Bill Growls at Russert and a Cartoonist Captures Mitt

You know there's been some damage when Bill jumps the fence and growls at Tim Russert.

Bill claims Russert's question about the locked up Bill-Hill Arkansas papers "was breathtakingly misleading."

Now that Russert has had his knuckles rapped journalists everywhere will know better than to ask Hillary inconvenient questions.

Is that shtick still working for Bill? I hope not.

Inoculating against charges of being a big meanie because Hillary's a she, here's a funny and accurate cartoon of Mitt Romney. As the video below manages to do for Hillary, the Mitt cartoon really does capture the essential Romney.

Will Ms Romney now denounce the cartoon as a fraud because she knows Mitt only has one mouth?

Hillary self-destructs - the Video

One of the rival campaigns is circulating a video of Hillary Clinton taking what sounds to most like contradictory statements on the major issues. Titled 'Politics of Parsing' it may prove as damaging to Hillary's character as was John Kerry's "I did vote for the war in Iraq before I voted against it."

Don't think so? 1) Watch the video. 2) Listen to the joy on the part of rightwing pundits and radio screechers.

The rghtwing is ecstatic because the Democrats are about to give them what they most want: a fatally flawed presidential opponent. It's a gift to the GOP at a time when it should be a cakewalk for the Democrats to take the White House.

Bill Richardson - The Dark Horse

After Hillary's disastrous debate performance in Philly, might Bill Richardson finally get his opportunity?

It's possible.

After all, John Edwards likely weakened himself with his aggressive attacks on Hillary. Barack Obama appears to be holding steady. And none of the other so-called "2nd Tier" candidates appear to be gaining any traction.

As a dark horse candidate, Richardson's fate probably rests on a decent showing in the retail politics of the Iowa Caucuses. Not only has he consistently been at the top of the 2nd tier, but this Pollster.com chart shows a distinct trend upwards for Richardson--along with a corresponding downward trend for Edwards.

Now comes news that famed Lee Iacocca--the man who saved Chrysler in the 1980s and a onetime presidential prospect himself--has endorsed Bill Richardson.

Has the dark horse finally begun to emerge?

Related:

Lee Iacocca Backs Richardson for 2008
BILL RICHARDSON: A SERIOUS CANDIDATE...
Richardson tags rivals for negativity
Western Governor Considered 'Dark Horse' for US Presidential Nomination

Tourists Penalizing 'Unfriendly' America

Not only does it cost a tremendous amount of money to chase down, jail and deport undocumented workers, but the nation also loses out on their productivity and spending. And there's the cost of litigation and judgements against anti-immigrant towns.

What about tourism to the U.S.? Is there are impact as a result of rising immigrant/foreigner hostility?

Discovery America has crunched the numbers and the economic impact to the U.S. is huge.

Since September 11, 2001, the United States has experienced a 17 percent decline in overseas travel, costing America 94 billion dollars in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs and 16 billion dollars in lost tax revenue.

Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

Related: 'Unwelcoming' US sees sharp fall in visitors since 9/11
America The Unfriendly

Ancient Taino Settlement Discovered in Southern Puerto Rico

Large Ancient Settlement Unearthed in Puerto Rico, National Geographic News - 10.29.07

Bodies, structures, and rock art thought to belong to an indigenous pre-Columbian culture have been unearthed at an ancient settlement in Puerto Rico, officials recently announced.

Archaeologists say the complex—which dates from A.D. 600 to 1500—could be the most significant of its kind in the Caribbean.

More

Related:

Major archaeological find in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican archaeologists accuse U.S. Army Corps of taking artifacts without permission
Local Indigenous Peoples Concerned over New Archeological Find in Puerto Rico
Declaraciones del Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos y el Caney 5to Mundo en torno al hallazgo del yacimiento Tibes/Bucana Baramaya (Portugués)

Technorati Profile

Hillary's Halloween Moment

Since it's Halloween and one of my girls dressed as the cutest Wicked Witch of the West in all of the East, I just couldn't resist posting this last (i.e., for the week) photo of Hillary from last night's Philly Debate.

The photo is humorous by itself, but rabidl bad boy McCullough made it hilarious when he added this caption:

"I'll get you my pretties.... heeehaaahaa haa haa!"

I'm still laughing.

Don’t Look to Democrats for Immigrant Rights

Latinos Democrats looking for constructive change on the issue of immigration should pay close attention to what Roberto Lovato is saying in Don't Look to Democrats for Immigrant Rights (New America Media, October 31, 2007).

Lovato's point? That Democrats may not have the stomach to fight the good fight on behalf of immigration reform.

Nativism sells in the current anti-immigrant environment--and it sells just as well for Democrats as it does for Republicans. Consider the popularity of New York's Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. A popular Democrat, Levy is about to win re-election with upwards of 95% of the vote.

The evidence? Not only links Hillary's equivocating on immigrant licenses during last night's debate to honcho Rahm Emmanual's declaration that immigration is the new third rail, but also to Bill Clinton and his post-Oklahoma bombing efforts at what some call "crimmigration”, the criminalization of immigration.

The bottomeline? The GOP is horrendous and getting worse on Latino immigration, but the Democrats may be no better--and could be worse.

Philly Debate Photo of Hillary and Obama

It's so true that a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is also priceless.

The Philly Debate: The Boys Grow Up and Hillary Stumbles

Last night's democratic presidential debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia was refreshing.

Why?

Two reasons:

1) Hillary's male competitors finally stopped their silly game of not engaging her for fear of being viewed as mean. (Of course, their deference to Madam Hillary did not protect them from being pummelled by the Clinton War Machine and their media allies.)

2) Tim Russert and Brian Williams put away the sexist approach to Hillary and actually asked her tough questions.

This was welcomed progress.

The result was that Hillary, the Democratic Party front runner and likely nominee, was challenged on a number of important points which are sure to become major issues during the next year's general election. Hillary stumbled on all three.

The Iran Vote

Hillary voted this week to allow the Bush administration the first step towards war with Iran. Her response? That something needs to be done and that her vote somehow puts pressure on the Bush administration to do the right thing. What?

Social Security

Hillary's official position on Social Security is that it should not be touched, but privately she has said that payroll tax should be expanded. When asked by Russert to resolve those conflicting views, Hillary herself dug a deeper hole. She said something to the effect that while it's her position that nothing should change, a number of proposed changes will be on the table. What?

Licenses for the Undocumented

This was perhaps the most disturbing response of the night. When asked whether Hillary supported or opposed New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's plan to give undocumented workers drivers licenses, she punted.

What was strange was that the question seemed to take Hillary by surprise. But how could it? After all, Hillary is a senator from New York and it's New York's governor--and Clinton political ally/supporter--who's proposal was being discussed. Either Hillary is so accustomed to the MSM's white glove treatment and expected Russert to not question her non response, or her debate preparation was lacking.

Clinton camp knows that the Republicans plan to use immigration as a wedge against the Democrat nominee, so they want to neutralize it as much as possible. Their strategy is to say little publicly on immigration, while conducting a below the radar outreach to Latinos. The latter explains the recent spate of softball interviews by Latino bloggers.

The question I have is not for Hillary...she and Bill are pretty good at the game of slicing, dicing and parsing in order to win political elections.

The question I have is for all of the Latino politicians, nonprofit CEOs and bloggers that have thrown themselves onto Hillary bandwagon: Do you really want a president who is publicly mute on these most important of issues?

Related:

Obama, Edwards attack; Clinton bombs debate
Clinton feels heat after testy debate