A Political Lunch that is.

Thanks to Rob Millis for including the site in yesterdays program. (The first of MANY MANY mentions I hope). Best wishes and everyone go check out the program.

MSNBC has an interesting article recapping some of the changes being made by those migrating to South Carolina (Can be applied to some other Southern states as well) to politics as usual.

I just spotted an interesting tidbit in the Blogosphere about Mitt Romney concerning a quote and some science fiction. As was noted Mitt Romney favorite book is Battlefield Earth, a science fiction title from L. Ron Hubbard. Why is that important?

During a commencement address at Regent University Mitt Romney made the following statement:

“It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking,” Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. “In France, for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.”

Of course as far any non-Frenchmen can find the seven year marriage contract doesn’t actually exist. So where did the idea come from? Apparently the idea comes from a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card called The Memory of Earth. Now at the moment on Mitt Romney’s site the full text of his speech doesn’t seem to be there & the excerpts on the site don’t include the quote. You have to goto the recap at the Washington Post.

Rudy Giuliani’s abortion woes are only getting worse since the debate last week.

Giuliani gave money to Planned Parenthood on at least six separate occasions in the 1990’s according to Politico which was e-mailed copies of Giuliani’s tax returns along with the information about the donations from a rival campaign.

My question is which campaign? I have a suspicion but I won’t go stirring up trouble without any information. From the article:

Asked how Giuliani could reconcile personal opposition to abortion with a contribution to Planned Parenthood, a Giuliani spokeswoman reiterated the former mayor’s stump message and took what could be construed as a shot against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has recently become an opponent of abortion rights.

“Mayor Giuliani has been consistent in his position — he is personally opposed to abortion, but at the same time he understands it is a personal and emotional decision that should ultimately be left up to the woman,” said Maria Comella.

Planned Parenthood provides a lot of valuable services but at the same time it is obvious that they appear to be most vocal about the necessity for a woman’s right to chose. A Republican giving money to planned parenthood and being surprised people would see it as an endorsement of abortion would be like a Democrat giving money to Jerry Falwell and then being surprised people would assume they are now against the separation of church & state.

As I pointed out during the Don Imus controversy Sen Clinton & Obama, who both called for the ouster of the radio personality, should & would face some tuff questions about whom they have associated with. Obama was caught in a photo with rapper Ludacris during a fundraiser & Sen. Clinton had a fundraiser thrown by rapper Timbaland which brought in $800,000.

Both wrappers have used explicit lyrics on their albums including the same language used by Don Imus. The Family Research Council & other groups are now calling on Clinton to return the money raised or her campaign.

Perhaps more unfortunate for Clinton the the association was how her campaign handled the response. The following is from the article:

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It was long ago that Democrats were turning their noses up at debates hosted by FOX News citing the anything but friendly treatment Democrats receive from the media outlet. Now Rudy Giuliani has called into question the ‘but I said at the time when Democrats first started their rants against FOX hosted debates that it was the worst position to take. They could only be helped by heading to a FOX audience and getting new exposure. Frankly if they aren’t willing to take tuff questioning or deal with tuff commentary surrounding the event, they shouldn’t be running for president.

More importantly though that position opened up the floodgates for Giuliani’s stance. If the major Democratic candidates refuse to sit with FOXS news, why should Republicans sit for the network that hosts Olbermann or for PBS or Air America or any other media outlet they see as discriminating?

I think its just as silly for Giuliani as I do the Dems but with that said he now has a right to demand only Republican leaning coverage, its what the Dems asked for first.

There is no void of opinion concerning the recent Republican & Democratic debates out there. Here is mine. I have to zero in on one specific bone of contention and that is the repeated line that the reason the debates suck is because it is “too early”. I take the complete opposite view.

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With growing calls from candidates CNN has decided to allow its debate coverage to hit the Internet without restrictions. That is wonderful news for Web sites & Internet forums like Election Geek.

Due to the historical nature of presidential debates and the significance of these forums to the American public, CNN believes strongly that the debates should be accessible to the public. The candidates need to be held accountable for what they say throughout the election process. The presidential debates are an integral part of our system of government, in which the American people have the opportunity to make informed choices about who will serve them. Therefore, CNN debate coverage will be made available without restrictions at the conclusion of each live debate.

Battlefield Earth from L. Ron Hubbard founder of Scientology and also a terribly bad movie (yes thats opinion) from John Travolta. Kind of an interesting choice if you ask me, not so much because its science fiction and non-substanative but because it doesn’t seem to be very good. No Neuromancer, no 2001, no Fahrenheit 451?

Some are according to the Times Online.

Also in the article a bigger picture of things, some Republicans are also defecting to other Dems like Hillary Clinton.

According to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, Obama and Clinton have vacuumed up more than $750,000 (£375,000) in individual contributions from former Bush donors.