Today’s edition of quick hits. * While almost no crimes are more heinous, this was probably the right call: “The Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, on Wednesday that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional, assuming that the victim is not killed. ‘The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for […]
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on habeas corpus and suspected terrorist detainees has faded a bit on the political world’s radar, but the McCain campaign continues to believe the issue will benefit their candidate. Indeed, just this afternoon, McCain’s in-house blogger blasted Barack Obama’s campaign for “conflicting answers” on whether Osama bin Laden would be […]
Watch any cable news show for any length of time, and you’re bound to see a talking head identified as a party “strategist.” It’s a nice little euphemism, that’s used quite a bit more by television producers than it should be. Jane Fleming Kleeb went on “The O’Reilly Factor” two weeks ago to talk about […]
My very first paid job in politics was in 1996, when I helped run a congressional campaign in York, Pennsylvania (yes, the birthplace of York Peppermint Patties). We had a great candidate, a solid message, and no money, running in a district that hadn’t seriously considered a Democrat for Congress in a generation or two. […]
Sometimes, the irony is so overwhelming, I have to wonder if it’s some kind of satirical performance art, and I’m just not in on the joke. Consider this fascinating exchange between Bill O’Reilly and Karl Rove on Fox News last night: For those who can’t watch video clips online, O’Reilly, referencing an NYT article published […]
The McCain campaign’s internal polling must show energy policy at the very top of voters’ priority list, because the senator has talked about little else the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, for McCain, the pitch has been pretty weak. First, McCain talked up a “gas-tax holiday,” which most voters recognized as cheap, unhelpful pandering. Second, […]
The Democratic Party platform, for years, has made it clear that it is a pro-choice party. Likewise, the Republican Party platform, for years, has emphasized that it’s a pro-life party. There’s very little wiggle room in either case. In fact, John McCain, not too long ago, wanted to alter the GOP platform to say the […]
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: * The NYT notes that Barack Obama “asked his leading fund-raisers in a conference call [yesterday] to lend a hand to retire the campaign debt of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.” Clinton issued a […]
We know quite a bit about the Obama campaign’s intention to “stretch” the map and compete in “red” states that a) Dems would be expected to skip; and b) the McCain campaign doesn’t want to have to fight for. But Ben Smith goes a little deeper today and considers what this might mean for Dems […]
As a rule, the Bush White House has a few reliable tactics it uses to avoid information it doesn’t want to hear. For example, when government reports might offer discouraging news that undermines the president’s agenda, the White House likes to eliminate the reports. For that matter, Bush’s proclivity for “The Bubble,” in which only […]