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What does it say about the secular state of the MSM that a liberal media member has to defensively clarify for the record that she doesn't object to a candidate having "a moral grounding"? During the opening half-hour of today's Morning Joe, a clip was played of Mike Huckabee describing to a South Carolina gathering how he found his faith as a 10-year old attending a vacation Bible school, and hoped that others had experienced that joy and would share it with others. JOE SCARBOROUGH: The thing that I found is, if people don't get too down in the weeds...

Would a Mike Bloomberg presidential candidacy be the Dems' worst nightmare? Yes, according to Bill Schneider. The CNN Senior Political Analyst described the NYC Mayor in terms that should make Hillary Clinton's blood run cold: "a Ralph Nader, with money." Schneider offered his analysis at 4:40 PM ET today on the Situation Room. View video here.

After picking a legal fight with gun dealers down South, Mayor Bloomberg could soon come under fire in courtrooms in South Carolina and Georgia. Two recent court rulings — one from yesterday — suggest that Mr. Bloomberg may want to reserve a few days on his calendar next year in case he is called to face a jury over allegations that he defamed two gun dealers by speaking ill of them in the press. "He's going to get a reception that's very different than the one he gets from his handpicked audiences across the country," a former congressman who is...

In his most detailed comments on the Iraq war, Mayor Bloomberg last night suggested the United States was in the same difficult position as the British in the Revolutionary War - facing a determined band of insurgents. Bloomberg said the comparison occurred to him when he visited his mother recently and was driving through Lexington, Mass., where a scrubby group of farmers rose up against a well-trained militia more than 200 years ago. "We're the British," the mayor said during an interview with Tom Brokaw at Cooper Union, part of a series featuring potential presidential contenders hosted by former Gov....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR- 302-07 August 17, 2007 MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES MORE THAN HALF OF GUN DEALERS NAMED IN NEW YORK CITY LAWSUITS HAVE SETTLED Two More Gun Dealers Enter into Settlements Consistent With Prior Agreements Judge Finds City Has Right to Hold Dealers Accountable for Harm Caused To New Yorkers Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that two additional gun dealers named in the New York City's lawsuits against 27 dealers caught selling illegally have agreed to settlements with the City, bringing the total number of gun dealer settlements to 14. The settlements were announced two days after Judge...

A key Congressional committee dealt a major blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s campaign against illegal firearms yesterday, refusing to allow police departments broader access to data that tracks guns sales. The bill restricting release of the information, approved by the House Appropriations Committee, must still be passed by the full House and reconciled with a similar Senate measure. But since the Senate bill is considered even more beneficial to the gun industry, the Bloomberg administration appeared resigned to defeat. A statement from Mayor Bloomberg called the vote “a profound disappointment.” “While I was hopeful that the Congressional committee would...

WASHINGTON - Mayor Michael Bloom- berg's aides threatened to run negative ads against House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey if pro-gun legislation opposed by the mayor was passed in that committee, Obey claimed yesterday. The mayor's office denied the charge. Speaking during a committee session, Obey (D-Wis.) said Bloomberg aides told his staff that TV ads painting him as anti-law enforcement would be run in his district if the provision, known as the Tiahrt Amendment, restricting police use of federal gun checks, was passed. "The Mayor's staff came into my office, and rather than discuss the merits, they simply did...

Thompson Hit Piece Disguised as Bio On Bloomberg’s “News” Service Posted by Warner Todd Huston on July 5, 2007 - 04:31. Is it just me, or did the Bloomberg "news" service just release a hit piece on Senator Fred Thompson disguised as a bio on the Senator just in time for a Michael Bloomberg entrance into the race as an independent presidential candidate? On June 28th Bloomberg writers Kim Chapman and Julianna Goldman brought us "Thompson's Backers Check His 'Fire in the Belly' for 2008 Race", a piece that reads more like a long series of snide undercuts of Thompson...

NEW YORK - New Yorkers: They're smug, egotistical, and already think they run the country (if not the world). So what's the rest of the nation to do now that three of 'em are mentioned as White House hopefuls, ready to swap Penn Station for Pennsylvania Avenue? Cringe? Clap? Or just consider somebody else? "That's pretty sick," said Norm Whipple, 59, of Los Angeles, offering a wry grin about the presidential prospects of Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican Rudy Giuliani and unaffiliated New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Someone has to keep an eye on those New Yorkers." The specter...

Well, golly gee, Gomer, that were a butt-kickin' gun giveaway down in ol' Virginny t'other night, weren't it? In case you missed it, something called the Virginia Citizens Defense League held a "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" to raise funds to pay the legal fees of firearms dealers who are being sued by Mayor Mike for illegally selling weapons. According to the league, the prizes were "a beautiful Para Ordinance [sic] PX745E handgun" and "a sweet Browning Varmint Stalker," and we thank the league for offering the rare opportunity to use the words "sweet," "varmint" and "stalker" in the same sentence. The...

May 19, 2007 -- Anti-gun New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) is at it again. A recent New York Post article detailed how, at a breakfast sponsored by Ladies Home Journal, he took a swipe at the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) for its support of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits the disclosure of confidential firearm trace data except in the course of a bona fide criminal investigation. "It is one fringe organization," charged Bloomberg. MEEHAN-SHAYS AMENDMENT DEFEATED! For the second time this year, legislation infringing on American citizens' First Amendment rights was defeated in the U.S. Congress. On...

(CBS/AP) McLEAN, Va. -- A Virginia gun rights group has been told it has to modify a gun giveaway that it’s planning in order to get back at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his federal lawsuits against out-of-state gun shops. The Virginia Citizens Defense League is now doubling the number of guns it plans to give away. And the group is opening its contest to anybody who shows up at a meeting tonight. The group has organized the Bloomberg Gun Giveaway raffle to raise money for the gun shops being sued and to poke a thumb in Bloomberg’s eye....

NYC To Hand Out Free Condoms On Valentine's Day (CBS/AP) NEW YORK If you need to buy flowers or chocolate for your Valentine on Wednesday, you're on your own. The condoms, however, are free -- courtesy of New York City. Taking advantage of the holiday for lovers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration was to unveil the official city condom in midtown Manhattan, where volunteers were to hand them out free at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street. The health department's condom program already distributes 1.5 million free condoms each month, but the regular wrapper doesn't allow for tracking the effectiveness of the...

WASHINGTON — Taking his fight against illegal guns to Capitol Hill, Mayor Bloomberg has a warning for members of the new Congress: Vote for a measure backed by the gun lobby, and he'll remember in 2008. Mr. Bloomberg issued his threat yesterday as he convened a national summit of more than 50 fellow mayors from both major parties, all members of the coalition he cofounded to combat illegal guns. The day-long session, which included leaders from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Newark, centered on ways to advance federal legislation to help police track illegal gun sales, and to oppose measures that...

The city is losing its competitive edge and could give up its place as the financial capital of the world in as little as 10 years, a report commissioned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer has found. On Monday at City Hall, the New York leaders were expected to discuss the report from consulting group McKinsey & Co. Bloomberg and Schumer have been concerned about what they say is a growing threat to New York's position as a global leader.

NEWTOWN, Conn., Nov. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry's trade association, said today it was outraged but not surprised to learn that Brooklyn, N.Y.-based federal court judge Jack B. Weinstein had appointed a lawyer handpicked by New York City Mayor Bloomberg to monitor several small out-of-state "mom and pop" gun stores that had been sued by Bloomberg earlier this year. The lawyer, Andrew Weissman, is a partner with the Chicago- based law firm of Jenner and Block. The firm represents the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a Washington, D.C.-based gun control group known for...

ALBANY - The city should slash the number of people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We've taken a look at it to see whether we couldn't have fewer," Bloomberg said. "I can tell you one thing: We will keep it to as a minimum as we possibly can." Bloomberg added that he has asked Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to tackle the issue. "If you want a gun permit, you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you...

ALBANY - The city should slash the number of people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We've taken a look at it to see whether we couldn't have fewer," Bloomberg said. "I can tell you one thing: We will keep it to as a minimum as we possibly can." Bloomberg added that he has asked Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to tackle the issue. "If you want a gun permit, you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you...

De Niro Has Role in NYC Trans Fat Debate NEW YORK -- Days after city health officials proposed outlawing trans fats in eateries, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the ban and tried to drag Robert De Niro into the debate because the actor's restaurants do not use the man-made oil. De Niro, an owner and investor in several culinary hotspots, went to City Hall on Thursday for a news conference related to his Tribeca Film Festival, but stayed for the mayor's general press briefing, at which Bloomberg was asked about the health department's trans fats ban. The proposal is raising questions...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg unleashed a tirade on Congress yesterday for pushing gun legislation that, he said, leaves it easier to track the origins of tainted spinach than a cache of illegal firearms. Speaking yesterday near the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., where he called for tougher gun laws in that state, Bloomberg drew a direct link between gun-related violence and proposed legislation that makes it harder to track illegal guns and penalize rogue dealers. "They are pro-criminal and anti-public. They're anti-children. They're anti-all-of-us who would like to live free and safe," Bloomberg said. "Nobody wants to take away your right...