Monica Crowley

Put a fork in 'em, 'cause they're done!

I'm surprised it's taken THIS long. Usually the surreal madness of August begins a lot sooner in the month. This year, it's all dropping during the last week.

The Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, punched his last time card this week, resigning from his post accompanied by an overwrought presidential goodbye. Gonzales seemed like a decent man, but he was in way over his head. That doesn't mean that the Democrats were correct to demand his ouster and then to cheer it with cries of "thank God!" when it happened. They created a storm of false charges around the guy and kept up the dreambeat against him. But he wasn't the strongest AG we've ever had, and he should've been replaced before the Democrats could claim his exit as a victory.

Next on the docket: Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig, entangled this week in a gay sex scandal. He was arrested in a men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport on June 11 (does it strike anyone else as weird that we haven't heard about this until NOW?!).

He pleaded guilty after being booked by a plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd behavior in the bathroom. According to police reports, Craig was watching the undercover cop through a crack in the bathroom stall. He then entered the next-door stall and placed his luggage against the opening under the door.

Then, according to police, he tapped his right foot: "I (the arresting officer) recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moved his foot closer to my foot." The report also said that he swiped his hand beneath the stall divider several times.

For his part, Craig says he has a "wide stance" in the bathroom and reached down to pick up a piece of paper. He denies any lewd conduct and now says he should not have pled guilty.

Whoops!

This story has opened up reports of Craig's alleged past homosexual behavior, including a charge of gay sex as recently as last year and others going back to his early days in the Congress. He denies ever having or soliciting gay sex.

Maybe he's gay or bisexual. No one really cares about that. What people care about is the FRAUD that he perpetrated on the voters of Idaho and the rest of the country by posing as a "family values" conservative, feigning disgust with the kinds of acts he's now accused of committing. While allegedly playing footsie in the men's stalls, Craig:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)

* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)

* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

He couldn't have it both ways---pardon the pun---for long. Not when he was allegedly playing fast and loose in airport bathrooms! Voters have a right to have politicians in office who say what they mean and do what they say. This case goes beyond hypocrisy: it's a FRAUD on the voters who, when they elect somebody, trust that there will be truth in advertising.

So as we will soon bid au revoir to Senator Craig, a little advice for other Republicans: if you are going to run on "family values," you'd better walk the walk. And if you can't or won't, then either don't run or tell us exactly who you are before you do. Either way, please spare us spectacles like this one.

Fred Does Jimmy

Fred Thompson hasn't even declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, and he's already committed the cardinal campaign sin of being a bummer.

In a speech he just gave to Republicans in Indianapolis, Thompson spoke like a man in desperate need of Prozac:

"I simply believe that on the present course, we're going to be a weaker, less prosperous, more divided nation than what we have been," he somberly intoned.

He went on to talk down the economy:  "we are doing steady damage to our economy, that if we don't do things better, it's going to result in economic disaster for future generations."  And to bash our current leadership: "our people follow, but they don't have any confidence is what's being said or who's saying it."

I would say his comments resemble Hillary Clinton's but even she's more upbeat than this.

Members of the audience, who had given him loud and sustained applause as he came to the podium, left depressed and dispirited.  One woman even said the whole speech was a "downer."

If Thompson wants to run as the "new Reagan," here's lesson one from the Reagan playbook:  NEVER be a downer!

Reagan---like most successful modern presidential candidates---ran on optimism, because he understood that Americans are naturally optimistic people.  They don't want their presidents to be moping around, dwelling on what's wrong.  We want them to FIX IT.  And to do it with an upbeat tempo.

Franklin Roosevelt inspired great hope, even in the darkest of times.  Kennedy was all about looking forward.  Reagan was about "Morning in America."  Clinton was the "Man from Hope."  Barack Obama titled his campaign book, "The Audacity of Hope." 

You cannot run and win with a negative, depressing message.  Just ask Jimmy Carter.  Having won in 1976 only because Vietnam and Watergate were so big and so devastating to the Republicans, he proceeded to shuffle around the White House in a cardigan sweater, warning of "national malaise."  He even had the White House Christmas lights turned off two years in a row.

Thompson had better ditch this Debbie Downer talk, or he's going to be toast faster than you can say "Iowa caucus."

Here's a campaign slogan suggestion: 

2008:  No Bummers!!

Iowa Polls, Wishing for Failure and Spouses Attack!

This weekend we'll talk about who's up, who's down and who's eating the pork chops on a stick in Iowa with guest John Zogby.  Zogby is one of the nation's premier pollsters and always has the inside scoop.

Then, is success in Iraq breeding a desire to fail?  Yup, if you're a Democrat. Plus, Bill Maher goes on with Bill O'Reilly and proves the point.  CLICK HERE to read the transcript.

And when political spouses attack!  I went to see Elizabeth Edwards speak in NY this week---where was our favorite hellcat?!   And Michelle Obama takes on the Clinton Ladies' Intervention Team.

I hope you'll join me this weekend on the radio!

Musings from Michael Dukakis ?!?

Last weekend on the program, I told you about the latest Gallup poll that showed Senator Hillary Clinton with 47% of those polled viewing her favorably and a whopping 49% viewing her unfavorably. She is the only candidate on either side with a negative number higher than her positive number. And no candidate has ever won the presidency with an unfavorable number that astronomical.

That doesn't mean she can't pull it off. But it does mean that she's got a much taller mountain to climb than the liberal, mainstream media would have you believe.

A little over a week ago, the columnist Robert Novak pointed out that Democrats across the country were getting a bit concerned that she WOULD be the nominee---for that very reason. That her negatives would end up being a drag for other candidates down ticket.

These are the precinct captains and county chairmen who are responsible for getting Democrats to the polls in November 2008. If they're worried NOW about Hillary, the Democrats have a problem.

Maybe that's why a Democratic district in Arizona voted in a straw poll today and chose Al Gore.

In a story printed today (August 22), a previous Democratic presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, told the New York Observer that he recently hung out with the North Carolina Democratic delegation:

""These are Democrats,” he pointed out. “And they’re really scared to death that Hillary will be the nominee, because they think in a place like North Carolina, you know … And so I said, ‘Would Obama be any better?’ They said, yeah, Obama would be better. Now isn’t that interesting? These guys are hard-nosed pols from North Carolina. These folks are 12- and 15-year veterans of the North Carolina legislature.”"

Why would Obama be better? He replied:

"“Apparently it’s the negatives on Hillary that for some reason bothers them. I’m just reporting what I heard. I have no idea about the politics of North Carolina. But they seemed to think they had a better shot in North Carolina with Obama than they had with Hillary.”"

And all this time, the media has been telling REPUBLICANS that they shouldn't be "satisfied" with THEIR presidential choices!

McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry. Quite the unelectable hit parade. The Democratic party may choose to do it again. We can only hope.

We Had It First

Last weekend on the program, we reported Michelle Obama's comment while campaigning in Iowa with her husband:  "Our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."

We unearthed the quote, buried deep in The New York Times, and told you what it really meant:  that she was taking a direct shot at Hillary Clinton.  The Obama campaign has apparently decided to make some frontal attacks on the frontrunner, and Michelle, having watched the pitbull roles of Bill Clinton and Elizabeth Edwards emerge, is starting to take that role on herself.

Today, Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times (one of Obama's hometown newspapers) is reporting this analysis, and the DrudgeReport has picked it up:  "Michelle said she travels with her husband in part "to model what it means to have family values," adding "if you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House." She didn't elaborate, but it could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons."

Of course it was, but listeners to the Monica Crowley Show already knew that.

What's even more interesting was the SECOND quote we reported from Mrs. Obama:  "This election is about truth and authenticity.  There is nothing more important than your word.  Truth does matter."

Another direct swipe at Hillary---and Bill.

You know who ELSE this sounds like?  It sounds like Obama supporter and former Clinton dear friend, David Geffen---the Hollywood mogul---who a few months ago told the New York Times that the Clintons lie "with such ease, it's troubling."

Hillary retaliated against Geffen by demanding that Obama return his campaign contributions (he did not).  But it was easy for Hillary to go after Geffen:  he's a white man.  It's harder for her to go after Obama.  And Michelle?  That's like going after Oprah.

Barack and Michelle Obama are lowering the boom and putting Hillary in an unfamiliar position: on the defensive with no way out.

But dear listeners:  you knew that days ago.

A Sudden Change of Tune

On the troop surge currently ongoing in Iraq: "It's working."

Those aren't the words of President Bush. Or Vice President Cheney. Or the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Or Rush Limbaugh or Monica Crowley.

The phrase, "It's working," was uttered yesterday by Senator Hillary Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president. Of course, she buried that acknowledgement in a heap of caveats: the Iraqi government needs to do more, we may be too late, we need to start bringing troops home. But for a Senator who has spent much of this year downplaying any hope for the surge, voting with her party to end all U.S. involvement in Iraq, and berating the president for a losing strategy, her comment---"it's working"---is quite remarkable.

It's also really smart.

Hillary is always three steps ahead, so she must have an inkling that come September, General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, will report better-than-expected progress.

So her comment accomplished three things: 1. She is preempting Petraeus's report, so by the time it comes out, she can position it as "old news." 2. She will look like a pragmatist, willing to see the realities on the ground in Iraq. And most importantly, 3. She will be able to claim her initial vote for the war as ultimately correct.

A Democratic congressman who voted against the war but just came back from Iraq also now says the surge is working. Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) is now arguing that we need to stay longer in Iraq because "we're making real progress" and "the consequences of pulling back precipitously would be catastrophic..."

All of a sudden, a few Democrats are sounding an awful lot like the president they have slimed for six years.

Hillary is a bellwether. Her comment yesterday will make it safe for other Democrats to "change their minds" on Iraq---or at least on the need for a rapid withdrawal. She isn't running a primary campaign; she's running a general election campaign. And she knows if she's going to have any chance of winning in November 2008, she's going to have to reposition herself as the kind of "moderate" who voted for the war in the first place.

The liberals are still running the party. But Hillary knows that general elections aren't won coasting on liberals, and that even this war may not stay entirely unpopular forever.

With two words---"It's working"---she's getting in front of the game. Let's see who follows her shrewd move.

New Hampshire, Hillary and Obama's latest mistake

This weekend I'll be talking about what's really going on in New Hampshire, the first primary state.

Also, onward, ho!  Bill and Hillary hit the road, and Bill shows what he's made of.  Plus, why it's no longer life-threatening to be something OTHER than pro-Hillary.  I'll be joined by George Gurley from the New York Observer.

Then, Obama unplugged!  What Obama 's mistake #3 REALLY says!  And they won't have Karl Rove to kick around anymore!

Join me this weekend on the radio!

The Weeds of Jihad

This week, we saw the nexus between thinking about the threat of so-called "homegrown terror" and its reality.

Today, Jose Padilla (not to be confused with Richard Reid or John Walker Lindh) was convicted of federal terrorism support charges.  A Chicago native, he was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant.  Padilla and his co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi (Catholics?!  Jews?!  Buddhists?!), face life in prison because they were convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas----as part of a cell that provided all kinds of support to Islamic extremists. All three were also convicted of two terrorism material support counts that carry possible 15-year sentences each. Their defense argued that they were just trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid. 

Of course they were.

Earlier in the week, the New York City Police Department's Intelligence Division issued a report about radical Islam in and around the city.  The report, of course, has national implications.  U.S. law enforcement officials say they have already identified "clusters" of young Muslim men, especially in the Northeast, who are on "the trajectory of radicalization." 

       They hang out in mosques (duh!), and bookstores, cafes, prisons, and flop houses, becoming what the report called "self-generating cells."  That is, inspired by al Qaeda but not necessarily taking direct orders from bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. 

       The report also details at least 10 (count 'em, TEN) recent cases where the FBI, local authorities, and European police and intelligence have stopped plots in various stages of planning and operation. 

       The New Jersey Intelligence Assessment also pointed out that "these individuals are virtually indistinguishable from the population."  Meaning: in many cases they are citizens who blend in very well and look to the average American as if they are completely assimilated.

       Welcome to Western Europe.  This is exactly the problem they face.  In this country, we like to think we're different: that America is a unique melting pot that encourages assimilation through opportunity and prosperity.  Well, we may do that better than Western Europe, but we're not foolproof.  Jose Padilla proves that.

       As he's led off yet again in an orange jumpsuit, let's not lose sight of what the NYPD and NJ reports say:

       *that the threat is radical Islam;

        *that it's here;       

        *that it disguises itself as "assimilated;"       

        *and that it's shielded by Islamic and Arab groups that claim and often sue for "discrimination."

       We need to stomp out this problem before it metastasizes.  Weeds are "homegrown" too.  That doesn't mean we let them grow.

The End

     Today, Senator John Edwards moved his campaign staff out of Nevada and relocated them to other early caucus and primary states:  Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.       

As for Nevada?  "I will continue going there and competing very hard," he said.        As for his presidential campaign?  And....scene.

Rest In Peace

They say these things happen in threes.  This week, the nation lost three true class acts.

First, Merv Griffin, television legend.  I grew up watching The Merv Griffin Show, which set the standard for early TV talk shows.  He was always respectful of his guests, probing but never crass, full of good humor and dignity.  Later, he went on to establish hugely successful game shows, such as Jeopardy! (even writing that famous theme song) and Wheel of Fortune.  He was incredibly well-liked in Hollywood, where decent people are often hard to come by.

Second, Brooke Astor, philanthropist.  At 105 years old and the last major figure  of the Astor family, she dedicated her life to giving away millions of dollars to worthwhile causes both big (supporting the New York Public Library) and small (funding fire escapes in the Bronx).  One of the little-noticed things she did was give a $250,000 to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan to provide free veterinary care to the pet companions of the aged and poor. She always carried herself with grace and was the epitome of old American elegance.

And third, Phil Rizzuto, New York Yankees Hall of Famer.  "The Scooter," as he was known, played 13 seasons with the Yankees---a career that was interrupted only by military service in World War II.  He was a star among many stars, including Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.  And yet, at only 5 foot 6 inches tall, Rizzuto was a towering presence.  DiMaggio once said he "held the team together."  Humble and genuine---personified in his trademark expression, "Holy cow!"---Rizzuto was a reminder of the America we were then.

Griffin, Astor, and Rizzuto represented the best of this country:  ambition, opportunity, generosity, and spirit.  America is a bit smaller today without them.