The AP is reporting over $750K raised at the fundraiser today. More on how much was raised for the Cappiello campaign as opposed to the CT GOP and other entities later, although I suspect it was a significant amount.
Update: Sources with knowledge of the fundraiser suggest that the money may be split 60% for Cappiello’s campaign and 40% for the CT Republican Party. That could be around $450K pumped into Cappiello’s coffers–a successful fundraiser for them, to be sure. Update 2: AP reports the same split..
Christine Stuart reports on the president’s speech in Hartford, in which he tied the fight against malaria to the war on terror:
Fighting malaria is a “strategy that advances our security interests,” Bush said. “From experience we understand that the terrorists and extremists can only find fertile recruiting grounds where they find hopelessness.”
“Their ideology is so backwards, so distorted, so hateful nobody really wants to follow it unless you’re so hopeless that it becomes appealing,” he said. “So the best way to defeat this ideology of hate is with acts of compassion and love. The best way to defeat an ideology of darkness is to spread the light of hope.” (Stuart)
That’s absolutely true. I commend the president for his actions in helping to combat malaria (and I say that in all seriousness, that’s a good fight to wage and he’s done a decent job of it), but I wish he’d apply that lesson to other areas. We can’t, it seems, fight an ideology of darkness as effectively with war and torture as we can with acts of compassion, love and hope.
Tparty at MLN notes that Chris Shays was on the plane. Nice to be able to catch a ride home.
Christopher Keating reports on the efforts of protesters to get close to the Kissinger pad out in Kent. It didn’t go so well.
The Courant has more coverage on their site.
In all, it sounds like the sort of weird day that happens whenever someone like Bush breezes through Connecticut.
20 responses so far ↓
1 conncon // Apr 26, 2008 at 8:31 am ·
+0
The coverage of the President’s visit has been appallingly biased, focusing on his critics claims. Compare. When President Clinton visits — didn’t he speak for Sen. Lieberman in ‘06? — are there any references made to the fact that he is an impeached President who lied under oath and surrendered his law license?
2 mtown // Apr 26, 2008 at 11:08 am ·
--6
This whole thing was more embarrassing and hilarious than I ever thought possible. Bush’s “speech” was , what, a barely-10-minute long ramble? $57,000 an hour of taxpayer money to hand out some cutesy awards to some kids, most of whom weren’t even from Connecticut?
I don’t think it matters how much money Cappiello and Shays raise, this whole thing was a media nightmare for them. They’ve supplied their opponents with the golden goose — a ready-made association with the most unpopular Republican since Nixon. What’s next, a fundraiser with Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay?
3 SvenVonErick // Apr 26, 2008 at 8:11 pm ·
--6
Bush obviously isn’t liked by possibly 2/3 of the country.
Those that have taken up a fight on Malaria, my hat off to you. It is an honorable cause.
As for Bush, to me he is just a lying, glorified drug lord, not a leader of the “free” world.
It doesn’t take much for someone to google official and news sources to come up with some facts. Carter signed away, and the CIA was supplying Bin Laden with cash to fight the Soviets and smuggling heroin into the US from the late 70’s.
When President Reagan went on the air with a crack pipe and crack rocks on his desk, maybe he was most responsible for the crack cocaine epidemic. While Nancy was saying “Just say no”, Ronny was saying “Just say yes” to the CIA and military transports bringing in cocaine from South America to America. Iran/Contra is a stain that is still going on, the policy of drug dealing to enrich the elite and to fund covert operations has only expanded under Bush.
Nothing really has been done since then to stem the tide, so George W. Bush is just the newest drug lord in the office of President.
I don’t care to listen to any of his lies. Drug dealers are scum.
http://thegetjusticecoalition.blogspot.com/
4 Mr. Reality // Apr 26, 2008 at 9:53 pm ·
+0
So when Bush does something good you have to disagree with him because it is Pres. Bush? Talk about closed minded!!! That’s why lberals are not taken seriously. Clinton came in to raise money for Kennelly and Curry but the media and Democrats had no problem with him using tax payer money for that. Why is that? Why is it different? Of course once again there will be no answer.
I don’t think Pres. Bush has been a very good President. But I respect the office and I respect him. I respected Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Carter too. It’s embarassing the amount of hate there is and the lack of respect. It’s a disgrace. When I was young I was taught to respect. Now people are taught to hate if we don’t agree…and please don’t give me this line of crap that Bush’s policies are worthy of this hatred ( I can see it now “he put us into this war boo hoo hoo”…I disagree with him as much as the next guy but this hate really sickens me.
5 Genghis Conn // Apr 26, 2008 at 10:13 pm ·
--6
Please. Conservatives did the same thing to President Clinton during the 1990s. The amount of hate and bile directed at him was absolutely incredible, and you can see it still in conncon’s comment above. So conservatives really can’t play the wounded party, here, and claim that the hate is all the fault of liberals.
Politics is like Newtonian physics–for every action, an equal and opposite reaction. Really, what did you think was going to happen to a conservative president, following the trashing conservatives like Rush gave to Clinton? Love and flowers? Even if Bush had been competent, he would have suffered from the crap the worst of his followers threw at Clinton from day one.
Who started it? It never really stopped. The current cycle of hate can be traced back to the 1960s, if only because baby boomers are involved, and they can’t ever seem to stop re-fighting the battles of their youth. When my generation gets power we’ll probably fight over who liked Transformers and who liked GI Joe.
6 Genghis Conn // Apr 26, 2008 at 10:18 pm ·
--7
The point being, no one side is entirely to blame for all this hate. Bush has made things so, so much worse than I ever imagined he could with the war and his complete and utter contempt for his opposition. He’s damaged this country in ways that will still be playing themselves out decades from now, much as Johnson and Nixon damaged it with Vietnam and Watergate a generation ago.
7 rex // Apr 26, 2008 at 10:31 pm ·
--6
Glad to see Cappiello strapping himself to the mast of the sinking Bush ship….
8 matt w // Apr 26, 2008 at 10:40 pm ·
--5
Please. No widely-circulated liberal has ever said 1/10th of the psycho shit that was thrown at Clinton in the 90s, by those in the GOP hierarchy from widely-circulated conservative pundits to sitting Senators.
The false equivalency should quite literally shock your conscience — and if you think this is overwrought, say the word and I’ll spend 15 minutes collecting some quotes for you.
9 gerardw // Apr 26, 2008 at 11:42 pm ·
--2
Well, when one candidate calls the other a “hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.” and the other replies with “Are you prepared to see your dwellings in flames… female chastity violated… children writhing on the pike? GREAT GOD OF COMPASSION AND JUSTICE, SHIELD MY COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION.” things are going to go downhill after that.
Tradition!
It always amuses me when people complain about “dirty campaigning” and how “thing’s have gotten worse.”
10 Stamfordinho // Apr 27, 2008 at 7:09 am ·
+1
I’m glad to have the president visit our state. GWB is a great man and he’ll be remembered as a great president. Good job by Cappiello to get this event to take place. This brings some clarity to Nania having no chance at winning a primary against Cappiello. And this should make it clear to Murphy that this election will be a rough one for him. I look forward to Shays and Cappiello working together for Connecticut in the U.S. House in the near future.
I generally think of the GWB haters as people who hit their head against the wall at least one too many times …
11 SvenVonErick // Apr 27, 2008 at 7:37 am ·
--7
I hate liars and Constitution dismantlers, no matter what political party they are affiliated with.
George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton agreed on one federal judge nominee, a corrupt judge that protects corrupt lawyers, corrupt judges, and will aid the corrupt politicians that see him, Judge Wesley, nominated to the Federal Bench.
Hillary and George W. are cut from the same cloth:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2168514822982094886
12 El Kabong // Apr 27, 2008 at 11:58 am ·
+1
matt w said:
The Matt W. Comedy Show is back…
Yes!
1 Michael Moore comes to mind. Completely pyscho. (Matt falls flat, again).
“The thrown at Clinton” reference proves equally weak. His wife/current prez candidate claimed accusations that he cheated on her was part of a ‘vast right wing conspiracy” and there was no truth to it.
Wasn’t quite that now, was it?
Remember now, if voters put a Dem Congress in, everything was going change: They’d get the war under control, etc.
Didn’t quite happen either.
13 rex // Apr 27, 2008 at 12:16 pm ·
--5
Stamfordinho said:
What, exactly, has made GWB such a “great” President? Holding fundraisers for loser congressional candidates? In that case, I guess Bush is the greatest President this grateful union has ever witnessed.
14 matt w // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:42 pm ·
--4
El Kabong said:
Chris Shays
15 matt w // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:44 pm ·
--5
El Kabong said:
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”
- John McCain
16 matt w // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:59 pm ·
--4
El Kabong said:
“Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him.”
- Rep. James Hansen on Bill Clinton
17 Dal90 // Apr 28, 2008 at 1:08 pm ·
+1
It takes both.
Because you can sing kumbaya all you want, if someone is killing his own people your compassion, love, and hope will never get through. The price of peace should never be toleration of despots.
We have the hyperpower force and commercial ties that enforces a world where large scale nation state warfare is not currently conceivable. That could change — but it would be a change over one or two or three decades. We’re not 1914 Europe or 1939 World were a number of large powers were relatively on par with one another and able to make alliances to try and out manuever others.
We don’t necessarily do the “systems” stuff well at below the nation state level. To keep reducing birth rates by improving infant mortality; to reduce labor needed for agriculture; to give people food security and move them from subsitence hunting in woodlands interfacing with ebola carrying monkeys and into cities working factory jobs with health care and retirement investments. To increase literacy rates and spread knowledge of better ways to doing things.
But if we lived in a world where nation states constantly engaged in hot warfare as was the rule for much of history, we wouldn’t have an opportunity to work on that systems stuff.
18 conncon // Apr 28, 2008 at 1:12 pm ·
+1
GC: Why was my comment full of “hate and bile”? Is it wrong to point out media bias? I referred to the fact that President Clinton was (1) impeached, (2) lied under oath, and (3) surrendered his law license. How is any of that hateful especially compared to what is posted here daily? How is there bile in any of that? I think you were out of line.
19 Genghis Conn // Apr 28, 2008 at 5:09 pm ·
--1
Right, you’re a helpful neutral observer. I’ll have to remember that.
20 conncon // Apr 28, 2008 at 5:22 pm ·
+2
GC: I call them like I see them!
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