John McCain, for several years now, has told everyone who will listen that his record is one of “mainstream conservative.” As a presidential candidate, he offers voters “a clearly conservative approach to governing.” And yet, reporters at major news outlets don’t believe him, and feel the need to tell the public that McCain isn’t especially […]
Speaking in Ohio yesterday, the president boasted that “normalcy is returning back to Iraq.” In his speech, Bush used the phrase “security gains” four times, including a reference to the ongoing offensive in Basra: “This offensive builds on the security gains of the surge.” The president kind of smirked when he said it, leading me […]
There’s been some discussion this week about whether Hillary Clinton, despite a record of reliable Democratic partisanship, might actually prefer that John McCain win in November if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. This occurred on the heels of a Gallup poll that showed that a whopping 28% of Clinton supporters are prepared to vote […]
There are far too many examples of the Bush White House politicizing the justice system in this country, and using federal prosecutors as partisan tools to help Republicans win elections. The case of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) is easily among the most offensive. Fortunately, Siegelman (and the rule of law) got some very […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Like McCain, Maliki doesn’t care what anybody says: “Iraq’s prime minister vowed Thursday to fight ‘until the end’ against Shiite militias in Basra despite protests by tens of thousands of followers of a radical cleric in Baghdad and deadly clashes in the capital and the oil-rich south.” * Bloodshed […]
Listening to John McCain’s big speech on foreign policy yesterday, it was hard not to notice the extent to which he emphasized how much he’s against military confrontations. On the first go-through, I thought it was just insincere rhetoric — like when a war-monger says he doesn’t want to send U.S. troops into battle, but […]
There was a point, a couple of personas ago, at which John McCain didn’t mind showing some leadership skills on matters pertaining to public health. It’s what led him to work with John Edwards on a Patients’ Bill of Rights (which he has since given up on) and, for many years, support efforts to crack […]
The political world spent a fair amount of time last year mulling over whether Al Gore would run for president, who his running mate would be, whether he could win, etc. Once it became clear that Gore wouldn’t run, speculation shifted to who he’d endorse, when, and what kind of impact it might have. Now, […]
On Monday, the NYT’s Paul Krugman wrote some fair criticism of all three presidential candidates: they’re talking about the economy in general, but they aren’t sufficiently addressing the ongoing fiscal crisis. More importantly, they aren’t offering the kinds of regulations the system needs. Now, the shadow banking system is facing the 21st-century equivalent of the […]
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: * At a townhall meeting in North Carolina yesterday, Barack Obama was asked about the role that Jesus and his teachings have had in the senator’s life. “I’m a Christian,” Obama said. “What […]