Years ago, I was having a conversation with a jazz pianist who told me, “When I hit a wrong note, I keep hitting it — so the audience will think it’s intentional.” To move away from the wrong note would be a subtle admission of a mistake. John McCain seems to apply the same standard […]
There are a couple of reasons the McCain campaign’s new-found obsession with attacking the political media establishment as “biased” is annoying. The first, and most obvious, problem is that reporters covering the campaign adore McCain, and go to almost comical lengths to help him. (CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin noted this week, “[I]f there is […]
Following up on Adam’s reference from yesterday, Barack Obama raised the ire of the far-right a month ago when he described how he’d like to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice. As Obama explained it, if bin Laden were captured alive (an unlikely scenario in its own right), Obama would want a deliberate, transparent […]
I can appreciate the fact that Republicans aren’t quite sure how to criticize Barack Obama’s international travel over the last week. It has, after all, been an usually successful trip, which the McCain campaign practically goaded Obama into taking. They’ve tried out a few angles, but the attacks have either been foolish, contradictory, or both. […]
Remember the first two weeks of July, when the “big story” of the presidential campaign was that Barack Obama moved (or was about to move) towards John McCain’s position on Iraq policy? The story was a fantasy, based on literally nothing, but it dominated the political discourse for weeks. The McCain campaign went so far […]
Just to let readers know, I’m back and had a good day off. There was some speculation about what I did with my day, so here’s the scoop: Saturday contributor Morbo and his family (the Morbosons) came for a visit. It was good to see them, even though this means he won’t contribute any posts […]
Guest Post by Adam This time I promise asterisks. Er, bullet points. Zbigniew Brzezinski doesn’t think more troops in Afghanistan are the answer. Both candidates now essentially favor an increase in troops in the area. McCain now likes the idea of a Nuremberg style trial for Osama Bin Laden. Weeks ago McCain mocked Obama for […]
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, I’m taking an exceedingly rare day off, my first since February. The good news is, some friends of mine will filling in for me. Steve M. from No More Mister Nice Blog, Ron Chusid from Liberal Values, and Adam Serwer, a writing fellow at […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Wall Street “abruptly ended an earnings-driven rally and closed sharply lower Thursday after a steeper-than-expected decline in existing home sales and worries about the financial sector chilled the market’s recent optimism. The major indexes fell about 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which lost more than 275 […]
Conservatives, of course, were unlikely to praise Barack Obama’s speech before 200,000 in Berlin today. But I found some of the criticism to be more misguided than usual. Here’s Ross Douthat, for example: Yes, of course the Hitler comparisons are absurd, but I’d really like to know which genius on the Obama campaign thought it […]