Fred Thompson: Already a Candidate?

Fred Thompson might already be a candidate. This could be bad for NBC.

Many have speculated on when Mr. Thompson will enter the race. Few have speculated on why it has taken so long. Well, you see, once ol' Freddie is officially a candidate NBC must either pull all of his Law and Order episodes, give other candidates equal time or be fined heavily for giving one candidate too much airtime.

Why do I bring this up? There are specific rules that define candidacy. A person cannot simply say they are not a candidate and proceed to campaign. One of the rules stipulates that as soon as a person who has established a "testing the waters" exemption spends more than $5000.00 they must announce.

So, has Fred Thompson broken the law? Well, according to his own tax filings he has spent $625,743. That's a tiny bit more than five grand.

I am not the only one to think so. Today, Lane Hudson filed a complaint with the FEC. (here)

I am curious to see how this affects NBC.

President of Canada?

In an election where foreign policy might be the number one issue (let's not forget that war is foreign policy) Barak Obama has made another blunder. This one might be small, but it might not. The question is, how rehearsed was his answer? Was it a slip of the tongue or did he actually think that Canada has a president?

The quote on trade aggreements:

I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now. And it should reflect the basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street; it should also be good for Main Street.

There are several issues with his statement I will list two.

1.) Canada's government, a parliamentary democracy, has a very different form of government from the USA. Up there the figurative head of state is the Queen and the head of the government is the Prime Minister, there is no President. Barak should know this. Should he win the nomination and, subsequently, the election he will be meeting with Kings, Queens, Princes, Emirs, Presidents and Prime Ministers. It would be a good thing if he knew the difference.

2.) It is arrogant of him to think that he will just call up Mexico and Canada and alter agreements that have bolstered the economies of both nations. Canada is to a large degree an exporting nation, it is not in their best interest to "amend" an agreement that gives them relatively free access to the largest import and consumption driven market in the world. Why would they want to "amend" NAFTA? Why would Mexico? To bail out the US whose consumption addiction is now even more devastating than before due to their plummeting currency?

I don't believe that Obama's faux pas will have an effect on the primaries, but should he win the nomination, the merciless Republican machine will have yet another weapon to use to destroy him.

Will Katrina Be The Dems KO Punch?

I can only assume the Dems have been keeping their powder dry. Really. What other reason could there be for the muted whimpers that the pinko spin-miesters have been mewing over this.

Think about it.

This has the makings of a scandal that could destroy the republicans in '08, from misleading congress to putting thousands of people in significant danger. Believe me, people have not forgotten the horrific images from the Super Dome (if it had been a college run Lord-of-the-Flies-type experiment the professor would have gone to jail).

But this in not a rehashing of the devastation wrought, not by the hurricane itself, but by the government agencies that the people legitimately turned to in the never-ending aftermath.

Today, representatives of the Bush administration defended their awarding of lucrative government contracts to Gulf Coast contractors: an important step in rebuilding is in keeping the moneys in the area.

Some highlights:

--In addition, the review found the five agencies had claimed falsely that 259 contracts were awarded to small businesses when in fact they went to large companies or ineligible recipients. That created the false impression that more than $95 million in contracts was awarded to small companies, when the money actually went elsewhere.

--Overall, about 7.4 percent of Katrina contracts so far have gone to small businesses in Louisiana, down from 12.5 percent in April, according to the committee.

--In addition, 106 contracts worth $13 million were miscoded by DHS as going to small businesses, when in fact they were not. That's up from 61 contracts found by the committee in April.

I love this one:

--For many weeks after the 2005 hurricane, small and local companies were shut out of Katrina work in favor of large concerns with extensive government and political ties. Following public criticism, Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency pledged to rebid four large trailer contracts and give the work to small companies.

FEMA ultimately rebid only portions of the work. Government investigators later found FEMA did not take adequate legal steps to ensure that the new companies were small and locally operated, resulting in a questionable contract award to a large company with ties to the Republican Party.

It goes on, and on, and on...

Since then, Homeland Security has handed out 43 new contracts worth nearly $12 million to large companies or ineligible recipients. In contrast, it modified contracts to small Gulf Coast companies, resulting in a contract loss of $9 million in Louisiana.

My favorite exchange came when Lurita Doan, administrator of the Government services said,

"I would appreciate the opportunity to come back."

Responded Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Small Business Committee,

"You will"

Now that's good TV.

Back to my point.

This affair, from the moment mother nature left town to the present day is custom made to bring down the administration. All someone has to do is make the case.

If the Dems have any political skills they already have the case made and are keeping their powder dry until late summer '08.
More from The Associated Press via The Guardian.