July 2007 - Posts
Another anti-Clinton YouTube is making the rounds, pointing out the possible 28 years of Bush-Clinton rule - in addition to bids by Jeb, Chelsea, and then the Bush twins. “It’s time for a regime change,” the YouTube concludes. “Don’t vote Hillary.”
well, not really.
‘Obama girl,’ Amber Lee Ettinger; ‘Hot4Hill girl’ Taryn Southern; and ‘Rudy girl,’ Adelina Kristina explain their provocative YouTube campaign videos and why their favorite presidential candidates should win the election in 2008. Click here if you missed it on Hardball.
And for you Hardballers, a special Web-extra: The viral video girls extra share a Beach Boys song with MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Click here for the video .
CONTINUED >>
On Monday, we played Hardball with the toughest kid on the block, Michael Moore. The Oscar-winning filmmaker Mabout the '08 presidential field and his documentary "Sicko," which highlighted criticism of American health care.
MICHAEL MOORE: Good idea. I think it‘s something, though, that actually, they should be lucky just to get censured. Personally, I‘d like to see a perp walk coming out of the West Wing of the White House.
MATTHEWS: Do you think they‘re guilty of war crimes?
MOORE: Absolutely.
MATTHEWS: Name them.
MOORE: Lying to go to war. Start with that one. Making up something, tricking up the evidence for war in order to take us into a war that‘s cost us over 3,600 soldiers‘ lives and countless Iraqi lives. History will not be kind to Mr. Bush for what he's done.
CONTINUED >>
Get ready for Super Tuesday. It's all-day coverage of the '08 issues that matter to you and your family, only on MSNBC. Join NBC's Tim Russert, Andrea Mitchell, Ann Curry, Chip Reid, Natalie Morales, and MSNBC's Chris Jansing, Amy Robach, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, and of course, Chris Matthews to find out who's ready to be the next president. We're putting the contenders in the hot seat, including Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Tommy Thompson, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Gov. Mike Huckabee. Plus, the best political minds around will be on hand with their analysis and predictions.
Hardball will be on the Plaza with our special guest, "Law and Order" star and Unity '08 spokesman Sam Waterston, who's working with that group to put a third-party ticket in the White House.
Plus, a boots on the ground Hardball debate: Iraq vets Pete Hegseth from Vets for Freedom and Jon Soltz, chair of Votevets.org, go head-to-head on the war, the Bush administration, and when the troops should come home.
And who needs the boys of summer? Tuesday, the political girls of the summer of '07 -- Obama girl Amber Lee, Giuliani girl Adelina Kristina, and Hott4Hill Taryn Southern -- will play some Hardball!
Wednesday, Chris talks to Lance Armstrong about the upcoming Livestrong Presidential Cancer Forum...just the start of another smokin' summer week here on Hardball.
Don't worry, it isn't too late! Make your own campaign ad about your favorite presidential candidate or the candidate you like the least. We'll play the best videos on "Hardball."
Upload your ad here.
Our panel of all-star judges will select the winner in August. Click here to learn more.
Inspired by the success of Obama Girl and Giuliani Girl, actress Taryn Southern has created her own viral political video, Hott 4 Hill:
She explained her reasons for making the video on Monday's Hardball (video) and also on her blog .
If you think you've got what it takes to make a better political video than Hott 4 Hill, sign up for Hardball's Campaign Ad Challenge .
The International Association of Fire Fighters released a video this afternoon charging Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani with 9/11 leadership failures while he was mayor that they say led to the deaths of firefighters. (Click here to go to the IAFF site and see the video ).
The union also attacked Giuliani on his decision to put his communications center in the World Trade Center even after it was targeted in 1993, and his decision to pull firefighters off search and rescue after $200 million in gold was recovered from the site.
On the show was Harold Schaitberger, President of the International Association of Fire Fighters. (Watch video of that segment here. ) We asked for Rudy Giuliani or someone from his campaign to appear on Hardball to discuss these charges, but they declined our invitation.
The Giuliani campaign responded to the video by issuing a press release saying that under Mayor Giuliani , "the FDNY secured $10-million of bunker gear for all firefighters, purchased thermal-imaging cameras, purchased personal alarms for all firefighters and that Mayor Giuliani increased funding for FDNY, updated the aging EMS ambulance fleet, increased staffing from four to five firefighters in 60 engine co's. and added one new division and two new co's."
Another recent campaign press release included this quote from Lee Ielpi, Ladder 2, Retired FDNY: “It’s unfortunate but not surprising that the IAFF union bosses have once again taken the low road in a move clearly out of step with their membership. In 2008, I expect these same union bosses to endorse Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or John Edwards, so today’s comments are just a first step in that process. Fortunately, rank and file firefighters know the difference between politics and leadership.”
Click here for more on this story.
It's been an exciting Super Tuesday on MSNBC.
According to YOU, via an MSNBC.com unofficial unscientific online poll, Iraq is the issue of the day. Your votes tell us Iraq will weigh most heavily in deciding your vote in the 2008 presidential election.
Could John McCain, its most ardent advocate, become the war's first political casualty?
Today, the former 2008 frontrunner announced the resignations of both his campaign manager and longtime chief strategist. As Senator McCain stood on the Senate floor defending the surge in Iraq, the announcement caught the political world off-guard.
One big problem is McCain's "burn rate." His campaign war chest reportedly has less money in the bank than back-of-the-pack candidate Ron Paul. And his poll ratings have sunk to single digits in Iowa. Can a staff shake-up save his campaign?
McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement that he had accepted campaign manager Terry Nelson’s and strategist John Weaver’s resignations with regret, and he told reporters later that they had not been fired.
But former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a longtime friend and trusted adviser to the campaign, told MSNBC that was exactly what happened. Below is the transcript of the interview with former Gov. Frank Keating, conducted by MSNBC's Tucker Carlson. (WATCH VIDEO here )
So what do you make of this? I mean, is this the low point, preparatory to a resurgence? Or is this a sign of real trouble?
FRANK KEATING: No. I mean, I really think that in a two-year campaign—and this is unprecedented in the history of the United States—in a two-year campaign, you’re going to have fits and starts and stalls and stops.
In John’s case, he’s had a very good fundraising quarter for the first quarter, a good fundraising quarter for the second quarter. But he’s spent a lot of money. He needed to consolidate, he needed to have one person placed in charge, instead of a committee of people. And I think it’s going to make him a much stronger candidate, a much better candidate.
CONTINUED >>
As Chuck Todd reported yesterday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is going up today with TV ads on Iraq targeting GOP senators up for re-election in 2008, including GOP leader Mitch McConnell (in Kentucky), Norm Coleman (in Minnesota), John Sununu (in New Hampshire), and Susan Collins (in Maine).
Today, the DSCC has finally confirmed these TV ads to NBC, and below is a script of one of these ads, which the Political Unit is efforting. You can also click here to view the ad . Click here to watch what was on Hardball Tuesday .
Narrator: The situation isn’t improving.Narrator: But instead of doing the right thing, Senator McConnell just gives us more of the same.Visual: Sen. McConnellNarrator: Four times this year, McConnell voted to continue George Bush’s open-ended commitment in Iraq, and against bringing our troops home.Narrator: Now he has another chance. Call McConnell. Tell him it’s time to do the right thing. Visual : Call Sen. McConnellNarrator: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this ad.
(Chris Matthews, on Monday's show)
Well, it's hot in Washington today -- and it not the humidity, it's the heat. And a lot of the heat is this war, this war the country doesn't want anymore.
What we're seeing and feeling in the country's Capitol tonight is the sound and sight and temperature of the fifth summer of a war in Iraq -- a war the American people backed, according to the polls back then, as long as it wouldn't produce significant casualties.
Are 3,600 dead "significant"? Is 27,000 wounded "significant"? Is this what people reckoned for when they bought the Bush-Cheney plan for peace, stability and democracy in Iraq, when they saluted the president's call to put the American Army in the middle of Arabia?
So now, just maybe, we're nearing the boiling point.
The Republican pressure on the president on Iraq is building. Will Democrats now seize the moment? The White House denies it's debating a troop withdrawal but even the president's leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell said, "The majority of the public has decided the Iraq effort is not worth it... that puts a lot of pressure on Congress to act because public opinion in a democracy is not irrelevant."
President Bush's low poll ratings hasn't stopped him from flexing his presidential power. Monday, he invoked executive privilege rebuffing Congress by refusing to provide information and testimony in the investigation into the firing if U.S. attorneys.
And what about you?
What do YOU think?
Tomorrow is "Super Tuesday" all day on MSNBC. We want to hear from you, so take part in our live votes and send us your video, text and emails...
Click here to weigh in on the issues and here to send us YOUR questions. (You can send it text or video.) We'll have special coverage all day.
It’s time now for Vide08, our daily look at the most talked-about political videos. Take a look at this ad from the left-leaning group “Americans United for Change,” which goes after vulnerable Republican Senator Norm Coleman.
CONTINUED >>
Chris Matthews, who was taking the day off today, called into the 7 p.m. edition of Hardball to react to the breaking news of Pres. Bush commuting Scooter Libby's 2 1/2 year-prison sentence.
“I’m not surprised,” he told MSNBC’s David Shuster.
“I’ve been saying for weeks I thought the president would pardon him. I didn’t think he would do this ‘three quarters of the way’ pardon which would leave him with a fine to pay and being disbarred.”
For Matthews, Libby was “at the concourse of intelligence, at the concourse of case for war, and apparently also at the concourse of the leaking operation.”
“Libby is in trouble for being part of a team – part of a team whose purpose it was to sell the case for war and to perhaps make sure that someone who was out to debunk the case -- Ambassador Joseph Wilson -- wasn’t credible. So everything he’s been accused of and found guilty of were efforts that were very much a part of the administration’s political purpose.”
“The irony in this case is that the president said he would 'deal with anyone who leaked,' and now his way of dealing with Scooter Libby is to pardon him.”
CONTINUED >>
On "Hardball" Monday, Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter defended conservative pundit Ann Coulter’s incendiary commentary.
“Especially since Ann Coulter said nice things about me, I think she’s closely approaching that level of being a great American,” he said.
Coulter has called Hunter her first choice for president, and Hunter returned the praise Monday, calling the conservative radio talk show host “a particularly articulate spokeswoman for the conservative view.”
Too often, he complained, “when conservatives talk, they are considered to talk in a mean way, and yet when Democrats talk, they’re exercising their right to free speech and they’re simply conveying a philosophy.”
“You know, I’m reminded of the [vice presidential] debates between John Edwards and Dick Cheney [in 2004] in which John Edwards said some pretty personal things about Dick Cheney’s family,” Hunter added. “And Vice President Cheney just kept on talking about the issues.
“So you know, I’m running a campaign on a basis of a strong national defense and enforceable borders,” he said. “... But Ann Coulter — I think Ann Coulter is good.” Click here to watch the interview or read more .
