Barack Obama’s comments on Iraq in Fargo, N.D., are drawing quite a bit of attention, but if the news accounts are an accurate reflection of what he said, I’m not sure if there’s anything especially unusual about his remarks. Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, […]
We haven’t heard too much from Alberto Gonzales since he resigned in disgrace as Attorney General. He was last seen struggling to find a job in his profession, and delivering a commencement address at a small high school in the Virgin Islands. Seriously. I was surprised, then, to see Gonzales pop up yesterday in the […]
I know I mentioned this briefly yesterday, but I’m still flabbergasted. It’s pretty common for children to take pictures of people they don’t like and manipulate them, perhaps with crayons. They’ll black-out a tooth, draw a mustache, add glasses, draw earrings, etc. What’s breathtaking, however, is when a major news outlet acts the exact same […]
About a month ago, as the debate over coastal drilling began in earnest, Dick Cheney pushed the rhetorical envelope a bit, telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that “oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. We’re not doing it. The Chinese are in cooperation with the Cuban government…. Even […]
It’s hard to overstate the extent to which the religious right movement and its leaders have not gotten along with John McCain. It’s not just that they preferred other candidates during the Republican primaries; it’s that they actively and publicly hated the guy. Consider an example. In October, the Family Research Council hosted a “Values […]
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: * Barack Obama unveiled his policy on national service yesterday at an event in Colorado: “His proposals are mostly not new but they are repackaged as a plan for ‘Universal Voluntary Citizen Service’ […]
In March, at a conference of the nation’s newspaper editors, two of the Associated Press’ top political reporters greeted John McCain with a box of Dunkin’ Donuts. One of the reporters was careful to get McCain his favorite kind — “Oh, yes, with sprinkles!” he said — and then passed McCain a cup. “A little […]
A few weeks ago, in its first general-election ad of the year, the Obama campaign hit the airwaves in 18 states, including 14 that supported Bush/Cheney four years ago. Among the states was Montana. Now, at first blush, this seemed like a rather foolish way to spend campaign money. Four years ago, Bush beat Kerry […]
Why is it, exactly, that John McCain spent the week of the 4th of July traveling to Latin America? No one seems to be able to explain it, but the Washington Post’s Dan Balz takes a closer look: Is his commitment to free trade so deep that he needed not one foreign trip (to Canada […]
For the second consecutive month, more U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Nearly seven years after the war in Afghanistan began, June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops, and our force levels in the country are now at their highest since the war began. All of this, tragically, comes a few […]