Political parties and leaders sometimes need to be reminded not to believe their own press releases. It’s one thing to spin and exaggerate; it’s another to actually buy into your own exaggerated spin. For example, Republicans in general, and Bush and McCain in specific, tend to seriously believe their strong suit is foreign policy and […]
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly have been trading barbs for quite a while, creating a relatively entertaining, good ol’ fashioned media feud. By all appearances, Olbermann seems to be enjoying the dispute far more than O’Reilly is, with the latter tending to become enraged at the mention of the prior’s name. I’ve […]
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 was some additional movement on the delegate front over the weekend, with Obama picking up Maryland superdelegate Greg Pecoraro, and add-on delegates in Colorado and Kansas. In California, Clinton picked up […]
When voters are asked to name the top issue they consider when weighing their choice in the presidential election, we generally hear about the economy, the war in Iraq, healthcare, national security, and energy policy. Those are, to be sure, all very important considerations. And then there’s my top issue: the federal judiciary. I realize […]
Yesterday afternoon, I was chatting with my friend Bill Simmon, discussing the week that was. I mentioned John McCain’s speech on Iraq earlier in the week, in which the senator talked about how great Iraq will look in 2013, at the end of what he hopes would be his first term as president. Borrowing a […]
As part of their new “re-branding” initiative, House Republicans, to modest fanfare, unveiled their “American Families Agenda” last week. Ordinarily, a “families agenda” driven by the GOP would include a fairly predictable conservative wish list, built around anti-gay measures and legislation to promote state-sponsored religion. It took Republicans an awfully long while, but it appears […]
When the McCain quietly acknowledged on Saturday that Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chairman of the presidential campaign, had resigned over his lobbying ties, advisors probably hoped it would go by largely unnoticed. Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff ran with the story, and blogs picked up on it, but would five key campaign resignations in a week […]