Here’s another entry in the chronicles of Republicans already jockeying for 2012: According to Think Progress, Sarah Palin is the first speaker to be confirmed for next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
CPAC is a major event on the Republican circuit. This past February, it was where Mitt Romney conceded the Republican nomination to John McCain. (Romney still beat John McCain in the subsequent CPAC straw poll, taking 35 percent of the vote to McCain's 34 percent, which says something about the ideological inclinations of the attendees.)
Scheduling a speech at CPAC sends about a signal about as clear as a trip to Iowa that a politician has some big dreams. Look at the other politicians CNN says have been invited to speak: Romney, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Notice a pattern?
McCain, who was never a conservative favorite, was invited to 2008's conference, but wasn't on the list in 2007. His invite for next year seems to have been lost in the mail.
If today is any indication, the GOP has a long four years of intra-party sniping ahead.
Michael Scherer (formerly of Salon) has a sneak preview in Time of former presidential contender Mike Huckabee’s book, which will be released tomorrow. It looks like Huckabee doesn’t go easy on his once and future rivals.
Here’s Scherer:
Mitt Romney, Huckabee's principal rival in Iowa, receives the roughest treatment. Huckabee writes that the former Massachusetts governor's record was "anything but conservative until he changed the light bulbs in his chandelier in time to run for president." He notes that Romney declined to make a congratulatory phone call after Huckabee beat the odds to win the Iowa caucuses, "which we took as a sign of total disrespect." He mocks Romney for suggesting, during one debate, more investment in high-yield stocks as a solution to economic woes. "Let them eat stocks!" Huckabee jokes.
Asked by Politico’s Jonathan Martin to respond, Romney spokesman Eric Ferhnstrom said,
This type of pettiness is beneath Mike Huckabee. If we’re going to move the party forward, we need to offer more than personal recriminations. Unfortunately, in this book, Mike Huckabee is consumed with presumed slights, and he seems more interested in settling scores than in bringing people together.
Huckabee’s book, whose title is apparently borrowed from Spike Lee, is called "Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That's Bringing Common Sense Back to America." In addition to going after Romney, the former Baptist preacher has few kind words for those of his former peers who supported other candidates: “I lamented that so many people of faith had moved from being prophetic voices -- like Naaman, confronting King David in his sin and saying, 'Though art the man!' -- to being voices of patronage, and saying to those in power, 'You da' man!'"
Focus on the Family is making a list, and checking it twice. But the right-wing Christian group isn't exactly jolly. Instead, it's targeting retailers who are insufficiently solicitous toward Christmas.
Yes, the War on the War on Christmas has begun again. The Colorado Springs Gazette's Mark Barna (who, full disclosure, also used a "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"-based joke -- hey, it's the natural way to go with this story) reports:
On Thursday the Colorado Springs-based ministry's political action arm launched its second-annual holiday campaign by posting an online shoppers guide with three categories: "Christmas-friendly" retailers, "Christmas-negligent" retailers and "Christmas-offensive" retailers. The "friendly" retailers are so designated because they prominently use "Merry Christmas" and other Christmas-specific references in their catalogs and in-store promotions. Those on the Christmas-offensive list use secular phrases such as "happy holidays" and have "apparently abandoned" the use of the word "Christmas," Focus said. Christmas-negligent companies "marginalize" their message by using "Christmas" in some cases and "holidays" in others.
Just so you know -- so you can avoid these godless communist stores -- on the list as "Christmas-offensive" are American Eagle, Banana Republic, Bloomingdale's, Lane Bryant and Old Navy. You can also sign a petition that reads:
I am troubled by the growing trend among retailers to secularize the Christmas season by marginalizing or refusing to use the word "Christmas" in marketing and promotional materials. Christmas is fundamentally a Christian holiday, and efforts to secularize Christmas are offensive. I am joining Focus on the Family Action’s "I Stand for Christmas" campaign to call on retailers to stop purging "Christmas." I stand for Christmas, and I urge you to stand for Christmas as well by highlighting "Christmas" in your stores, catalogs and Web sites. Further, I plan to consult Focus on the Family Action's Shopping Guide, which categorizes retailers by their treatment of "Christmas," while making my Christmas purchases this year.
The group has also produced a video, "Merry Tossmas 2008," in which catalogs and other promotional material that don't mention Christmas are thrown away. You can watch it at the bottom of this post.
As former Salon reporter Michelle Goldberg wrote back when the heathen anti-Christmas forces were gathering in 2005, the idea that retailers are at the vanguard of a campaign to destroy the holiday is an old one. Specifically, it goes back to the John Birch Society. Goldberg noted an old Bircher pamphlet, "There Goes Christmas?!" that warned, "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas ... What they now want to put over on the American people is simply this: Department stores throughout the country are to utilize UN symbols and emblems as Christmas decorations."
As promised, Barack Obama and John McCain met on Monday at Obama's transition headquarters in Chicago.
The two former opponents were each joined by one ally. In Obama's case, it was his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. McCain brought along his friend and colleague, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The substantive parts of the meeting were not open to the press, but afterwards, Obama and McCain released a joint statement. It reads:
At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time. It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family. We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation’s security.
Here's an interesting question to ponder -- in a state as red as Georgia, can a Democrat defeat a sitting Republican senator by attacking said incumbent for not supporting Barack Obama's economic proposals?
Even a year ago, the idea that such a gambit might work would have seemed a little crazy. Even just this spring, Republicans running for Congress were using Obama as a club to bash their opponents. But that strategy failed.
Plus, though Obama ultimately lost Georgia to John McCain, he fared much better than John Kerry did in 2004. Kerry lost the state to George W. Bush 58-41; Obama only lost it 52-47. And in the process, he caused a surge in African-American voter turnout, bumping their share of the electorate up 5 percentage points from where it was in the last presidential election. Those voters are crucial to Democratic challenger Jim Martin's hopes as he faces a runoff against Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
And so we find ourselves with Martin's latest ad, in which he hits Chambliss on the economy and ties himself directly to Obama and his economic plan. You can watch it below.
The rumor about Hillary Clinton as a contender to be secretary of state remains hot, but now the discussion has turned to the biggest obstacle in her path: Her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton's post-presidential work could pose some potential conflicts for his wife if she were to be named to the post. In an article published on Monday, the New York Times reported:
A team of lawyers trying to facilitate the potential nomination spent the weekend looking into Mr. Clinton’s philanthropic organization, interactions with foreign governments and ties to pharmaceutical companies, a Democrat close to both camps said. While Mr. Clinton has used his foundation to champion efforts to fight AIDS, poverty and climate change around the world, he has also taken millions in speaking fees and contributions from foreign officials and businesses with interests in American governmental policies. Obama advisers are discussing what Mr. Clinton would need to do to avoid a conflict of interest with the duties of his wife, who is said to be interested in the post. “That’s the first and most important hurdle,” said a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “He does good work. No one wants it to stop, but a structure to avoid conflicts must be thought of.”
Similarly, Politico's Glenn Thrush and Mike Allen write, "Obama isn’t likely to formally offer the post to Clinton unless he’s given assurances Bill Clinton’s global charitable foundation won’t create future conflicts of interest with foreign governments... Obama’s vetting team expressed similar worries about Bill Clinton’s overseas fundraising when Hillary Clinton was briefly considered for the vice-presidency, former Clinton aides say."
The Times didn't have much detail regarding whether the Clintons were cooperating with the vetting process, but has one source who sounds optimistic. Thrush and Allen, however, quote one anonymous "well-connected Democratic official" as saying:
The ball is very much in her court, but the president's finances have been a major point of sensitivity from day one. Given that everyone's mystified by how deliberately public the Clintons have made this once secret process, the assumption is either that the Clintons are trying to use the public buzz to steamroll their way in, create a sense of inevitability that overcomes those concerns, or that it's just a matter of time before they … satisfy vetting somehow, some way."
Related to that is one still very open question -- would she even want to be secretary of state? Ben Smith reports that "Clinton herself is conflicted about taking the job."
By the way, all of the stories out about this today contradict the Huffington Post's earlier report, which I wrote about on Friday, that Barack Obama offered Clinton the job during their meeting on Thursday.
The former mayor of New York City was asked, after a speech he gave in Dubai on Sunday, whether he'd consider running to become his state's governor, and he wouldn't rule the idea out. "I don't know if I'd be interested in it, but I'll think about it when the right time comes along," Giuliani said.
A recent poll conducted by Siena Research Institute, which is affiliated with a college in the state, showed Giuliani trailing current Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, in a hypothetical matchup. Respondents preferred Paterson 49-43.
Giuliani also wouldn't rule out the possibility of making a second run for the presidency. "No one knows whether you'll do something again until you come to the point of: 'Is it possible to do it again? Would you have a chance of winning?'" he said. "I mean, those are just things you can't evaluate right now."
As you may remember -- it seems like ages ago now -- Giuliani got drubbed in the race for the Republican nomination. It's hard to imagine he'd do much better a second time around. His record on social issues is a gigantic hurdle in a Republican primary, and given the current political situation, that seems likely to be an even bigger problem for him in 2012 than it was in 2008.
Some conservatives are still enamored of Sarah Palin, and convinced that she's the future of the Republican Party. Apparently, Newt Gingrich isn't really a member of that group.
During an appearance on "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Gingrich didn't slam Palin, but he also tamped down some of the expectations regarding her role over the next couple of years.
"There are a lot of people doing smart things. The natural pattern, in the news media, is going to be, they know how to spell Sarah Palin's name. They have it locked in their word processor. She's going to be a much bigger story in the short run," Gingrich said.
"But, I think, as she goes back to being governor and as she works in Alaska, you're going to see a group of governors emerge, not just Sarah Palin. And there are 36 governorships up in 2010 ... I think that she is going to be a significant player. But she's going to be one of 20 or 30 significant players. She's not going to be the de facto leader."
A cynical person might wonder whether Gingrich had personal motives for saying this -- motives like, say, a presidential run in 2012. He almost made one this year, but he doesn't seem to like the idea of dealing with a lot of competition in the primaries.
No one could ever accuse Sarah Palin of letting opportunities pass her by. In interviews with CNN this week, Palin said she'd leave her post as governor of Alaska to serve as one of the state's U.S. senators if she was given the chance. Palin said that if the Alaskan voters "call an audible" on her "and if they say they want me in another position, I'm going to do it...My life is in God's hands. If he's got doors open for me, that I believe are in our state's best interest, the nation's best interest, I'm going to go through those doors."
The audible she's referring to is Republican Sen. Ted Stevens' re-election. As Alex noted in a previous post, the convicted Stevens' re-election bid is in serious trouble. But if the count, which is still ongoing, does put Stevens back in office, he'd likely be forced to resign or voted out by his Senate colleagues, at which point Palin could fill his spot.
Last week, the Associated Press quoted Palin as saying she was "not planning" to run for the Senate.
An actual press release that just came into one Salon reporter's inbox:
THE WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADYFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 14, 2008MENU FOR THE DINNER IN HONOR OF THE SUMMIT ON FINANCIAL MARKETS AND THE WORLD ECONOMY Fruitwood-smoked Quail with Quince Gastrique Quinoa Risotto Landmark Chardonnay “Damaris Reserve” 2006 Thyme-roasted Rack of Lamb Tomato, Fennel and Eggplant Fondue Chanterelle Jus Shafer Cabernet “Hillside Select” 2003 Lolla Rosa, Red Oak and Endive Cider Vinaigrette Baked Vermont Brie with Walnut Crostini Pear Torte Huckleberry Sauce Chandon Étoile Rosé ###
