Cavuto July 30

Here’s video of me on Cavuto yesterday. Immediately after my spot former presidential candidate and actor, Fred Thompson, takes a shot at one of my comments. I don’t know how to take it, on one hand my views were dismissed, on the other hand my views were acknowledged by a guy I have enjoyed in movies for years…. Watching the Hunt For Red October will never be the same.

Happy Birthday Medicare

I did a spot on Fox News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto today.  The topic was Medicare’s 45th Anniversary and it’s comparison to health care reform.  I am sure we all have relatives that have benefited greatly from the program, I know I do.  It’s amazing that more people haven’t picked up on the fact that in the US if you live to 65 years old, the age you become eligible for Medicare, you have the longest life expectancy of any nation in the world.  Between birth and 65 we have among the lowest life expectancy on the planet.  Argument for affordable and accessible health care?  I will have video of the Cavuto spot up soon.  Let me know what you think.

Obama on The View, Sherrod, and Rangel

POTUS was on the View.  Uhggg… I guess that politics in 2010.  It’s nice to know he doesn’t know who Snookie is.  I am not opposed  to President Obama going on the View, I guess I am just upset I had to watch the View.

Shirley Sherrod say’s she will file a lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Briegtbart.  Ok.  I guess that’s an option.  Will she also file against her former employer?  Should she?

The House Ethics Committee announced 13 ethic charges against NY Congressman Charlie Rangel.  I hate to say this about my fellow St, John’s Law School Alumnus, but he needs to settle this even if it means his resignation and he should have done it last week.  He has had a wonderful 40 year career in Congress and I would hate to see it end with his removal.  The battle over the finer points of the law and whether or not he broke any rules will not be the determining factor here.  At the end of the day, a vote will occur, in Congress, weeks if not days before an election.  I find it hard to believe that many House members will view this on the substance of the legal arguments as applied to the facts of his case and not on how it will influence the election.  The GOP will make Rangel a focus of their Fall campaign regardless of what comes out in the trial.  Public opinion will determine how House members vote especially those in tough races.

At the end of the day, politics will win out even if Charlie makes his case.  He knows this and this is why a deal will be struck soon.

Does Anyone Care?

The Quinnipiac poll today says it all. http://www.scribd.com/doc/34984372/072810-NY-GOV-BP  People are not paying attention to the primary in NY. Anything can happen. It’s going to come down to organization even in statewide contests.
This poll reminds me of a funny incident I had a few weeks back with an elected official who was very concerned about going out in public. He asked if my national television appearances had led to people approaching me. I told him that the only people who know I have done the spots are people who know me already and I told I was on. The total benefit of 6 national and local tv appearances and 16 stints on the Strategy Room over the last three months is I got extra chocolate chips on my gelato at the shop I have been going to every week for 2 years. (they knew I was on because I told them).
I told the official that he needed to get over himself. No one knows him. No one knows AG candidates running state wide and spending millions of dollars. People outside of politics don’t care as much about it as those of us junkies who live and breathe it. I advised the pol that chances are you can go out and grab a drink without worry that the paparazzi will publish a picture of you enjoying a draft. I believe he is looking for fake mustaches as we speak.
I was in the green room at Fox with John Kasich, the GOP candidate for Governor in Ohio. I am a political junkie but I did not know him by face. I introduced myself to him, he assumed I knew who he was and did not introduce himself. After all we are at Fox News Channel and Ohio is a swing state. It lead to an awkward moment thats all I will say about that encounter. John I don’t usually give advice to GOP candidates but here’s some. Introduce yourself to everyone you meet when you’re running for office. Maybe it was a New York thing but we talked for 10 minutes and I didn’t realize he was running for Governor until I saw his spot on the air.  I was a little embarrassed.
Point is this poll is not unusual.  There are few politicians who achieve the status as being known by the public at large.  They may know their names but not much else.  The Ag’s race in NY is going to come down to organization and who can get out the vote.  

More Mid Term fun. Today’s Strategy Room

On today’s strategy room we talked about the mid terms and the Wiki Leaks.  Again I pressed the argument that House seats are local affairs and candidates matter in statewide elections.  Although the prevailing wind is pushing the GOP forward, they’re facing major headwinds due to poor candidate selection and in part due to the Tea Parties influence.

Some candidates around the nation are downright bizarre.  We discussed Nevada’s Sharron Angle who is clearly not ready for prime time.  Here in NY, the likely GOP nominee for the 1st Congressional District is a guy who made his millions outsourcing jobs to India.  That should play well in this economy.   
In Colorado, former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo is promising to run on a third party line.  This comes as today the Democratic candidate has inched ahead of his likely GOP opponent for the first time all year.  If Tancredo joins the race and pulls the right wing of the party away from the GOP candidate, the Democrat can’t lose.  GOP Senate hopes are fading in Colorado as there leading candidate, Ken Buck, who claims to be a Tea Party member offended some when in a movement of honesty he referred to “Tea Party Birthers” as “dumb asses.”  He could have chose his words more carefully, but he’s right.  Of course, that remark could cost him the primary as it’s now against the law of the Tea Party to ever agree with Obama even when it comes to where he was born.  Colorado looks like it will join Nevada as a state where the GOP will fail to pick up a seats due to candidate selection.  
We also talked about the Wiki Leaks story now dominating the news.  In reality there is little that we have learned from this that the American public hasn’t expected for some time.  The war in Afghanistan is not going well and the Pakistanis at best aren’t much help at worst are actively working against us.  This complicates the decisions the President must make in the coming months.  July 2011 is coming up fast.  
I would love your thoughts.