The Telegraph of London (via Dallasblog) reports that Thompson may have some doubts about his chances to become president.
The Telegraph of London reports on a surprising off-air television comment made by Thompson. “Trying to encourage his studio to hurry up so an interview could start, Carl Cameron of Fox News said into his microphone: ‘the next president of the United States has a schedule to keep.’ Standing beside him, a deadpan Mr. Thompson interjected: ‘and so do I.â€
From NPR:
Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a maverick Republican, set a one-day Internet fundraising record after raking in $4.3 million. Many consider his presidential hopes a long shot but Paul is taking his Web-fueled campaign on the road to New Hampshire.
The NPR story makes the point that as a Libertarian minded Republican, Ron Paul is attractive to many people who want the freedom to do what they want to do.
“That lack of a single focus is one of Paul’s strengths on the Internet. He has a little something for everyone. The pothead can take focus on Paul’s stand to legalize medical marijuana and the pro-lifer can take solace in Paul’s view that there’s no constitutional right to abortion. But could those supporters co-exist in a real life campaign? Ron Paul says they can.”
“So far nobody is getting up there and putting disclaimers on there and saying well I support Ron Paul except for…,” Ron Paul said. “They just say I’m supporting Ron Paul’s campaign which is really supporting the constitution and individual liberty.”
Mike Huckabee and Sen. John McCain shared the stage in Iowa last week and discussed AARP matters, civilly.
Amazing. Folks on the ABC News are talking up a Huckabee/McCain ticket for 2008. Not a bad idea, especially now that Sam Brownback has endorsed McCain. Of course I might be a bigger fan of a Huckabee/J.C. Watts ticket, but we’ll see what happens when the time comes. Read more (and the comments of course) at blogs.abcnews.com
A new Google Earth layer keeps tabs on political spending by pinpointing where and for what projects U.S. government officials are budgeting funds for across the country:
Members of Congress know where the money is going: now citizens can, too. The Sunlight Foundation today released a Google Earth application that plots the locations for almost 1,500 earmarks in the House Defense Appropriations bill. This graphic illustration of defense earmarks gives anyone with an Internet connection a bird’s eye view of exactly where Congress is directing federal spending—and the ability to investigate whether the earmarks address pressing needs, favor political contributors or are simply pure pork.
Download the free Google Earth layer from The Sunlight Foundation
via lifehacker
One of the really cool things Google does is Google Talks, where various people are brought in to speak about a number of things important to their employees. And now you can see exactly what the employees are seeing through YouTube.
Candidates@Google.com is hosting a number of presidential candidates, including Ron Paul, Hillary, John Edwards, John McCain and others.
From NPR:
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s first experience with big league politics thrust him in the spotlight as chief Republican counsel on the Senate committee investigating the Watergate scandal. Thompson’s pressing of former Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield led to revelations of the existence of recorded conversations in the Oval Office.
And according to NPR’s report, Thompson is very proud of that. But apparently there’s evidence to say that it wasn’t all Thompson’s doing.
Today, the Web site of Thompson’s presidential campaign says he “gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office.” But in other accounts, Thompson’s role in the Watergate probe was much more ambiguous.
One instance came at a hearing three weeks before Butterfield testified. The witness was John Dean, formerly Nixon’s chief counsel, then the star witness against the president.
Thompson opened his cross-examination with an attempt to disarm Dean: “I hope I’m not considered to be badgering you in any way, but I’m sure you realize, as one lawyer to another, that your actions and motivations are very relevant.”
Dean shot back, “In fact, if I were still at the White House, I’d probably be feeding you the questions to ask the person who’s sitting here.”
Thompson hesitated and then began, “Well, Mr. Dean,” as laughter rolled through the hearing room. “And if I were here as I am, I would respond as I have responded, that I don’t need any questions to be fed to me from anybody.”
In fact, Thompson was being fed information — by Nixon lawyer J. Fred Buzhardt. White House tapes, later made public, captured Nixon, Buzhardt and others discussing the cooperation of both Thompson and Baker, not once but several times.