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Thursday, August 2, 2007
The NYT looks at the Giuliani-Ailes relationship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s one of the more important political pieces out there today, a New York Times look at the relationship between Roger Ailes, former political consultant and head of Fox News, and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Don’t dismiss it as a Democrat-on-Republican attack. If you’re a fan of Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney, this has got to be a concern.
Here’s a taste:
Roger Ailes and Rudolph W. Giuliani have been pulling for each other for nearly two decades.
Mr. Ailes was the media consultant to Mr. Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign in 1989. Mr. Giuliani, as mayor, officiated at Mr. Ailes’s wedding and intervened on his behalf when Mr. Ailes’s company, Fox News Channel, was blocked from securing a cable station in the city.
This year, they were tablemates at the White House correspondents dinner, which Mr. Giuliani attended as a guest of Fox’s parent company, the News Corporation.
Now these allies and friends find themselves on largely uncharted political turf. Mr. Giuliani, 63, is a leading Republican candidate for president. Mr. Ailes, 67, is head of Fox News, the pre-eminent media outlet for likely voters in a Republican primary.
Kind of like the A-Team, but without the jewelry
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Hill newspaper in Washington reports that U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg is the founder of something called the Floor Action Team, or FAT squad — a small group of Republicans out to wreak havoc on House Democrats through their superior knowledge of parliamentary tactics. And, maybe, invisibility rays.
Here’s the gist:
Hoping to stop the Democratic majority in its procedural tracks, this band of 16 lawmakers is committed to learning parliamentary procedure inside and out.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) founded the FAT team based on his experience in the Georgia state legislature, where he learned how the minority could use obscure rules to make life difficult for the majority party.
“We have gone over parliamentary procedures, the rules of the House, debate, amendments, second-degree amendments … points of order, all those technical things,” he said. “Because if you don’t learn those, I don’t think you can be an effective legislator.”
