Lanny Davis’ odd harangue

Yesterday, TNR’s Martin Peretz took to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page to highlight his support for Joe Lieberman and his disgust for Ned Lamont and his supporters. Today, it was Lanny Davis’ turn. The headline captured the tone nicely, “Liberal McCarthyism.” Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and […]

Tuesday’s political round-up

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: * In Minnesota, the latest Rasmussen poll shows Hennepin County Attorney [tag]Amy Klobuchar[/tag] (D) continuing to lead Rep. [tag]Mark Kennedy[/tag] (R) in the state’s open Senate race, 50% to 38%. The governor’s race, […]

What motivates the GOP base?

It’s hard to say for sure whether this was a planned leak or an accidental one, but National Journal’s Marc Ambinder and the LA Times’ Peter Wallsten “obtained” a copy of an internal strategy memo based on a Republican National Committee poll of GOP voters. The purpose of the memo, written by Republican pollster Fred […]

‘Air assault’

Over the weekend, Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland was offered the rare treat of accompanying the president on a challenging bike ride around Bush’s Texas ranch. Holland seemed impressed by the president’s biking skills. The president set a brutal pace for his accompanying riders, who included two Secret Service agents, White House spokesman Tony […]

An ‘anti-incumbent mood’

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll includes plenty of predictable results — Bush is still unpopular, the war in Iraq is still considered a mistake, Dems enjoy a double-digit lead on the generic ballot, etc. — but there was one number that stood out as unusual. For months, if not years, public opinion about Congress […]

‘The moderate Republican has been pushed aside for the extreme right wing’

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy stories like these? (via Intoxination) [Oklahoma] Republican state Sen. Nancy Riley, complaining there is no room in her party for moderates, switched to the Democratic Party Thursday and threw a new obstacle at GOP hopes of taking control of the Senate for the first time in state […]

Ned Lamont is not ‘Karl Rove’s dream come true’

The theme of the day for Joe Lieberman’s supporters is “a Lieberman defeat is exactly what Republicans want.” I know, it doesn’t make any sense to me, either. But yet, that’s TNR Editor Martin Peretz argued on the most conservative high-profile print real estate in the country, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. […]

The ‘think tank’ where independent thinking will get you fired

In the world of DC think tanks, the Heritage Foundation has no serious rival. The far-right institution has more power, influence, money, and even real estate than any competitor, regardless of ideology. But as TNR’s Spencer Ackerman explained in an interesting online piece today, at Heritage, it’s not enough to simply be a loyal Republican; […]

‘Civil war this, civil war that’

Last week: Gen. John Abizaid, the Commander of the U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iraq may be on the brink of a civil war, noting that the violence in Baghdad was worse than at any point since he assumed command in July 2003…. Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint […]

Asking why people become ‘independent of reality’

About two weeks ago, Harris released a poll that still has the political world confused. The pollster found that half the country believes that Saddam Hussein’s government had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded in 2003 — a marked increase over the last year. I still have to believe that the results are […]