Today’s edition of quick hits. * Good move: “The House on Thursday approved an extra three months of jobless benefits for all unemployed Americans, knowing the plan’s chances are slight in the Senate and almost nonexistent at the White House. After failing to get a veto-proof two-thirds margin by three votes on Wednesday, Democrats got […]
In the coming issue of Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal widely distributed among officers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff writes a welcome but unusual open letter to everyone who wears an Armed Forces uniform: stay out of the political arena during the election season. “The U.S. military must remain apolitical […]
With Democrats and environmentalists opposed to oil drilling off the coast of Florida, Dick Cheney has decided to push the rhetorical envelope a bit. With gas topping $4 a gallon, some Republicans are pointing to Cuba once again to bolster their case that the U.S. should be drilling along Florida’s coastline. The claim: China has […]
Media efforts to minimize the differences notwithstanding, Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be much more different, especially on the issues of taxes. The irony is, McCain, after his last presidential election, thought Bush’s trickle-down, class-warfare-style tax plan was ridiculous. “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the […]
In 2008, John McCain works hard to convince people he’s not just like George W. Bush. In 2005, John McCain worked hard to convince people of the exact opposite. Looking over the transcript from the June 19, 2005, episode of “Meet the Press,” the context of the video is actually slightly worse for McCain. Tim […]
I’m reasonably confident that Barack Obama is going to win the presidency in November, but I should admit, as foolish as it may sound, my biggest fear is the vicious rumor mill, where nonsense spreads quickly, and far too many decent people struggle to differentiate between fact and right-wing fiction. One of my cousins emailed […]
The Bush administration keeps insisting it can ignore the law when it comes to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. And the Supreme Court keeps saying the Bush administration is wrong. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts. […]
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: * More encouraging steps towards unity: “The other day, EMILY’s List president Ellen Malcolm revealed that she’s not over her ‘anger and grief’ at Hillary’s loss, but that hasn’t stopped her from coming […]
There’s been quite a bit of talk the past few days about a handful of House Democrats who’ve announced that they won’t endorse Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Most notably, Rep. Dan Boren, a right-wing Dem from Oklahoma said he’ll vote for Obama in November, but he won’t endorse him beforehand, calling Obama “the most liberal […]
Newsweek has an item in its current issue about John McCain’s search for a running mate, and how the Republican senator will likely put personal interaction at the top of his list of priorities. Washington lobbyist Ken Duberstein told Newsweek, “He is not going to pick a clone or a crazy.” It depends, I suppose, […]