The New York Times laments the fact today that today’s presidential candidates are sharing too much information about themselves. Barack Obama gets morning breath. Elizabeth Edwards felt her rib pop during some good loving with her husband, John. And Rudolph W. Giuliani, by the testimony of no less than his third wife, is a really-high-testosterone […]
In April, when U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Rachel Paulose was appointed, the controversy was almost immediate. First, her predecessor, Thomas Heffelfinger, resigned under suspicious circumstances. Second, Paulose treated herself to an elaborate “coronation,” complete with a Marine Corps honor guard and choir. Third, she clashed with her top three deputy prosecutors, all of whom resigned […]
The debate over last weekend’s Blackwater shootings, which killed as many as 20 people in Iraq, has been complicated by the competing version of events. Blackwater insists they were attacked by armed insurgents and returned fire in self-defense. Iraqi witnesses say the private security forces fired without provocation. Of course, a videotape of what transpired […]
When the president nominated former New York district judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, conservatives responded with one of three reactions: there were the rank-and-file Republicans who said, “Michael who?”; there were the Bill Kristols of the world who followed the White House’s lead; and there were the activists who wanted […]
Looking back, it’s still hard to fathom. In late August, an Air Force bomber accidentally flew six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads from North Dakota to Louisiana — with the power of 60 Hiroshimas — and no one realized the nuclear-armed missiles were missing for more than a day. The breathtaking incident raised questions […]
A few days ago, Mitt Romney unveiled a new TV ad in New Hampshire in which he tried something counter-intuitive: he took his own party to task for abandoning its principles. “If we’re going to change Washington, Republicans have to put our own house in order,” Romney says in the ad, ticking off a list […]
The Washington Post reports today on a recent Democratic poll gauging support for Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 31 “swing” House districts currently represented by Democrats. It’s not an unworthy exercise — Dems obviously want to do well in those districts, and if the top of the ticket might hurt candidates down-ballot, it’s […]
Media coverage of presidential campaigns is generally pretty bad. This is not to say that there aren’t occasional instances of quality, informative journalism, but for the most part, news consumers generally get a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. This isn’t new, and it’s not mysterious. Chris Hayes had a terrific post the other […]
The religious right’s support in the Republican presidential primaries is clearly up for grabs. Rudy Giuliani has the worst “family values” of any presidential candidate in recent memory .John McCain thinks the movement’s leaders are “agents of intolerance.” Fred Thompson was denounced by James Dobson earlier this week. Mitt Romney has the disadvantage of being […]
For quite a while, conservatives have embraced an annoying strategy — trawl through liberal comments sections in the hopes of finding intemperate remarks. The right then takes these comments to “prove” that the left is made up of unhinged radicals. The practice has always been rather self-defeating. In fact, about a year ago, Kevin Drum […]