Over the weekend it seemed Mitt Romney was finally breaking away from John McCain in Florida. But there was still that over the weekend endorsement by Gov. Crist (R-FL). And the polls out today show McCain and Romney either tied again or McCain back in the lead. All talk of Mittmentum aside, this is going to be a very significant result Tuesday night on the Republican side.
Today’s the big day on FISA reform and telecom immunity.
Paul Kiel has the rundown on the critical vote scheduled for late this afternoon and on all of the maneuvering, both in the Senate and from the White House.
New Washington Times Editor John Solomon takes a shot at lefty blogs.
Coming off Saturday’s South Carolina blow-out, the Sunday shows were a wall-to-wall Clinton pile-on. In today’s episode of our weekly Sunday show roundup we bring you the high/lowlights …
If the issue is dynasticism in politics, I guess there’s some measure of irony in the group endorsement I’m now listening to from the Kennedy family.
(ed.note: For those of you who are keeping track, this is one of the posts that provides clear evidence we’re in the tank for Clinton, as opposed to the others that provide the final proof that we’ve been covert Clinton-haters all along.)
As you know, on Saturday evening we posted a clip of Bill Clinton comparing Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama. The clip came originally from MSNBC. At least that’s where we originally saw it and picked it up from.
Now, over the last day or so I’ve seen a number of readers claiming that MSNBC had somehow edited the clip to change its meaning — specifically, editing out the question Bill was allegedly answering and leaving in the ‘2 against 1’ question that you hear on the video.
In case you’re having a hard time following, here’s the video again …
Now, as I noted, I’ve heard a number of people make this claim now. But I haven’t been able to find any evidence for it, or even any source making the claim. If anyone knows of any basis for believing this, do let me know. Whether or not it’s accurate, it must be coming from somewhere. So I’m curious to find out more.
In other news, Jackson himself says he didn’t read any racial subtext into Clinton’s remark.
Late Update: Ask and ye shall receive. TPM Reader ZD sends in this transcript of the whole exchange, with questions that came immediately before and after. And it seems clear that the video captured the actual back and forth.
You may remember that former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona was a nominee for the 2007 Golden Duke awards on the basis of miscellaneous Bernie Kerik-like corruption. Now Jones Day, the 4th largest law firm in the country, has stepped forward to provide Carona’s legal defense on corruption charges on a pro bono basis.
The LA Times points out that not only does Carona not appear to be indigent or have a case that raises any legally or constitutionally unique legal issues; he’s still drawing a $200,000 a year pension.
According to the Times article the lawyer at Jones Day, Brian Sun wanted the case and agreed to represent Carona for free if he resigned from office. Apparently, too, setting up a legal defense fund was too complicated.
Arlen Specter will vote with the Dems and against cloture on FISA bill.
The polls for the Republican Florida primary have kept bouncing around between McCain and Romney. And this morning had them bouncing back to McCain. The very latest to come out is this one from SurveyUSA that has Mitt up by one.
The Republican cloture motion on the new FISA bill is up for a vote now in the Senate.
Sixty votes needed for motion to pass â¦
Interesting seeing Hillary and Obama on the floor of the Senate together. Well, maybe not “together” but at the same time.
Maybe they’ll try to catch naps in a hushed corner of the chamber.
Oh, I think that was Larry Craig, too. Just to add levity to the proceedings.
Motion fails, 48 for cloture and 45 against. Sixty were needed. Not even close.
Now the Senate is voting on Sen. Reid’s amendment that would extend the current law–set to expire Friday–for another 30 days.
That too failed, as expected.
Paul Kiel explains what’s next.