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: * With the third quarter nearly over, Rudy Giuliani is apparently feeling a little antsy about his financial standing in the presidential race. Yesterday, he fired his chief fundraiser, Anne Dunsmore, who took […]
It probably wasn’t what the company had in mind, but Verizon just helped make the case for net neutrality a little stronger. Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for […]
In recent years, Americans attitudes about gays in the military have changed considerably. A majority of the public, like a majority of those in uniform, believe gays should not be thrown out of the Armed Forces, simply on the basis of sexual orientation. Every Democratic presidential candidate supports scrapping “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and no […]
Of all the many entertaining Bushisms, perhaps the quintessential presidential malapropism came in 2000, when George W. Bush explained his philosophy on education with a simple, four-word question: “Is our children learning?” Yesterday, at an event in NYC to discuss advances students have made in the National Assessment of Education Progress, the president answered his […]
At last night’s debate, Tim Russert noted that a Meet the Press guest posed this scenario: “We get lucky. We get the number three guy in Al Qaida. We know there’s a big bomb going off in America in three days and we know this guy knows where it is. Don’t we have the right […]
The conventional wisdom, which in this case isn’t entirely wrong, tells us that the Democratic candidates not named Hillary Clinton have to start taking some pointed risks in order to shake up the race. That means, among other things, taking Clinton on directly at debates. The approach is not without risk. Dem voters frequently sour […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * MSNBC: “Bomb attacks killed 57 people and wounded more than 120 across Iraq on Wednesday as suspected al-Qaida militants stepped up a campaign of violence coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In a mainly Shiite district of southwest Baghdad, twin car bombs killed 32 people in one […]
We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Far-right conservatives appear to have more of the latter than the prior, but they are good at a few things: playing the victim, making emotional appeals, raising money from gullible supporters, and most importantly, manufacturing an outrage. The left, for all of its strengths, is horrible at this. […]
The on-again, off-again resignation plans of Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) are now off-again. With just four days until his self-imposed Sept. 30 deadline, the embattled Republican now appears ready to push his departure off beyond this week. Sen. Larry Craig won’t resign from the Senate while awaiting a judge’s ruling on his effort to get […]
More than two weeks after the fact, I would have been more than pleased to ignore any further discussion of MoveOn.org’s “Betray Us” ad in the New York Times, but it appears that House Republicans, fresh off their vote denying healthcare to low-income children, have finally found something they can support. The House on Wednesday […]