Disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been making noises for a couple of years now about creating his own MoveOn.org-for-the-right activist group, which presumably would offer him a vehicle for, well, whatever it is DeLay does. Last November, he made it official, launching the “Coalition for a Conservative Majority.” Since then, the group […]
Up until recently, McCain opposed his ‘top priority’
It’s striking the extent to which John McCain’s campaign is premised on the deep, unyielding hope that voters aren’t paying attention to the campaign at all. It very well might work, but it’s kind of annoying to think the man who wants to lead the nation thinks we’re all a bunch of ignorant dolts. Yesterday, […]
An ‘ominous trend’ for Fox News’ ratings
In the first quarter of 2008, Fox News, after six years of cable-news ratings dominance, saw itself slip into second place behind CNN in the so-called “money demo” — viewers in their mid-20s through mid-50s, who advertisers care about most. The shift came thanks to a series of competitive primary nights and debates among Democratic […]
McCain struggles when asked about the price of gas
Substantively, a story like this one is fairly low on the priority list. Politically, a story like this one can cause a candidate a bit of a headache. John McCain kind of stepped in it the other day, here in California, but luckily no one noticed. He was being driven from John Wayne airport to […]
Republicans urged to ’emphasize local issues,’ avoid nationalizing campaigns
When Republicans lost three special election House races this year, in three traditionally “red” districts held by Republicans, the party thought it might be a good time to re-think its election-year strategy. The original plan was to nationalize the elections, tie Democratic House candidates to Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, and scream “liberal!” a whole […]
McCains fail to pay taxes on one of their many properties
Realistically, this isn’t necessarily a huge scandal, but it certainly is an embarrassing one. When you’re poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you’re rich, it’s hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It’s a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an […]
Conservatives want to keep guns on the front-burner — even after they’ve won
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Heller ruling on gun control, Republicans are optimistic that they’ll be able to put guns back on the political world’s front-burner, and make the 2nd Amendment a key campaign issue this November. “The gun issue is not going away,” said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Sen. John McCain […]
Bob Barr is making Republicans nervous
Looking back over the last 20 years, the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate hasn’t cracked more than 0.5% of the popular vote. But this year, the party’s candidate has a slightly higher profile, and is more likely to cause some electoral mischief. He has been called a spoiler. A would-be Ralph Nader. A thorn in the […]
‘She angles her belly button toward him’
My friend J emailed me last night to tell me about CNN’s “Larry King Live” and how the show covered the Obama/Clinton event in Unity, N.H. last night. In addition to the usual speculation from the usual suspects, King invited on dueling “specialists” — a psychiatrist and a “body language and deception detection expert.” I […]
McCain picks the wrong example to tout his bipartisan bona fides
The McCain campaign has been pretty aggressive this week in pushing a new meme: John McCain has taken political risks by working with Dems on important issues, while Barack Obama hasn’t. I’m not sure if this is actually a vote-getter, but voters (and the media) seem to appreciate those willing to reach across the aisle […]