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: * A new McClatchy-MSNBC poll in South Carolina shows a pretty competitive contest in tomorrow’s Republican primary. John McCain leads the field with 27%, followed closely by Mike Huckabee at 25%. Mitt Romney […]
Over the course of two terms, the Bush White House’s efforts to maintain an impenetrable ideological “Bubble” have become the stuff of legend. It’s always amazed me the extent to which the Bush gang will shield itself from anyone, or anything, that even resembles dissent. We’re dealing with a group that believes it has a […]
One has to assume that it’s tough being a campaign reporter for a major news outlet, especially for a wire service like the Associated Press. The hours are ridiculous, the travel is constant, the deadlines are tight, and not incidentally, they have to listen to presidential candidates repeat quite a bit of nonsense on a […]
The vaunted White House communications team, starting way back with Ari Fleischer, came up with a simple strategy when it comes to misleading the country: if you speak with authority, and sound convinced, your lies will have the air of the legitimacy. Take the missing White House emails flap, for example. This week, the Bush […]
In previous election cycles, South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary has been dominated by the right’s 3 Gs: God, Gays, and Guns. This year, at least over the last few months, has been relatively substantive, at least by the right’s standards, with considerable debate over immigration policy and the economy. But the Republican base is still […]
Chris Matthews’ record of creepy, on-air misogyny is not exactly new, but it reached new depths last week with his small-minded dismissal of Hillary Clinton. After years of anti-woman rhetoric, this one seemed to cross the line. Thankfully, Matthews seemed to get the message. Or, at a minimum, his bosses seemed to get the message, […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The markets take another tumble: “Wall Street extended its 2008 plunge Thursday, tumbling after a regional Federal Reserve report showed a sharp decline in manufacturing activity and as investors grew concerned that downgrades of key bond insurers could trigger further trouble with souring debt. Each of the major indexes […]
Over the weekend, Bob Novak cited close advisors of John McCain, concluding “there is no possibility that Independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman would be McCain’s vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket.” But McCain apparently wants to keep the speculation brewing anyway. There’s been plenty of speculation since self-described Democratic-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman started […]
I first took note for Roger Cohen’s work in the New York Time last summer, when he wrote a very odd op-ed arguing that the war in Iraq is a disaster, but it was worthwhile anyway. In October, Cohen again raised eyebrows, this time with a bizarre NYT piece insisting that the neocons have gotten […]
It’s become quite a dispute in Democratic circles. The Nevada Democratic Party created “at-large” casino precincts about eight months ago, so that casino employees (most notably, members of the Culinary Workers Union) would be able to participate in the Democratic causes easily and conveniently. At the time, the Nevada Democratic Party said the precincts were […]