Meet the next president of Russia, 42-year old Dmitry Medvedev. By a strange coincidence, former chief of staff to Vladimir Putin, who anointed him today.
** HUCKABEE AND GIULIANI TIED IN CNN NATIONAL POLL, CLINTON LEAD DOWN. In a poll completed last night, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee are in a statistical dead heat, 24% to 22%. Mitt Romney trails with 16%, followed by John McCain at 12% and Fred Thompson at 10%.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has 40% to Barack Obama’s 30%. John Edwards is a distant third at 14%.
These are big gains in CNN’s soundings for Huckabee and Obama. Huckabee picked up 12 points in the past month, while Thompson dropped 9 points. Huck’s got some teflon.
Incidentally, I’m hearing that former President Bill Clinton, frustrated with his wife’s campaign, which is now threatened by Obama in all four of the earliest states, is pushing for some changes.
** GIULIANI IN SAN FRANCISCO. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who may or may not be the Republican presidential frontrunner, is in California for fundraising today and tomorrow and did a public event at an eatery that is a San Francisco institution, Mel’s Diner on Van Ness Avenue’s old auto row. He ducked into the diner, once a drive-in — long before I had a birthday dinner there — quipping that he’s from a city just like the City by the Bay. Well, not exactly.
Giuliani committed a bit of news, calling for a corporate tax cut. Calling for corporate tax cuts in San Francisco? Counter-intuitive, to be sure, until you consider that in the huge California presidential primary, which Giuliani must dominate if he is to win the nomination, each congressional district has an equivalent number of delegates. And even though there aren’t many Republicans in the Bay Area, their votes are actually more important on a per capita basis than those in the Republican stronghold of Orange County. So Giuliani appeals with his social liberalism, environmental moderation, tough on terror stance, and enough fiscal conservatism.
“Right now, I think the most important thing we could do to reinforce the dollar, to build our economy, to take care of some of the problems that people see creeping into the economy, I think it would be a really bold move if the President would reduce the corporate tax from the present 35%, which is the second highest in the world, reduce it down to 25%.”
Giuliani noted that some Congressional Democrats are calling for a corporate tax cut, too, to 30%. Meanwhile, the Time Magazine Man of the Year for his role in the aftermath of 9/11 has a big debate coming up this week in Des Moines. And polls showing slippage in a number areas around the country, including a new national poll by CBS News showing him essentially tied now with the surging Mike Huckabee.
** X MARKS THE SPOT. A new X-Files movie started shooting today in Vancouver. I don’t know the plot. Yet.
** UK PRIME MINISTER VISITS AFGHANISTAN AS TALIBAN STRONGHOLD FALLS. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in the vicinity today as Afghan forces, led by 3000 British troops and several hundred Americans, recaptured the Taliban’s only urban stronghold, in a town called Musa Qala. It was the biggest NATO offensive since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001 following Al Qaeda’s strike on 9/11.
** ARNOLD’S VAGUE EXPENSES. This is one of the few un-recycled stories in California politics of late, this morning’s LA Times report that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t been reporting the specifics of what the vast sums raised by his California Protocol Foundation go toward. This is the tax-exempt group formed to finance his residence in Sacramento — a suite at the fabulous Hyatt Regency at Capitol Park — and his travel. The hotel suite for a year has been widely reported at $60,000-plus. The travel, however, is much more. And it seems Schwarzenegger hasn’t been revealing those related expenditures. Which, since they amount to private jet travel, topline hotels, and various ancillaries amount to very big money.
What’s surprising is we haven’t heard about this before, as it’s been going on since the former action superstar’s election in 2003. With scores of reporters whose sole beat is the state Capitol, not to mention angry opposition campaigns in 2005 and 2006, it seems a natural.
I thought he had been reporting the specifics. I remember when Schwarzenegger was thinking of running, and he asked how Gray Davis got back and forth from LA to Sacramento. I explained that the governor flew on Southwest Airlines out of Burbank Airport. It was a funny moment … Schwarzenegger, late arriving at the airport, relegated to boarding group C, stuck in a middle seat.
Joking aside, this is a big slip-up.
** RUSSIA: MEET THE NEW BOSS. A week earlier than scheduled, United Russia named its candidate for president in next March’s election. It’s current Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who prior to his deputyship served for six years as deputy chief of staff and chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin. He is, naturally, Putin’s pick, after a round of Kremlin negotiation, though the announcement was stage managed today with several parties joining in the annnouncement. Including, as touted, the opposition Agrarian Party. Which is so powerful a force it won no seats in parliament eight days ago.
Medvedev, a nice-looking, pleasant fellow won out in a competition for Putin’s favor over several other candidates. For a long time, fellow Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov was seen as a likely pick. But Ivanov is an old KGB hand, a contemporary of the 55-year old Putin, a general in the foreign intelligence service and defense minister from 2001 to 2007 while Russia made hardline military moves.
Medveved, in contrast, is a lawyer, with no intel or military background. He speaks fluent English and comes out of the crew of market reformers around Putin in his St. Petersburg days in the ’90s. Medvedev gave a well-received speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos early this year.
He’s a good new public face for Russia at a time in which it may have to present a softer-seeming line in geopolitics. While the US and Iran were seemingly heading to war — which NWN didn’t buy — Russia could play both countries against one another. But if the US and Iran are heading toward an uneasy rapprochement, for the purpose of settling the security and political situation in Iraq, Russia needs more flexibility from a PR standpoint. Having an intel/military/power type, a siloviki, in the presidential slot would make that more difficult.
The Russian stock market today hit all-time highs after the naming of Medvedev. Led by natural gas giant Gazprom. Of which Medvedev is, yes, the chairman!
And yes, the headline is a reference to a famous Who song.
** WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS WAS. President Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, confessed over the weekend on an NPR show that when a reporter referenced the Cuban Missile Crisis during a recent press briefing, she didn’t know what it was.
Okay then. It’s merely one of the seminal events in modern political history, as well as a classic case study in high-stakes crisis management.
As we’ve discussed a few times here on NWN, with period video, it was only one of the most important events of the Cold War. The Soviet Union secretly moved nuclear weapons into Cuba, 90 miles off the coast of the US. President John F. Kennedy learned of it, instituted a naval blockade of Cuba, and both nations moved to the brink of nuclear war before the Soviets agreed to withdraw the weapons.
** RIGHT-WING NEWS SERVICE SAYS ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF PERSECUTED BY BUSH ADMINISTRATION. An Orange County media outlet called Full Disclosure, which is actually a conservative outlet, has an extensive interview with Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who is under federal indictment for systematically using public office to enrich himself. The outlet puts forward a unique rationale for Carona’s indictment. That he was indicted because, as a staunch conservative, he opposed President Bush’s more liberalized immigration policies.
** SCHWARZENEGGER CLOSETED IN PRIVATE CAPITOL MEETINGS TODAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding private discussions today in California’s Capitol. He’s looking at the budget situation, in fresh trouble from the housing market slump and economic slowdown, as well as the ongoing impasses on water policy and health care reform.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.
You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil are trading up in the $89 to $90 per barrel range.
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Bush’s press secretary didn’t know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was. Figures. lol
Bush’s press secretary didn’t know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was. Figures. lol
Medvedeved looks like a nice guy. I guess that’s the point.
Yep.
I was surprised. It’s part of a basic level of knowledge in politics. You can’t really understand things today and place them in perspective if you don’t see the continuity of things.
>Ann :
Bush’s press secretary didn’t know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was. Figures. lol
Dec 10, 2007 08:38 AM
Didn’t the bozos at FULL DISCLOSURE get the message? Everyone in the GOP establishment down here in OC wants Mike gone yesterday!
Didn’t the bozos at FULL DISCLOSURE get the message? Everyone in the GOP establishment down here in OC wants Mike gone yesterday!
It’s a strain to report that Schwarzenegger is even talking about these things nothing is happening on, isn’t it?
Well, there’s less typing involved …
Is it unanimous?
Does Mike Schroeder want him out?
>richard locicero :
Didn’t the bozos at FULL DISCLOSURE get the message? Everyone in the GOP establishment down here in OC wants Mike gone yesterday!
Dec 10, 2007 09:29 AM
Funny, we were just talking about the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis from a communications standpoint – delivering multiple messages to multiple groups during a crisis. It’s a case study in crisis management as much as it is history and global politics.
Sigh – maybe Perino can get promoted to head of FEMA or something…
Funny, we were just talking about the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis from a communications standpoint – delivering multiple messages to multiple groups during a crisis. It’s a case study in crisis management as much as it is history and global politics.
Sigh – maybe Perino can get promoted to head of FEMA or something…
Funny, I thought that kind of stuff was, you know, taught in college.
Hopefully Corona denies reality long enough for a recall campaign to take hold…
I think he’ll hang there for a long time and embarrass a lot of people.
Bill Bradley :
Funny, I thought that kind of stuff was, you know, taught in college. (Referring to Dana Perino)
Dana Perino’s academic background, from Wikipedia:
Perino graduated from the University of Southern Colorado (now known as Colorado State University-Pueblo) in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and minors in both political science and Spanish. While attending the university, Perino was active on the debate team and with KTSC-TV, the campus-based PBS affiliate where she served as host of Capitol Journal, a weekly summary of Colorado politics, and producer of Standoff, a weekly public affairs program. From there, Perino attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS). Perino obtained her masters at UIS in Public Affairs Reporting while also working as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol for WCIA-TV, a CBS affiliate.
Bill Bradley :
Funny, I thought that kind of stuff was, you know, taught in college. (Referring to Dana Perino)
Dana Perino’s academic background, from Wikipedia:
Perino graduated from the University of Southern Colorado (now known as Colorado State University-Pueblo) in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and minors in both political science and Spanish. While attending the university, Perino was active on the debate team and with KTSC-TV, the campus-based PBS affiliate where she served as host of Capitol Journal, a weekly summary of Colorado politics, and producer of Standoff, a weekly public affairs program. From there, Perino attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS). Perino obtained her masters at UIS in Public Affairs Reporting while also working as a daily reporter covering the Illinois Capitol for WCIA-TV, a CBS affiliate.
Perino was born about ten years after the missle crisis and never had to “duck and cover” in grade school.
I can perhaps understand an accountant or plumber of her generation not knowing about the Cuban Missile Crisis. But someone who minored in poli sci and then entered a career as a flak? Unfathomable and almost unforgivable.
If you don’t know what the Cuban Missile Crisis is, you don’t understand the Cold War.
If you don’t understand the Cold War, you have no sense of context for geopolitics.
It’s all just spin.
Bill far as I know Schroeder wants him out too. OC Register wants him out. He is a huge embarrasment to all down here.
Love the classic rock reference–as the Who is my all-time favorite band by miles and miles–but given events in London today perhaps a different band might have been a more appropriate choice?
Maybe Putin picked Medvedev to avoid a communication breakdown, while Ivanov was left dazed and confused. For the West, Russia’s rise could be good times, bad times. As you note, for Gazprom dancing days are here again. For Chechnyan nationalists, it’s no quarter. And you ask about Democracy? Ah, that’s what is and what should never be.
Fans can catch a few clips under “Music” at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Schwarzeneger, you bozo. lol
Schwarzeneger, you bozo. lol
Southwest Airlines looks a little better.
Ah, Led Zep, the second most popular band of all time — the Beatles being #1 and the Eagles being #3.
A concert now in London.
I’ve never smashed up a hotel room. I wonder what it feels like.
>Chris M :
Love the classic rock reference–as the Who is my all-time favorite band by miles and miles–but given events in London today perhaps a different band might have been a more appropriate choice?
Maybe Putin picked Medvedev to avoid a communication breakdown, while Ivanov was left dazed and confused.
The Orange County Register clearly wants Sheriff Carona gone.
>richard locicero :
Bill far as I know Schroeder wants him out too. OC Register wants him out. He is a huge embarrasment to all down here.
Dec 10, 2007 10:57 AM
Chris M – nicely done! The big concert is tonight.
Chris M – nicely done! The big concert is tonight.
“ARNOLD’S VAGUE EXPENSES”
I bet Arnold spent more on boots than Fabian spent on shoes, but what else is he hiding? Twenty-thousand dollars at GNC? Three hundred in late fees for failing to return “Steel Magnolias”? Untold amounts on bikini waxes? -shudder-
I’m curious to hear what the FTCR has to say about Arnold’s vague expenses.
I also think “oral” record keeping is the best. In fact, it’s very “green,” saving trees and whatnot.
Why didn’t the Phil Angelides campaign get into Schwarznegger’s expenses? What a bunch of bozos. They attacked everything else.
Back to more important things – Zep bootlegs (via streaming audio):
sessions.led-zeppelin.us
Aagh, haven’t listened to them since I was in college.
Aagh, haven’t listened to them since I was in college.
His private conversations were more important. Except … they weren’t.
>Capitol Boy :
Why didn’t the Phil Angelides campaign get into Schwarznegger’s expenses? What a bunch of bozos. They attacked everything else.
Dec 10, 2007 01:27 PM
It’s the ancient tradition, you know, telling stories around the fire.
>Vladimir Bierko :
I’m curious to hear what the FTCR has to say about Arnold’s vague expenses.
I also think “oral” record keeping is the best. In fact, it’s very “green,” saving trees and whatnot.
Dec 10, 2007 12:49 PM
“It’s the ancient tradition, you know, telling stories around the fire.”
“Conan – what is best in life?”
http://tinyurl.com/yrynqk
Busy today doing some cooking for folks, so just slipping in and trying to do a quick catch-up…all good stuff. Very good stuff.
Back to the stove…
Busy today doing some cooking for folks, so just slipping in and trying to do a quick catch-up…all good stuff. Very good stuff.
Back to the stove…
Star Trek II: The Wraith of Khan (this is from Friday’s thread–was busy this weekend putting on party for transit group at venerable Taix in Echo Park section of L.A.)
>Bill Bradley :
That was in one of the movies, right?
>Dana :
I prefer Doctor McCoy’s description:
“According to myth, the Earth was created in six days…”
Per Wikipedia in re the Catholic Church: “When the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharist, they cease to be bread and wine, and become instead the body and blood of Christ. The empirical appearances are not changed, but the reality is.” [from Friday, as explained above]
>Bill Bradley :
That’s clearly a metaphor.
>Dana :
True–like the eucharist really being Christ’s body and blood…
I was listening yesterday to NPR and heard Perino’s anecdote. Guess all the revelations of the Bush regime have left me numb and it didn’t really register in re her admission of ignorence.
Rachel Morris in the Nov. WA Monthly has an article on Giuliani’s style of governing while Mayor of New York that seals my sense he is Bush redux. This is a key paragraph at the conclusion:
What is most disturbing is the likelihood that a Giuliani administration would venture beyond the expansive claims of executive authority staked out by the Bush White House. For instance, though Bush has demanded that Congress fund the war in Iraq, he has never openly questioned Congress’s power of the purse. Giuliani, however, told a reporter that the president has the right to provide money for the troops to stay in Iraq even if Congress withdraws funding. Similarly, Bush has implied that critics of his Iraq policy are unpatriotic, but he has not declared that the government can silence their voices. This September, echoing the sentiments that he repeatedly attempted to enforce as mayor, Giuliani said that the “General Betray Us” ad paid for by the left-wing group MoveOn “passed a line that we should not allow American political organizations to pass.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0711.morris.html
Schwarzenger’s champagne and caviar stories. lol
>>Bill Bradley : I’ve never smashed up a hotel room. I wonder what it feels like.
They probably wonder, too. You know the saying, if you can remember those days, you weren’t really there.
>>Bill Bradley : I’ve never smashed up a hotel room. I wonder what it feels like.
They probably wonder, too. You know the saying, if you can remember those days, you weren’t really there.
There must be some sort of muscle memory, or something.
They aren’t just dreams.
>Ann :
Schwarzenger’s champagne and caviar stories. lol
Dec 10, 2007 04:59 PM
Interesting.
>Dana :
I was listening yesterday to NPR and heard Perino’s anecdote. Guess all the revelations of the Bush regime have left me numb and it didn’t really register in re her admission of ignorence.
Rachel Morris in the Nov. WA Monthly has an article on Giuliani’s style of governing while Mayor of New York that seals my sense he is Bush redux. This is a key paragraph at the conclusion:
It’s going to become evident eventually that I’m one of the least religious people around …
>Dana :
Per Wikipedia in re the Catholic Church: “When the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharist, they cease to be bread and wine, and become instead the body and blood of Christ. The empirical appearances are not changed, but the reality is.” [from Friday, as explained above]
It’s going to become evident eventually that I’m one of the least religious people around …
>Dana :
Per Wikipedia in re the Catholic Church: “When the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharist, they cease to be bread and wine, and become instead the body and blood of Christ. The empirical appearances are not changed, but the reality is.” [from Friday, as explained above]