At 8pm last night, the debate in Las Vegas was supposed to begin, but CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was the only person on the stage. Apparently, this was intentional — CNN wanted to show the audience “what a photo op looks like.” Blitzer, after introducing the candidates one at a time, told the audience, “We thought, […]
I watch debates, so you don’t have to
A couple of weeks ago, after a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, the media hype was unmistakable: Hillary Clinton had “stumbled.” She was “off her game.” She “waffled,” got “tripped up,” and “lost her momentum.” By any reasonable measure, all of this was wildly overstated — it might have been Clinton’s least impressive debate performance, but […]
Thursday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I suspect there are going to be a few folks in DC who find this alarming: “Iran has made important strides toward transparency about its nuclear activities but key questions remain unresolved and it has significantly expanded uranium enrichment, a U.N. report said on Thursday…. The International Atomic Energy […]
Kos gets some company at Newsweek
Following up on an earlier item, when Newsweek announced it was bringing on Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas as a contributor for the 2008 presidential campaign, the magazine vowed to add a conservative to “balance” out the prominent progressive netroots leader. There’s been quite a bit of scuttlebutt the past couple of days over who would […]
Gonzales establishes legal defense fund
Most Attorneys General, upon stepping down, move to private-sector legal work. Some take on faculty positions at respected law schools. And then there’s Alberto Gonzales, arguably the worst Attorney General in U.S. history. Since resigning in disgrace, Gonzales has retained a high-powered DC criminal-defense lawyer to represent him. Given that the U.S. Inspector General may […]
Broder warns Dems about immigration, Clinton
The WaPo’s David Broder has been having a really tough year, but today’s column was a real doozy. He’s apparently trying to warn Dems about two disparate threats: immigration and Hillary Clinton. That is the issue of. A very smart Democrat, a veteran of the Clinton administration, told me that he expects [illegal immigration] to […]
What is Lindsey Graham talking about?
For reasons that I’ve never entirely understood, the media establishment decided a few years ago that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a “serious” lawmaker whose opinions on Iraq necessarily have merit. It’s not clear why — Graham has been wrong about Iraq policy every step of the way for five years. But lately, Graham seems […]
The Weekly Standard plays the ‘race card’
For the most part, news outlets have been fairly responsible when dealing with issues regarding Barack Obama and race. It’s why I was so taken aback by the absurdity of this piece in the Weekly Standard. First, a little background. Hans von Spakovsky, as regular readers know, served as a top political appointee in Bush’s […]
Juan Williams defines ‘journalist’
As has been widely reported this week, Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas will be a contributor to Newsweek, helping offer commentary on the 2008 presidential election. The magazine will apparently “balance” Markos with a yet-to-be-named conservative blogger. Predictably, the announcement was not well received among conservative bloggers, but the more striking reaction came from NPR’s Juan […]
Thursday’s political 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: * The latest debate for the Democratic presidential candidates will be in Las Vegas tonight, and aired live on CNN. The event, hosted at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of […]