First up from the God machine this week is a poll that didn’t get a lot of attention, but was actually pretty important. A Quinnipiac University national poll released on Thursday covered quite a bit of ground when it came to “culture war” issues, and perhaps most importantly given the recent campaign discussion, produced some […]
When Americans were asked in 1993 about whether U.S. troops should be able to serve, even if they’re gay, a majority (55%) were opposed to the idea. About eight years later, in 2001, public opinion had already shifted a great deal — 62% of Americans supported gays serving openly in the Armed Forces, while 35% […]
Americans have a clear choice in the election. On the one hand, we have a candidate who wants a flexible, 16-month withdrawal policy from Iraq, shaped by conditions on the ground and in consultation with commanders on the ground. On the other hand, we have a candidate who wants the status quo to continue indefinitely, […]
For the last several years, anytime high-profile U.S. officials arrive in Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s described as a “surprise” visit. No matter how many times these officials go to the countries, or how long their stay, it’s always a “surprise.” There’s no real mystery here — if the arrival of VIPs were publicized, their lives […]
Guest Post by Morbo And now an update from Croatia: Shopping on Sundays has been banned – kind of. Croatia is 90 percent Roman Catholic, and the country’s clerical hierarchy has been moaning for some time about the trend of people spending Sundays in shopping malls instead of churches. A new law will go into […]
Guest Post by Morbo I’ve been wondering what the Religious Right is going to do about John McCain. These groups are clearly not crazy about the guy. But I predicted months ago that the fear of a Democratic president would terrify them so much that they would come around. That’s what appears to be happening. […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * It’s hard not to laugh at this sentence: “Citigroup has become the latest big bank to quell Wall Street’s worries about a financial sector implosion, posting a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss that was smaller than expected.” Yes, a company lost $2.5 billion, over the course of three months, and […]
I haven’t seen any polls on this, but in general, I have to assume the two words that voters care about least are “committee hearing.” It’s not that they’re trivial — hearings can actually be extremely important — but for the typical American, committee hearings probably sound pretty boring. But for whatever reason, the McCain […]
The White House issued a press statement this morning, coinciding with the latest video conference between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Pay particular attention to the delightful new euphemism. “In the context of these improving political, economic, and security conditions, the President and the Prime Minister discussed the ongoing negotiations to establish a […]
When news outlets and Republicans were apoplectic about Wesley Clark questioning John McCain’s presidential qualifications, the McCain campaign sent out Bud Day, who was a prisoner of war with McCain in Vietnam and one of the Swiftboat liars from 2004, to talk to the media. In retrospect, the McCain campaign probably should have asked Day […]