When Bob Bennett confronted John McCain with some of John Hagee’s more inflammatory ant-Catholic comments, McCain went with the weakest of all responses — Hagee’s comments, McCain said, were taken “out of context.” So, when I first started hearing that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s post-9/11 comments were taken “out of context,” my first instinct was […]
When it comes to taxes, John McCain wants to make Bush’s cuts permanent, and slash the corporate income-tax rate from 35% to 25%. In all, according to the McCain campaign and the Congressional Budget Office, McCain’s plan would cost an additional $400 billion a year (at a time of already huge budget deficits), and at […]
As campaign issues go, missile defense isn’t generating much in the way of attention, but it might end up being a subject of a pretty interesting debate. John McCain, for example, loves missile defense systems, which he believes are “critical” to protect the country. His campaign argues, “America should never again have to live in […]
I have a feeling Kevin Drum might tease me again for writing this, but I can’t help myself. It’s just too annoying. The New York Times’ Deborah Solomon chatted with notorious televangelist John Hagee this week for an interview that ran in today’s NYT Sunday magazine. Hagee, of course, is best known as a bigoted […]
It’s hard to imagine a bill like this passing in its first iteration, and it would almost certainly draw a veto from this president, but Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is nevertheless poised to do something interesting. During an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Frank announced that he will soon introduce legislation to […]
One of the week’s more interesting controversies came a couple of days ago when we learned that three State Department contractors inappropriately accessed the passport files of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. Bush administration officials chalked it up to “imprudent curiosity,” fired the workers, and launched an investigation. It’s still unclear whether those […]
Following up on an earlier item, it seems pretty clear that Barack Obama’s speech on race in America has helped the senator rebound a bit. The latest CBS News poll highlighted the trend, as does the latest Gallup tracking poll. Barack Obama has quickly made up the deficit he faced with Hillary Clinton earlier this […]
Usually, when highlighting the ways in which John McCain offers the nation four more years of George W. Bush, the list includes a familiar litany of issues — war policy, foreign policy, irresponsible tax cuts for the very wealthy, healthcare, education. Dealing with the environment, however, generally doesn’t make the list. To his credit, McCain, […]
Following up on an item from a week or so ago, Hillary Clinton has actively touted a 1996 trip to Bosnia as evidence of her foreign policy background. Sinbad, a comedian who traveled with the then-First Lady for this trip, raised questions about the accuracy of Clinton’s version of events, but the candidate and the […]
Several State Department contractors improperly, and possibly illegally, peeked at Barack Obama’s passport file (in addition to Hilary Clinton’s and John McCain’s). Administration officials have apologized, publicly and privately, and have already begun an investigation. Sean Hannity, however, believes it’s wrong for Obama to blame the administration that failed to protect his private records, and […]