McCain ‘promises’ to get bin Laden — with ‘people who can swim in the water’

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a presidential candidate who tries this hard not to be taken seriously. “I will look you in the eye and promise you that I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice,” McCain said in response to a direct question from one of the 2,000 people […]

The decline and fall of the Southern Baptists?

Guest Post by Morbo The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the largest Protestant denomination in America, claiming 16 million members. Thankfully, that number may be starting to go down. The Washington Post reported: The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches fell for the third straight year last year to the lowest level in […]

An Obama landside?: Let’s not get carried away

Guest Post by Morbo Like many of you, I’m quite excited by Barack Obama’s candidacy. It isn’t just the historic nature of it. There’s a feeling of something special about this campaign, like we truly might be on the verge of a defining moment of American politics. I laughingly call this sense of being carried […]

Friday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker has released a statement: “We are heartbroken at the sudden passing of Tim Russert. We have lost a beloved member of our NBC Universal family and the news world has lost one of its finest. The enormity of this loss cannot be overstated. More […]

Clark hits McCain — and hits all the right notes

Wesley Clark spoke with the Huffington Post this week, and was unrelenting in his criticism of John McCain. “I know he’s trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks is his strong suit of national security,” Clark said. “The truth is that, in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried. […]

Tim Russert dies of heart attack

Stunning news. Tim Russert, the host of “Meet the Press,” and NBC’s Washington bureau chief, has died, according to a family member. He was 58. Mr. Russert was a towering figure in American journalism and moderated several debates during the recent presidential primary season. Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, came on […]

McCain sees detainee ruling as ‘one of the worst decisions in the history of this country’

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday, in a narrow 5-4 decision, to extend access to the federal courts to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. When reporters asked John McCain for his reaction a few hours later, he struck a disappointed note, but seemed pretty level-headed about the case. “[I]t is a decision that the Supreme Court has […]

McCain can’t defend privatization plan, so he redefines the word

Following up on an item from this morning, there’s already video proof that John McCain supports privatizing Social Security, just as Bush attempted to do in 2005. Realizing the pressure’s on, today McCain attempted to, well, lie about it. For those who can’t watch clips online, McCain told voters at an event in New Jersey, […]

Obama wants five debates; McCain wants 13; we may get three

For the last 10 days or so, the McCain campaign has been pretty aggressive in pushing its desire to have a series of town-hall debates with Barack Obama, with neutral audiences asking questions. Obama has publicly expressed some interest in the idea, prompting McCain to announce he’d like to see a total of 10 events, […]

McCain lashes out at economists

I have to say, I’ve had quite enough economist-bashing for one campaign cycle. A month ago, defending her silly gas-tax holiday proposal, Hillary Clinton said it didn’t matter than every professional economist in the country insisted the idea was ridiculous. “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists,” Clinton said, adding that economists […]