October 07, 2008
October 02, 2008
The New Model Party
Barack Obama's new party. like Cromwell's army, won't allow him to govern conservatively.
September 27, 2008
Research earmarks
After the bridge, and the road to the not-bridge, earmarks for research on bear DNA, seals, and crabs have been used as ammunition (an example among many here) in the election debate. In her inept way, I think Palin was sort of right about this issue (sort of right is the most precise judgment one can make of this poor...
September 26, 2008
Debate, sort of live
What a lame mode of discourse this is...and this is better, at least in form, than most, because they could at least go at each other and indeed were encouraged by Lehrer to do so. My main disappointment is that both candidates are much too cautious, especially in affect. We've all heard them saying really tough, hostile things about the...
September 17, 2008
The Rain in Spain--news to John McCain
John McCain doesn't know that Spain is in Europe. Repeat, with variations. Forever.
You can't make this stuff up...de Rothschild edition
ThePage carries the risible story that some rich bundler who goes by a snooty European name thinks anyone will pay attention to her public announcement of support for John McCain -- because she thinks Barack Obama (!) is "arrogant" and out of touch with average Americans. You can't make this stuff up
September 16, 2008
Palin As Political Crack
For at least the last few weeks, many Democrats have been suffering from a case of badly frayed nerves. In the week after the Republican National Convention, as McCain pulled even (or ahead) with Obama in the polls, many Democrats began to express concern that Biden was an unfortunately conservative pick, especially when compared with the phenomenally successful choice of...
September 15, 2008
The Party of Sound Business Principles
Thank God we have one, is all I can say. The bourgeois virtues of business are unexciting, and easy to ridicule by overeducated and flighty elitists over their wine and tapas tidbits, but they are admirable and the bedrock of America's strength. Live within your means. Neither Wasilla, AK, nor the state of California, nor the nation should run its...
September 11, 2008
9/11 and the Presidential Election
How quickly we forget. Today, John McCain and Barack Obama shared a "We are the World" moment at Ground Zero to remember the 7th anniversary of 9/11. What they didn't do was say how they intend to reform US intelligence to prevent the next attack. In the 2004 presidential election, it was all intelligence reform, all the time. In July,...
"McCain lies": AP edition
Charles Babington reports (this is the lead): >>>>The "Straight Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak.
September 10, 2008
Pretending to cry: When will the media laugh the faux outrage off the stage?
The McCain-Palin campaign channels Al D'Amato's spirit and acting ability.
September 08, 2008
Zipper ads
Here is a general purpose, simple, snarky ad that can have varying details zipped in, with more legitimate variations than I can count: In ____, [John McCain/Sarah Palin] believed __X___; now [he/she] believes __notX___. [repeat with various available X's to fill running time]. What will he believe in 2009? 2010? Next week, if Steve Schmidt brings new polls to lunch...
Sleazy chiselers
Well, if this isn't the damndest piece of small-time larceny: Sarah Palin has been gouging the taxpayers of Alaska out of a per diem allowance for days she's at home (about ten months worth). She also arranged that they pay to fly her husband and kids around on her junkets. The amounts involved total less than $100,000; I don't know...
September 04, 2008
Community organizers
"Laura" left a priceless observation on The Fix blog this morning that deserves wider circulation: Jesus Christ was a community organizer; Pontius Pilate was a governor. Then of course there is that rogues' gallery of the other do-nothing layabouts like Sam Adams, Tom Paine, Mohandas Gandhi, Moses......
September 03, 2008
Palin and "The Logic of the Situation"
There are a lot of Democrats who have responded to the Palin VP-pick as if it were manna from heaven. She’s unqualified! Her family is weird! McCain proved (again) that he doesn’t have the temperament for office! This sucks out all the oxygen the Republicans should be using to unload on Obama! Fantastic! I don’t buy it. This is a...
Palin's Popularity in Alaska--paid for by petrodollars
How hard is it to be popular when you're bribing the voters with Petrodollars? Nevertheless, the Obama campaign should focus on what a McCain-Palin administration would do to voters, and leave character issues to the media.
September 02, 2008
Dreaming of Post-Ovary Politics
Motherhood, it turns out, isn't a motherhood issue in the 2008 election.
September 01, 2008
Does Sarah Palin Hate the United States?
The Alaskan Independence Party web site is a trip -- straight to a creepy anti-American neverneverland. This party isn't just interested in a do-over of the statehood vote. AIP's "statehood primer" calls statehood a "cruel hoax," insists that Washington has acted as a colonial power, and refers to "the Americans." As in, "you people." I recommend you check out the...
August 31, 2008
Russian Roulette goes to video
A reader sent us a link to a cool video he made from our earlier post....
August 29, 2008
Bridge to Somewhere
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is being touted as a corruption buster. In the great state of Alaska, where Senator Ted Stevens is doing the octogenarian perp walk, finding corruption is like shooting fish in a barrel. Today Palin proudly declared that she nixed the infamous "bridge to nowhere." But that's not entirely true, at least according to an Aug. 19,...
August 26, 2008
HRC gets it
There was lots of good stuff in Clinton's speech, and then there was this: I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for...
August 25, 2008
Winston Churchill on Joe Lieberman
There is talk that Senator McCain might appoint Joe Lieberman as his running-mate. For many dismayed by the 2000 race, an analogy comes to mind. In summer 1939, German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop told Winston Churchill, "If there’s war, the Italians will fight on Germany’s side." Churchill replied, "That’s fair; we had them last time."...
August 06, 2008
Stupid Economic Punditry -- Ruth Marcus edition
Ruth Marcus's WaPo column today tries to be even handed in attacking the candidates' energy policies. She displays a false economic sophistication that only shows her own ignorance.
June 30, 2008
Mark Halperin and Andrew Sullivan Have Forgotten How to Read
A few months ago, Paul Krugman described as "Clinton Rules" the press' tendency to use any statement from Hillary Clinton, no matter how innocuous, as an excuse to generate a fake scandal. Welcome to the new world of McCain Rules: any criticism of McCain, now matter how straightforward, is condemned as Swift-Boating or character attacks. Yesterday on Face the Nation,...
May 04, 2008
Expertise and elitism
Of course experts sometimes get things wrong. But a politician who breaks with the expert consensus on an issue has an obligation to explain why and how the experts are wrong. Calling expertise "elitism" is a slimy ploy, and we've had almost eight years of seeing how well it works in real life.
May 01, 2008
Dinde Clinton et dindon Obama à la sauce Krugman
Contra Krugman, there's a good campaign parallel between health care and climate change.
April 25, 2008
March 07, 2008
Wheels coming off?
Well, at least a couple of lug nuts in the gutter. The Power episode is a complete screwup; as far as I can tell, everyone who's touched it f__ed the goat. First, Power. She's been a reporter and knows you can't go off the record backwards, and when you talk to a reporter you have to think before you speak....
March 06, 2008
Bear any burden, pay any price...
...that's what Charlie Crist, governor (R) of Florida knows his citizens will do to protect their representation in the Democratic primary process. They will go out in the sun, ducking falling coconuts, in their shorts and flipflops to vote again, if necessary. Well, not any burden, let's be reasonable. Or price. It would cost those brave citizens almost a buck...
