Frederick of Hollywood ready to quit

Fred Thompson, whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination was doomed from the start, is going to pack it in if he doesn't do well in Iowa tonight, which is a foregone conclusion.

I still can't figure out why anybody thought this guy had a chance. Sure, he's a Hollywood actor, but his on-screen charms, such as they are, haven't transferred well to the political arena. He comes off as a grumpy sort, not the kind of person America wants in the White House. Beyond that problem, he's also been an inept campaigner.

It'll be interesting to see where Rep. Don Manzullo, our congressman here in RascalLand, shifts his allegiance once Freddy is out of the race.

UPDATE: Kos has more on Thompson's imminent departure from the race.

Don Manzullo voted for this crap

The Rascal's representative in Congress, Republican Don Manzullo, joined with most of his colleagues from both parties the other day in approving legislation that could expose WiFi service providers to unnecessary liabilities.

Oh, but this measure protects children. That's what the pols will tell you.

There's more on the bill here.

Frederick of Hollywood is too crusty

David Broder doesn't often hit the bullseye anymore, but he had it right the other day when he said that "Fred Thompson appears perpetually grumpy -- a presence hard to imagine inhabiting the Oval Office."

Maybe that's why Thompson, who was expected by some to surge to the front of the Republican presidential pack, has faltered instead. The guy always seems peeved. Yeah, Americans in general are pretty pissed these days, but they're not likely to elect a grouch to the presidency.

Ah, but Don Manzullo, who represents The Rascal in Congress, is sticking with Fred. Too bad Manzullo's not a betting man. I'd be glad to give him 5-t0-1 odds; he gets Thompson and I take the rest of the field. No, hell, I'd give him 10-to-1 odds. The only place Fred is going is back to Hollywood.

Betcha Manzullo sticks with Thompson

Congressional Quarterly is reporting that some of the U.S. House members who had endorsed Fred Thompson for the Republican presidential nomination are having second thoughts and are underwhelmed by the former senator's lethargic campaign.

But there are no signs that Don Manzullo, the eight-term Republican who represents The Rascal's district in northern Illinois, has given up on Frederick of Hollywood.

It would be very much out of character for Manzullo to dump a guy in a situation like this. Besides, he only needs to stick with Freddy for a short while; in less than 12 weeks, Thompson's campaign will be over, and Manzullo will move on to whomever is the GOP's presumptive nominee.

Not to be rude, but where's this Abboud dude?

It's been a couple of months now since Barrington Hills Mayor Bob Abboud announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Don Manzullo in the race for Congress in the 16th District of Illinois.

Since then, however, Abboud has been silent. Oh, he's got a Web site (such as it is), but there's nothing new on it. All manner of issues and events have arisen in recent weeks, and we hear nothing about them from this guy.

If Abboud is going to have a chance to win in this traditionally Republican district, he'd better get off his tractor pretty soon. (At least his dog seems eager for action.)

Frederick of Hollywood drops Hamlet pose

Actor Fred Thompson finally is ready to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

Oooh! Feel the surge!

I've got a feeling that this guy is going to burn out very quickly. What's he got to recommend himself? Not much, it would seem.

Oh, I forgot. He's Don Manzullo's candidate.

Frederick of Hollywood speaks

Now we know why Don Manzullo has endorsed the yet-to-be-announced presidential candidacy of Fred Thompson.

It's because the guy is so articulate. Consider, for example, his response to a question today on just when he might actually get in the race:

We are going to be getting in if we get in, and of course, we are in the testing the waters phase. We’re going to be making a statement shortly that will cure all of that. But yeah, we’ll be in traditionally when people get in this race.

Admit it. The man's eloquence puts Barack Obama to shame. And Fred's an actor, too, you know.

Why does Don Manzullo hate our troops?

If Democratic challenger Bob Abboud doesn't hit Republican incumbent Don Manzullo (of the 16th Congressional District in Illinois) with stuff like this, I doubt that he can win.

The House voted 229-194 yesterday in favor of a bill that would require active duty forces to be guaranteed that their time at home match the length of their deployment. National Guard and reservists would be home for three times the length of the deployments.

The bill would allow the president to waive these requirements to meet the national security needs of the country, and allow service chiefs of staff to allow for the voluntary mobilization of members. These requirements would apply to those serving in Iraq.

The bill also expresses a sense of the Congress that the goal for the time between deployments for regular components should be one year deployed to two years at home station, and the goal for the reserve components should be one year deployed to five years at home station.

Manzullo voted against this measure.

By the way, the bill now goes to the Senate, where it previously was supported by a majority of members but was blocked by a Republican filibuster.

Might Manzullo not run again?

According to this Web site, there is "speculation" that U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, an eight-term Republican from the 16th Congressional District of Illinois, won't run again next year.

The site links to a piece published Tuesday on RollCall.com., but it's available by subscription only, and The Rascal is not prepared to subscribe.

Democrat Robert Abboud of McHenry County announced Monday that he's running for Manzullo's seat.

Can Bob Abboud defeat Don Manzullo?

Barrington Hills Mayor Bob Abboud (right) announced Monday in Rockford that he'll seek the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo next year in the 16th Congressional District of Illinois.

Does Abboud have a chance in what's considered a fairly safe Republican district?

Well, according to somebody named Sean on the Swing State Project (I can't provide a direct link, because the post at issue is gone), a Democratic victory is not out of the question:

What a Democrat must do to win the district is not that hard. They must run at least even in the small counties along the Wisconsin border like Boone, Stephenson, and hold Manzullo to about 53% in Jo Daviess, 55% in Carroll, and to 58% in Ogle. As for the big population centers, they have to win big in Winnebago county(about 57%), and hold Manzullo to 56% in the district's portion of McHenry county.

Manzullo votes no on hike in tuition aid

The U.S. House overcame Republican opposition today -- including a negative vote from The Rascal's representative, Don Manzullo (right) -- to pass a record increase in college financial aid.

When Republicans unsuccessfully pushed a procedural amendment aimed at killing the bill, Rep. George Miller gave them this blistering lecture. (Stay with it to its stirring conclusion.)

Is Manzullo wrong about the Libby case?

Upon my return the other day from a week of travel, I naturally devoted a little time to catching up on what I had missed in our local paper, the Rockford Register Star. The yield in that regard included this editorial concerning President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence in the Valerie Plame case.

The piece included a nice statistical summary of pardons and commutations by presidents over the years and quoted Don Manzullo, the local Republican congressman as saying that Bush, with his gesture in the Libby case, "used his legal authority just as President Clinton and every other American president — except Harrison and Garfield — used to commute or pardon people they felt were wrongly convicted or sentenced.”

But there was something about Manzullo's words that vaguely bothered me as I read them. His reference to this "legal authority" under which presidents can "commute or pardon people" seemed unduly devoid of any qualification or limits.

Then, I glanced back to the second sentence of the piece, where the paper's editorial board said the commutation of the Libby sentence was regrettable, "but it is constitutional." Suddenly, that, too, had a vaguely false ring to it.

From the back of my mind came the thought that a president's power to grants pardons and commutations is not, in fact, unlimited. Another thought, however, told me to just let it go. I dreaded the prospect of having to plow through ambiguous legal opinions on the matter just to make some useless point.

But wait! The editorial cited the Constitution, but didn't quote from it. There's the problem, I thought. And sure enough, Article II, Section 2 of our national charter says the president "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." Except in cases of impeachment.

If the acts of perjury and obstruction of justice for which Scooter Libby was convicted were intended to help guard against the impeachment of his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, then Bush has no constitutional authority to pardon him or commute his sentence.

Most Americans probably know nothing about House Resolution 333, which was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich in April and calls for impeachment of Cheney. That resolution has been pending since before Libby was sentenced.

Most Americans also probably know nothing about certain remarks federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald made during his final argument to the jury in the Libby trial:

"What is this case about? Is it about something bigger?...There is a cloud over the vice president . . . And that cloud remains because this defendant obstructed justice...There is a cloud over the White House. Don't you think the FBI and the grand jury and the American people are entitled to straight answers?"

Well, whether Don Manzullo realizes it or not, we now have cause to wonder whether Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence was intended to secure Libby's continued silence on matters that could lead to the impeachment of Cheney or even the president himself. (After all, a prison stretch might give Libby reason to rethink his options.)

Hence, we also have cause to wonder whether Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence was constitutional after all.

Gay bashers aren't in the mainstream

For months now, the so-called pro-family crowd and various so-called Christian leaders have been howling to high heaven about the specter of legislation that would expand the federal hate crime law to cover sexual orientation.

The House already has approved such a measure (without, not surprisingly, support from Republican Rep. Don Manzullo), and the Senate is considering a similar bill. President Bush, however, is threatening a veto.

But the Gallup Poll is out today with numbers indicating that more than two-thirds of Americans -- including solid majorities of self-described Republicans, Christians and conservatives -- are in favor of the legislation. It's good to see that rank-and-file Christians generally are defying their "leaders" on this issue.

Read the numbers here, and check this video report from Gallup's Dr. Frank Newport.

Manzullo was once an antiwar activist

Nineteen months ago, Republican Don Manzullo, who represents the Rockford area in the U.S. House, suggested that "the time is coming to consider gradually withdrawing U.S. troops" from Iraq.

But that was the one and only occasion on which he ever publicly expressed such thoughts. Maybe some of his constituents called his patriotism into question. Whatever the case, he has since been as steadfast in support of Bush administration policy in Iraq as any member of Congress. Last night, for example, he loyally toed the party line on a war-funding bill.

Manzullo even once said that Americans who dared "second guess" the president with regard to the war "should be put on a ship and sent off for a while."

There was a time, however, when Manzullo didn't subscribe to the notion that patriotism required Americans to unite behind the president when we have military forces in action in some foreign land. On the contrary, he ranted and raved about how wrong it was to send our forces into battle.

It happened in the spring of 1999, when the United States and NATO engaged in a military campaign to protect ethnic Albanians in Kosovo from Serbian aggression. Manzullo, following the cue of his Republican Party leadership, protested that the Clinton administration had "misjudged" the situation.

He lamented that we were "attacking a sovereign state." He condemned the bombing campaign that preceded the introduction of U.S. ground troops. He said the air strikes would only embolden the dictatorship of Slobodan Milosevic. He said efforts to reach "a diplomatic solution" should be pursued.

Concerned that the ground war "will cost hundreds if not thousands of American lives," Manzullo said, "I must do everything I can to stop that tragedy before it happens." Accordingly, he co-sponsored legislation demanding an end to U.S. participation in the war, despite President Clinton's warning that it would "sent the wrong message" to the enemy.

"I support the valiant fighting men and women of our armed forces," Manzullo declared. "That is why I am calling for their withdrawal."

He worried that American troops would be dragged into "hand-to-hand, house-to-house combat against a well-equipped" adversary, including "people fighting to protect their homeland against invasion."

Manzullo even went so far as to sign on as a plaintiff in a lawsuit that accused the president of violating the U.S. constitution and the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

Yes, he was mighty upset about it all, as were lots of his Republican colleagues. He and they were not deterred by any suggestion that dissent from U.S. war policy was somehow un-American.

Dimwit of the day

The Republican congressman here in RascalLand, Don Manzullo, doesn't often vote the way I would prefer, but he's not nearly as much an idiot as one his downstate colleagues, John Shimkus, who represents the Collinsville area across the river from St. Louis.

Shimkus, you may recall, was chairman of the House Page Board when Mark Foley was trying to have his way with some of the lads. In numerous other ways, Shimkus has distinguished himself as one of the dimmest bulbs in Congress.

Today, in a speech on the floor of the House, Shimkus likened the war in Iraq to a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. You can find the text and video here.

UPDATE (Thurs., May 3): It seems that The Rascal wasn't the only one who found Shimkus' baseball metaphor inappropriate. Check this.