John McCain appeared via satellite with CNN’s Larry King last night, and the two covered a fair amount of ground in a short amount of time. There were a handful of important exchanges, but this was arguably the most striking. For those of you who can’t watch clips online, TPM first showed McCain vowing to […]
Exactly one year ago this week, agents from the FBI and the IRS raided Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R) home in Alaska — the first ever such raid on a sitting senator’s home — as “part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one […]
It happens sometimes. Political columnists, like professional athletes, can get stuck in a rut and have awful seasons. It reflects poorly on their overall career and/or body of work, and for their audience it can be cringe inducing, but in the end, one has to wonder if the slump will ever end. With this in […]
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: * Following up on an earlier item, Marc Ambinder reports that there is “independent evidence” that the Obama campaign’s VP search committee is “taking a serious look” at three people: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius […]
For the first open cycle in a long while, the religious right has had no discernable impact on the presidential race. And yet, the movement continues to believe that it’s powerful enough to start calling the shots when it comes to the Republican ticket, or at a minimum, that the religious right can veto those […]
In March, John McCain chatted with National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru when the discussion turned to entitlements such as Social Security. Ponnuru asked if, in the course of negotiations with congressional Democrats, McCain might be “willing to accept a tax increase.” McCain said, “No, no.” Ponnuru pressed on, asking, “Any circumstances?” McCain replied, “No. None. None.” […]
Barack Obama stopped by the office of his top VP vetter, Eric Holder, late yesterday, and reportedly stayed for about three hours. MSNBC noted that the top members of Obama’s team — Axelrod, Plouffe, Gibbs, and the vetters — were all in the same place at the same time: “The convergence of all the senior […]
For crying out loud — when John McCain isn’t lying about foreign policy, he’s lying about domestic policy. John McCain again pushed for offshore drilling Monday, and suggested it could provide relief to American consumers “within a matter of months.” “There are some instances within a matter of months, they could be getting additional oil. […]
The McCain campaign has spent much of the past four days aggressively pushing a bogus smear, accusing Barack Obama of blowing off wounded U.S. troops in Germany. The goal, apparently, is to get the media to pick up on this story — despite the fact that the attack is demonstrably false — so the fabricated […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I don’t think the war’s over: “Female suicide bombers attacked crowds in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Monday morning as part of a series of four bombings that left at least 46 people dead and more than 200 wounded, security officials said. The first attacks […]