First up from the God machine this week is a story that’s come up more than once over the last 30 years or so, as prominent evangelicals question their role in public life. Do they pursue the political realm to advance their agenda, or do they steer clear of politics to focus on, to borrow […]
The continuing adventures of boring gay people
Guest Post by Morbo Lots of articles are written about gay people, but the ones that probably most drive Religious Right leaders like James Dobson and Pat Robertson crazy are stories that portray gays as what they are – just plain folks. The New York Times Magazine ran a piece like this last week. Benoit […]
Even right-wingers know Ben Stein is a moron
Guest Post by Morbo On Thursday the Carpetbagger wrote a post pointing out that Ben Stein appears to be going off the deep end. I’m happy to report that some conservatives have noticed as well. When I was young and still trying to sort out my political stance, one of the things that turned me […]
Friday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * In today’s economy, when the news is bad, but better than expected, it’s good: “The American economy shed 20,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said on Friday in a report that many economists took as powerful evidence that the United States is ensnared in a recession. It was […]
It depends on what the meaning of ‘influential’ (and ‘pundit) is
It’s obviously just a conversation piece, meant for water-cooler fodder, but it’s Friday afternoon, and I kind of like mulling over conversation pieces like these. London’s Telegraph likes to run occasional lists about American politics. It’s latest installment counts down the most influential political pundits in the country. With the internet revolution and the growing […]
In defense of Mickey Kantor
I hesitate to even mention this, in part because it’s a classic non-story, and in part because I suspect the target of the story would much prefer that people stop talking about. But once in a while, I assume readers want to know what the political world is buzzing about and today’s topic du jour […]
Why ‘100 years’ is only part of McCain’s problem
The DNC’s “100 years” ad targeting John McCain drew the predictably ire of the Republican Party this week, with McCain allies arguing that McCain doesn’t want to keep the war going through 2108, he’s just willing to leave U.S. troops in Iraq there indefinitely to help maintain the peace. Now, as I noted the other […]
Why do Catholics prefer Clinton to Obama?
At first blush, there’s no obvious reason to explain why Barack Obama is, according to exit polls, struggling with Catholic voters. He’s opposed the war in Iraq; he’s presented an ambitious plan to combat global warming; he’s taken a progressive attitude on capital punishment and immigration, emphasizes “social justice,” and while he’s pro-choice, Obama has […]
McCain doesn’t know how to ‘distance himself’ from Bush
A couple of weeks ago, the Politico’s Jonathan Martin reported that a key aspect of John McCain’s general-election strategy is to “drive a triangulated contrast among himself, the Democratic nominee and President Bush.” Reuters reports today that we’re starting to get a sense of what this strategy looks like in practice. Slowly but surely, Republican […]
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: * The Indianapolis Star, Indiana’s largest newspaper, endorsed Hillary Clinton this morning. The Star’s editorial board seemed disappointed that Clinton has “pandered more to voters,” but the paper nevertheless concludes that she “is […]