Joe Lieberman aide Dan Gerstein has been ridiculed quite a bit about bloggers in recent years — he’s not quite the target Jonah Goldberg is, but during the Connecticut Senate race in 2006, it was close — but he doesn’t usually poke the bear with a stick quite as blatantly as he does today. His […]
When McCain opposes his own legislation
Over the last year or so, when John McCain was struggling to get his presidential campaign back on track, one of his more notable challenges was reinventing himself — again. When he got to Congress, McCain was a rather conventional conservative Republican. After his role in the Keating Five scandal, McCain took on a reform-minded […]
Linc Chafee speaks
As a rule, senatorial memoirs aren’t especially exciting. They’re frequently exercises in vanity, with personal anecdotes that aren’t quite as interesting as the lawmakers tend to believe. But former Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who left the Republican Party after losing his re-election bid in 2006, actually seems to have put an interesting book […]
This Week in God
First up from the God machine this week is a religion/politics story we’ve been following for weeks with great interest: exit polling and faith-related questions. In all of the major primaries and caucuses, the National Election Pool, including representatives of several major news outlets, conducts exit polls of voters. The problem this year, though, is […]
Neocons lose their guy, but find the next best thing
Earlier this week, Steve Sailer speculated on where neocons, who had backed Rudy Giuliani’s presidential bid with considerable enthusiasm, go now that the former mayor’s campaign has finally been put out of its misery. (via publius) So, are all the neocons who got jobs in the Giuliani campaign, like N. Podhoretz, Frum, Rubin, going to […]
Endorsement Watch — Some jump in, some wait
It’s been a busy 12 hours on the presidential candidate endorsement front, so let’s take a quick review of which candidates have lined up what support. Barack Obama has been faring well among California’s newspaper editorial boards, winning the endorsements of practically all of the state’s largest newspapers, including the Oakland Tribune, the San Francisco […]
Friday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Breathtaking attack in Baghdad: “Remote-controlled explosives strapped to two mentally handicapped women detonated in a coordinated attack on pet bazaars Friday, police and Iraqi officials said, killing at least 73 people in the deadliest day since the U.S. sent 30,000 extra troops to the capital this spring…. Iraqi officials […]
U.S. sees first negative job growth in nearly five years
One wonders if the president’s conservative allies are still complaining that the strength of the economy is the “greatest story never told.” Nervous employers cut 17,000 jobs in January — the first such reduction in more than four years and a fresh sign that the economy is in danger of stalling. The Labor Department’s report, […]
Obama’s new mailing is awful — but it’s not Nazi awful
The Obama campaign is getting hit hard for a new direct-mail piece it’s sent out, and in this case, the criticism is entirely justified. The mailing, criticizing Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan, is really awful. Indeed, after a couple of weeks of relative silence about the “conservative frame” discussion, this Obama mailing brings it all back […]
The anti-McCain faction splits into factions
For the last couple of months, Republicans were divided between those who supported John McCain and those who didn’t. As McCain emerged as the likely nominee, both sides grew larger and louder. But particularly after McCain’s victory in the Florida GOP primary, there seems to be another split, between McCain’s conservative critics who’ve decided it’s […]