First up from the God Machine this week is an interesting trend pointing to a rise in irreligion for the last several decades. Matt Yglesias, whose post features a nice chart, explained: One hears from a lot of secular people worries that the country is plunging over the edge into theocracy. At the same time, […]
In October, David Brooks, in an otherwise fawning column about Mike Huckabee, conceded that “his foreign policy thinking is thin.” That was obviously a dramatic understatement. Earlier this month, he didn’t know what the National Intelligence Estimate was. A week later, the former governor identified Thomas Friedman and Frank Gaffney as his biggest influences on […]
Recently cast off from Time magazine, presumably for writing shallow, predictable tripe, the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol is getting a promotion of sorts. The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008. Kristol, […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * AP: “The opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was buried at her ancestral village in southern Pakistan on Friday as riots that began after her assassination on Thursday continued across the country, leaving 23 people dead, including four security officers.” * More: “The government laid the blame for the combined shooting […]
With the polls narrowing in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney’s campaign has launched a negative TV ad against John McCain, noting the senator’s votes against Bush’s tax cuts, against a repeal of the estate tax, and for an immigration-reform bill the GOP’s far-right base condemns as “amnesty.” The commercial says McCain is “an honorable man,” but […]
Lately, several presidential candidates have had more trouble with what surrogates say than the candidates themselves. Consider this jaw-dropper from John Deady, the New Hampshire State Co-Chair of Veterans for Rudy. For those who can’t watch clips online, here’s what the guy says about Giuliani: “He’s got I believe the knowledge and the judgment to […]
The president went nearly six years in office without vetoing a single bill, but has now had seven — including funding the war in Iraq, stem-cell research (twice), and healthcare for low-income kids (twice). In each instance, lawmakers were well aware of the White House’s opposition, but passed the bills anyway, hoping Bush would either […]
Karen Tumulty notes that Rudy Giuliani — who not only received free, taxpayer-financed healthcare when diagnosed with cancer, but also “recently turned around his chartered jet to seek emergency medical treatment” — was asked why Republican presidential hopefuls aren’t talking about healthcare in their campaigns. “I suspect that our Democratic colleagues would get that question […]
If one were to list of all the reasons Joe Lieberman is spectacularly annoying, it’d take a while. There’s his support for the Bush/Cheney foreign policy; his broken promises from the 2006 campaign; his constant reinforcing of right-wing media frames; his support for GOP obstructionism; etc. While all of those are, to be sure, maddening, […]
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: * With just six days remaining before the Iowa caucuses, the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll finds that there’s still no obvious frontrunner. In Iowa, Hillary Clinton leads with 29%, followed by Barack […]