A couple of weeks ago, the McCain campaign had to get rid of two top officials — including the man McCain tapped to manage the Republican National Convention, because they were both lobbyists tied to Burma’s brutal military junta. We learned at the time that McCain passed over a different lobbyist for the convention post […]
It’s routine for high-profile political figures to appear at fundraisers on behalf of congressional candidates nationwide. It tends to be pretty beneficial for everyone — the candidate benefits (he/she gets money and the credibility that comes with the association) and the VIP benefits (he/she helps the party, boosts his/her visibility, and knows that the candidate […]
This week, John McCain tacitly conceded his campaign’s shortcomings as they relate to research. It was, after all, the excuse they used when McCain cozied up to radical TV preacher John Hagee and Rod Parsley. We pursued them for a year, the campaign said, but we didn’t know anything about them. So, while talking about […]
Last week, The God Machine offered a story about religious activists, hoping to undermine confidence in modern biology by encouraging school districts to introduce “strengths and weaknesses” language into curriculum standards. This way, the argument goes, teachers wouldn’t literally be teaching creationism, they’d just be teaching why creationists don’t like evolutionary biology. This week, we […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]