Pataki takes 2008 ambitions on the road

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/4/06 | Marc Humbert - ap

[NormsRevenge]

ALBANY, N.Y. - As Republican George Pataki set off on his latest national political foray Friday, a top adviser to a potential White House rival blasted the New York governor for becoming "a full-time presidential candidate."

Pataki announced a year ago that he would not seek a fourth term as governor in 2006. He is instead eyeing a 2008 run for the White House and has been spending much of his time outside New York in recent months, visiting states with early presidential nominating contests.

On Friday, Pataki was making stops in New Hampshire, the site of the first presidential primary, and in South Carolina where the National Governors Association is meeting this weekend. On Saturday, Pataki was to be in Iowa for several political events before heading back to South Carolina for political events later that day and on Sunday.

On Monday, Pataki is scheduled to deliver a national policy address in Washington on energy issues.

"He's clearly running for president," Howard Wolfson, a key adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other New York Democrats, told The Associated Press. "He's now thoroughly uninterested in being our governor even though he has several months left in his tenure."

Wolfson said Pataki has "zero chance" of becoming president.

"It's unfortunate because he is the only one who takes his candidacy seriously," said the Democratic strategist.

"You cannot run for president as the failed governor of the state," the Clinton adviser said. "He couldn't get re-elected governor, how can he possibly think he could get elected president? What record is he going to run on?"

While there was no immediate comment from Pataki, a top political ally told the AP he hoped the New York governor does run for president.

"With what he's done in New York, the nation could use George Pataki as president of the United States," said Ryan Moses, executive director of the state GOP and a frequent booster of the governor as a tax-cutting, tough-on-crime administrator.

On the national campaign trail, Pataki has been portraying himself as a fiscal conservative who worships the late President Ronald Reagan and helped bring New York back from the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Pataki largely avoids discussing his support for abortion rights, gay rights and tough gun-control laws, positions that do not sit well with conservative Republican voters who tend to dominate the GOP presidential nominating process.

National polls have shown former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona as the front-runners for the 2008 GOP nomination, with Pataki and others trailing far back. Pataki has said he will make a decision about the race after this November's elections.

Clinton, seeking a second Senate term in New York this year, leads national polls among potential 2008 Democratic presidential contenders.

[NormsRevenge]

In this handout photo provided by Paramount Pictures, actor Nicolas Cage, right, shakes hands with New York Gov. George Pataki, left, as they arrive at world premiere of Paramount Pictures' new film 'World Trade Center' in New York on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006. (AP Photo/Albert Ferreira, Paramount Pictures)

[Russ]

Pataki for President? Wake me when he drops out. It should be a short nap...

[NormsRevenge]

Retired Port Authority Police Sgt. John McLoughlin, left, stands with New York State Gov. George Pataki, center and actor Nicholas Cage at the world premiere of the film 'World Trade Center', Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006 in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

[sittnick]

Geez, what is this?!
Pataki, Giuliani, Romney, Allen, Rice, Frist . . . not a solid pro-lifer among all these floated names!

I hope Brownback gets in.

[Alberta's Child]

"He's clearly running for president," Howard Wolfson, a key adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other New York Democrats, told The Associated Press.

Right. Osama bin Laden has a better chance of being elected president than Pataki.

[dangus]

Pataki, a disciple of Reagan? HA!

Pataki : Reagan's Republican party :: Zarqawi : Iraq

[dangus]

Brownback's another traitor.

[dangus]

Waitasec: I just noticed you included Allen. Allen's not my favorite, but unlike Brownback, he is a staunch ally of the movement to get conservatives on the USSC!

[sittnick]

I don't know what your problem with Brownback is, but Allen has been on the record for no restrictions on 1st trimester abortions for a long time.

link

Saturday, July 15, 2006

George Allen: Not the pro-lifer you're looking for

Despite being labled the "true conservative" GOP Presidential contender in 2008, Sen. Allen is not the anti-Roe candidate many seem to assume he is. In a recent post by SlimJim on RedState, he points to several oddities with Allen's "pro-life" credentials. Here were some of the more interesting points:

1) Roanoke.com's Ed Lynch points out that as recently as his last election, Allen refused to endorse the restriction of first term abortions:

During his run for the Senate in 2000, I twice heard Allen attempt to explain his stand on this issue. Neither attempt was very successful. Allen said that he would not restrict abortion during the first trimester, since at that early point in the pregnancy, it is not certain that there is another person involved.

2) Allen's official responses to a Vote Smart questionnaire during his 2000 Senate run. He chooses "abortion should be outlawed when the fetus is viable" instead of "abortion should be outlawed in all cases."

BTW, for those who say there should be exceptions to an abortion ban for cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother, an abortion ban with such exceptions would be much closer to the 'in all cases' choice (which Sen Allen did not choose) than the 'fetus is not viable' exception that Sen. Allen did choose. After all, the majority of abortions, as first term abortions, arguably fall into the "fetus is not viable" exception, while a very small percentage of abortions (I've seen numbers below 5%) fall into the rape/incest/life of mother exceptions.

3) This 2006 article by Fred Barnes discussing a conversation / interview he had with Sen. Allen:

George F. Allen is staring at me. The normally loquacious Virginia senator is not saying anything and neither am I. Silence hangs in the air for a few seconds.

The impasse, like so many other things in American politics, was owing to Roe v. Wade. Mr. Allen's position is carefully demarcated: He would like to see the decision "reinterpreted" to allow states to decide the legal status of abortion. Does that mean he would like to see it overturned? He won't say. So I suggest that Mr. Allen's "reinterpretation" would produce precisely the same result as overturning the ruling: States would decide the fate of abortion. I pause for a response. Nothing. I get more direct. "Why won't you say you want Roe reversed?"

Again, Mr. Allen is mum, and eventually I give up.

[paul51]

Pataki takes 2008 ambitions on the road

Waste of gas. The campaign is DOA

[BlackElk]

dangus: Sittnick deserves your specific answer to his question as to what is wrong with Brownback re: SCOTUS.

[ninenot]

So the total doofus Fred Barnes has a hard time with a somewhat opaque Senator from Virginia.

Beginning to feel like that old Greek guy with a candle looking around in the dark, endlessly...

Where, O Lord, is a CANDIDATE?

[dangus]

Sorry for taking so long... I was waiting to get some information and then it slipped my mind; I'm taking FOUR masters'-level courses in 11 weeks, and it was just finals.

I think I want you to ping that list so they can ALL read my retraction. My criticism of Brownback was based on the fact that he had been critical of some Bush appointees to lower courts; that was not mistaken. However, upon attempting to support that statement, I found other information which is not only possibly exculpatory, but may make that behavior heroic.

Brownback apparently long ago quit blindly accepting Bush's word when Bush promised he was appointing strongly socially conservative justices, and it may very well be his criticism is coming from Bush's RIGHT, not his left. Apparently Brownback was one of the people who led the attack on Harriet Miers, whose politics were closer to that of a deranged "cat-lady" professor of women's studies than a conservative. Miers' hatred of pro-lifers makes Guinsberg seem circumspact in comparison, comparing them to Nazis, Islamic terrorists, and the scourge of terrorism plaguing our nation.

If it were his disgust at nominees such as Miers' (although what I read was prior to Miers' nomination), that caused such distrust of Bush, he may, in fact, be the ideal candidate.

[Brian Sears]

For all those that want a solidly conservative, pro-life candidate, check out Indiana Congressman Mike Pence. Check out the draft campaign at www.pence08.com!

[Def Conservative]

Brownback has an F when it comes to the border, his record is worse than most Democrats. That enough is reason to stop his candidacy.

[sittnick]

Dangus,

Thanks for checking it out. We all have had little misunderstandings (so much to keep track of).

I had my doubts about Miers, but it sounds like she was worse than I feared. I suspect that it is extremely difficult to find a suitable woman to be on SCOTUS as the looked for prep usually detracts from what is central to most conservative women's lives: anchoring a family and raising children (Schlafley, for instance, did all her work AFTER her children were grown). Janice Rogers Brown is a notable exception.

[sittnick]

Brownback has an F when it comes to the border, his record is worse than most Democrats. That enough is reason to stop his candidacy.

I know that 9/11 happened in the meantime, but where were all the single-issue borders people when Buchanan ran in 2000? W. was openly open borders and soft on illegal immigration from the beginning (and governing a BORDER state!) and the issue failed to penetrate Gore's radar (and if it came up, I think we know where HE'd be). Buchanan made that his central issue, leaving many scratching their heads, and earning a big fat "0" (literally) for his efforts.

I would suggest that you look at a man like Brownback's reasons for his "F" on the border. For instance, some who are soft on border issues are libertarians who fear that to track the border, an intolerable amount of intrusive BIG government is an unavoidable sife-effect. There are others who want a soft border because they p[receive that it accelerates a movement towards a bigger, better globalism. By accident, these folks will hold the same position on a number of issues, but their motivation is completely different.

When George the Younger ran in 2000, his foreign policy sounded relatively benign and non-interventionist. In one debate he went on about not being the world's policeman. After 9/11, his demeanor, for better or worse, changed, because of George the Younger's MOTIVATION. He simply perceived that it was necessary for the defense of the U.S. that the current actions in the Middle East and Afghanistan be taken. Whether we like his approach or not (and I for one, do not), I believe his motivation is derived from his sense of responsibility as president.

Like many conservatives, I am pro-LEGAL immigration and anti-illegal immigration. The borders control crowd will not have spectrum wide credibility until they rap the knuckles of those Sangerite/know-nothings who worry about too many of those dirty Mexicans.

(Full disclosure: married to Canadian woman and went through all the rigmarole to get her green card . . . FIVE YEARS!)

[sittnick]

So the total doofus Fred Barnes has a hard time with a somewhat opaque Senator from Virginia.

That wasn't Allen's only atatement, he is basically on the record of not interfering with the first trimester. He is the rarest of birds, pro-Roe v. Wade, anti-Doe v. Bolton.

Hey, and even a doofus has a point once in a while.

For my part, I do not like opacity in my presidential candidates. Ronald reagan was many things, he was not opaque on his positions.

[sittnick]

For all those that want a solidly conservative, pro-life candidate, check out Indiana Congressman Mike Pence. Check out the draft campaign at www.pence08.com!

Pence is a talented, principled and remarkably mature politician. I'd like to see him as veep, but as a Rep, I don't see him as papabile.

[dangus]

You are kidding about Mike Pence, right?

A house member with only five years' experience, whose only distinction is his crusade to open America up to invading armies of immigrants.

Please. Why not just tout your brother-in-law, Phil? Or your seventh-grade teacher? Pence might be a nice guy, and might even be good on most issues (besides his horrific and pathetic sell-out on immigration) but he is a total zero with regards to qualifications, or national base.

Meanwhile, "for all those that want a solidly conservative, pro-life candidate, my brother-in-law, Skip!"