I find it terribly frustrating when my non-blogging life interferes with my blogging life, but sometimes, it’s unavoidable. I’m off to another doctor’s appointment, so here’s an open thread for you. I am planning to do plenty of posts once I return, though I’m not exactly sure when that’ll be. And if, by chance, Steve […]
It was train-wreck television — but it didn’t have to be
By now, I suspect most have either seen or heard about Texas State Senator Kirk Watson (D), who appeared on “Hardball” the other night as a Barack Obama surrogate, and who had a very rough time. The long and the short of it is straightforward: Chris Matthews pressed Watson to name some of Obama’s legislative […]
What will the right do with the Iseman controversy?
There’s never an especially good time for the NYT to run a front-page expose connecting the presumptive Republican nominee romantically to a younger lobbyist for whom he may have pulled some strings. But one can’t help but wonder just how seriously the Iseman controversy will throw John McCain off his game. For example, much of […]
McCain relationship with lobbyist rocks presidential campaign
A few months ago, just a few days before Christmas, Drudge reported that the New York Times was poised to publish a “high-impact report” involving John McCain and “key telecom legislation.” There were very few details, but McCain had reportedly already hired an attorney to deal with the controversy, while the senator and his campaign […]
Wednesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * It looks like the election results in Pakistan didn’t faze the Bush gang: “The administration first tried to promote a power-sharing deal last summer, between Mr. Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto, but neither side proved amenable enough, and the deal collapsed after Mr. Musharraf imposed emergency rule, suspended the Constitution […]
Why doesn’t McCain want to go after al Qaeda terrorists?
Following up on an earlier item, John McCain seems to think he can score some cheap points against Barack Obama by claiming that he wants to “invade” Pakistan. Indeed, McCain is so pleased with himself, he keeps repeating the line, over and over again, as evidenced by an interview this morning in which he insisted, […]
Still looking for evidence of McCain’s ‘new thinking’
In a column that has very little to do with John McCain, Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria added this praise for no apparent reason. (via Kevin Drum) Political ideologies do not exist in a vacuum. They need to meet the problems of the world as it exists. Ordinary conservatives understand this, which may be why — despite […]
Florida takes two steps forward, one step back
The good news is, Florida, for the first time in its history, will feature the word “evolution” in its state science standards. The bad news is, the reality-based community in the state had to make a compromise in order to get the word in there. Florida’s State Board of Education has voted to use the […]
Obama defends wife over ‘pride’ flap
Michelle Obama can be a dynamic force on the campaign trail, but yesterday, she drew quite a bit of fire over these comments: “What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — for the first time in my […]
Mr. Vague Generalities just can’t help himself
In retrospect, it was incredibly helpful for John McCain to argue last week that one of his biggest points of contention with Barack Obama is his alleged aversion to “specifics.” I’ve heard of leading with your chin, but this is ridiculous. Last week, we talked about a couple of glaring instances in which McCain seemed […]