At first blush, the idea of a $20 million-public relations contract for the Middle East doesn’t sound like a bad idea. The United States’ image in the region is … well, let’s just say there’s room for improvement. But the closer one looks at the details, the less encouraging the proposal sounds. U.S. military leaders […]
The Republican National Committee, with just eight weeks to go before the midterm elections, has reviewed the polls and come to an important conclusion: they’re losing and it’s all the media’s fault (.pdf). “When voters are informed about the clear choice between our Party’s vision and the Democrats’ radical agenda to cut and run in […]
In July, the president was overheard chatting about Hezbollah with British Prime Minister Tony Blair when Bush, unaware of the live microphone in front of him, said, “See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.” Unfortunately, most of the media […]
It’s been a rough August for [tag]conservatives[/tag] and racial problems. We had the “macaca” scandal; the “nice little Guatemalan man” flap; the leading congressional candidate in Florida who said he knows from personal experience that black people can’t swim; several high-profile Republicans backing racial profiling for people who “appear” to be Arab or Muslim; and […]
Unfortunate timing for the vaunted White House communications team. During today’s presidential speech on “progress” in Iraq: Sometimes, a picture says a thousand words.
I know Fox News’ Sean [tag]Hannity[/tag] is probably a little nervous about this year’s midterm elections, but I didn’t know he was this nervous. On the August 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Fox News host Sean Hannity sought to encourage Republican voters and candidates to ensure a Republican victory in the November […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * New Jersey’s closely-watched Senate race remains tight in the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll. The survey shows state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R) ahead of Sen. Bob Menendez (D), 43% to […]
The WaPo had a good, front-page piece today on the White House’s latest “major public-relations offensive” on Iraq, and included a couple of tidbits that haven’t been reported elsewhere. In particular, the Post noted the repeated use of straw-men arguments emanating from the administration, and did what reporters should do far more often: asked the […]
Just to put a period on this week’s entertaining online whodunit, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) finally acknowledged publicly yesterday that he put a hold on a bill to create a searchable database of government contracts. Bloggers, from both sides of the aisle, had narrowed the list of suspects to three, prompting the pork-loving Alaskan to […]
When Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are particularly distraught, and feel as if their caucus and grassroots allies really need a jolt, they have one fallback idea they always turn to feel better. It’s not Iraq demagoguery, gay bashing, or tax cuts for millionaires — it’s [tag]conservative[/tag] [tag]judicial nominees[/tag]. The [tag]White House[/tag] announced […]