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: * I haven’t seen much in the way of post-debate polls (if there were any), but Frank Luntz’s focus group seemed to think that Barack Obama won last night’s event in Philadelphia. * […]
Over the weekend, the WaPo ran a report on a U.S. battalion’s perspective on the war in Iraq, and quoted Maj. Eric Timmerman describing the conditions this way: “It’s just a slow, somewhat government-supported sectarian cleansing.” For reasons that I haven’t been able to fully grasp, it’s one of the aspects of recent events in […]
The trajectory of John McCain’s standing in the race for the Republican presidential nomination has been a sight to behold. He was declared the front-runner (if not the presumptive nominee) far too early, and then declared dead-in-the-water, also prematurely, shortly thereafter. But through it all, the one constant has been McCain’s desire to abandon every […]
Given the Republican sex scandals of 2006, it seemed reasonable to assume 2007 would be a little quieter. No such luck. Examples like these keep popping up. The headline is a real attention-grabber: “Cross-dressing state lawmaker blackmailed following late night tryst.” State Representative Richard Curtis says he’s not gay, but police reports and court records […]
Michael Mukasey’s confirmation as the next Attorney General continues to be in doubt, in large part because he refuses to answer a simple and obvious question. Attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey told Senate Democrats yesterday that a kind of simulated drowning known as waterboarding is “repugnant to me,” but he said he does not […]
Not since the first debate for the Democratic presidential candidates, way back in April, has there actually been some anticipation about what might happen. Last night, in Philadelphia, it was obvious that Hillary Clinton’s rivals would be more aggressive towards the front-runner, but how much? Who’d benefit? Would it make a difference? We gained some […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. (Sorry I’m late today) * Another step towards instability in Pakistan: “A bomber blew himself up about a quarter-mile from President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s office Tuesday, killing seven people and deepening Pakistan’s insecurity ahead of crucial elections. Officials said the attacker detonated his explosives among police at a checkpoint in […]
Last month, PBS hosted a Republican presidential candidates’ debate at historically black college in Baltimore — and all of the top four GOP candidates decided to skip it. This followed close on the heels of a Univision-hosted Republican debate in Miami on Latino issues — which was canceled when all but one candidate declined invitations. […]
Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow spoke to the American Magazine Conference, sharing his perspective on the media. Nothing terribly exciting, but I couldn’t help but love the way Snow described the White House’s decision-making process. (via D. Froomkin) “You don’t see it but there’s a process where everything gets discussed, and there are […]
The president met with leaders of the congressional minority this morning — the Dems, who run Congress, weren’t invited — and read a statement to the press afterwards. Bush was in lecture mode. “Congress is not getting its work done. We’re near the end of the year, and there really isn’t much to show for […]