For months, John McCain has faced questions about his associations with radical religious televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. And for months, McCain refused to disassociate himself from the extremists, even going so far as to defend the hate-filled rhetoric (McCain said Hagee had been “taken out of context”) and repeatedly say he was […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I’ll have a much more detailed report on this first thing in the morning: “In the face of mounting controversy over headline-grabbing statements from Pastor John Hagee, CNN has learned presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has decided to reject his endorsement.” * The news out of China continues to […]
A week ago, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) casually told some associates, when he thought no one else was listening, “We’re closing in on Rove. Someone’s got to kick his ass.” And what was it, specifically, that warranted this ass-kicking? Conyers said the committee wants Rove to testify about his role in the […]
In Republican foreign policy circles, you can’t really get more “serious” than former Secretary of State James Baker. His record for partisanship is unquestioned — Baker did, after all, oversee the 2000 Florida recount on behalf of George W. Bush — but after serving as Secretary of State and chairman of the Iraq Study Group, […]
Regular readers are, by now, all too familiar with John McCain’s inexplicable association with radical preacher Rod Parsley, but it’s encouraging that at least a couple of news outlets are starting to pick up on the significance of this. Today, ABC News is on the case. You’ll notice, of course, that despite Parsley’s record of […]
Once in a while, it’s hard to keep a good bill down — especially when it involves expanded benefits for the troops, during a war, in an election year. The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a new GI bill and billions in new domestic spending as part of the $165 billion Iraq war funding bill pending […]
John McCain chatted with Ellen DeGeneres this morning in an interview recorded yesterday, and the lesbian talk show host pressed the Republican nominee on same-sex marriage. He didn’t seem especially happy to deal with the subject, though in light of last week’s California Supreme Court ruling, he had to know this was coming. McCain said […]
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: * It’s been fairly quiet on the superdelegate front, with both Clinton and Obama picking up one each over the last 24 hours. Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Dowdy endorsed Obama, while Guam […]
From time to time, we’ve seen reports about John McCain’s heartfelt intention to run an honorable, above-board campaign, focused on substance. McCain, we’re told, has no appetite for ugly campaigning, nasty attacks, guilt by association, and all of the untoward tactics that have come to dominate every election cycle. It’s curious, then, that McCain has […]
The next big step in the general-election phase of the campaign is poised to get underway. The Obama campaign indicated this morning that it has begun the search for a running mate, and Jim Johnson, a former top aide to John Kerry, will lead the process. John McCain, meanwhile, is going to have some possible […]