When John McCain got confused yesterday about Sunni and Shiite, Iran and al Qaeda, his campaign issued a statement insisting that McCain “misspoke and immediately corrected himself.” The explanation is far less plausible when McCain makes the same mistake and pushes the same bogus argument four times in two days. This time, in a statement […]
Before the political world moves on from the controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama’s stirring speech on race in America, it’s worth taking a moment to consider Michael Gerson’s WaPo column today, which I believe is misguided, but is largely representative of the conservative response to the week’s news. Unlike the cartoonish, […]
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: * It looks like the Obama campaign has effectively ruled out the idea of a Michigan revote, making it unlikely the state will host a second primary. In a campaign memo, Obama aides […]
John McCain’s relationship with the religious right has been, shall we say, a little awkward since he denounced the movement’s top leaders as “agents of intolerance” eight years ago. I have a hunch the tensions are about to get a little bit worse. Yesterday, representatives of the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns spoke before the […]
By now, everyone can see the advantages of ending the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Reasonable people can disagree about whether or not this prolonged process is a disaster for the party, but if we’re making lists of pros and cons, I think it’s clear that the latter would be longer than the prior. […]
At first blush it sounds pretty silly. Realistically, it seems foolish to think there are voters in Florida who think, “I prefer Democrats to John McCain on Iraq, the economy, the environment, and taxes, but I’m not going to vote for them in November because of a dispute over convention delegates.” Sure, people can base […]
During a press conference yesterday, John McCain, a self-described expert on matters of national security and international affairs, made a very high-profile screw-up — he falsely insisted that al Qaeda terrorists are being trained in Iran to fight in Iraq. What’s more, he asserted without hesitation that this is “common knowledge.” Of course, McCain’s claim […]
Barack Obama wrote his speech on race in America himself. He worked on it for a couple of days, and stayed up until 2 a.m. Tuesday to finish it. The senator conceded on “Nightline” that he couldn’t predict how the address would be perceived: “You know, you throw a rock into a pond and those […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * The band-aid: “The Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point Tuesday, in the central bank’s continued effort to restore confidence in the economy and battered financial markets. Although some experts cautioned that the cut may lead to more inflation, stocks soared as Wall […]
Perhaps I should revise my earlier comments. We learned yesterday that New York Gov. David Paterson, several years ago, went through a rough patch in his marriage, and both he and his wife had affairs. They went to counseling, worked things out, and everything’s fine. I suggested that this really doesn’t, and shouldn’t, amount to […]