The last couple of presidential elections have followed certain patterns, not the least of which is the geographic/electoral-college driven nature of the contest. Dems and Republicans draw up their maps, Dems ignore safe “red” states, the GOP ignores safe “blue” states, and everybody spends a lot of money in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. There’s reason […]
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: * After shaking the reporters who follow him, Barack Obama met privately with Hillary Clinton last night. No one knows what they said to each other — it was literally just the two […]
On the economic front, the news is “ugly.” The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May — the biggest monthly rise since 1986 — as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs. The latest snapshot of business conditions showed a deeply troubled economy, with dwindling job opportunities in a time of continuing hardship in the […]
One need not look too hard to find talk from Hillary Clinton supporters who, at least for now, are prepared to vote for conservative Republican John McCain in November. Personally, I’m pretty confident that this talk is temporary — emotions are running high right now, but in the coming weeks, cooler heads will prevail. Clinton […]
To hear the McCain campaign tell it, Barack Obama is just wrong. He’s offering the wrong solutions and he’s asking the wrong questions. It’s curious, then, that McCain has taken to emulating Obama’s campaign so carefully. The general election is now in full speed — just check out the competing slogans. Republican John McCain has […]
When the scandal broke over the Bush administration’s policy of warrantless searches of Americans’ phone calls and emails, John McCain took a reasonably sensible position, consistent with a classical conservative, interested in limited government. Just six short months ago, McCain told the Boston Globe that he, unlike the current occupant of the Oval Office, felt […]
For far-right Republicans, when nothing else is working in the midst of a political campaign, they always seem to go back to the same thing: the good ol’ red scare. Take Tom DeLay, for example. The former House Majority Leader took time away from his criminal defense — DeLay is currently facing felony counts of […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * This is pretty huge: “The top military and civilian leaders of the U.S. Air Force will be fired Thursday after a critical report regarding the mistaken transport of nuclear-tipped missiles, military sources said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary Michael […]
It’s hard not to get the sense that Joe Lieberman is just taunting Dems at this point. Lieberman doesn’t want to just burn the bridge to the ground, he wants to pour salt in the earth around the wreckage. Yesterday, Lieberman joined a conference call coordinated by a right-wing House member to bash Barack Obama. […]
In an interview that will air tonight on ABC, Charlie Gibson asks John McCain about one of the principal criticisms he receives from Democrats in general, and Barack Obama in specific. Though the general election has yet to hit high gear, in the latter stages of his primary fight against Sen. Clinton, Obama did turn […]