Honestly, it’s like deja vu all over again. When the presidential campaign starts to resemble Groundhog Day: Right at the top of his remarks before taking questions from the Nashville crowd — where regular unleaded goes for about $3.85 — McCain said he wanted to discuss “what’s on everybody’s mind, the price of oil.” McCain […]
Maybe Gonzales is available for weddings and birthday parties, too
It wasn’t too long ago when former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, former White House counsel, and rumored to be a possible Supreme Court justice — was charging $40,000 for each public appearance. Now he’s stuck doing commencement addresses. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be especially embarrassing. After […]
McCain continues to struggle with troop-level confusion
Last week, John McCain made one of his more embarrassing recent errors, telling a Wisconsin audience that U.S. forces in Iraq “have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” That’s clearly false. McCain and his campaign compounded the problem by insisting he was right about troop levels — reality notwithstanding — and arguing that everyone was “nitpicking” […]
The end of the beginning — Obama looks to wrap up nomination tonight
Depending on the count, Barack Obama is about 42 delegates shy of the 2,118 he needs to secure the Democratic nomination. After today’s primaries in Montana and South Dakota, the gap between Obama and the finish line should be in the 20 to 25 range, at least with regards to pledged delegates. So, the party […]
Monday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN: “Sen. Edward Kennedy underwent ‘successful’ surgery for a brain tumor at Duke University Medical Center, his doctors said Monday. Doctors said Kennedy was awake during the surgery, which lasted roughly three and a half hours. Dr. Allan Friedman said Kennedy should suffer ‘no permanent neurological effects’ and he […]
Giuliani’s team gets picked up for key RNC job
At the risk of sounding rude, I found this report from Marc Ambinder rather amusing. The Republican National Committee has hired many of its Victory 2008 directors. These are the folks who will be in charge of spending the many of millions of dollars that the party doles out for GOTV efforts. Many of them […]
On the budget, Bush and McCain are eerily similar
The Up-Until-Recently John McCain took a fairly reasonable line on the federal budget. In 2001, this McCain saw Bush’s tax-cut plan as reckless and irresponsible, and voted accordingly. In 2003, the same McCain went in the same direction. The New-and-Not-Improved McCain, of course, bears no resemblance to the Up-Until-Recently McCain, and has decided that Bush’s […]
Reading the tea leaves, guessing at Clinton’s future
The political world is watching closely for any kind of hints about what Hillary Clinton and her campaign are poised to do, if anything. Drop out? Suspend? Endorse? Drop out and not endorse? Fight on to the convention? There are probably only a handful of people who really know for sure what’s going to happen, […]
Obama seems anxious to drive McCain batty
I used to worry a bit that Barack Obama’s above-the-fray style might not be assertive enough for a rough-and-tumble general election campaign against an aggressive Republican machine. I’m increasingly confident that my concerns were misplaced — Obama seems to enjoy going on the offensive against John McCain. Last week, Obama went after McCain on the […]
‘We are not blinking!’
Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, in his new book, shares an anecdote about the president that probably won’t surprise anyone, but is nevertheless discomforting. Among the anecdotes in “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story” is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in […]