September 07, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- Right (Or Wrong?) Said Fred
Fred Thompson was on "Hannity & Colmes" last night:
On why he chose to announce on the "Tonight Show": "Well, it gives me an opportunity to see more people, talk to more people. I think it is a good way to start out."
On whether he wants to return fire at the WH GOPers who criticized his absence at the NH debate: "No. Not really. Not really. I was just glad that they didn't forget about me."
On whether the accelerated primary schedule concerns him: "It really doesn't. You know, I like the idea of a sprint. I like the idea of Labor Day coming around, the traditional way when people start paying attention about politics. You get out in the media kind of coverage we can get today, earned media, the Internet, all of the other things that you can do nowadays to get more coverage than you ever did before. People don't start paying attention to these things until the last few months."
On the differences between him and other WH GOPers: "Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't spent a whole lot of time going into the details of their positions. ... I mean, publicly. I obviously know where they stand and what they have done and what they've written. And there will be a time when we will need to have a good debate, if they are interested in debates, and we will do it one-on-one or we will do it in a big group, however they want to do it. And we will get into that. Right now, I have got a lot of work to do about myself."
On the upcoming war progress report: "I get the feeling that General Petraeus is going to have basically what should be considered good news for us. It really depends on which way you lean. ... If you're politically committed against this war and to do something to try to further harm the president, the way the Democrats seem to be in Congress, then anything that's a mixed message is going to be seized upon in a negative way."
On Iran: "I don't know how much stark the situation can be. ... The military or nuclear option or whatever certainly should be the last thing to be considered. There are an awful lot of good things that can happen between now and then, but there are no options that can be taken off the table of a country that's intent on becoming dangerous to us and the rest of the world forever."
On Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID): "Well, my initial thoughts is I met his wife, and I feel for her and his family, but he ought to do what's best for his family, he ought to do what's best for this country. He pled guilty and tried to take it back and resigned and is going to talk about taking that back. Larry ought to move on. We ought to be talking about the future of this country and not the future of Larry Craig" (FNC, 9/6).
If You Build It, He Will Come
And with Thompson making his debut in IA on 9/6, everybody had something to say about it:
Newsweek's Bailey: "The one thing I noted about today's announcement is just how somber it was here in Des Moines. He came on stage, and people clapped. But it wasn't so exciting, at least not as exciting as it was on 'The Tonight Show' last night. So ... what we're really going to be looking for in the next couple of days is how much enthusiasm he can really generate up on the trail" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 9/6). More Bailey: "Mainly he really talked about uniting the country. I think that's going to be one of his biggest themes. He talked a lot about how Washington is really at a deadlock and that the nation needs to come together; otherwise we're going to be perceived as a weaker nation" ("NewsHour," PBS, 9/6).
CNN's Foreman: "Candidate Fred Thompson galloped into Des Moines like the second coming of Ronald Reagan. At least, that's what he wants voters to think" ("AC 360," CNN, 9/6).
CNN's J. King, on Thompson's first stump speech in IA: "Thompson implicitly criticized some of his Republican rivals, saying he has conservative views. And when you hear him speaking those views, you can rest assured they are views he has always had and always will. ... But this tiny crowd at the campaign kickoff highlighted concerns that Thompson waited too long and is too far behind his rivals in building an organization."
More King: "I talked to a number of his supporters here as they left the room, and many acknowledge that that is a weakness, or at least something he does not excel at. They said he is not Ronald Reagan when it comes to giving a big stump speech" ("Situation Room," CNN, 9/6).
The Big O
Meanwhile, discussion continued about the effect that Oprah Winfrey could have on Barack Obama's camp:
Congressional Quarterly's Crawford: "I think actually there's a potential for a law of diminishing returns ... for Obama. If she gets so involved in the campaign, she overpowers him. I really think he's probably better off with her just having him on the show a few times, endorsing him, like she did with Arnold Schwarzenegger, by the way. ... And Oprah will have her own agenda. The top of her agenda is going to be her" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 9/6).
Pat Buchanan: "I think this could conceivably translate with working class women, stay-at-home women who are watching TV, African American women and that's really Hillary's strong suit. If she's out there, I think that can help" ("Tucker," MSNBC, 9/6).
NBC's Mitchell: "Why could Oprah's endorsement be so important? Because she reaches eight and a half million viewers each day, mostly women -- exactly the voters now largely supporting Hillary Clinton" ("Nightly News," NBC, 9/6).
CBS' Greenfield: "Oprah Winfrey is a very different kind of celebrity, someone who occupies a unique place in our culture, someone whose power stems not just from how many people she reaches, but who she reaches, and how. ... With her daily talk show, Oprah can put books on the bestseller list, start fashion, diet, and exercise crazes, but she's also been talking to and with Americans about the most intimate aspects of their lives, so the possibilities are intriguing, but so are the risks" ("Early Show," CBS, 9/7).
Love's Labor's Found
John Edwards was in the "Situation Room" last night:
Edwards, on whether the U.S. should boycott the Beijing Olympics: "I certainly wouldn't suggest that at this moment. But I wouldn't take any option off the table. I mean, we have huge issues with China. One that I don't think you made mention of is the need for Chinese cooperation on the ongoing genocide in western Sudan and Darfur. ... So, we have huge issues with the Chinese. They're growing their military in a very opaque manner, so that we can't actually see what's going on. So, we have issues with China, and we need to be dealing with them directly."
On Mitt Romney criticizing his tax cut for the middle class: "He's just got it dead wrong. I mean, Mitt Romney would give America four more years of George Bush. What he's going to do is continue George Bush's war on working middle-class Americans. ... What I have proposed is that we restructure, have real tax reform, so that the highest-income Americans, the people who have been most fortunate in this country, are paying their fair share of taxes, and that we actually have very specific tax cuts to help people to save, to help people send their kids to college, to help families with their child care costs, all aimed at strengthening and growing the middle class." More, on Romney: "He thinks the tax system is working fine and that we need to create more help for the richest people in the country. I don't. I think that working middle-class people are the people who need help."
On his union endorsements: "Every one of us, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, myself, have been competing very hard for these union endorsements, because we all understand the same thing. ... All these unions -- it represent over two million working families in this country -- they all have clear representation in the early states. They make a huge difference in organizing in the early states. ... And, with over two million union members supporting me, I'm way ahead of anybody else right now, and I'm proud to have their help."
On reported military progress in Anbar province: "I think the bigger question, instead of just looking at isolated parts of Iraq, is, has there been -- and this should be the question for -- for Petraeus -- has there been any serious political progress? Because, without political progress, there can't be stability in Iraq. And all these other things are supposedly aimed at supporting political progress. And, at least from what I see, I don't see any sign there's been any political progress" ("Situation Room," CNN, 9/6).
The Big Hunt
Duncan Hunter was on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" to discuss securing the U.S. border:
Hunter, on whether Romney was right to go after Rudy Giuliani in NH about NYC as a sanctuary city: "Absolutely. ... As he and Giuliani were fussing with each other, they both had a lot to fuss about. And I think the commentator mentioned that he had some problems in terms of Massachusetts cities that ... hadn't been forthright in terms of helping to stem this tide."
Hunter, on Mexican truckers being allowed access to the U.S. border: "Bad news. ... I don't know if you saw my closing speech when we passed NAFTA in '94, but I gave the closing argument against it from the Republican side. And I predicted it would be disastrous for our country. This is a piece of the NAFTA deal, the so-called trucking piece. This is going to allow every truck in Mexico, if they simply sign up with one of the 100 trucking companies, to access our borders. ... And we're going to have -- you know, the drug dealers are going to have their best thugs behind these 18-wheelers moving those narcotics across. We'll have a big security problem. We have no transparency into the criminal records or driving records of the guys behind the wheels. We can't get that out of Mexico."
More: "Remember, when Bill Clinton signed this doggone thing in '94, part of the thing that he signed was that the trucking piece, which we all saw there. And they've been working for last 12 years to try to get the trucking piece into implementation. ... They finally got it. It's bad for the country" (CNN, 9/6).
Posted at 10:23 AM
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