They had sparred repeatedly up until very recently, but Mitt Romney, who ended his presidential bid last week, endorsed John McCain at an event in Boston this afternoon. Those past disagreements are almost certain to be glossed over later this afternoon when Romney offers his seal of approval for McCain. But given the animosity between […]
Lying about ‘life and death’
Just to focus the last item a little more, when it comes to FISA expansion, the president and his supporters are pulling all the stops. Here, for example, was Bush in the Rose Garden this morning: “This Saturday at midnight, legislation authorizing intelligence professionals to quickly and effectively monitor terrorist communications will expire. If Congress […]
Drama on the House floor — Republicans stage walk-out
Yesterday, the House considered a 21-day extension of the poorly-named “Protect America Act,” rather than endorse a Senate bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that broke the law by cooperating with Bush’s warrantless-search program. The measure was rejected on the floor — the right hated it (they want to give Bush permanent and […]
McCain advisor unwilling to fight Obama
Last summer, Mark McKinnon, the former chief media adviser to George W. Bush, and now a top aide to John McCain’s presidential campaign, admitted that he liked Obama so much, he wouldn’t create negative ads against him if the Illinois senator became the Democratic nominee. Of course, that was easy to say at the time. […]
John McCain — Panderer Extraordinaire
The far-right Washington Times, a political enterprise of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, ran an item on the front page today, under the headline, “McCain refuses to pander.” The point of the piece was to suggest McCain realizes his difficulties with the Republican Party’s base, but he won’t “pander for conservative support.” One wonders which […]
Mark Penn identifies ‘significant’ states
I’ll occasionally wonder if the hostility many Democrats have for Clinton strategist/pollster Mark Penn is excessive, right up until he gives another on-the-record interview and reminds me how he ended up with his reputation. As I’ve mentioned before, the problem is hardly ever with what Hillary Clinton herself says. She’s sharp, on-message, and disciplined, rarely […]
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: * AP: “Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters. Obama’s […]
A record long on narrative, short on accomplishments
At Time yesterday, Ana Marie Cox offered a hint of what’s to come if John McCain and Barack Obama face off in the general election. In a general, Obama won’t be running against Clinton, he’ll be running against McCain, a politician that has actually taken political risks and endured the wrath of party hacks in […]
Senate Ethics Committee admonishes Larry Craig over sex scandal
There was a point, several months ago, at which Senate Republicans were at a bit of a loss when it came to Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), who, as you may have heard, had a certain incident in an airport men’s room last year. The GOP caucus desperately wanted him to go away, but struggled to […]
An odd response to ugly racism and anti-Semitism
We’ve all seen some nasty primary fights, but I can’t think of any recent examples that got as ugly as the fight in Tennessee’s 9th congressional district. The Memphis-area district has a majority African-American population, but recently elected Rep. Steve Cohen (D), who is white and Jewish. His opponents in the area are now distributing […]