Following up on the last item, Barack Obama hit back quite aggressively this afternoon in response to George Bush’s “appeasement” smear, and John McCain’s applause for it. Shortly thereafter, the McCain campaign responded to the response. “It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t […]
Yesterday, the president, with not-so-subtle language, suggested to the Israeli Knesset that Barack Democrats are Chamberlain-like appeasers because Obama is willing to talk to Iran (just as Bush’s own Defense Secretary and Secretary of State have recommended). As it turns out, Obama had taken the day off from the campaign trail, but the entire party […]
The Wall Street Journal had an item today on the Obama campaign rolling out a “new nationwide faith effort” that will, among other things, make it clear that the Democratic candidate is a Christian. The initiative represents a direct challenge to Republicans, who successfully wooed conservative evangelical votes that in turn fueled President Bush’s re-election […]
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: * Superdelegate announcements have been relatively spare this morning, with only one endorsement I can find: Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) endorsed Obama. * On a related note, the Obama campaign issued this press […]
In 2004, hoping to rally the Republican Party’s far-right base, the president did his level best to make gay marriage a key issue in the presidential campaign. Bush hadn’t shown much interest in the issue before, and seemed to quickly forget about the culture-war rallying cry once he’d won a second term, but the president […]
On Saturday, John McCain had to get rid of the man he tasked with managing the Republican National Convention when we learned he’d run a lobbying firm that represented Burma’s military junta. On Sunday, McCain had to get rid of a regional campaign manager because he’d been the lobbyist responsible for managing the junta’s account. […]
Soon after the president told the Israeli Knesset that Democrats are Chamberlain-like appeasers because Obama is prepared to talk to Iran (just as Bush’s own Defense Secretary and Secretary of State have recommended), John McCain jumped on the far-right bandwagon. Aboard his campaign bus, McCain told reporters Obama’s willingness to negotiate with rival heads of […]
When U.S. troops serving develop PTSD, it’s a painful tragedy. When Veterans Affairs officials discourage PTSD diagnoses because it might cost too much money, it’s a genuine scandal. VoteVets.org and CREW have done some great work on this, and news outlets are picking up on the story. A psychologist who helps lead the post-traumatic stress […]
In the unlikely event you haven’t seen it elsewhere, right-wing shock-jock Kevin James appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball” yesterday afternoon, and Chris Matthews humiliated him. It was a bit like watch a car crash — you really don’t want to see the carnage, and yet, you find it hard to turn away. For all of his […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * 50,000: “The death toll from China’s massive earthquake could reach more than 50,000, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday, quoting rescue headquarters. Already some 20,000 are confirmed dead as a result of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude quake, and at least 12,300 people remained buried and another 102,100 were […]