Today’s edition of quick hits. * The Land of the Free: “More than one in 100 adult Americans is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released today. With […]
Snow the latest to compare Bush to Lincoln
For quite a while, Bush and his supporters were absolutely convinced that he is a modern-day Truman, suffering with low approval ratings, but whose stature grew in subsequent decades. The good news is, Bushies no longer believe he’s a modern-day Truman. The bad news is, they’re now convinced he’s a modern-day Lincoln. Consider Fox News’ […]
Making strides on branding
Digby raised a point yesterday about a subject I haven’t considered in nearly enough detail. The Republicans have been better than Democrats for years at branding and marketing…. But it looks like the Dems have finally caught up. They are taking a different tack, as they should have been doing all along, and appealing to […]
Bush thinks spied-on Americans should ‘suck it up’?
A reporter at this morning’s White House press conference asked the president an interesting question I haven’t heard Bush respond to before: “You can get the Congress to protect telecom companies from lawsuits, but then there’s no recourse for Americans who feel that they’ve been caught up in this. I know it’s not intended to […]
Republicans want their telecom cash
Unable to make an honest case for retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with an illegal warrantless-search program, the Bush administration and its allies have crawled to Door #2: Dems are resisting because of the trial lawyers. In the fight over retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies who participated in the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program […]
Bush hails political setback as ‘interesting moment in Iraqi constitutional history’
At the president’s White House press conference this morning, a reporter raised a reasonable question: “You’ve said, Mr. President, that you want to leave Iraq in a sustainable situation at the end of your administration. Can you describe for us specifically what do you mean by ‘sustainable’? Do you have specific goals and objectives that […]
If we’re going to hold candidates accountable for their supporters’ comments…
There’s been considerable discussion this week about whether Barack Obama has, to the media’s satisfaction, rejected/denounced the beliefs of some controversial figures who’ve endorsed his campaign. Most of the talk is a rather classic example of guilt by association, but it seems to be big news anyway. The Farrakhan squabble seems especially unhelpful, given that […]
Thursday’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 a couple of weeks of speculation about his intentions, Georgia congressman and civil rights pioneer John Lewis officially switched his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. In a statement issued […]
The odd details of the IRS’s latest church investigation
Federal tax law, as it relates to tax-exempt religious ministries, is pretty clear — houses of worship may not legally intervene in political campaigns, either in support of or opposition to a candidate or a party. Those who violate the law run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status. What’s less clear is why the […]
Taking the low road and the high road at the same time
Chances are, few would have heard about professional right-wing loudmouth Bill Cunningham’s tirade against Barack Obama at a McCain event earlier this week, had McCain not personally denounced it. The story created an interesting dynamic — it served to amplify Cunningham’s ugly attacks (which undermines Obama), while making McCain look like he’s above it all […]