In a contested presidential primary, candidates are going to go after one another. It’s practically unavoidable. For that matter, it’s not always a bad thing to highlight differences and deal with criticisms the nominee is likely to hear again in a general election. It’s rarely fun for partisans to hear one leader from their party […]
Karl Rove offers hint of what’s to come
It’s very tempting to just ignore Karl Rove and his occasional assessments of the political landscape. After all, as we’ve discussed before, his “genius” has always been wildly exaggerated, particularly when it comes to electoral strategy. On Election Day 2000, it was Rove’s idea to keep his candidate in California in the waning days, instead […]
Does a protracted primary process help the GOP?
The NYT’s Adam Nagourney made a compelling case yesterday that Mitt Romney’s win in the Michigan Republican primary was “proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized […]
Obama causes stir with talk of Reagan, JFK
Barack Obama sat down with the editors of the Reno Gazette-Journal the other day for a fairly lengthy interview, most of which was interesting, but hardly ground-breaking. The senator caused a bit of a stir, though, when we learned yesterday about his perspective on some recent presidents. “I don’t want to present myself as some […]
Wednesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Remember that bizarre veto during the winter congressional break? It looks like there’s been progress on a resolution: “Congress has reached a compromise with the White House over a defense authorization bill provision that had drawn complaints from the Iraqi government. Those complaints prompted President Bush to veto the […]
Former GOP lawmaker charged in terror conspiracy
Oh dear. A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money […]
Years of White House emails reportedly gone forever
Today was supposed to be a court-imposed deadline for the White House to produce emails from the first couple of years of Bush’s presidency. Just a few minutes before midnight, the White House came up with a new rationale for failing to cooperate — it deleted the emails and taped over the backups. The White […]
Huckabee statement on submissive wives ‘not open to interpretation’
Among the many, many controversial things Mike Huckabee has said in recent years, he’s still facing questions about his belief that wives should “graciously submit” to a husband’s “leadership.” If you’re just joining us, in 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared, “I affirm the statement […]
The Republican word of the day is ‘disarray’
The NYT’s Adam Nagourney captures the current state of the Republican landscape pretty well today. Can anyone bring the Republicans together again? The convincing victory by Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary on Tuesday means three very different states — with dissimilar electorates driven by distinctive sets of priorities — have embraced three separate candidates […]
O’Reilly volunteers Fox News to provide housing for 195,000 veterans
In last night’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, John Edwards, in one of his strongest moments of the event, highlighted how often military veterans are left behind after they serve. “Tonight across this country, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform and served this country patriotically, veterans, will go to sleep under bridges and […]