NDN Blog

In light of the energy legislation being considered on Capitol Hill, Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) released a new ad encouraging support for bipartisan legislation. Check it out below:

Bill Richardson released his third ad in his "Job Interview" series today. The ad, which is entitled "Asked You", will begin airing on broadcast and cable in Iowa on June 11th. It will air in New Hampshire shortly thereafter.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

As Simon wrote a few days ago, the immigration issue was the President's last shot at a legacy. Yet this article from the Washington Post reveals details about how his administration has contradicted that legacy with the appointment process of immigration judges. From the article:

The Post analysis is the first systematic examination of the people appointed to immigration courts, the relationships that led to their selection and the experience they brought to their position. The review, based on Justice records and research into the judges' backgrounds, encompassed the 37 current judges approved by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales or his predecessor, John D. Ashcroft, starting in 2004.

That year is when the Justice Department began to jettison the civil service process that traditionally guided the selections in favor of political considerations, according to sworn congressional testimony by one senior department official and a statement by the lawyer for another official.

Those two officials, D. Kyle Sampson and Monica M. Goodling, have said they were told the practice was legal. But Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said that immigration judges are considered civil service employees who may not be chosen based on political factors, unlike judges in federal criminal courts.

All the judges appointed during this period who arrived with experience in immigration law were prosecutors or held other immigration enforcement jobs. That was a reversal of a trend during the Clinton administration in which the Justice Department sought to balance such appointees with ones who had been attorneys representing immigrants, according to current and former immigration judges.

The President's radio address once again focuses on immigration. Read it here, or listen to it here. From the address:

Securing the border and upholding family values are not partisan concerns. They are important to all Americans. They must be addressed, and this bill is the best way to do it. I urge Senator Reid to act quickly to bring this bill back to the Senate floor for a vote, and I urge Senators from both parties to support it. The immigration debate has divided too many Americans. By coming together, we can build an immigration system worthy of this great Nation -- one that keeps us safe and prosperous, welcomes dreamers and doers from across the globe, and trusts in our country's genius for making us all Americans -- one Nation under God.

John Edwards gave a major speech on terrorism today. From his campaign:

At a press conference today in New York City, Senator John Edwards outlined his plan to keep Americans safe and fight terrorists. With terrorism around the world on the rise, Edwards believes we need a change from the Bush "Global War on Terror Doctrine," which hasn't worked and has only been used to justify the worst abuses of his Administration. Edwards laid out a mission-focused plan to shut down terrorists and stand up for American values.

Below are the six steps Edwards will follow to stop terrorism. These are truncated from the fact sheet:

• Rebalance our force structure for the challenges of the new century
• Ensure our intelligence strategy adheres to proven and effective methods
• Hold regular meetings with top military leadership
• Create a "Marshall Corps" to stabilize weak and failing states
• Rebuild equipment
• Create a National Security Budget

I'd be interested in your comments on the Edwards plan.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

Just a quick update from a prior post: Barack Obama expanded his website's closed captioning capability today with Spanish-language captioning. Check out BarackTV en Español.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

Grassfire.org has an ad up entitled "Where's The Fence?" From their website:

Last year, Congress and the President promised 700 miles of fence. Now, with almost no progress on the fence, they are pushing ahead with amnesty. Let’s face it -- we’ve been conned and it’s time for Americans to shout: “Where’s The Fence?”™

The ad is below, but I'd really welcome your comments on this one. (FYI - to post a comment, just register at NDNBlog and click "add new comment" below this post)

(Credit to Dan on the title...)

- The Wall Street Journal tells us that Rudy Giuliani is set to release his health-care plan.

- More Rudy: Patrick Gavin and Jeff Dufour from The Examiner point out that Rudy Giuliani's comments on abortion, which were followed by a lightning strike , is quite popular on YouTube:

As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani’s response to a question on abortion, which was accompanied by a lightning strike, was viewed 198,964 times. That’s 3.1 times more views than the rest of the GOP debate combined (64,409 views total) and a whopping 8.1 times the entire Democratic debate, which had 22,891 views during the same time frame.

- Mitt Romney's campaign released a boastful statement on the Iowa straw poll, which John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are opting out of. For more Mitt, check out this video interview of him in the Washington Post.

- Hillary Clinton picked up an endorsement from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. In other news: Hillary recently turned down Univision's invitation to participate in the first ever Spanish-language debate, saying that she plans to only participate in debates sanctioned by the DNC. Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson, both fluent in Spanish, have accepted.

- Jonah Goldberg asks "Are we better off with Fred?" and begins his piece with some satirical stats on Fred Thompson who, because of them, joins the likes of Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

In an article in the Daily Standard, William Kristol offered this criticism of President Bush after he declined to pardon Scooter Libby:

So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one-way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?

- Lots of articles are still being sifted through referencing last night's debate. Here's one article from the New York Times about how the G.O.P. candidates handled the immigration issue.

- Interesting follow: (via TPMCafé) an economic advisor to Mitt Romney's campaign, N. Gregory Mankiw, signed an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News in support of the immigration bill in the Senate. (It is also signed by Jeb Bush who recently coauthored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with Ken Mehlman.)

- Barack Obama gave a speech to the Annual Hampton University Ministers' Conference. More from the AP here.

- Fred Thompson's website is up at www.imwithfred.com.

- John Edwards' campaign released a very light video showing Joe Trippi and Jonathan Prince trying to bake a pecan pie, the recipe for which you receive if you contribute to Edwards' campaign before his birthday. Video is below:

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.