For the first six years of his presidency, Bush followed a fairly predictable model when it came to appointments and key government posts. He would appoint an unqualified hack to run and/or oversee an important agency, congressional Republicans would approve said hack, and when the hack screwed up, a GOP-led Congress would balk at any […]
A novel approach to the expectations game
Way back on Feb. 12, the day Barack Obama cruised to easy victories in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was already busy building up firewalls. Indeed, that afternoon, Clinton’s travel schedule didn’t include stops in any of the states voting that day, or in any state voting in February, but […]
According to Bush, to ‘talk’ is to ’embrace’
At yesterday’s White House press conference, a reporter asked the president about Barack Obama’s position that the United States should be willing, after careful diplomatic legwork, to talk to our international rivals. Q: [A]s President, you have obviously considered and rejected this approach. And I’m wondering if you can give us a little insight into […]
McCain’s ‘ic’ problem
John McCain, especially of late, likes to emphasize to reporters how much he values treating people with “respect,” and his desire to have a presidential campaign where rivals honor each other’s differences. And yet, he loves the grammatically wrong “Democrat Party.” The WSJ’s Laura Meckler decided to ask him about the disconnect. Given McCain’s reputation […]
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: * After experiencing a financial rough patch, it looks as if the Clinton campaign is back on firm ground, raising $35 million in February, more than double her January haul. “It was incredibly […]
Has the Clinton campaign really gone ‘nuclear’ with its new ad?
It’s just not that unusual for a presidential candidate to rely on the politics of fear. LBJ’s “Daisy” ad certainly set the bar, but we’ve seen plenty of egregious examples in the post-9/11 era, usually from the right (“If you vote Democrat, Osama bin Laden will kill your dog.”). With this in mind, the new […]
School vouchers fail yet another test
School vouchers haven’t had any luck at all lately. Voters in Utah, expected to be rather conservative, overwhelmingly rejected a statewide ballot referendum on vouchers in November. A report by the Government Accountability Office showed DC’s voucher system, mandated by Bush and congressional Republicans, coming up short. The president touted a voucher plan in his […]
O’Reilly equates Arianna Huffington with Nazis, KKK
It’s as if Bill O’Reilly has never even heard of Godwin’s Law. During the February 27 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly attacked Arianna Huffington — founder of The Huffington Post — over comments (since removed) that readers posted to an item on the website reporting the hospitalization of former first […]
Behind the scenes, the long knives come out
Just a few days before voters head to the polls in Ohio and Texas, two contests Hillary Clinton has to win big, it’s surprisingly unhelpful to see top Clinton aides start to point fingers at one another. Harold Ickes definitely doesn’t buy the argument that Mark Penn isn’t responsible for everything that has happened to […]
A tale of two extremists
In 2000, John McCain excoriated George W. Bush for kicking off his campaign in South Carolina at Bob Jones University, visiting the campus and delivering a speech to the student body. McCain assailed the appearance, arguing that Bush’s uncritical speech at BJU — a school with a record of anti-Catholic bigotry — was tantamount to […]