Happy Fourth of July from everyone at TPM!
Here’s our special July 4th episode of TPMtv about the 4th, America, Iraq, WMD … well, like the title says, the big picture …
John McCain’s struggling presidential campaign may accept federal matching funds, but the attached strings may end up hurting his chances as much as they help. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central July 4th Roundup.
Mitt Romney comes down from the mountaintop of his primordial phoneyhood to reveal himself as an abysmal hypocrite.
Romney says the Libby commutation was “reasonable” but …
As governor, Romney twice rejected a pardon for Anthony Circosta, who at age 13 was convicted of assault for shooting another boy in the arm with a BB gun – a shot that didn’t break the skin. Circosta worked his way through college, joined the Army National Guard and led a platoon of 20 soldiers in Iraq’s deadly Sunni triangle.
In 2005, as he was serving in Iraq, he sought a pardon to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer.
In his presidential bid, Romney often proudly points out that he was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He says he refused pardons because he didn’t want to overturn a jury.
During the four years Romney was in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.
Fred Thompson’s glorious past as mole for the Nixon White House on the Senate Watergate Committee. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Morning Roundup.
Today’s Must Read: Gov. Schwarzenegger erases the last doubt that he’s a bona fide American politician by arranging for a nonprofit to pay for his luxurious travel.
Hmmmm. Nixon had his own Deep Throat. And it turns out it was none other than Fred Thompson, who was minority counsel on the Watergate investigations committee and it seems repeatedly gave Nixon’s lawyers advance notice on the committee’s actions.
No wonder the Bushies are so into him.
Details here on that House Judiciary Committee hearing planned for next week on Libby’s commutation. Meanwhile, defense lawyers around the country get ready to argue that their client should get the same justice as Scooter Libby.
Tony Snow accuses Hillary Clinton of having a “gigantic case” of “chutzpah” for questioning Bush’s commutation of Libby. Full transcript here.
Another one? Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) to announce change in his Iraq policy.