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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Apparently Kerik-Gate Has Taught Them Nothing. . .Loyalty Trumps All in Giuliani Circle

The Daily Flipper

Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t …

November 15, 2007

TOP HEADLINE: Apparently Kerik-Gate Has Taught Them Nothing. . .Loyalty Trumps All in Giuliani Circle

In the Giuliani Kingdom, Carbonetti, 38, may be the key player, but it is a monarchy fortified by numerous other devoted courtiers and confidants who share one thing in common: intense loyalty, dating back years, even before Giuliani served as mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001.

They are barely known outside of New York and are, like Carbonetti, not on the campaign's payroll. But they have the candidate's ear and have been pressed into service as surrogates, mega-fundraisers and advisers. They are neither ideologues nor policy wonks, but part of an eclectic tableau of Giuliani's life and career.

Some held powerful jobs in city government and were mocked in New York political circles as the "YesRudys." They couldn't care less.

Their connection to him is anchored in the premise that mutual loyalty and longtime ties trump all else. Giuliani has performed their weddings and been the first to greet their babies at the hospital. They stood in for him at funerals in the horrific days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the former New York mayor's best-selling memoir "Leadership," he devotes an entire 24-page chapter to the topic of loyalty. It is called "The Vital Virtue."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402367.html

Giuliani Can Win In Blue States! That Is, If His Friends Can Rig the Election. . .

California Democrats mobilized against the initiative, arguing the entire affair is a backdoor effort by Giuliani supporters to improve their candidate’s chances of winning.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor whose comparatively moderate social stances seem well-suited for California, has said he likes the idea behind the Electoral College initiative. But his campaign stresses that he’s not pushing it. Any Giuliani supporters backing the initiatives are acting independently, said his spokeswoman Maria Comella.

Paul Singer, a New York-based Giuliani policy adviser and fundraiser, donated $175,000 to underwrite early signature gathering for the Electoral College initiative. And Anne Dunsmore, formerly a deputy campaign manager for Giuliani, now works for a group backing the initiative, California Counts — Make Your Vote Count! Another leading backer of the initiative e-mailed Giuliani’s supporters, soliciting signatures to qualify it for the ballot.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6901.html

Abandon Ship! Top Romney Fundraiser Calls it Quits

One of Mitt Romney’s top financial aides is stepping down just seven weeks before the voting begins, but the campaign says Ben Godley will continue in an advisory capacity and never made more than a one-year commitment to the Republican contender.

Godley previously handled personnel matters when Romney was governor of Massachusetts. In April 2006, he became one of his first staffers to leave state service for the Commonwealth PAC, the political action committee Romney used to fund his political activities before creating his presidential committee in January.

Godley has since worked beside Spencer Zwick, another former State House aide who now serves as the Romney committee’s national finance director.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1044804

Romney A Little Bit Country? Are the Osmonds On the Mitt Bandwagon?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/11/14/lkl.osmonds.on.romney.cnn

Now and Then: Mitt Romney’s Evolution on Immigration

As a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney has made a big political issue out of his opposition to illegal immigration, lambasting Democratic and Republican rivals alike for failing to crack down on the phenomenon. He has accused Rudy Giuliani of allowing New York to become a "sanctuary city." Yesterday, he denounced Hillary Clinton as an "open border Democrat." But his own record as governor of Massachusetts in cracking down on illegals was patchy. Do we detect a whiff of hypocrisy here?

"Sanctuary cities" are certainly on Romney's mind these days. But he did not take any action to penalize towns in Massachusetts that adopted "sanctuary" policies toward illegal immigrants while he was governor. At least half a dozen Massachusetts communities, including Brookline, Somerville, and Cambridge, adopted resolutions encouraging illegal immigrants to make use of city services and report crimes to the police.

"We never heard from him on this issue," the mayor of Somerville, Joseph Curtatone, told me yesterday, when I called him to check up on what Romney had actually done against "sanctuary cities" as governor. "I never heard him talk about 'sanctuary cities,' until now. As far as I know, he never took a position on this."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/mitt_warns_illegal_immigrants_1.html

Mitt Romney’s All-Over-The-Map Policy Positions Could Cost Him at the Polls

His second problem is his shift on social policy.

Once he was pro-choice, now he's anti-abortion. In 1994, while running for Massachusetts senator, he wrote an association representing gay Republicans.

"If we are to achieve the goals we share," he told Log Cabin Republicans, "we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will."

His opponent was Edward Kennedy. It prompted Fred Thompson to quip during a recent Republican debate: "Actually, Mitt, I didn't know there was any room to the left of Ted Kennedy."

Today Mr. Romney claims to represent "the Republican wing of the Republican Party," espousing a conservatism purer, he maintains, than any of his major rivals.

His answers to questions about his flip-flops have a disingenuous ring. For example, when asked during an interview on NBC about his switch on gay rights, Mr. Romney replied: "At that time, people weren't talking about gay marriage and civil unions. So I've always opposed gay marriage. But at the same time, I don't discriminate against people."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071115.wxmitt15/BNStory/International/home/?pageRequested=all

Chalk Off Another One. . . Romney Flips Adoption Stance

Mitt Romney made adoption promotion a part of his presidential campaign last week with a stop at a South Carolina adoption clinic and a speech announcing his proposal to make tax credits for adoption permanent.

Adoption advocates in Massachusetts were stunned to hear their former governor raise the issue. “I couldn’t believe he was talking about adoption,” said Charles Glick, a lobbyist who has worked with the adoption community.

Amy Cohen, a social worker and the head of the Adoption Professional Association of Massachusetts, agreed. “I would not believe him when he says that he cares about adoption, given his behavior. And I think behavior speaks louder than words.”

The behavior: As governor, Romney pocket-vetoed two significant pieces of legislation highly popular with adoption advocates. His term expired earlier this year and he left the bills unsigned on his desk.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6911.html

Thompson’s Solution For Iraq? Spend More Money!!

Why did Iraq go wrong?

Why is Afghanistan going wrong?

"Our military is simply too small."

So says former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who is running hard to displace former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the Dr. Strangelove of 2008 Republican presidential race.

NOTE: The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost American taxpayers 20K per family:

Democratic Party members say the bill for the wars stands at about $US20,000 for each American family.

The Republican Party is yet to respond to the figures, but the chairman of the joint economic committee of Congress, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, says the costs are a big burden for families.

"The cost of the war is becoming the $800 billion gorilla in the room when it comes to opposition to the war," he said.

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/14/2090016.htm?section=justin

Giuliani Finds Another Place He Isn’t Welcome In Iowa. . .

After speaking briefly at a restaurant, Giuliani walked outside and decided to see the neighborhood. So he took a peek next door at a

local business and decided to poke his head in, as he does sometimes on the trail. Apparently, he didn't know that Curves is a gym for women.

He saw one woman in a sweatsuit on an aerobic machine, said hello and quickly walked out to his waiting car.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/14/467129.aspx

They Really Want to Keep This Story Going? McCain Camp Goes After CNN For Covering Supporter Calling Clinton, Well, You Know. . .

The camp of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hoped to capitalize Wednesday on what it says was a biased report on CNN about a campaign event at which a McCain supporter referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as “the bitch.”

Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, said in an e-mail to supporters that CNN owes the Arizona Republican an apology for its reporting of the story.

The campaign laments that CNN portrayed the event as though McCain did not defend Clinton forcefully enough. The senator, in the short video clip, expressed his respect for the former first lady.

“The CNN Network, affectionately known as the Clinton News Network, has stooped to an all-time low and is gratuitously attacking John McCain for not sufficiently defending Hillary Clinton enough when a South Carolina voter used the 'B' word to describe her when John McCain stopped into a luncheon yesterday at the Trinity restaurant in Hilton Head, S.C.,” Davis said in his e-mail.

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-camp-goes-after-cnn-2007-11-14.html

Fred Thompson Not The 100% Pro-Lifer You Knew and Loved

It is interesting that the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) has chosen to endorse Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a man who once offered legal advice to a pro-choice group, voted against key pro-life issues in the Senate and now espouses convoluted reasons for rejecting constitutional protection of the unborn.

In 1991, Mr. Thompson served as the White House liaison for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, a pro-choice group that lobbied former President George H.W. Bush to overturn a ban put in place by the Reagan administration preventing the government from funding family planning clinics providing abortion information.

Mr. Thompson, who was a lobbyist working at a prominent Washington law firm, voluntarily agreed to take the case.

Recently, Mr. Thompson refused to support a constitutional amendment that would protect innocent life by restricting the availability of abortions. The sanctity-of-life amendment was a core plank in the Republican Party's 2004 election platform, and yet Mr. Thompson said he could not support it, saying his objection stems from his federalist views.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071115/EDITORIAL/111150008/1013

The Daily Flipper is distributed by the DNC Research Department.