MSNBC’s political blog featured an item with this headline: “Would bin Laden get habeas rights?” And with that in mind, you can feel pretty confident that the news gets worse from there. In a question posed toward the end of the call by Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard, the McCain campaign might have found […]
There is a candidate with a Latino problem (but it’s not Obama)
Just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama’s critics insisted that he “has a problem with the Latino community,” a charge bolstered by exit polls showing him trailing Hillary Clinton among Hispanic-American voters. Indeed, one of Clinton’s top aides said John McCain has a “very favorable standing with Hispanics because of his position on the immigration […]
Wednesday’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: * There was some evidence during the Democratic primaries that Barack Obama would struggle in the three biggest swing states — Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This morning, Quinnipiac released polls from each of […]
Republicans’ preoccupation with McCain’s age makes matters worse
I can think of exactly one instance in which a high-profile Democrat tried to make John McCain’s age a political issue. It was in April, when Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) said the demands of the presidency would be too great for a septuagenarian. “[T]his one guy running is about as old as me,” Murtha said. […]
Let’s define ‘vulgar’
Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, has spent most of the year devoting his columns to bashing Barack Obama. Today, he mixes things up a bit by bashing a different Democrat he doesn’t like: Senate candidate Al Franken. Consider his article in Playboy magazine titled “Porn-O-Rama!” in which he enthuses that it […]
‘If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong’
For those still concerned about U.S. torture policy, yesterday was not an encouraging day. A senior CIA lawyer advised Pentagon officials about the use of harsh interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay in a meeting in late 2002, defending waterboarding and other methods as permissible despite U.S. and international laws banning torture, according to […]
McCain thrives when voters don’t know his issue positions
NPR noted in February, “Many Republican voters seem to believe, incorrectly, that the current Republican front-runner, Arizona Senator John McCain, supports abortion rights.” It’s not just Republican voters. McCain has been hailed for so long, by so many news outlets, as a “moderate” willing to break with GOP orthodoxy, a lot of voters just assume […]
Republicans find a policy they can sink their drills into
Up until fairly recently, Republicans had absolutely no idea what to do, or even say, about rising oil prices. They knew Americans were worried about it, and they recognized the impact on the economy, but they came up short on the solutions part of the equation. There was some half-hearted talk about ANWR, but everyone […]
Tuesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Bloodshed in Baghdad: “A car bomb tore through a market area in a mainly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the deadliest such attack in more than three months.” * Flooding worsens in the Midwest: “Hundreds of volunteers on […]
About those ‘prominent’ Dems supporting McCain…
Looking ahead to November, there are just two angles to the campaign that worry me. One is the extent to which email-circulated smears will undermine support for Barack Obama. The other is the number of Dems — either because of ideology or spite — who’ll withhold support from the Democratic ticket. I suspect both groups […]