testing the waters committee. This will enable him to raise money and hire staff without officially committing to run. Thompson's plans for a June campaign swing through early primary states are still only in the discussion stage and his advisors are quick to say he hasn't made a final decision about running, not yet" ("Special Report," 5/30).
Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), on whether Thompson is a candidate for sure: "Yes. I think this is a very important first step. ... I'm greatly encouraged, because, having run the draft organization for two months, we signed up over 30,000 people on our Web site to volunteer for him. Many, many members of Congress have been waiting for him to file something, so they could step out there with him. And I think we can do that starting next week. This testing-the-waters committee is Fred's way of letting people know that he's very, very interested in this; he's serious about it. And I think he's a man preparing to become a presidential candidate. And I think he, frankly, is what our base is looking for" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 5/30).
Washington Post's Milbank: "Let's get rid of this fiction now once and for all. These are just technical terms that the FEC sets up. He is in the race, and if he decides not to run at this point, he is pulling out of the race. So let's not grant him the cover of any of these sort of peculiar terms. He's running" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 5/30).
CNN's J. King, on which GOPer will be hurt the most: "They all need to worry, for different reasons. I have talked to several people in the McCain campaign today, who say, in the short term, their already struggling finance operation, the fund-raising effort, will likely be hurt by Fred Thompson. Governor Mitt Romney ... is trying to reach out to social conservatives. Many question his flip-flop, they would call it, on abortion. They're looking for a candidate. They say they will wait a little longer now and look at Senator Thompson. If you are Rudy Giuliani, you were the star in this race, the former mayor of New York City, the glamour of his leadership post- 9/11. Now there's a big Hollywood figure coming in, who could take some of the star quality away from Rudy Giuliani. ... Republicans are still looking. They're not locked in yet. Fred Thompson will freeze the race" ("PZ Now," 5/30).
Politico's Allen: "Very respected journalists have made the case that it hurts Romney most, that it hurts Giuliani most, and it hurts McCain most. So you can make any of those cases. But what's interesting is it shows how unsettled this field is" ("Tucker," MSNBC, 5/30).
CNN's Crowley: "He's got an eight-year record in the U.S. Senate. And you can pull out votes that hurt. It's why so many senators fail when they try to grab that brass ring for the White House. ... Candidates always look great when they're not running. Voters love candidates who aren't running. Once they're in the arena, that's when they start to pick apart the record and really see who voted for what when. So obviously any kind of paper trial is going to be rife with a number things for people to pick on. So it only gets harder from here when Fred Thompson jumps in" ("PZ Now," 5/30).
A FAMILY AFFAIR
John McCain appeared on the "O'Reilly Factor" last night to talk about immigration.
McCain, on the immigration bill: "Right now, it's de facto amnesty because we have 12 million people who are here illegally. ... We are doing everything short of deportation. We're talking about a 13-year period. We're talking about fines. We're talking about learning English. We're doing literally everything that I can think of to make sure that illegal behavior is punished" (FNC, 5/30).
Meanwhile, FNC's Van Susteren interviewed Cindy McCain in the McCain's AZ condo.
C. McCain, on J. McCain running again: "It's fine. I'm happy. It was, I tell you, it was a difficult decision for me, though. Because ... we'd been through it once and with our -- you know, kids were in motion and everything was going on and all that and so it was, for me it was a big decision, but I'm here and glad to be here."
On the family discussion prior to running: "We sat down at Christmas and, believe it or not, the kids have a lot of questions."
On why Cocoa the dog is J. McCain's favorite pet: "It's something about him. He thinks he looks like a circus dog. And so he just clicked with him" ("On The Record," 5/30). [KATHERINE LEHR]
Posted at 08:51 AM
Comments
A "do-nothing" one term senator talking about leading the country by becoming Bush 2.0?? Give us a break. Thomson voted for Iraq war, still supports it and wants to send more troops. This guy has no clue about how Americans feel about this war. The days of becoming popular by becoming Bush's poodle are over Mr. Thomson.
Tim | 05.31.07 12:13 PM
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On the immigration bill, an interesting vote is being set up on a wedge issue: the leaderships put off a vote on the Inhofe Amendment to Section 702 until after the recess. Section 702 looks innocuous; it declares English the language of the United States, but says that no rights shall be expanded or diminished under the laws of the U.S. That might be thought to take the steam out of a hugely controversial issue (the Missouri legislature just put an Official English referendum on the 2008 ballot).
But the definition of "laws of the United States" in Section 702 expands beyond the Constitution and the U.S. Code to include "controlling judicial opinions [whatever those are], regulations and Presidential Executive Orders." That undercuts Congressional power and means that Clinton's Executive Order 13166, which mandates all government agencies and grantees make services and materials available in any language on demand, would be defined as "law" even though its legal underpinning has been rejected by every federal court to have reviewed it.
A blockbuster red meat issue for all conservatives, over and above "amnesty," yet to come, with the fight apparently going to be led by Sen. Kennedy.
pining for chuck todd | 05.31.07 01:52 PM
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