As for Herman Cain, I’m also catching a lot of grief for not discussing him. For the record, what I’ve seen of Cain I like. I certainly respect the guy, though I was less impressed with what I saw of his debate performance than Frank Luntz’s focus group was. And I am far from convinced he’s the right candidate at the right time.
I didn’t mention him, or Michele Bachmann (who, I’d predict, will do better than Cain in the primaries if she enters the race), because they didn’t fit directly into the thesis of the column, particularly given space constraints. I can tell from the comments and e-mail that Cain’s fans are already trying to make support for him into some kind of litmus test. I’m not buying any of that. But I look forward to seeing how he does in the weeks and months ahead.
Corwin also finds herself in the middle of a proxy war between national Republicans and Democrats over Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget. Corwin backs Ryan’s effort; Hochul has tethered her hopes to demonizing Ryan’s Medicare reforms, which she claims would harm seniors.
Democrats, sensing disarray in a deep-red district, would love to pick up the seat, mere weeks after Ryan and his House GOP colleagues promoted the budget at town-hall meetings. Republicans, fearful of that spin, are performing triage, sending organizers and volunteers to Corwin headquarters.
“Democrats are going to try to make the 2012 House elections a referendum on ‘Paul Ryan’s plan to end Medicare,’ which all but a small handful of Republicans voted for,” says Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. “NY-26 has too many complicating factors for this to fairly be considered a referendum on Ryan, but inevitably that is how many will interpret the election.”
Read the whole thing. At the end, Costa touches on the problem with David Bellavia, who was passed over for the GOP nomination and is now supporting Crazy Jack Davis. Bellavia’s situation and the problems of the New York Republican Party deserve more attention than I can give it here, but it would be an awful outcome if it results in handing Nancy Pelosi a chance to claim victory over Paul Ryan.
Let’s make a few things clear: This isn’t NY-23. Jane Corwin is not Dede Scozzafava; Corwin is ranked the second-most conservative member of the New York Assembly, based on her voting record. And furthermore, Jack Davis is no Doug Hoffman. Davis is a protectionist who ran three times for Congress as a Democrat.
The Tea Party Express, FreedomWorks and other major conservative organizations are backing Corwin.
Strauss-Kahn’s personal Götterdämmerung on Saturday came with stunning swiftness. On Friday he had checked into the upscale Sofitel in the Times Square area, staying in a $3,000 a night suite with foyer, conference room, living room, marble bathroom and bedroom. It was a lavish layout for a personal trip whose purpose is still unclear; an embarrassed IMF stated firmly that he was not on official business.
He was due in Berlin on Sunday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by two days of meetings in Brussels to work on Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. He could easily have taken a flight from Washington’s Dulles airport without going through New York. Oddly, when police pulled him off an Air France flight Saturday afternoon just two minutes before it left the gate, the plane was headed not to Berlin, but to Paris.
Indeed, if Strauss-Kahn was en route from D.C. to Berlin, why the extra stops in New York and Paris?
Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s extramarital affairs have long been considered an open secret. But the legal charges against him — which include attempted rape, forced oral sex and an effort to sequester another person against her will — are of an entirely different magnitude, even in France and elsewhere in continental Europe.
In France, meanwhile, it seems that the initial round of America-bashing over the notion that a presumably great man like Strauss-Kahn could get arrested over a maid (sacre bleu!) has given way to a little more honesty. Both National Journal and Time Magazine report today that Strauss-Kahn’s reputation as a womanizer glossed over a well-known cruel streak that didn’t exist with other mainstream French politicians.
This 4-minute video features an interview by Lynda Waddington of the Iowa Independent. But never mind that part: Pay attention to the enthusiastic reaction Herman Cain generates from the grassroots GOP in Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
You see what I’m talking about? People love this guy. He is a people person. And that makes a huge difference at the retail-politics level, which is what the Iowa caucuses are all about. And by the way . . .
When Audrey Hudson of Human Events e-mailed to ask if I’d be interested in her story about the pupfish, I sent her back a six-word message: “What the hell is a pupfish?” Here’s part of her story:
Federal agents must abandon their vehicles and chase drug smugglers and illegal aliens on foot through 40 acres near the Mexican border because of a pond that is home to the endangered desert pupfish.
It’s part of the agreement between the Homeland Security and Interior departments on how best to protect the ecosystem, frustrating lawmakers who say it also prevents agents from conducting routine patrols. . . . The two-inch, bluish pupfish lives in the Quitobaquito Pond and spring channel in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument west of Tucson, Ariz. . . .
Lawmakers are frustrated over the territorial battles between the government agencies that are charged with protecting the environment and protecting the border.
They say federal land managers are using environmental regulations to block the Border Patrol from accessing protected portions within 21 million acres on the southern border and 1,000 miles along the Canadian border . . .
The Campaign to Defeat Obama will have a radiothon Thursday night with guests including Michelle Bachmann, Andrew Breitbart, Phyllis Schlafly, Rick Santorum and . . . well, me, among many more.
“Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood, because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate.”
— Newt Gingrich, in Fox News interview Tuesday
UPDATE: Oh, this is classic: Newt’s spokesman Rick Tyler calls Gingrich’s critics “sheep,” whom he accuses of “not wanting to be dropped from the establishment’s cocktail party invite list.”
Seriously, though, I’m pissed. For the press secretary to a career politician to accuse his critics of being concerned about “cocktail party” invitations?
What part of “fuck you, Rick Tyler” is so hard to understand?
