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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Quits Iraq Study Group to Make Money?
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani greets supporters at a Houston restaurant Tuesday, June 19, 2007.
Newday had this “HIT” piece earier in the day implying that Rudy would rather make money than be on the Iraq Study Group.
Well, since the Iraq Study Group issued a POS report that was largely ignored by the President, Flap thinks he would have done the same.
But, that wasn’t why Rudy quit.
The pushbck from Hizzoner is here:
Said a Giuliani campaign official:
“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.”
The sensitivity — as demonstrated by the shot at a news organization — reflects the danger of the story. It’s not just that he missed two sessions of the panel, but that he did so because he was giving paid speeches.
Or, as Newsday puts it in newspaper-ese, “By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation.”
In fairness to Rudy, though, many of us in the press probably would have been squawking about conflict-of-interest matters had he stayed on the panel through December, by which point his presidential ambitions had become obvious.
So, BFD for nothing.
Gad, anything for a story.
Update:
As if this wasn’t a bad enough day for Rudy.
When the good news is that you lose your Iowa campaign chair to the OMB, you know you had a bad day. But how bad?
So bad that your South Carolina campaign chair is indicted for conspiring to peddle crack cocaine?
A pretty bad day!
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Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy 28% Thompson 19% McCain 18% Romney 7% in Latest USA Today/Gallup Poll
Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Left’s Inability to Rebut Rudy Giuliani on Terrorism
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Nation Lacks Strong Leadership
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy – “My 12 Commitments to Americaâ€
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy’s Houston Baptist Speech
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Reaffirms Abortion Rights
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Abortion Rights and February 5 States Are Strategery for Rudy
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Can Rudy Overcome Pro-Choice Abortion Stand?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: The May 3rd GOP Presidential Debate – Abortion and Iraq?
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy the Front-Runner
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Obama, Edwards Prove Giuliani Right
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy on Offense and Democrats Don’t Like It
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy – “America Will Be Safer with a Republican Presidentâ€
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Conservative Christians Favor Giuliani
Technorati Tags: Rudy Giuliani
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Michael Ramirez on Hamas and the Destruction of the Palestinian State
Hamas accuses West of playing politics with aid
US and Israeli leaders pledged Tuesday to support the emergency Palestinian cabinet in the
West Bank, as Hamas accused the West of playing politics with aid after the Islamist group ousted its rivals from Gaza.US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert both gave strong backing to the cabinet appointed by moderate president Mahmud Abbas after Hamas’s takeover of Gaza as they held their third Washington talks in barely a year.
Bush said he hoped Abbas and his new US-educated prime minister Salam Fayyad “will be strengthened to the point where they can lead the Palestinians in a different direction.”
Olmert said: “I want to strengthen the moderates and cooperate” with Abbas, and raised the prospect of an easing of security controls in the occupied West Bank as well as the release of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas still refuses to recognize Abbas’s dismissal of the national unity government it led until last Thursday and accused the West of trying to manipulate Palestinian public opinion.
“By announcing their political and financial support for the Palestinian Authority, the West is backing an illegitimate government,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri charged.
Western support for Fayyad’s government was “an attempt to manipulate the Palestinian people and distance it from Hamas,” he said, adding that the strategy would not work.
Hamas’s seizure of Gaza after vicious street battles with Fatah loyalists that left more than 110 people dead has driven a deep wedge in Palestinian society.
So, Hams complains about playing politics?
Good Grief…….
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Michael Ramirez on Paris Hilton AND Illegal Immigration
Technorati Tags: Michael RamirezHamas, Fatah, Israel
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Fred Thompson Watch: Military Action Against Iran Remains an Option
Former Republican Senator from Tennessee Fred Thompson appears on Fox News channel’s “Hannity and Colmes” in Washington, June 5, 2007.
Republican Thompson highlights serious Iran threat
Tougher sanctions or a blockade on Iran could help foment growing internal dissent to topple the government, former U.S. Republican senator Fred Thompson, a potential presidential candidate, said on Tuesday.
Military action must always remain an option and world powers must agree on the nature of what Thompson called the “very, very serious threat” from Tehran.
Fred Thompson “GETS IT.” So, does Joe Lieberman.
But, does President Bush?Previous:
Fred Thompson Watch: Thompson is IN
Fred Thompson Watch: Representative Blackburn Jumps Ship
Fred Thompson Watch: The Scrutiny Begins
Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Won’t Rule Out Using Oil as a Weapon
An Iranian pumps gasoline into his motorbike at a gas station in Tehran, 2006. Iran has refused to rule out using oil supplies as a weapon in the standoff over its nuclear programme, saying Washington had never excluded attacking the Islamic republic.
Iran says won’t rule out using oil as a weapon
Iran will not rule out using oil as a weapon if the United States resorts to military action against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, an Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Tuesday.
“When the Americans say that military action in regard to the nuclear issue has not been put aside, Iran can also say that it will not put aside oil as a tool,” Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, told Iran’s Sharq newspaper.
Washington says it wants a diplomatic end to a row over Iran’s nuclear ambitions but has not ruled out force if that route fails. Iranian officials say they do not want to use oil as a weapon but have also said they might do so if pushed.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.
“We will not start using this tool (of oil) but if others use their tools that they have not put aside to put pressure on negotiations, it is natural that the two sides would discuss all their tools,” Kazempour Ardebili said.And this changes what?
In any military conflict the United States would expect that Iranian small boats to attack oil tankers and block the Gulf.
Of course, the United States would seize Iran’s Gulf oil fields and bomb its gasoline refineries.
After a number of days the United States would clear the Gulf and Iran would have NO gasoline for the foreseeable future.
Oil flow may be impacted for a week or more, but Iran’s economy would grind to a halt as would its military ground forces since they would have no gasoline for transport.
This is an idle threat.
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Lieberman Repeats Call for Military Action Against Iran
Iran Nuclear Watch: Lieberman – “Aggressive Military Action†Against Iran
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahamdinejad – TOO LATE to Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program
Cox & Forkum: G-8 Party Crasher
Iran Nuclear Watch: COUNTDOWN to Israel’s End
Iran Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice – NO War Plans Against Iran
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Promises to Discuss Nuclear Activities
Iran Nuclear Watch: Rice Warns Iran
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ali Larijani – Suspension of Uranium Enrichment is Not Acceptable at All
The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: IranIsrael, Ahmadinejad
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Giuliani Notes: Thompson 28% Rudy 27% McCain 10% Romney 10% in Latest Rasmussen National GOP Poll
2008 Republican Presidential Primary
There’s change at the top in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson earning support from 28% of Likely Republican Primary Voters. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attracts support from 27%. While Thompson’s one-point edge is statistically insignificant, it is the first time all year that anybody but Giuliani has been on top in Rasmussen Reports polling. A week ago, Thompson and Giuliani were tied at 24%.It remains an open question as to how Thompson will hold up once he actually enters the campaign and has to compete directly with other candidates. To date, he retains the allure of the new kid in town while GOP voters already know the things they don’t like about the others. Still, Thompson’s rise to the top provides a telling measure of how the other GOP hopefuls have failed to capture the imagination of the party they hope to lead.
Once gain this week, Arizona Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are tied for a distant third. This week, both men attract 10% support. Last week, they were both at the 11% level of support. For McCain, this is a continuation of a downward trend. For Romney, it reflects a fairly steady position. Romney is doing well in selected state polls but has been unable to gain much traction and expand his support nationwide.
The GOP NUTS:
This is the first Rasmussen poll in which Newt Gingrich has been excluded.
Is this race boiling down to Rudy and Fred Thompson?
You bet.
As Flap has said: watch for John McCain to drop out of the campaign after the summer if his poll numbers and fundraising do not improve. Mitt Romney will hang in there hoping that Thompson will fade after he formally enters the race and that he can parlay his leads in Iowa and New Hampshire into other states.
Rudy will continue to fund raise and get ready for the coming media campaigns in New Hampshire, Florida and California.
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Technorati Tags: Rudy Giuliani
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Day By Day by Chris Muir June 19, 2007