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: * There is such a thing as going to the well once too many times. The McCain campaign is trying to milk the Wesley Clark issue for another day of headlines, but the […]
The notion of the government contracting with religious ministries to provide social services is not, on its face, scandalous or unconstitutional. Groups like Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services have partnered with public officials for decades, almost always without incident. There have always been safeguards in place to protect church-state separation, the integrity of the […]
Just a few days ago, after Barack Obama questioned John McCain’s record on women’s rights, a reporter asked the Republican nominee if he had any reaction. McCain almost sounded as if Obama had hurt his feelings: “You know I respect Senator Obama and I admire his success and I will conduct a respectful campaign. That […]
When a federal appeals court bench, including one of the circuit’s most conservative jurists, openly mocks the Bush administration, you know the government’s position is pretty weak. (thanks to K.Z. for the tip) In the first case to review the government’s secret evidence for holding a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a federal appeals court […]
By most reasonable measures, retired Gen. Wesley Clark got a pretty raw deal yesterday. On Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” Clark questioned John McCain’s presidential qualifications, which was quickly turned into an “attack” on McCain’s military service. Barack Obama’s campaign distanced himself from the comments, and all three network evening newscasts not only slammed Clark, but […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Bill Clinton and Barack Obama spoke on the phone today, reportedly for about 20 minutes, and both issued statements afterwards indicating that it went well. I shudder to think about the extent to which their statements will be parsed and analyzed for evidence of animosity. * I’ll try and […]
In late 2007, Bush administration officials drafted a secret plan, giving the Defense Department’s Special Operations forces greater ease to go into the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the goal of targeted al Qaeda’s top leaders. The plan, codenamed “Operation Cannonball,” sounded very encouraging on paper — it would sidestep turf wars between Washington […]
The McCain campaign wants to manufacture a controversy over Wesley Clark’s comments about McCain’s qualifications. Fine. McCain and his allies want to feign outrage. Fine. They want to spend the day whining about the Obama campaign being insufficiently sycophantic about McCain’s military record. Fine. But did these guys really have to give us Bud Day? […]
I often wonder what it must be like for the president, on a personal level, to know that he’s so deeply, historically unpopular. I know the traditional White House line is that Bush expects to be vindicated by history — we may not like him, but our grandkids will think he’s amazing — but not […]
Following up on an item from this morning, the pushback from news outlets, the McCain campaign, and conservative activists against Wesley Clark has been pretty fierce today. In fact, Clark’s comments have already taken on an entirely different meaning. Here’s how Time characterized the McCain campaign’s efforts this morning: “The presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign launches […]