Today’s edition of quick hits. * New details on the State Department’s snooping on presidential candidates: “The Associated Press has learned that the two contractors fired for snooping into Barack Obama’s passport records worked for a Virginia-based company called Stanley Inc. Earlier this week, the 3,500-person company won a five-year, $570-million contract to support passport […]
McCain campaign reverses course, says McCain was right all along
It wasn’t my intention to belabor the point, but it’s kind of important to recognize how poorly John McCain and his campaign handle questions regarding foreign policy and national security. As we all know by now, McCain has repeatedly argued recently that al Qaeda terrorists have traveled to Iran, received support, and then re-entered Iraq […]
The inconvenient fiction of the Democratic presidential race
Consider a hypothetical. Let’s say that right now, Barack Obama trailed Hillary Clinton among delegates, statewide victories, and popular votes. The margins are such where it’s extremely unlikely he’d catch up before the convention. She’d raised more money than him, and had won 14 of the last 17 Democratic contests, almost all by wide margins. […]
Bush flubs test on Iran and nuclear weapons
What is it with Republican leaders getting confused about basics in the Middle East this week? John McCain got confused (on four separate occasions) about Sunni and Shia, Iran and al Qaeda. And then yesterday, Bush flubbed one of his own on Iran and nuclear weapons. President Bush contended that Iran has “declared they want […]
The pastor who accuses the United States of ‘black genocide’
Barack Obama has gone to considerable lengths to distance himself from the inflammatory remarks of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but some remarks are harder to dismiss. When Wright, for example, said the United States government has been complicit in facilitating black genocide, it was hard not to cringe and seek an explanation […]
State Department peeks at files of all three presidential hopefuls
The big story over night, as we discussed this morning, was that three State Department contractors took an inappropriate peek at Barack Obama’s passport file. Officials apologized, fired the contractors in question, and announced that an investigation would be forthcoming. But this afternoon we learned that the State Department’s problem is an even bigger mess. […]
The perceptions that feed an ‘honesty gap’
According to the latest Gallup poll, Hillary Clinton has a veracity problem. Hillary Clinton is rated as “honest and trustworthy” by 44% of Americans, far fewer than say this about John McCain (67%) and Barack Obama (63%). More specifically, when respondents were asked about the candidates’ honesty and trustworthiness, McCain did very well (67%-27% in […]
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: * In one of the weaker attacks from the Obama campaign in recent memory, the Obama team found and distributed a picture of Bill Clinton shaking hands with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at […]
Race discussion takes a misguided turn
Barack Obama’s speech on race in America this week sparked a spirited discussion in a variety of corners, but as we’ve all experienced, sometimes a discussion can go off in dumb directions. The New York Daily News’ Errol Louis tackled the flap over Obama’s comparison yesterday of his grandmother to a “typical white person” — […]
White House claims Americans ‘had input’ on war in Iraq
Dick Cheney raised some eyebrows this week when ABC News’ Martha Raddatz reminded the VP that “two-thirds of Americans say” the Iraq war “is not worth fighting.” In response, Cheney asked, “So?” Now, truth be told, I found this amusing, but hardly shocking. For one thing, the fact that Dick Cheney doesn’t much care about […]