There’s been considerable discussion, at least online, about John McCain reaching out and embracing televangelist John Hagee, despite Hagee’s record of attacking people not like him, most notably Catholics, Jews, and gays. But it’s worth keeping in mind that there’s another right-wing televangelist with close ties to McCain whose background deserves closer scrutiny. Meet Rod […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Oh my: “Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg, one of the most bearish Wall Street economists, says to look past the 1990-91 recession as a guide to the current downturn. The key difference: the depth of home-price declines…. The mid-1970s recession ‘not only saw a sharp and sustained rise in […]
This was the right call, and the only sensible move for Geraldine Ferraro to make. Dear Hillary – I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to […]
One would like to think the right would stop shrieking about immigration, if for no other reason, because it’s an electoral loser. When it comes to immigrants, demagoguery just isn’t working. At this point, it seems like a non-starter at the presidential level, and it’s not working out for conservatives down ballot. As the far-right […]
Picking the single worst, most ineffective, most scandal-ridden Bush cabinet agency isn’t easy. Sure, Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department has to get the top spot, but there’s Rumsfeld’s Pentagon, Paige’s Department of Education, and Chertoff’s DHS. But let’s not overlook Alphonso Jackson’s HUD, for my money, every bit as corrupt and ridiculous as any cabinet agency […]
Following up on an item from yesterday, the Pentagon has prepared a new report on non-existent ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime. The document is the culmination of an exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion. Not surprisingly, officials discovered what we already knew […]
Former VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro has become quite a controversial figure in Democratic circles this week. In surprisingly bitter language, she argued that Barack Obama is “very lucky” to be a black man running for president. Pressed for an explanation, Ferraro, a prominent Clinton backer and member of her national finance team, said, “I really […]
One of the more common arguments I’ve heard from the Clinton campaign in recent weeks is that Obama is a weaker general-election candidate because he’s losing “big states” to Clinton. The argument has drawn criticism for being elitist, and while there’s probably something to that, the point is worth considering in more detail. Indeed, at […]
Given the political climate, any talk about delegates going to the convention and wreaking havoc immediately reminds us of the messy process for picking the Democratic presidential nominee. But in this instance, I’m talking about Republican delegates. The editors of the National Review, not exactly fans of John McCain, seem resigned to reality. McCain will […]
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: * A relative consensus was beginning to emerge in Florida, with state Dems embracing the idea of a do-over primary — which would count — held by mail. Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida’s top […]