Probably. (Make sure you watch the video of the guy in the baseball cap: he's another one of the "Attila cousins." There is an extensive network of us all over the country.)

Yeah: Patrick Hynes sent me the link. So sue me.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yeah: Rudy puts California back in play. But Thompson activates the base, while grabbing some of the swing voters that Rudy would get.

If all the red staters show up (I mean, residents of red states, not writers at Red State), we might not need California. Electorally speaking, of course. (Hey: without the Golden State, try feeding this country.)

H/t: Insty.

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I just got off the phone a little while ago from a conference call with Senator John McCain, who is extremely concerned about the Senate's passing an appropriations bill that includes a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq—not to mention an obscene amount of pork.

One of McCain's goals in gathering a crew of bloggers to talk to on the phone was to get the word out about 1) the damage this bill [and its companion in the House] is doing to the war effort, and 2) the consequences of failure, should we miss the chance to get democracy on a firm footing in Iraq.

He also wants us to keep encouraging the troops, to whom the House and Senate bills must be a tremendous slap in the face.

"In Vietnam, we lost—and that was the end of it," he told us. "In Iraq, if we lose they will follow us home. Failure would be catastrophic."

Senator McCain makes the point that we need the funding for the troops in Iraq by April 15th, so the Democrats are playing political games with this issue pretty late in the day. And, of course, he reminds us that the Constitutional role of legislators is to fund or de-fund: not to set conditions on how or when the money is used to conduct a war.

He quoted General John William Vessey, Jr: "The system is driving policy, rather than policy driving the system." This, of course, is one of his big worries. Remarks McCain: "I've got to tell the American people what's at stake." He warns us that ultimately the war on terrror will be won or lost in public opinion. And all of us participating knew that the mainstream media is not interested in good news about Iraq.

McCain does feel that overall Bush could be doing a better job of reaching out to the American people (but then, who doesn't think this?). He recommends weekly or biweekly updates in which the President uses maps to track our progress and identify problem areas. After all, McCain points out that the surge has given us dramatic progress. He told us that he expected good things from Bush's address today, but regular, detailed reports would be very helpful—even if they were only carried on C-SPAN. (I found this detail interesting in terms of the information dissemination we might anticipate should McCain make it to the White House in 2009.)

The Senator remarked that Bush should read the list of pork projects in the Emergency Supplemental when he vetoes the bill. (Sure enough, the President remarked on some of the more, um interesting provisions included in it when he gave his address this morning.)

Some of the progress the Senator would like us to keep in mind includes the fact that Sheikhs in Anbar province are now allying themselves with us, and encouraging their followers to joing the army and police forces. Also, Malaki's de-Baathification program is about to be implemented.

We spoke briefly about the situation in Iran, which of course is growing more intense every day, with the taking of hostages. He regards these, of course, as "a wake-up call" that should show us how the Iranians might handle nuclear weapons. "This kind of behavior," he tells us, "is a serious, serious challenge."

He underscored the Iranians' age-old ambition for "hegemony in the Middle East," but reminded us that we still have "the best military in the world," while emphasizing that military action is the always the last option.

Ryan Sager of the New York Sun asked if McCain-Feingold should be updated (expanded, really) to meet the conditions of the digital age. The senator's answer: no. Online dialogue is a "marvelous change" that is drawing more young Americans into the political process, he told us. (I read that as a signal that his free-speech-suprression days may be over, which would be nice. Now to repeal the original bill . . .)

The 2008 Election was the big elephant, of course, in this virtual room full of little elephants (mostly) peppering the Senator with questions. When he was asked about Fred Thompson, McCain laughed and said he thought it would be natural that Thompson should have high approval ratings: "after all, he's already been President three or four times, hasn't he?"

Regarding his own campaign, he identified his campaign's biggest weakness as being in the fundraising arena. "My own fault," he told us. "I don't like asking for money, and I've got to get over that." Overall, though, he's "happy" with his how his campaign is coming along.

Participants included Philip Klein of The American Spectator blog; Kim Priestap of Wizbang; Ryan Sager of the New York Sun; Erick Erickson of Red State; Robert Bluey of Bluey Blog; Fausta Wertz of Fausta's Blog; and James Joyner of Outside the Beltway.

Special thanks to Patrick Hynes of New Media Strategics (and, of course, Ankle-Biting Pundits) for facilitating the discussion, which I think helped a lot to bridge the perceived gap between Senator McCain and some elements in the blogosphere.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:23 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Hackbarth has the scoop, but correctly points out that we can't really regard Thompson as serious until/unless we see him raising funds.

Likewise, I won't see Gingrich as serious until he announces: he does seem to be enjoying his current role too much to demote himself to mere candidate status.

One of the most fascinating things about Thompson-mania is the fact that he appears to draw more from Giuliani's supporters than from Romney's; most analysts predicted he'd "take" more support from Romney fans. One possible explanation: people who consider electability to be a serious prerequisite—as I do—will find themselves more drawn to Rudy and Fred. Please don't get me wrong: I heard Romney speak at CPAC, and he did fine. I met him. I think he'd be a competent candidate.

But if star power and serious charisma are on-offer, from either Giuliani or Thompson, we do well to consider them an asset, along with the other factors we look at.

Because in the real world, that matters. Very much.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Was it for the martinis, the oysters—or the pearl?

(David Corn of The Nation discusses new media and the '08 election with Richard Miniter for Pajamas Media; it's a fun video hosted over at Reynolds' digs. Says Glenn: "it's better than Hannity & Colmes." So many things are.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It looks like Mary Katherine Ham wants to draft him almost as much as I do.

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He recognizes that the most vocal Democrats want her to renounce the war, but doesn't seem to remember that the further she veers to the left for the primary, the more ground she has to gain in the general election, when it's time to tack back to the center.

Furthermore, it's still very early in terms of what's going on in Iraq and the War on Terror in general: apologizing for her vote now could cost her a lot later on.

I do think, however, that she ought to put her husband on a shorter leash: he's a brilliant politician, but he brings a lot of baggage with him, and she doesn't need that additional weight.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:02 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Cousin Attila has the scoop.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:12 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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. . . it's time to rock. Frank J. has some important information on Thompson, including the fact that "every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson."

Over at The American Mind, Sean's waiting for Godot Hegel. Me? I'm hoping for Fred.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:04 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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. . . here's one way to lose it fast.

Just as I'd need to hear Thompson make a clear statement against rationing political speech—and expressing regret over his misguided support of "campaign finance reform"—I'd need to hear some statement from Giuliani about gun rights in order to be able to vote for him.

I think he's sent signals out about a "deal" on abortion, and in truth there's little that the executive branch can do about reducing abortion right now, other than appointing constructionists to the Supreme Court. The gun issue is a lot more worrisome, and that video clip scared the shit out of me.

H/t: Moe Lane, who's undertaken the project of dampening my Rudy ardor—at my request.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Glenn Ann says "yes!" He She quotes this exchange between Thompson and Chris Wallace regarding the current GOP field, and whether anyone in it can "carry the ball" in 2008:

CHRIS WALLACE: And if you search your soul and if you listen to what they're all saying and it doesn't seem to you that they're catching on, making sense—whatever—then what?

THOMPSON: Well, I'm going to give it serious consideration.

I'm not sure that's a "yes." It seems to me that Thompson is taking the same stance with respect to Giuliani (or possibly Romney) that Schwarzenegger took vis a vis Richard Riordan in 2003 after we recalled Gray Davis: "You may have the ball provisionally. However, I'm going to take it back if I don't think you can cross the goal line."

Me? The idea of voting for someone who truly believes in the Second Amendment excites me so much, I may have to send myself to bed without my supper.

UPDATE: Much discussion over at RedState, with one commenter claiming that Thompson doesn't have as much charisma as Giuliani: I see it in precisely the opposite terms, though I do admit Rudy has a better chance of getting the Golden State back into play.

Still: if the base is excited enough, California is optional. When in doubt, get people to vote for your candidate, rather than against the other person.

UPDATE 2: It wasn't Glenn; it was Ann. I've fallen into the "guest blogger" trap again. Thanks, James: for the link, and for fact-checking my entry.

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Patrick Hynes caught part of her speech on video. It's a good old-fashioned warm-and-fuzzy speech about taking care of children, the elderly, single parents, and little puppies with big eyes.

Nicely done. She is certainly becoming one hell of a politician, which isn't surprising. She studied under the very best.

Obama has a steep hill to climb.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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James suggests I'd be pleased by a Fred Thompson presidential candidacy in 2008: you're damned skippy I would.

When one looks at the top several contenders in the GOP right now, the choices seem to be between conservatism (Romney, Gingrich and Brownback) or charisma (Giuliani, and possibly Gingrich—but Gingrich's is undercut by his personal life).

The idea that someone out there might bring both conservatism and charisma to the table is more than a little bit appealing.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sure. Unless he starts with the anti-West Coast bigotry—by either ragging on L.A. for its relative paucity of delicatessens, or stating categorically that one could not make a good bagel west of the Rockies, because the air quality/minerals in the water won't permit it.

If there's anyone more scary to the Hillaryites than Obama is, it would be Rudy.

Via Insty, who suspects there will be more media attacks on Rudy, but isn't impressed with this one. Yup: it's pretty pathetic.

Of course, like everyone else I'd like to see Rudy come around on Second Amendment issues, and other Bill of Rights concerns. But at least he doesn't believe in stifling speech, like Senator McCain does. That one is a deal-breaker for me.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 07:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One day while driving home, I was engaged in my usual mental-whiplash-inducing practice of flipping back and forth between Hannity and All Things Considered and I heard people saying nice things about Giuliani on both. That's when I thought he might win big . . . .

More here.

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I think it's hilarious that Mr. Maverick isn't here. I mean, would it really have made any difference? I doubt it.

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