By Roger Stone
SPITZER: Lies About Socks |
Never mind money laundering or violating the Mann Act. Never mind illegal campaign contributions and the subsequent lies about the true source of the money. Never mind using the New York State Police to spy on his political opponent and then trying to cover-it up Nixon style. Never mind that the Spitzer of today rails for the AIG e-mails when he blocked release of his own e-mails in the Troopergate matter. Eliot Spitzer's real crime, above all, was having sex with calf length black socks on.
And now, sadly, he's lying about it. In an amazingly candid and obtuse interview in
BigThink.com, Spitzer denied he wore black hosiery to do the wild thang. But there are at least three independent confirmations of this weird predilection.
I first reported it to the FBI in
on November 19, 2007. Madam Kristin Davis confirmed that many of her girls commented on it on a SIRIUS radio interview only five days after Spitzer resigned, and the New York Post reported confirmation the FBI got of Spitzer's Black Sock fetish
from yet another call girl.
Of course the hypocrisy-lovers at
Gawker.com bought Spitzer's latest lie hook, line and sinker.
Yet three independent sources all confirmed he did it with his droopy calf-length socks on.
By Roger Stone
CRIST: Don't Count Me Out |
Jubilant conservatives who cheered new polls that showed former Florida House Speaker and Conservative Marco Rubio pull even with Charlie Crist, would be cautioned not to pop the Champaign corks just yet.
Rubio's stumbling interviews this week reflected poor preparation and lack of readiness for primetime as well as a lack of instinct to go for the jugular.
Crist maintains a huge financial advantage and will be able to finance multiple tracks of TV advertising – both reinforcing his conservative credentials and attacking Rubio for a combination of flip-flops and worse. Rubio still remains largely unknown by Republican voters and existing impressions of him that do exist are new and thus soft.
Crist has begun to tack back to the right. He has avoided debates that would just boost Rubio's stature and name ID, but avoiding them until September will be difficult. Given Marco's uneven performance this week, a Rubio victory in a debate with Crist is not assured.
While Marco Rubio has come a long way, and Crist's arrogance and self-centered nature has turned the body politic against him, this race is a toss-up today with eight long months to go.
By Roger Stone
SPECTER: Keeps on Ticking |
Public office has never come easy for Arlen Specter. He lost races for District Attorney, Mayor of Philadelphia, Governor and U.S. Senator before becoming the only Pennsylvanian to serve five terms in the U.S. Senate.
Now, after switching back to the Democrats he left nearly five decades ago, Specter faces a serious Primary challenge and a tough General Election. Yet Specter bares it with a combination hard-work, good humor and an indefatigable lust for political combat.
The Philadelphia Daily News captures Arlen Specter in full political survival mode in one of the best pieces of political journalism
I've read in decades.
By Roger Stone
Back in 2008 when some on the Right called candidate Barack Obama a socialist, the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee did everything they could to tamp down the growing voter suspicion about Obama's true plans.
Now a year into his presidency we have proof with a government owning the means of business lending; the banks, as well as owning a major car company. When the President of a car company is determined by the President of the United States, we have state socialism.
The rise of the Tea Parties is a jolting reminder that many Americans have figured out that if our President isn't a socialist, he's at least a "Fellow Traveler."
Never in the history of the world has government spending created anything but government jobs. The Obama Administration has borrowed and spent exactly as they have pleased with a compliant Congress. There is no reason to believe that these trillions in spending and debt will produce any jobs.
It is clear that the Obama Administration is not above cooking numbers to show economic recovery where none exists, but the people know from their pain what the economy is really like, and whether things will indeed get better. They won't.
Meanwhile, States, being broke, which puts downward pressure on counties with higher property tax rates, leaving taxpayers furious, and federal tax increases in connection with the healthcare bill could prove a lethal combination for Democrats. Indeed, Republicans elected in New York's suburbs were elected on an anti-property tax wave.
2010 will bring strong Republican and some third party gains in the Congress, and state and local offices. With the President's approval rating below 50%, stronger candidates can be recruited. Whether or not the White House is within reach in 2012, it is far too early to say, but Obama is now mortal. Many voters, who voted for him because he was not George W. Bush, have gotten the joke.
Republicans shouldn't lose sight of the fact that voters are furious at all politicians in both parties and that the Obama Administration's woes are not automatically Republican gains.
Some savvy Republicans note that the GOP has no strong natural candidate and that "You can't beat someone with no one." The Republican Party needs an Eisenhower and I'm convinced that one can be found among the Governors, business, academia or the military. Someone like
New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson with a libertarian streak and a plain spoken Western way of communicating that helped Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan (and Sarah Palin) win the hearts of Party conservatives.
The campaign machinery that worked so smoothly to dispatch first Hillary Clinton and then John McCain didn't function as well in mollifying the President's base over the lack of a public option. The new incursion in Afghanistan is out of the McCain-Bush playbook while the date - certain withdrawal means the troops who survive will withdraw having accomplished nothing - and those who don't make it will have died in vain.
The tax effects of the healthcare plan will be felt immediately while the benefits won't flow smoothly to the people. If the government can't administer Cash for Clunkers, how can they manage a multi-billion dollar healthcare system that serves every American? The turf will be right for a Republican resurgence or the rise of a new Party if the GOP can't produce a candidate who can capture the public imagination.
Parties are a reflection of their presidential candidate. Bill Clinton brought his Party to the center. Ronald Reagan brought his Party to the right. The Party's image to younger voters, Hispanics, Asians and America's increasingly multicultural voter base will be defined by the face we put on the Party in 2010 and 2012.
Some Republican strategists worry about the economy rebounding before the 2010 election. They don't need to worry - until America cuts spending, and cuts taxes, the economy can't recover.
By Roger Stone
Not only do we learn this week that New York Senator Chuck Schumer was "back-dooring" his colleague Hillary Clinton in her Presidential run, but now he's trying to pressure Congressman Harold Ford Jr. out of challenging the his protégé Kirsten Gillibrand in the New York Senate Democratic Primary.
While Harold Ford may not be my ideological cup of tea, I know an experienced and sure footed candidate and a prodigious fundraiser when I see one. Why shouldn't New York Democratic Primary voters choose their own candidate? Schumer already muscled out Rep. Steve Israel and Rep. Carolyn Maloney with a heavy handed assistance from the Casa Blanca.
Why shouldn't voters decide if Ford is too conservative on social issues or hasn't lived in New York long enough?
Schumer, who took great offense to being called a putzhead (hey, if the shoe fits....) by Senator Al D'Amato, didn't mind calling a poor working flight attendant a "bitch" when she required him to turn off his cell phone like everyone else. Like his Democratic colleague Eliot Spitzer, he thinks he is so important the rules don't apply to him.
No one is more responsible for America's political meltdown that Chuck Schumer who took millions from banks, insurance companies and Wall Street to vote with Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tx) to strip away oversight and regulation of those industries.
Now Schumer's tactics remind of the old bosses of Tammany. They stink.
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