Suskind gets another great inside look at the Bush White House

It won’t be out for a couple of days, but this week’s New York Times Sunday Magazine is going to have a big feature on Bush from Ron Suskind, whom you know as the author of “The Price of Loyalty,” the best-seller based on materials provided by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. The story will […]

He still can’t handle the truth

As I am wont to do, these are my Top 10 favorite Bush lies from last night’s debate. Whopper #1: “[T]hree-quarters of al Queda leaders have been brought to justice.” Bush can say this every day for the rest of the campaign — and he very well might — but it won’t make it true. […]

A focused message for a specific constituency — Part II

In the first debate, Bush mentioned women just once, in the context of voters in Afghanistan. Kerry didn’t mention women at all. In the second debate, Kerry mentioned women twice, Bush not at all. If the “gender gap” really is starting to narrow, an argument I’m highly skeptical of, Kerry wasn’t going to take any […]

A focused message for a specific constituency — Part I

John Kerry used last night’s debates, as effectively as anyone I’ve ever seen, to target two specific groups of voters: Catholics and women. It wasn’t particularly subtle, but it was very effective. Catholic voters are one of the key “swing constituencies” this election, and several polls show them split pretty much down the middle. Kerry’s […]

Biggest…debate mistake…ever

One of John Kerry’s obvious goals — in all three debates — was to return the public’s focus onto Osama bin Laden. It’s been effective in every instance, and even prompted Bush, in the first debate, to utter the embarrassing, “I know Osama bin Laden attacked us; I know that” response. But last night’s bin […]

About that CBC meeting…

It was a rare misstatement for Kerry: “This is a president who hasn’t met with the Black Congressional Caucus.” As it turns out, Bush did. “Well, first of all, it is just not true that I haven’t met with the Black Congressional Caucus. I met with the Black Congressional Caucus at the White House.” He’s […]

Kerry’s Mary Cheney remark hardly crossed any lines

I suspect that the Bush campaign, desperate to find a way to distract attention away from some of Bush’s more egregious mistakes last night, have had to settle on trivia as their primary talking point from last night: Kerry’s reference to Dick Cheney’s gay daughter. It’s hardly been 12 hours and this has already received […]

Polls give Kerry yet another win

CBS News: A CBS News poll of uncommitted voters who watched the debate named Kerry the winner by 39-25 percent over Mr. Bush, with 36 percent calling it a tie. Fifty-nine percent said Kerry has clear positions on the issues. Before the third debate, only 31 percent of the same voters said Kerry had clear […]

3-and-0 with 19 days to go

I feel like I can be objective about these things. I’m obviously not a neutral observer, but I know when my guy is winning or losing. From where I sat, John Kerry not only won last night, he dominated. Kerry was in complete control of the entire debate, from start to finish. Of the three […]

The Tussle in Tempe

Going into tonight’s final debate, the Kerry campaign has been bucking conventional wisdom and building up expectations instead of playing them down. From today’s morning shows: ABC’s George Stephanopoulos said “Democrats are having a hard time hiding how confident they are.” ABC’s Dan Harris closed his package saying “there is a slight concern” in the […]