Thursday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Bloodshed in Baghdad: “A double suicide bombing struck a wedding convoy northeast of Baghdad Thursday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 65 others, police said. In Baghdad, a car bomb aimed at a U.S. patrol in Baghdad on Thursday killed an American soldier and least nine Iraqi civilians […]

Conservative Ben Stein insists, ‘Science leads you to killing people’

Ben Stein, a former Nixon aide and game-show host, probably best known for his role as a monotone teacher in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” released an anti-evolution documentary recently called, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” The premise, as I understand it, is that those who reject modern biology struggle professionally in the sciences. Kevin recently saw […]

McCain can’t even get ‘Mission Accomplished’ right

Just today, we learned that nearly half the country has “major concerns” that John McCain is too closely aligned with the Bush administration. Given this, you’d think McCain would start doing a little more to distance himself from the least popular president in modern history. Instead, he’s defending Bush on the “Mission Accomplished” banner flown […]

Three candidates, three arguments on the ‘gas-tax holiday’

At least it’s about policy. That’s what I keep telling myself — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain are still going at it over a proposed “gas-tax holiday.” Given that they could be arguing about far more ridiculous subjects, I guess this is as good a controversy as any. First up, CNN’s John Roberts […]

The president wants you to pray today

It’s not a widely recognized “holiday,” but today is the official National Day of Prayer. (Ironically, the NDP and “Law Day” fall on the same day.) The name is rather self-explanatory: It’s a day, set aside by law, in which the federal government encourages the nation to pray. And if you’re thinking it’s none of […]

McCain blames Minnesota bridge collapse on earmarks

Joe Klein recently predicted that John McCain would avoid a cheap and pathetic style of campaigning. McCain, Klein said, “sees the tawdry ceremonies of politics — the spin and hucksterism — as unworthy.” If he doesn’t, “McCain will have to live with the knowledge that in the most important business of his life, he chose […]

Thursday’s campaign round-up

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: * Uncommitted superdelegates seem to be falling off the fence this week in far larger numbers. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton picked up support from Puerto Rico’s Luisette Cabanas, and today she’ll get the endorsement […]

Happy Law Day

As a rule, Law Day, a ceremonial holiday since 1958, goes by largely unnoticed. It was established as a Cold War counterpart to May 1, the biggest day on the socialist calendar. Ever since, presidents have issued proclamations that went by largely unnoticed and unread. But Bush isn’t just any president, and respect for the […]

The RNC vs the DNC — ‘The shoe is on the other footage’

As part of its nearly-hysterical push-back against the Democratic National Committee’s “100 years” ad targeting John McCain, the Republican National Committee has decided to focus on where the DNC found its war images for the commercial. It’s not only an odd argument, it’s actually counter-productive for the RNC. As you’ve no doubt seen by now, […]

Voters far more concerned with Bush than Jeremiah Wright

It’s painfully obvious that major media outlets really want Americans to care deeply about the former pastor that Barack Obama has already denounced, and to a large extent, the coverage has convinced a lot of voters that the Obama-Wright association matters. But for most Americans, there’s another association that matters a lot more. Sen. Barack […]