• Giuliani Notes,  President 2008,  Rudy Giuliani

    Giuliani Notes: Rudy Wins New Jersey GOP Straw Poll

    giulianioctober4aweb

    Middlesex GOP backs Guiliani, picks slates for state, county offices

    Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani got 67 percent of the vote today in a straw poll of 14 potential Republican presidential candidates conducted by the Middlesex County Republican Organization.

    Guiliani got 151 votes from ballots cast by 224 GOP party workers and officials who gathered in Edison for the annual convention to decide who gets the party line in the June primary.

    County Chairman Joseph Leo said the straw poll was an attempt to gauge the party’s preference in next year’s presidential campaign. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) placed second with 22 votes and Massachusettes Gov. Mitt Romney was third with 14 votes. The other candidates each got a handful of votes.

    The race for New Jersey’s GOP Presidential delegates appears to be over, if this is any indication.

    And with New Jersey holding its Presidential Primary election on Super Duper Tuesday, February 5th, it may be another state that solidifies Rudy’s nomination on this date.

    Previous:

    The Rudy Giuliani Files


    Technorati Tags:

  • George W. Bush,  Iran,  Iran Nuclear Watch,  Iraq,  Iraq War,  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,  Tony Blair,  United Kingdom

    Iran Watch: Feckless Brits Seek Deal With Iran

    iranmarch312007jweb

    Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(C) leaves the Friday prayers at Tehran university, 30 March 2007. Ahmadinejad again called for Britain to apologise for its sailors entering Iranian waters, the state news agency IRNA reported.

    Ahmadinejad Calls U.K., Allies Arrogant

    Iran’s hardline president said Saturday that Britain and its allies were “arrogant and selfish” for not apologizing over what he called the incursion of 15 captured British sailors and marines into Iranian waters.

    President Bush described the 15 Britons as “hostages” in his first comments on the capture and said their seizure was “inexcusable,” calling for their release.

    President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s most extensive comments on the crisis closely followed tough talk from other Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran’s position could be hardening.

    Britain, meanwhile, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.

    “We continue to express our willingness to engage in dialogue and discussions with Iran,” Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen, Germany. I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen … What we want is a way out of it.”

    Iran appeared unreceptive.

    Of course, Iran will be unreceptive of the feckless Brits. Britain has shown itself to be WEAK. So, Iran will take advantage. Iran will want more.

    Remember when President Ronald Reagan made the statement of “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” an American foreign policy standard?

    Tony Blair and the British have made “negotiate and beg” their national foreign policy standard.

    The Brits need to show some backbone and intestinal fortitude or become subservient Dhimmis to the great Caliphate of Iran.

    iranmarch312007iweb

    U.S. President George W. Bush answers a question during a joint news conference with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Camp David in Maryland March 31, 2007. Bush said on Saturday that Iran’s detention of 15 British sailors and marines was inexcusable and called on Tehran to release “the hostages” immediately.

    In the meantime, the British government is trying to negotiate a “DEAL” with Iran.

    Ministers seek deal with Iran for captives

    Ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission.

    The Sunday Telegraph has learnt of plans to send a Royal Navy captain or commodore to Teheran, as a special envoy of the Government, to deliver a public assurance that officials hope will end the diplomatic standoff.

    The move, which was discussed at a meeting of Whitehall’s Cobra crisis committee yesterday, came as Downing Street officials explicitly cautioned against hopes of a speedy outcome and said that families of the hostages should prepare for the “long haul”.

    What a joke.

    But, Britain can deal with Iran as it sees fit.

    Iran knows that had they attacked and attempted to capture an American vessel that at the least the Americans would have fought them and that there would be no negotiations only reprisals.

    Some Brits are not too happy:

    Defence officials emphasised that they were not preparing to concede that the two British boats detained nine days ago were at fault. But one said: “We are quite prepared to give the Iranians a guarantee that we would never knowingly enter their waters without their permission, now or in the future.

    We are not apologising, nor are we saying that we entered their waters in the first place. But it may offer a route out of the crisis.”

    Details of the strategy emerged as a former Falklands War commander expressed fury at how the sailors surrendered to Iranian gunboats without a fight.

    Maj Gen Julian Thompson called for a review of the Navy’s rules of engagement, dictated by the United Nations, that they cannot open fire unless they are shot at first. “In my view this thing is a complete cock-up,” he said.

    “I want to know why the Marines didn’t open fire or put up some sort of fight. My fear is that they didn’t have the right rules of engagement, which would allow them to do this.”

    iranmarch312007gweb

    This photo released by the Ministry of Defence shows the HMS Cornwall on station in the Gulf. More people in Britain oppose military action than support it to end the standoff over Iran’s capture of 15 British military personnel in the Gulf, a poll published at the weekend said.

    Stay tuned……

    iranmarch312007hweb

    Iranians wave their national flag during a celebration to mark the Islamic Republic Day in Tehran’s Revolution Square.

    Previous:

    Iran Watch: British Sailors May Be Tried By Iran

    Iran Watch: Iran Releases Video and Letter of Captured British Hostages

    Iran Watch: Britain Seeks Iran Condemnation from the United Nations

    Iran Watch: Britain Must FIRST Admit “MISTAKE”

    Iran Watch: Iran Parades Brit Hostages on TV

    Iran Watch: Tony Blair Warns Iran

    Iran Watch: Captured Brits – Show Trial or Bluff?

    Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors

    Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?

    Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran

    Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance

    Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters

    iranmarch282007bweb


    Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

  • James Webb,  Michael Ramirez

    Michael Ramirez on Senator James Webb and the Gun

    ramireztoon032907web

    Webb Is Vague About Gun Incident

    U.S. Sen. James Webb expressed support yesterday for a top aide caught with a handgun in a Senate office building but shed little light on his role in what he described as an “unfortunate” situation.

    Webb (D-Va.) declined to confirm what the aide, Phillip Thompson, told authorities after he was taken into custody on Monday: that the gun belongs to the senator and that he was “safekeeping” it for him. Webb said that a mix-up was to blame for the episode but that he could not provide details because Thompson faces criminal charges.

    “I think this is one of those very unfortunate situations where, completely inadvertently, he took the weapon into the Senate yesterday,” Webb said. Beyond that, Webb provided little information, never saying whether the gun is his.

    “I have never carried a gun in the Capitol complex, and I did not give the weapon to Phillip Thompson, and that’s all that I think I’ll say,” Webb said during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol.

    So, Senator, you have no knowledge that your aide carries a gun?

    There is more to this story.

    Previous:

    The Michael Ramirez Files


    Technorati Tags: ,

  • Giuliani Notes,  President 2008,  Rudy Giuliani

    Giuliani Notes: Rudy in Salt Lake City

    giulianimarch31aweb

    Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani arrives at a fundraising event Friday, March 30, 2007, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Giuliani is scheduled to fly to Florida tonight for fund raising events there Saturday.

    Giuliani rakes in Utah donations

    GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Friday his record as mayor of New York City proves he’s not too liberal for Utah voters — and that he may be the toughest candidate in the war on terrorism.

    Giuliani, who arrived in Utah midday and left shortly after collecting as much as $250,000 at an early evening fund-raiser at the Federal Heights home of former Salt Lake County Council member Steve Harmsen, was careful not to criticize the other Republicans in the race.

    Especially not Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is widely seen as the favorite to win Utah in 2008. Not only did Romney turn around the scandal-tainted 2002 Winter Olympics, he’s also a Mormon like the majority of Utahns.
    “I like Mitt very much. I think Mitt was a really good governor. I campaigned for him,” Giuliani told local reporters, adding that Republicans have “got a really big challenge ahead of us next year making sure a Democrat stays out of the White House.”

    During the 10 minutes or so he spent fielding questions, Giuliani repeatedly touted his experience as mayor of New York City during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that made him a hero in the eyes of many, heralded as “America’s mayor.”

    He talked tough on Iraq, criticizing Democrats in Congress for demanding a deadline for withdrawing troops. “What they did was irresponsible. To give your enemy a timetable to your retreat is unheard of, I think, in the history of war.”

    Giuliani said Iran’s leader needs “to know that America will use its military power not because it wants to. We know it’s dangerous. We know it’s not a good thing to do. We know it’s a worse thing if he has nuclear weapons.”

    The word conservative came up again and again as Giuliani described how he cleaned up crime, wiped out budget deficits and reduced taxes as mayor. On social issues, though, he acknowledged “people should know we’re going to have some differences.”

    Rudy is off to Florida today and will speak before the Club for Growth. Rumors have been flying around the net for weeks that the Club for Growth will endorse Giuliani’s campaign for the presidency.

    The Club for Growth speech is closed to the media as Flap understands. But, I’ll watch out for any bootleg audio/video views of the meeting.

    Previous:

    The Rudy Giuliani Files


    Technorati Tags:

  • Iran,  Iraq,  Iraq War,  United Kingdom

    Iran Watch: British Sailors May Be Tried By Iran

    AP: Iranian official: Sailors may be tried

    Iran’s ambassador to Russia renewed a threat Iranian officials made earlier this week, saying 15 British sailors held by Iran could be tried for violating international law, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported Saturday.

    Gholam-Reza Ansari told Russian television Vesti-24 on Friday that Iran had launched a legal investigation of the British sailors. “They will be tried if there is enough evidence of guilt,” Ansari was quoted by IRNA as saying.

    Britain’s Foreign Office said it was checking the claim that the sailors were facing trial, but noted that the ambassador’s comments didn’t alter their view of what was needed to resolve the standoff.

    “This doesn’t change our position, we have made it perfectly clear that our personnel were in Iraqi waters and we continue to request immediate consular access to them and their immediate release,” said a spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity in line with government rules.

    Flap’s best intuition tells him that Britain and the United States are planning a military operation to damage Iran with concomitant back channel negotiations to avoid any loss of life.  And Britain must make sure any response does not provoke riots in the UK’s Muslim communities.

    But……

    It is awfully quiet out there.

    And where is big mouth Iran President Ahmadinejad?

    iranmarch312007aweb

    An image taken from Iranian television Friday March 30, 2007 showing three British service personnel, at left a serviceman whose name was given in Farsi as Nathan Thomas Summers, Faye Turney, 26, the only woman amongst the British navy personnel, centre, and a man believed to be Adam Sperry, some of the British personnel being held captive by Iran. A newscaster earlier on Al-Alam television said the taped confession would show a British marine explaining how he and his colleagues entered Iranian waters ‘in an illegal way.’

    On the other hand, it may be that Britain is not capable militarily or lacks the will to get their sailors back.

    Stay tuned…….

    iranmarch292007aweb

    Previous:

    Iran Watch: Iran Releases Video and Letter of Captured British Hostages

    Iran Watch: Britain Seeks Iran Condemnation from the United Nations

    Iran Watch: Britain Must FIRST Admit “MISTAKE”

    Iran Watch: Iran Parades Brit Hostages on TV

    Iran Watch: Tony Blair Warns Iran

    Iran Watch: Captured Brits – Show Trial or Bluff?

    Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors

    Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?

    Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran

    Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance

    Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters

    iranmarch282007bweb


    Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,