Given controversies about this earlier this year, I assumed candidates and campaigns would know better than to use troops, in uniform, as props in political TV ads. I assumed wrong. The Army is reviewing the appearance of a soldier in uniform in a political television ad by Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine. The soldier wears Army […]
The New York Times noted yesterday that the Republican Party and its campaign committees, despite all of the scandals and polls, has one thing going for them: with four weeks until the election, they still have all kinds of money. The question, of course, is what the GOP plans to do with these vast resources. […]
It’s hard to imagine anyone taking a “breaking story” from The American Spectator seriously, but the barely-breathing magazine — or, more accurately, its blog — “reported” yesterday that it had learned from Democratic sources that the entire Mark Foley scandal was orchestrated by Democrats as some kind of “October surprise.” Indeed, to hear the Spectator […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * James Steinberg, Bill Clinton’s deputy national security adviser and now dean of the Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, was spot-on arguing that the North Korea crisis should prompt people to repeat Ronald Reagan’s most famous 1980 campaign line — “With respect to the axis […]
Conservatives have finally come up with a relatively compelling response to the Mark [tag]Foley[/tag] scandal. The first response from Republicans (“We didn’t know anything”) didn’t work. The second response (“We should all wait until we have all the facts”) was unpersuasive, because all the available evidence was already pretty bad. The third response (“Let’s blame […]
I know that John McCain knows better than this, and I can’t help but think it’s a shame he has to pop off with such nonsense just to try and impress Republican primary voters. Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing […]
Let’s see, under Bush’s watch, and following a foreign policy embraced enthusiastically by Republicans in Congress, North Korea has dramatically increased its weapons material stockpiles, withdrew from the Non Proliferation Treaty, threw out U.N. weapons inspectors, tested numerous missiles, and detonated a bomb. All of things the president said he would not allow to happen, […]
First my connection died, then my router. Then I go to the local wi-fi-enabled coffee shop, and its connection dies. I think I have a decent signal, for now, so long-winded tirades are on the way…. Update: In a truly comical turn of events, shortly after I posted this, the connection at the coffee shop […]
Republicans aren’t much for governing, but they’re usually great when it comes to style (slogans, banners, camera angles, etc.). Why, then, did House Speaker Dennis [tag]Hastert[/tag] talk to reporters today from a cemetery? Was the metaphor about Republicans fighting for their lives not quite literal enough for the GOP? Atrios has been calling Hastert “dead […]
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 Pennsylvania, a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag]’s (R) attack ads may be having an effect on [tag]Bob Casey[/tag]’s (D) support. While Casey led by 11 in the […]