Today’s edition of quick hits. * I hope all of our friends in Southern California are safe and sound: “A magnitude-5.4 earthquake has struck just east of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake’s epicenter was about 2 miles southwest of Chino Hills and about 5 miles southeast of Diamond Bar, the […]
Why poll watching can make you dizzy (and why McCain’s +4 is dubious)
Yesterday afternoon, a Gallup tracking poll showed Barack Obama leading John McCain nationally by eight points among registered voters, 48% to 40%. A couple of hours later, a Gallup/USA Today poll showed McCain leading Obama among likely voters by four, 49% to 45%. Both from Gallup, both taken over a similar time period, both national, […]
John Kerry will probably accept Bush’s apology
Back in 2004, Bush told a Florida audience, “[John] Kerry said, and I quote, ‘The war on terror is far less of a military operation and far more of an intelligence-gathering law enforcement operation.’ (Audience boos.) I disagree…. After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies […]
Complaints notwithstanding, the media still has its one true love
A week ago, in a striking display of chutzpah, the McCain campaign unveiled a three-minute montage, ostensibly proving that political journalists are overly fond of Barack Obama. (The web video generated plenty of attention, but was ultimately pulled for copyright reasons.) That John McCain, who enjoys more media affection than any political figure in recent […]
McCain to follow bin Laden to the gates of hell — unless the gates are in Pakistan
John McCain appeared via satellite with CNN’s Larry King last night, and the two covered a fair amount of ground in a short amount of time. There were a handful of important exchanges, but this was arguably the most striking. For those of you who can’t watch clips online, TPM first showed McCain vowing to […]
Down the Tubes: Sen. Ted Stevens (R) indicted
Exactly one year ago this week, agents from the FBI and the IRS raided Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R) home in Alaska — the first ever such raid on a sitting senator’s home — as “part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one […]
Richard Cohen has a very bad year
It happens sometimes. Political columnists, like professional athletes, can get stuck in a rut and have awful seasons. It reflects poorly on their overall career and/or body of work, and for their audience it can be cringe inducing, but in the end, one has to wonder if the slump will ever end. With this in […]
Tuesday’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: * Following up on an earlier item, Marc Ambinder reports that there is “independent evidence” that the Obama campaign’s VP search committee is “taking a serious look” at three people: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius […]
Religious right still under the delusion that it’s calling the shots
For the first open cycle in a long while, the religious right has had no discernable impact on the presidential race. And yet, the movement continues to believe that it’s powerful enough to start calling the shots when it comes to the Republican ticket, or at a minimum, that the religious right can veto those […]
McCain backs away from another vow to voters, conservatives notice
In March, John McCain chatted with National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru when the discussion turned to entitlements such as Social Security. Ponnuru asked if, in the course of negotiations with congressional Democrats, McCain might be “willing to accept a tax increase.” McCain said, “No, no.” Ponnuru pressed on, asking, “Any circumstances?” McCain replied, “No. None. None.” […]