Guest Post by Morbo The Carpetbagger on Wednesday mentioned President George W. Bush’s recent confession that he has given up golf as a way of sacrificing for the troops in Iraq. I was touched. What a bold leader we have! Bush is so courageous he’s willing to give up leisure activities to support the war […]
Friday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Tragic: “The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis has nearly doubled to almost 78,000 and another 56,000 people remain missing two weeks after the storm, Myanmar state television reported Friday. The United Nations, meanwhile, said that severe restrictions by Myanmar’s military junta have left aid agencies largely in the […]
Lieberman defends radical McCain ally John Hagee
I can appreciate the fact that Joe Lieberman has finished off the McCain Kool Aid. I also realize Lieberman is completely on board with everything McCain says, does, and believes, and will defend the Republican presidential campaign against any charge, regardless of merit. But I’m a little surprised Lieberman is willing to go so far […]
McCain supported talks with Syria, too
To hear John McCain tell it, Barack Obama is irresponsible for his willingness to engage a state sponsor of terror like Iran. McCain’s attacks have all kinds of substantive flaws, but more importantly, McCain seems to keep running into trouble due to comments he’s made before. Earlier, for example, we talked about McCain’s 2006 position […]
McCain’s meandering mendacity
Following up on the last item, Barack Obama hit back quite aggressively this afternoon in response to George Bush’s “appeasement” smear, and John McCain’s applause for it. Shortly thereafter, the McCain campaign responded to the response. “It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t […]
‘They’re trying to fool you; they’re trying to scare you; and they’re not telling you the truth’
Yesterday, the president, with not-so-subtle language, suggested to the Israeli Knesset that Barack Democrats are Chamberlain-like appeasers because Obama is willing to talk to Iran (just as Bush’s own Defense Secretary and Secretary of State have recommended). As it turns out, Obama had taken the day off from the campaign trail, but the entire party […]
Obama to emphasize faith-based appeals
The Wall Street Journal had an item today on the Obama campaign rolling out a “new nationwide faith effort” that will, among other things, make it clear that the Democratic candidate is a Christian. The initiative represents a direct challenge to Republicans, who successfully wooed conservative evangelical votes that in turn fueled President Bush’s re-election […]
Friday’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: * Superdelegate announcements have been relatively spare this morning, with only one endorsement I can find: Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) endorsed Obama. * On a related note, the Obama campaign issued this press […]
Maybe we can skip the culture-war fight this campaign?
In 2004, hoping to rally the Republican Party’s far-right base, the president did his level best to make gay marriage a key issue in the presidential campaign. Bush hadn’t shown much interest in the issue before, and seemed to quickly forget about the culture-war rallying cry once he’d won a second term, but the president […]
The consequences of staffing a campaign with a legion of lobbyists
On Saturday, John McCain had to get rid of the man he tasked with managing the Republican National Convention when we learned he’d run a lobbying firm that represented Burma’s military junta. On Sunday, McCain had to get rid of a regional campaign manager because he’d been the lobbyist responsible for managing the junta’s account. […]