Can you say "Hypocrites"

Mr. Law & Order, Republican Presidential candidate Fred Thompson

NOW:
"I am very happy for Scooter Libby. I know that this is a great relief to him, his wife and children. While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the President's decision. This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life."

THEN:
In 1999 when Thonpson was a Senator, he voted "guilty" on article 2, the obstruction of justice article during the Clinton impeachment.

Mr. Tough On Crime, Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani

NOW:
"After evaluating the facts, the president came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct."

THEN:
(Giuliani in 1987) The United States Attorney in Manhattan, Rudolph W. Giuliani, declared yesterday that the one-year prison sentence that a Queens judge received for perjury was ''somewhat shocking.''

''A sentence of one year seemed to me to be very lenient,'' Mr. Giuliani said, when asked to comment on the sentence imposed Wednesday on Justice Francis X. Smith, the former Queens administrative judge.

The Man Who Promised to Bring Back "Honor and Integrity" to the White House, Republican President George W. Bush

NOW:
"I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

Bush will also not rule out a pardon down the road.

THEN:
"I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own." [From Bush's autobiography, "A Charge To Keep," 11/99]

"I will swear to uphold the laws of the land. But I will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God," said then-Governor George Bush [CNN, “Inside Politics,” 8/11/00]

"Americans are tired of investigations and scandal, and the best way to get rid of them is to elect a new president who will bring a new administration, who will restore honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN’s “Burden of Proof,” 9/15/00]

"Americans want to be assured that the next administration will bring honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN’s “Capital Gang,” 8/13/00]

"A reformer with results. He will restore integrity and values to the White House." [2000 Bush Campaign Ad aired on CNN’s “Crossfire,” 2/17/00]

"Please thank the personnel of your departments and agencies for their commitment to maintain the highest standards of integrity in Government as we serve the American people." [Memo from President Bush to Executive Officials, 1/20/01

"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." [White House Briefing, 9/29/03]

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." [Bush Remarks: Chicago, Illinois, 9/30/03]

When the White House was asked specifically whether Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams or Lewis Libby told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "Those individuals -- I talked -- I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands." [White House Briefing, 10/10/03]

Asked in June 2004 if he'd stand by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked, Bush replied "yes." [Bush Press Conference: Savannah, GA, 6/10/04]

The Dark Lord, Republican Vice President Dick Cheney

Oh, hell, c'mon, who cares what he has to say about this! Scooter is perjuring and obstructing justice for Dick Cheney!

Hey, MSM, here's a question to ask Bush:

"Is it fair that Scooter Libby will serve less jail time than Paris Hilton?"

.

Newsmen with podcasts!

Today, Bob Mayo put up "a podcast of my Q&A; with Mayor Ravenstahl on his decision not to rescind the controversial police promotions."

Jon Delano has many new links on his sidebar to video of many candidates in Pittsburgh; both local (DeSantis) and national (Giuliani, Obama and Romney).

More on Rudy's bad press

We posted on this a while ago.

This time the bad news is from Tim Russert on Meet the Press (via thinkprogress):

The developments came on a day when the campaign was responding to a report in Newsday that Mr. Giuliani quit the Iraq Study Group last year after failing to show up for a single meeting. The report said Mr. Giuliani missed the meetings to give paid speeches and his absence has prompted the panel’s Republican co-chairman, James Baker, to ask him to either start showing up or leave the group.” The Giuliani campaign said part of the equation is he was considering to run for president at that time and his presence on the group may pose a potential conflict. several commission members said to me that presidential politics never entered the discussion, it was all about Giuliani’s schedule and commitments versus showing up for the iraq study group.

We posted on the ISG and the alleged coke dealer. Is there any more bad news for "America's Mayor"?

Why, yes. Yes, there is.

Via Salon, we learned that Rudy's loyalty trumps, well, you'll see:

Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, "Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests."

Five years after he was suspended from his duties because of the abuse allegations, Placa is currently listed as "priest in residence" at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, N.Y., where close friend Brendan Riordan serves as pastor, and officially lives at the rectory there with Riordan. [emphasis added.]

So he was suspended because of the allegations?

How can Rudy Giuliani's candidacy survive this? Somehow I think that if there were a big "D" next to his name, we'd be hearing about it 24 hours a day 7 days a week via the Republican Noise Machine.

Rudy Giuliani's Bad Day

Former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, had a real bad news day yesterday.

First, the news broke that "America's Mayor" had been booted off the Iraq Study Group (a perfect venue for someone needing some foreign policy experience, right?) because he never showed up for meetings and he was too busy making $$$ giving speeches.

Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

And:

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

Here's Giuliani's response:

Once again, the paper wrote a story with little regard to the facts. The facts are these - as someone considered a potential presidential candidate, the Mayor didn’t want the group’s work to become a political football. That, coupled with time constraints, led to his decision.

But Greg Sargent over at TPMCafe's "Election Central" debunks that pretty handily:

Rudy's role with the ISG was announced in March of 2006. This was presumably done with Rudy's consent. That means that Rudy was willing to serve on the ISG in March of 2006, right? Right.

As it turns out, Rudy himself was openly telling reporters that he was a potential candidate for President many months earlier than this.

Sargent's conclusion:

Rudy himself was saying that he was a "potential Presidential candidate" five months before agreeing to join the ISG. He even openly stated that he'd be actively considering a run during the same year -- 2006 -- that the ISG would be doing its work. So why did Rudy join it in the first place?

His campaign is now saying that he backed out of his ISG commitment because the fact that he was seen as a potential candidate could politicize his work for the panel -- even though that didn't stop him from signing up in the first place.

Yea.

Then there's the (alleged - and indicted) coke dealer who'd been working for his campaign in South Carolina:

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has just announced that State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been indicted by federal jury on cocaine distribution charges.Ravenel, who was elected last fall, was named the Chairman of presidential candidate Rudy Giualiani’s (R-N.Y.) South Carolina campaign in April.

Here's the indictment. Here's the response from the Giuliani Camp:

Our campaign has no information about the accusations pending against Mr. Ravenel. Mr. Ravenel has stepped down from his volunteer responsibilities with the campaign.

Notice the campaign is very careful to insert the word "volunteer" into the second sentence. Saying, of course, that Ravenel was definitely not being paid by the Giuliani campaign. But shouldn't the campaign have tossed Ravenel's butt out the door before Ravenel "stepped down"? From the text it's implied that it was Ravenel's act to remove himself from the Giuliani campaign. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

Still, not a good news cycle for Rudy Giuliani.

Notes on the Republican Presidential Debate

GROSSEST MOMENT:
When the statement was made that the US Constitution was "divinely inspired." Which of the 10 Republican candidates made that statement? None -- it was uttered by the debate's host Chris Matthews.

BIGGEST 'WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED' MOMENT:
Congressman/Doctor Ron "I'm a HUGE Libertarian" Paul affirms that he wants the Government out of EVERYTHING . . . except of course a woman's uterus.

Apparently Paul thinks it's just fine and dandy for the States to be as intrusive as they like when it comes to a women's uterus. Hell, come on down. Settle in for a spell. (I also understand that he's anti gay marriage and anti stem cell research.)

I've run into any number of freedom-lovin' Libertarian men who grow faint at the thought of any Government taking one thin dime of their cold hard cash for taxes but who simply don't give a shit if the Government tells a woman what she can or can't do with her own body.

I've already had a couple of Libertarian friends try to push Ron Paul on me. Now that I know where he stands on these issues: STOP. I will never support this guy no matter how anti Iraq War he is.

SECOND BIGGEST 'WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED' MOMENT:
Matthews reminds Sen. John McCain that he said he would like to have a Democrat in his Cabinet and asks him to name one -- other than Joe Lieberman. McCain says his top three choices are "Lieberman, Lieberman, Lieberman."

Since Lieberman lost the Democratic primary and had to run as an Independent, I'd like to remind both McCain and Matthews that Lieberman isn't even a DINO.

MOST CONFUSING MOMENTS:
Anytime Rudy Giuliani tried to explain his position on abortion -- i.e., Rudy trying to square his former pro choice stances with his current caving to the base.

CREEPIEST MOMENT:
John McCain saying that he'd follow Osama bin Laden to "the Gates of Hell" to capture him and then flashing a big cheesy grin. WTF?

SECOND CREEPIEST MOMENT:
Matthews asks how many of the candidates do not believe in evolution and three raise their hands. The men were shown in extreme profile so it was hard to tell who raised their hands, but according to this article, it was Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.

Creepy!

************************************************************************************

The New York Times has a transcript of the debate here.

Olbermann's Special Comment - On Rudy Giuliani

Read it here.

Keith's basically excoriating "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani for claiming that a Republican president will keep us safer than a Democratic one. A highlight:

[O]n what imaginary track record does Mr. Giuliani base his boast?

Which party held the presidency on Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party held the mayoralty of New York on that date, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party assured New Yorkers that the air was safe and the remains of the dead recovered and not being used to fill potholes, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party wanted what the terrorists wanted — the postponement of elections — and to whose personal advantage would that have redounded, Mr. Giuliani?

Which mayor of New York was elected eight months after the first attack on the

World Trade Center, yet did not emphasize counter-terror in the same city for the next eight years, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party had proposed to turn over the Department of Homeland Security to Bernard Kerik, Mr. Giuliani?

Who wanted to ignore and hide Kerik’s organized crime allegations, Mr. Giuliani?

Who personally argued to the White House that Kerik need not be vetted, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party rode roughshod over Americans’ rights while braying that it was actually protecting them, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party took this country into the most utterly backwards, utterly counterproductive, utterly ruinous war in our history, Mr. Giuliani?

Which party has been in office as more Americans were killed in the pointless fields of Iraq than were killed in the consuming nightmare of 9/11, Mr. Giuliani?

Go read it.

9/11 Remains Used to Fill Potholes

9/11 Remains Used to Fill Potholes.

Yeah, you heard that right.

Shakes has the full story here if you can stomach it.

Just a reminder that this happened under presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani's watch.

Sick.

Giuliani on Abortion - 1989

Text:

There must be public funding for abortion for poor women. We can not deny any woman the right to make her own decision about abortion because she lacks resources. I have also stated that I disagree with President Bush's veto last week of public funding for abortion.

Rudy Giuliani on 11/3/1989.