Iraqis, Obama, and 2010

Following up on an item from this morning, the AP ran a story noting that Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesperson for the Maliki government in Iraq, endorsed the idea of a U.S. withdrawal “by 2010.” The timeframe, the AP noted, is “similar to Obama’s proposal to pull back combat troops within 16 months.” The AP piece […]

McCain, not Maliki, knows ‘what Iraqis want’

Given reality, the fact that the Maliki government wants a U.S. withdrawal timetable and has endorsed Barack Obama’s Iraq policy by name would seem to be bad news for John McCain and his presidential campaign. But the presumptive Republican nominee has a trump card to get himself out of inconvenient jams like these: “I’m John […]

Idiocy Watch: McCain blames Obama for high gas prices in new ad

Several recent polls show Americans believe Barack Obama is better prepared to deal with energy prices than John McCain, and given the importance of the issue on the minds of voters, the McCain campaign has decided to rely on a tried-and-true method of campaigning: lie like a rug. Here’s McCain’s latest television ad: For those […]

McCain expresses concern over Iraq-Pakistan border — which doesn’t exist

Remember, the entire premise of John McCain’s campaign pitch is that he has an unrivaled expertise in foreign policy. For those of you who can’t watch clips online, McCain appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” a few hours ago, and Diane Sawyer asked if he believed “the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent.” McCain, […]

Monday’s campaign round-up

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: * On the last full day of a very successful Netroots Nation conference in Austin, Barack Obama sent along a video address, and Al Gore made a surprise appearance. * Last week, Republicans […]

Iraqi officials endorse Obama timeline — again

Ali al-Dabbagh, the spokesperson for the Maliki government in Iraq, has had an interesting couple of days. After Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki endorsed Barack Obama’s withdrawal policy, it was Dabbagh who was forced to argue that the quotes attributed to Maliki were “not accurate,” even though they were entirely accurate. The back-and-forth nature of the […]

Dobson reconsiders the ‘circumstances,’ warms up to McCain

In January, Focus on the Family’s James Dobson ruled out voting for John McCain, if he won the Republican nomination. “Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances,” Dobson said in a statement. In February, just as McCain was wrapping up the GOP nod, Dobson reiterated that McCain […]

Al Gore’s tolerance for ‘triviality and artifice and nonsense’

Al Gore appeared on “Meet the Press” yesterday for an interview that largely emphasized the former Vice President’s speech last week on energy policy, but Tom Brokaw extended the subjects to include everything from Joe Lieberman to the now-infamous New Yorker cover to the land use devoted to the Gore family house. But of all […]

Moving the ball forward on Maliki’s support for Obama, withdrawal

If you were away from the news over the weekend, you may not have heard about a game-changing moment in the presidential campaign. Just as Barack Obama was poised to visit Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, unprompted, announced his belief that Obama’s withdrawal policy “would be the right time timeframe for a withdrawal,” and is […]