One need not be a policy wonk to be a good candidate and a capable president. But it’s not too much to ask that presidential nominees have at least a passing familiarity with their own proposals, especially those the candidate places enormous significance on. Take John McCain, for example. The Republican nominee plans to emphasize […]
Monday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Conditions aren’t pretty in Iowa: “Even as flood fears eased in Iowa City, the state’s south and east prepared for new problems ahead for a string of towns along the Mississippi River. Sandbagging was under way in Burlington, a key rail hub, to build the city’s levee system and […]
Gore to endorse Obama at Michigan event
As recently as May 20, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Al Gore did not want to weigh in on the fight for the Democratic nomination, telling reporters, “I have not decided whether or when I will” support a candidate. Now, of course, the nominating fight is over, and Gore is willing to enter the fray a bit. […]
The chances of an Obama-Clinton ticket get a little more remote
Just about a month ago, we learned that Patti Solis Doyle, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager and confidante, had begun preliminary discussions with the Obama campaign about a role on the team. Today, we see the result of those discussions. The Obama campaign is about to make its first big hire out of the campaign […]
McCain-Giuliani ’08?
AEI’s David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter and top aide to Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, has an item in The New Republic this week about John McCain and the possible impact of his running mate. It’s Frum’s conclusion, though, that’s noteworthy. (via Yglesias) I have my own personal nomination for vice president for McCain. It’s […]
McCain campaign reverses course (again), re-embraces right-wing Texan
I’m beginning to wonder if the McCain campaign is trying to appear extra incompetent now, in order to lull Democrats into some false sense of security or something. Because by any reasonable measure, Republican presidential campaigns just aren’t supposed to operate this way. Take Clayton “Claytie” Williams, for example. Williams, a prominent Texas Republican, said […]
U.S. Attorney purge scandal takes another turn
Remember the U.S. Attorney purge scandal? The travesty in which the White House and the Justice Department politicized federal law enforcement? It was, for my money, among the biggest Bush-related domestic scandals of the last eight years (top three, at least). It is not, however, quite over yet. Justice Department lawyers have filed a grand-jury […]
Monday’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: * John Edwards sounded rather emphatic recently when he said he’s not interested in being Barack Obama’s running mate, but he sounded a little more open to the idea yesterday. “Well, I’d take […]
A candidate who could use a Sister Souljah moment
It was, by most measures, one of the more striking moments of the 1992 campaign. A rap artist named Sister Souljah had said, “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” Shortly thereafter, then-Gov. Bill Clinton spoke to Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition and denounced the rapper, […]
AP, blogs, and ‘fair use’
For a blog to feature news content from an Associated Press article is about as common as the sunrise, so it came as something of a surprise last week when the news agency went after a prominent liberal blog for what seemed like a minor excerpting issue. Last week, The A.P. took an unusually strict […]