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Farewell 2008 Campaign; Congratulations President-Elect Obama

5:35 PM, November 11, 2008 | Comments (3)
Congratulations to Barack Obama, soon to be our 44th President and a man who had made history this week by becoming the first person of African-American descent to be elected to chief executive of the nation. With the end of the 2008 Presidential Campaign...

The Moderate Voice: For McCain, It May All Come Down to Pennsylvania

2:30 PM, October 23, 2008 | Comments (9)

The World According to Oatney: What Landslide?

8:27 AM, October 23, 2008 | Comments (11)

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  • Hot Air: Video: Pawlenty on McCain the Underdog

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 11:30 AM
    Our governor, Tim Pawlenty, got a bit chippy on Fox News yesterday while discussing John McCain with Bret Baier... More
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  • Hot Air: Obama’s Illinois votes on guns

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 09:57 AM
    As Robert Novak noted today , voters could find it difficult to get a read on Barack Obama's real feelings about the rights of gun owners and the constitutionality of gun bans. Obama has certainly made his position opaque with a number of contradictory statements in this campaign. Perhaps the tribulations of Hale DeMar and the legislative response to an act of self-defense can help make Obama's impulses a little more transparent... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: SCOTUS, McCain-style

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 09:45 AM
    From yesterday's WaPo: A Win by McCain Could Push a Split Court to Right Huh, you think? ********** It's obvious, yes, but it needs to be said. Many people still seem to regard McCain as some sort of moderate, a maverick moderate who isn't like most Republicans. While he's broken with his party in the past, though, he isn't nearly the maverick or moderate his media image would suggest he is, along with his various detractors on the far right and some of his admirers among the self-styled crowd. On the contrary, he has a long, long record of conservatism on social issues to go along with worse-than-Bush neoconservatism on foreign and military issues and, more recently, a Bush-like conservatism on fiscal and economic issues (he now... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Swift Boater on McCain’s Truth Squad

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 09:02 AM
    John McCain's Truth Squad, formed a few months ago in order to respond to charges by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth clone Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, is prominently featuring an actual member of the Swifties as a spokesman, CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand reports. One of the members of John McCain’s new Truth Squad — which his campaign says was launched to respond to unfair attacks on his record of military service –- was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and appeared in an attack ad for the group in 2004. The group was created to attack 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s military service record. How can you expect our sons and daughters to follow you when you condemned their fathers and grandfathers? asked former... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Obama Hating the Wimminfolk!

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 07:57 AM
    CNS News jumped out today with a provocative article titled, Obama's for Equal Pay, Yet Pays Female Staffers Less Than Males . In it we find a horrible tale of woe, where Obama (who has vowed to make pay equity for women a top priority if elected president ) has a lower percentage of female employees on his staff and they ear less, on average, than their male co-workers. On average, women working in Obama's Senate office were paid at least $6,000 below the average man working for the Illinois senator. That's according to data calculated from the Report of the Secretary of the Senate, which covered the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2007. Of the five people in Obama's Senate office who were paid $100,000 or more on an annual basis,... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Obama Rebuffs Clark on McCain

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 07:31 AM
    Barack Obama has wisely distanced himself from surrogate Wes Clark's disparagement of John McCain's military experience . For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country — no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary, Obama said. And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides. The comment drew loud applause. Andrew Sullivan , an unabashed admirer of Obama despite his own Oakeshottian conservative bent, is less temperate vis-a-vis Clark. Wesley Clark is now and always has been a Clinton-type, but this is pretty revolting. This kind of personal attack was repulsive coming against... More
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  • Hot Air: Now just imagine Blogger was the FEC

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 07:23 AM
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  • The Moderate Voice: A Choice, Not a Rant

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 07:08 AM
    I've been trying to read Reclaiming Conservatism , but former Congressman Mickey Edwards. It's has been a difficult read. It's not because it is hard to read. What has bothered me so far is page after page of Edwards rants against the Bush Administration and the feckless Republican Congress that let the President get away with so much. After a while it gets a bit tedious. It's not that I am a fan of President Bush or the GOP Congress of 2000-06, it's just that it gets tiring hearing the same accusations over and over again with no way to out of this mess that has been created. There have been a series of articles and books by frustrated conservatives who are mad at how the Republican party has lost their core values. Many conservatives... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Obama Fights For A Piece Of The Patriotism Franchise By Wrapping Himself In The Flag

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 06:42 AM
    That Barack Obama felt compelled to give a speech today about patriotism speaks volumes about the lousy state of political discourse in the U.S. That few minds will be changed although the speech was a noble effort is a fact of life for this African-American with a foreign-sounding middle name and an opposition with toxic intentions. That there are so many real issues crying out for attention in this deeply troubled land as the July 4th holiday draws near and he feels the need to wrap himself in the flag is disheartening. What Obama sought to do at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri was redefine our archaic and platitude driven views of what constitutes patriotism by telling his own story in much the same way he... More
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  • Hot Air: The Ed Morrissey Show: Kevin McCullough; American Solutions’ “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less”

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 06:30 AM
    Today, on the Ed Morrissey Show (3 pm ET), Kevin McCullough joins us from the Musclehead Revolution to discuss Barack Obama's condom stand at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, as well as Wes Clark's idiocy from yesterday... More
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  • TalkLeft: Commander In Chief Test

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 06:02 AM
    Remember this controversial comment ? I think its imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold. I believe that Ive done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and youll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy, [Hillary Clinton] said. Yesterday, General Wesley Clark said John McCain had not passed that test. But Barack Obama disagrees and "rejects" Clark's assessment. Apparently, Obama agrees that McCain has passed the Commander in Chief test. I doubt McCain will extend the same courtesy. More . . . Rereading Josh Marshall's post made me realize that his real objection here is, as he reiterates it : What his campaign should not be doing is lending its imprimatur to... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Blogs

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 05:30 AM
    Some Obama supporters are apparently taking advantage of Google's terms of service to silence anti-Obama blogs, Simon of Bloggasm reports. The company automatically shuts down sites upon receipt of TOS violation claims until they're able to do a human audit, a rather slow process with given little priority on the free BlogSpot service. After some digging it became apparent that several Blogspot accounts had been shut down because of similar spam issues, and nearly all of them had three things in common: Most were pro-Hillary Clinton blogs, all were anti-Barack Obama, and several were listed on justsaynodeal.com , an anti-Obama website. A “Flag Blog” link sits at the very top of every free Blogspot account. If a person finds... More
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  • Oliver Willis: GOP Waaaahmbulance Is GO!

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 05:25 AM
    I've got two responses to the right clutching their pearls and fainting because a few people think that while honorable, John McCain's military service isn't the end-all and be-all of why he should be commander-in-chief. KTHXBI... More
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  • Hot Air: Does Obama pay women less than men?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 04:20 AM
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  • Hot Air: Obama misleads on oil leases: WSJ

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 03:45 AM
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  • Hot Air: Novak: Can one bitterly cling to an individual right?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 03:10 AM
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  • TalkLeft: Obama on Patriotism in the '60's

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 02:51 AM
    From Obama's patriotism speech : [W]hat is striking about today's patriotism debate is the degree to which it remains rooted in the culture wars of the 1960s in arguments that go back forty years or more. In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic. Meanwhile, some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world; and perhaps most tragically, by... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Could Hillary Clinton Be In Running Again As Obama Vice President?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 02:51 AM
    Was Senator Hillary Clinton's peformance at the Unity rally with presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama so strong that she could be seriously in the running for Obama's Veep? New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin, who had been highly critical of her, thinks so. And those who hold this belief could point to news that her husband former President Bill Clinton plans to meet with Obama this week as a sign of major fence-mending that could mean both Clintons could soon be totally on board the bandwagon. Goodwin writes: My bet a month ago was that he shouldn't and wouldn't make the offer. Now I'm not sure. Clinton's Friday performance adds to my growing belief the dream ticket is an on-again possibility. Two things... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Appalachian Election?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 02:20 AM
    Steve Tuttle takes to the pages of Newsweek to proclaim the ascendency of Appalachia as the decider of the next president. Ridge Runner. I heard and self-effacingly used them all when I left the mountains of Appalachia to attend college in the great metropolis of Williamsburg, Va., in the '80s. I was mercilessly ribbed as a rube when I brought along my sky-blue JCPenney suit—with reversible vest—and my stack of Willie and Waylon albums, and entered a world that was as foreign to me as I must have seemed to my fancy William Mary roommates from the private schools. Imagine my surprise at their surprise when, thinking nothing of it, I casually mentioned that I missed my mom's home-cooked squirrel. Well, look who's laughing... More
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  • Hot Air: How stupid is Wesley Clark?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 01:31 AM
    After decades in the news business, Bob Schieffer may have thought he'd heard it all until yesterday on Face the Nation , when he interviewed Wesley Clark... More
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  • Hot Air: How stupid is Wesley Clark? Update: Joe Repya responds

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 01:31 AM
    After decades in the news business, Bob Schieffer may have thought he'd heard it all until yesterday on Face the Nation , when he interviewed Wesley Clark... More
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  • TalkLeft: Obama's Patriotism Speech

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 30, 2008 12:49 AM
    Around noon today ET, Sen. Barack Obama will give a major speech on patriotism in Independence Missouri, Harry Truman's home town. The Democratic presidential candidate's campaign says he will talk about "what patriotism means to him and what it requires of all Americans who loves this country and want to see it do better." The speech in Missouri Monday comes in the run-up to the July 4 holiday and as Obama seeks to reassure voters about his commitment to the country as well as to counter questions about his patriotism. He's recently started wearing a flag pin on his lapel. Tuesday he will give a speech on faith and Wednesday and Thursday on service to the country. He'll spend the 4th of July in Butte, Montana... More
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  • The World According to Oatney: Note to John Boehner: Fire Tom Cole Now

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 11:50 PM
    or some time now, I've been making the prediction that even as we may see a John McCain victory in November (or more accurately, a Barack Obama loss), we will see, in the very same election, Republicans lose even more seats in the U.S. House. The losses could be such that on a numbers scale, after November the GOP could be reduced to pre-1994 numbers or worse : House Republicans lost three recent elections when customary campaign themes failed to sway voters and their candidates could not overcome the "negative perception of the national party," according to an internal review that underscores the potential for widespread losses this fall. While the review said the national political environment was largely to blame for the losses,... More
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  • TalkLeft: Is Getting Shot Down In A Plane A Qualification For Being President?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 09:51 PM
    MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski and Andrea Mitchell are upset about this : [CBS News' Bob] SCHIEFFER: . . . [Barack Obama has not] ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. Gen. [Wes] CLARK [former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and decorated Vietnam War veteran]: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president. SCHIEFFER: Really? Yes Bob Schieffer, really. Do you think it is a qualification to be President? Does CBS News think it is? Why? I think Bob Schieffer has some questions to answer on this point imo. More . . . BTW, for those who care about the facts, Clark said in the same interview: Gen. CLARK: . . . I certainly honor [McCain's] service as a prisoner of war. He was a... More
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  • TalkLeft: 1992 Or 1980?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 09:45 PM
    To the chagrin of our friend DemfromCt , Paul Krugman chooses to present a clear and fair picture of the Obama campaign, a view you will not find in the blogs for the most part: Its feeling a lot like 1992 right now. Its also feeling a lot like 1980. But which parallel is closer? Is Barack Obama going to be a Ronald Reagan of the left, a president who fundamentally changes the countrys direction? Or will he be just another Bill Clinton? . . . [T]he odds are that this will be a election which means that its very much Mr. Obamas election to lose. But if he wins, how much change will he actually deliver? More . . . Last January, I wrote a post entitled Senator Obama, You Are No Ronald Reagan : Obama simply misunderstands how... More
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  • Anderson@Large: Who Gets to Be an American?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 06:59 PM
    In a 2006 cover story, Time magazine asked that question. For most Americans, the answer is straightforward: We decide who gets to stay. But millions of illegal immigrants think they have a "human right" to sneak across the border or overstay their visa. In separate appearances before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials this weekend, John McCain and Barack Obama promised advocates for illegal immigrants that mi casa es su casa . Loosely translated: Vote for me and amnesty supporters will be welcomed at the White House. Though Obama voted for comprehensive immigration reform cosponsored by McCain, he bashed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for backing away from his own bill: There is... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: Late Edition’s McCain Flip-Flop Flashback

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:00 PM
    CNN's Late Edition dug from their archives this clip of John McCain in August of 1999: Download Play Download Play McCain: I think that we must go back to the party platform of 1980 and 1984 - we include people who have specific disagreements who share our same goals. Ultimately, I would like to see the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but to do it immediately, I think, would condemn young women to dangerous and illegal operations. See, back in 1999, McCain was walking a tightrope by calling himself pro-life on a personal level while at the same time assuring pro-choice voters for pragmatic reasons that “ in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade .” Yet, today, McCain says bluntly right... More
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  • TalkLeft: Clark On McCain and Other Things

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 10:58 AM
    My fanboy moment, General Wes Clark on Face The Nation today: By Big Tent Democrat... More
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  • TalkLeft: Why Must Obama Not Rock The Boat?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 10:28 AM
    I normally find myself in almost total agreement with Digby but this post just seems wrong to me: Under the system as it exists today, you can hardly be surprised that the first black Democratic nominee would be reluctant to break much more new ground than he already has. . . . I wish that he would use some of his rhetorical gifts to challenge conservative assumptions more and I'm hopeful that he will, as president, work to redefine the conventional wisdom. . . . [But] [w]e chose serious symbolic change that has deep cultural meaning over serious ideological change that has deep political meaning. . . . But nothing comes free and having a politically moderate president at a time when a more explicit progressivism might have gotten a... More
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  • Oliver Willis: The Clinton “Kiss My Ass” Story

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 04:23 AM
    Interestingly the story uses that quote in the headline, but nowhere in the story does it quote President Clinton directly saying it. In fact it is a quote from . The Daily Telegraph is using National Enquirer rules on this story... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Obama’s Obstacle With Clinton Supporters: Fingers In The Ears

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 03:31 AM
    Maureen Dowd's account of the Unity rally bringing Democratic presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama and former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's camps (purportedly) closer together has this telling and symoblic excerpt about the reaction of one Clinton supporter: When it was Obama’s turn to speak, Carmella [Lewis] announced loudly, “I wish I had ear plugs.” Then, as Obama tried to ingratiate himself with the Hillary partisans in the crowd by saying that because of the New York senator, his daughters “can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do and do it better and do it in heels,” Carmella put her fingers in her ears. This is a metaphor for all that is wrong with 21st century America politics. As Obama tried... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Quote Of The Day: Gun Control And Political Values

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 03:01 AM
    Dick Polman has a MUST READ post on the Supreme Court's decision on nixing Washington D.C.'s handgun ban. The first part deals with the McCain camp's reaction but the broad and specific points he makes at the end is our Quote of the Day: Have you noticed that, whenever Republicans don't like a judicial decree, they complain about how unelected judges are legislating from the bench by ignoring the literal wording of the Constitution, thus imposing judicial tyranny on the people's elected officials, who should be free to enact policy as they see fit without any meddling from the robed brethren? Well, take a look at the ruling that overturns the D.C. handgun ban. The majority, led by Antonin Scalia, ignored the literal meaning of the... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: John McCain’s Gas Gaffe

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:58 AM
    Lately, when I read about the silly mistakes, mangled interviews and bumbling comments of our presidential candidates, I'm used to seeing Barack Obama stumbling over his tongue. This story , however, found John McCain coming down with a momentary but severe case of foot in mouth disease. When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost? Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters . I can save a lot of space in this piece by simply letting James Joyner say what I was already thinking. I get that McCain is sheltered from many of the mundane details of everyday life because of his position. It... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: McCain And Gas Prices: He Needs To Brush Up

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:33 AM
    This kind of thing can hurt a candidate: In a telephone interview with the Orange County Register earlier this week, John McCain acknowledged he was unaware of the price of gas. The OC Register’s Martin Wicksol reports: WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost? MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters. I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of town hall meetings, many as short a time ago as yesterday. I communicate with the people and they communicate with me very effectively. Not pumping it is one thing. Not know it is another. It can and most likely will be used against him... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: Newsweek: McCains Default On Home Taxes For Four Years, Face Penalties

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:30 AM
    And this man is asking us to trust him with our economy? Newsweek : 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 overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 millio n fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona. San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County... More
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  • Hot Air: Good thing spouses are off the table, right?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:21 AM
    After seeing the joy from the Leftosphere over a Newsweek story regarding Cindy McCain and property taxes, I have to shake my head in amusement. They seem very excited that a property held in trust for Mrs... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Your obligatory “McCains are tax deadbeats” column

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 02:11 AM
    So our Sunday morning political festival will apparently be opening up with a late breaking story from Newsweek . In it, we find a tawdry tale of tax scofflaws thumbing their nose at their civic responsibilities sort of. Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word 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 overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: McCain on Gas Prices: ‘I Don’t See How it Matters’

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 01:28 AM
    In a recent interview with the Orange County Register 's Martin Wisckol, John McCain said that, not only doesn't he know how much gas costs, it doesn't matter . (Tangentially related: Nothin' Matters and What If It Did was an excellent album title. The album itself was so-so.) When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost? Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters. I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of town hall meetings, many as short a time ago as yesterday. I communicate with the people and they communicate with me very effectively. Well, apparently not. The price of gas is the number one... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: McCain on Gas Prices: ‘I Don’t See How it Matters’ (Corrected)

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 01:28 AM
    In a recent interview with the Orange County Register 's Martin Wisckol, John McCain said that, not only doesn't he know how much gas costs, it doesn't matter . (Tangentially related: Nothin' Matters and What If It Did was an excellent album title. The album itself was so-so.) When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost? Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters. I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of town hall meetings, many as short a time ago as yesterday. I communicate with the people and they communicate with me very effectively. Well, apparently not. The price of gas is the number one... More
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  • TalkLeft: Standing For Something

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 29, 2008 12:56 AM
    This post I wrote in April 2006 was, I think, the fairly standard Netroots position at the time: What is the cost of wishiwashiness? Ask John Kerry. From the Texeira/Halpin article: The direct consequences of the identity gap were most evident in the 2004 presidential contest. According to 2004 post-election polling, the most commonly cited reason not to vote for Kerry among Bush voters who considered voting Democratic -- in other words, the voters who turned the election to Bush -- was Kerry's "flip-flopping" on the issues . . . . Similarly, the top reason cited by white Catholics for why Kerry lost the 2004 election was that the candidate was "not clear on what he stood for" (48 percent selected this reason as one of the two top... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: McCains Pay Back Taxes on Aunt’s Condo

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 11:54 PM
    The latest mini-scandal in Campaign 2008 is that the McCains have apparently not done a good job keeping track of their finances. HuffPo has gotten 1420 Diggs at this writing with a story headlined McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years, Newsweek Reports . It promises a highly embarrassing report. Newsweek has delivered with Mrs. McCain, San Diego County Would Like a Word or, as the page head puts it, Cindy McCain Pays Back Taxes on San Diego Condo. The lede is surprisingly fair: 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 overdue property-tax bill on... More
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  • Oliver Willis: McCain: Taxes For Thee, Not For Me

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 04:50 PM
    The McCains have not been paying their taxes on their San Diego condo - just one of the many properties purchased with Cindy McCain's millions, the same millions that fly John McCain around and have financed his long political career. San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Led by Columbus, OH, Obama supporters change name to Hussein

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 04:02 PM
    From the New York Times: Jeff Strabone of Brooklyn now signs credit card receipts with his newly assumed middle name, while Dan O’Maley of Washington, D.C., jiggered his e-mail account so his name would appear as “D. Hussein O’Maley.” Alex Enderle made the switch online along with several other Obama volunteers from Columbus, Ohio, and now friends greet him that way in person, too. “I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama’s name like it was some sort of cuss word,” Mr. Strabone wrote in a manifesto titled “We Are All Hussein” that he posted on his own blog and on dailykos.com . New Husseins began to crop up online as far back as last fall. But more joined up in February after a conservative radio host, Bill Cunningham,... More
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  • Calitics: John McCain - California Tax Cheat

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 03:28 PM
    ucas mentioned it in Quick HIts but this needs to be amplified. Turns out that John and Cindy McCain are the same kind of irresponsible conservatives who are so unpatriotic they don't believe the country (and in this case, this state) is worth paying for . 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 overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: Possible McCain VP Pick Signs Anti-Evolution Bill Into Louisiana Law

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 01:45 PM
    ARS Technica : As we noted last month , a number of states have been considering laws that, under the guise of academic freedom, single out evolution for special criticism. Most of themhaven't made it out of the state legislatures, and one that did was promptly vetoed. But the last of these bills under consideration, the Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA), was enacted by the signature of Governor Bobby Jindal yesterday. The bill would allow local school boards to approve supplemental classroom materials specifically for the critique of scientific theories, allowing poorly-informed board members to stick their communities with Dover-sized legal fees. The text of the LSEA suggests that it's intended to foster critical... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Why Bill — and Certain Hillary Supporters — Should Let Hillary Drive the Car

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 01:20 PM
    Don't get me wrong. In my opinion and as a Clinton supporter, I followed the exchanges extremely closely while they were happening Bill Clinton has every right to be angry about the way Hillary was treated by the Obama campaign. I don't think his anger is productive, mind you; and I think he is undermining Hillary's chances. It's an instance, in my opinion, of the male half of the couple feeling more wounded by an insult to his wife than she does. But if Hillary values her political career, she needs to give Bill a time out. Hillary, as a mature woman, knows the best way to prove someone wrong is just to prove them wrong. You don't get there by sulking in your tent or complaining; you get there by refusing to let your opponent make you... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: John McCain Gives 18 Minute Phone Speech - To Dead Air

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 11:00 AM
    LA Times : Although John McCain was stumping in Ohio on Friday, his campaign arranged for him to talk by phone to leaders of B'nai B'rith International, a major Jewish group, who were meeting in Ottawa. Reporters were invited to dial in to the conference call at 3 p.m. to listen. McCain soon came on the line and launched into his spiel. Thank you for all the good you do, he began. Then silence. Finally, the voice announced that McCain was on the road and had lost his cellphone signal. We'll just have to wait, the voice counseled. Someone hummed a ditty into the phone. More minutes passed. Finally, at 3:18, McCain came back on the line.Where did you lose me? he asked. We lost you at the very beginning, he was told.... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: John McCain Speech Interrupted By Anti-War Protesters

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 09:45 AM
    MSNBC was covering John McCain's speech in front of a Latino conference this morning when he was interrupted by two anti-war protesters. (at about the 1:10 mark) MSNBC's Alex Witt, while speaking off the cuff during a live event, mischaracterized the women as Download Play Download Play Protester: Your silence is consent to war crimes! McCain has been met with protest before in this campaign and it won't be last time he hears strong opposition from the American people on his war. He likes to talk about the freedoms our troops provide us, but on the Straight Talk Express , free speech is limited to those who agree with him and President Bush. Also note how McCain states that he didn't learn to love the United... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: Tom Tomorrow: The Awesomely Non-Racist Republicans

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 08:45 AM
    Click here for the full strip from Salon . Tom Tomorrow sets the tree-hugging libs straight. He points out how people in civilized society are so quick to judge those on the right as being racist, when in fact, they're just misunderstood. /snark off... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Hangover From the Unity Party

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 07:34 AM
    The too-muchness was overwhelming too many smiles and hugs, too much arm-waving, too much cheeringabove all, too much calculated color in a sequence out of a 1930s' movie in the early days of Technicolor. For Gail Collins, it evoked her generation's Field of Dreams: The symbolism was obviously supposed to stretch way, way beyond mere unity. Think the signing of the Magna Carta. Or that baseball movie with Kevin Costner. If you concede it, they will come. After a year and a half of sturm und drang , Democrats can be forgiven for crass celebration, but the aftertaste is that of an over-planned children's party with nervous parents providing too much sweets, too many balloons, too many games. After an overdose of clichés and platitudes,... More
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  • Hot Air: Video: Three weeks later, still no unity in Unity

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 06:34 AM
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  • TalkLeft: Flexible

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 05:43 AM
    Ann Althouse writes : I voted for Obama in the Wisconsin primary in part because I predicted he'd turn out to be flexible and pragmatic. I do agree with Krauthammer that it's funny the way the people who fell for the Obama of the primaries who, unlike me, actually liked those positions he was taking are letting him get away with the flipflop. I suppose, just as I convinced myself that the real Obama was not the one I was seeing back then, they are convincing themselves that the real Obama is not the one they are seeing now. (Emphasis supplied.) Sully writes : [Obama] is impressive precisely because he is neither a pure Adlai Stevenson nor a protean Bill Clinton. He's more like Jack Kennedy: cunning, ruthless, capable of political... More
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  • Hot Air: Delahunt backpedals on cheerleading a terrorist attack on administration official

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 05:02 AM
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  • Crooks and Liars: Pick a meme, any meme

    Newsweek | Jun 28, 2008 05:00 AM
    As a rule, Republicans appreciate the value in defining the Democratic presidential nominee, and the GOP is usually pretty good at it. In 2000, Al Gore, they said, was an “exaggerator.” In 2004, John Kerry, they said was a “flip-flopper.” Four years later, the effort to define Barack Obama is proving to be more difficult. The GOP has experimented with a few different memes, but they haven’t stuck yet. Some even contradict each other. For months, Karl Rove Co. has sought to characterize Obama as a dangerous outsider who we don’t really know and can’t trust. More recently, Rove and his cohorts reversed course, and went with the opposite message: Obama isn’t a dangerous outsider anymore, now he’s an elite insider . This week, Rove used... More
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  • Hot Air: McCain speaks to Latino officials on immigration policy

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 04:00 AM
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  • Hot Air: Will Boumediene and Heller bring conservatives closer to McCain?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 03:08 AM
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  • TalkLeft: Wreaking Havoc

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 02:52 AM
    Republicans to Bob Barr: Don't run. Bob Barr to Republicans: Well, gee, you might take votes from Senator McCain,' Mr. Barr said this week, mimicking one of the complainers, as he sat sipping Coca-Cola in his plush corner office, 12 stories above Atlanta. They all said, Look, we understand why you're doing this. We agree with why you're doing it. But please don't do it.' But with the Libertarian nomination in hand, Mr. Barr hopes to follow in the footsteps of Ross Perot and Mr. Nader, whose third-party presidential bids wreaked general-election havoc. There's nothing quite so much fun as wreaking havoc on the Republican Party. Barr doesn't have much in the way of money or organization, but every vote he can siphon away from... More
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  • TalkLeft: Michelle Obama Reaches Out to Gays

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 02:36 AM
    Michelle Obama had these encouraging remarks about her husband's positions on gay rights at a fundraiser this week : A world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. A world where LGBT Americans get a fair shake at working hard to get ahead without workplace discrimination. ..... And, a world where our federal laws don't discriminate against same-sex relationships, including equal treatment for any relationship recognized under state law. More... A world that recognizes that equality in relationship, family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it's about whether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignity and freedom. Barack has made... More
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  • TalkLeft: Obama Shifts to the Center, Adopts Conservative Views

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 01:47 AM
    The LA Times reports that Sen. Barack Obama is "shifting towards the center" and adopting views Republicans would be comfortable with. Examples: A handgun ban. The death penalty. U.S. wiretaps. Iran and Israel. Trade. On all of those issues, he has recently staked more moderate ground. Barack Obama, as he introduces himself to the broader voting public, is emphasizing centrist -- even conservative -- positions on hot-button issues. [More...] In recent weeks, he toughened his stance on Iran and backed an expansion of the government's wiretapping powers. On Wednesday, he said states should be allowed to execute child rapists. When the Supreme Court the next day struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, he did not... More
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  • Hot Air: AOL Hot Seat Poll: Will Obama’s flip-flops matter?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 01:10 AM
    This content requires the most recent version of the Adobe Flash Player... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Obama Not Recognized at DC Gym

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 01:00 AM
    Barack Obama has apparently been on the campaign trail so long that they don't recognize him in Washington anymore. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) may have one of the best-known faces in the world, but that doesn’t mean he is recognized everywhere, even in Washington. Washington Sports Club employee Takehia Wheeler was manning the front desk to scan members’ identification cards Friday morning when the presidential candidate walked in with his entourage. The gym opened a month ago in the Columbia Heights district. “He came in and walked past me,” Wheeler told In The Know. “I was like, ‘Sir, you need to come back.’ ” Wheeler said Obama looked familiar, but she didn’t recognize him. So she asked for his ID card. “I said, ‘What’s your last... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Inartful Consistency

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 28, 2008 12:39 AM
    Noting the hubbub over Barack Obama's attempts to walk back his statements on the DC gun ban, Howie Kurtz echoes a sentiment Dave Schuler and I have made numerous times on OTB Radio : Wouldn't it be better for Obama to say he had thought more about such-and-such an issue and simply changed his mind? Is that verboten in American politics? Is it better to engage in linguistic pretzel-twisting in an effort to prove that you didn't change your mind? Certainly, Obama isn't the first politician to do this. Indeed, he's not the only presumptive major party nominee for president to do it this cycle. But it's an annoying tendency nonetheless. Why can't leaders simply say that their initial view was either ill formed or that they've changed... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Georgia Barr the Door

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 11:15 PM
    He's raised just $300,000 dollars. He has a staff of only six people working out of a non-political public relations firm office. He's not even on the ballot in 20 of the 50 states. So why does Bob Barr have so many people looking nervous and edgy? Sometimes the answer lies in the margins . As this New York Times article points out, people are already casting a wary eye at Mr. Barr's home state of Georgia, among others. The Republican Party and the McCain campaign have swatted away the Barr candidacy, but some Republicans are taking it seriously. If the early polls hold up, and Senator Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee, pours heavy resources into Georgia, that state could be up for grabs, said Senator Johnny Isakson,... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Clinton Obama’s Unity Event: The Beginning Of Hard Nosed Unity?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 04:40 PM
    Was it unity? Or unity smchunity? Did Senator Hillary Clinton truly look sincere as she urged supporters to back the person who has wrapped up the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama? And that kiss-and-make-up photo: Did it look real or fake? Did Clinton look relaxed? Or when she embraced Obama did she look as if she was someone (as an LA talk show host said) who was forced to be at an event with their in-laws? Did Obama seem to really believe what he said about Clinton, or did he appear as if he was going through the motions of saying things he had to say to gain support? It all depends on the eye of the beholder, but this much is clear: the Clinton-Obama Unity event in Unity, New Hampshire was a media event to the hilt.... More
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  • Hot Air: Krauthammer: Mr Malleable

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 11:35 AM
    Has Barack Obama damaged his brand with a series of high-profile reversals on policy stands, on everything to FISA reform, gun control, and public financing, among other points? Charles Krauthammer doesn't believe he has, at least not among his main constituency, but recent polling may tell a different story in the key groups needed for victory in November. Krauthammer believes that Mr... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Clinton Obama Unity In Unity: Are Wounds Too Profound To Heal?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 10:19 AM
    It was an event that had media hype written all over it before the words media hype could be written: Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama met former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton in Unity, N.H. for a show ofparty unity. On the surface reports indicate it was a great event and could provide the beginning of party unity. But some reports suggest lingering feelings from the primary campaign would have made it more accurate if a city named Grudge, N.H. existed and had been available. And if reported grudges from Clinton supporters prevail, then if Obama loses and Clinton tries to run in 2012 she may have to hold her first event in Truth or Consquences, N.M . since Obama supporters will probably battle her every... More
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  • Hot Air: Kurtz: What happened to American journalism on Obama’s gun-ban flip-flop?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 08:05 AM
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  • Crooks and Liars: Are non-proliferation and energy efficiency ‘liberal’ issues?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 08:00 AM
    Certain policy issues become associated with an ideology or political party by virtue of emphasis. The left talks about healthcare, the right thinks the status quo is acceptable, so healthcare becomes a “liberal” issue. The right wants to change immigration laws, so it’s perceived as a “conservative” issue. Now, both sides sometimes want to call an issue their own, but face resistance. It’s rare when a leading Republican, for example, simply gives up two of the biggest issues on the international landscape, and labels them, prima facie, “liberal” issues. But that’s precisely what Mitt Romney did on national television yesterday, announcing that counter-proliferation and fuel efficiency are necessarily “liberal” issues. Now, I know —... More
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  • TalkLeft: On Board the Unity Train

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 07:16 AM
    The unity train took off today with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's joint appearance in New Hampshire . Some Hillary supporters are on board. Others are not. Your thoughts? Mine are simply this: I wasn't impressed by the joint appearance, but I'm voting for the Democratic nominee and since that's Barack Obama, I'm voting for him... More
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  • The World According to Oatney: Huckabee for Vice President

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 07:08 AM
    National Review is set to declare who it thinks is unacceptable for John McCain to choose as a running mate. Apparently, Mitt Romney is acceptable to the good folks at the Review , he who was in favor of abortion-"it will not be a multiple choice"-before he was "pro-life, and favored that legislation," and who is now pro-Second Amendment and hunted "small varmints, really," but previously said he favored the "tough gun laws in Massachusetts (I support them)." What a fine conservative choice. The reality is that we had a conservative choice in this election. We had someone who was pro-life, pro-Second Amendment , and who would appoint judges were he elected that reflected those values-our values. We all blew it collectively,... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Is Barack Obama a Pro-Arab Pacifist or a ‘Zionist Poodle’?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 06:14 AM
    Just as it has in the United States, Barack Obama's strategic ambiguity in regard to the Middle East and foreign policy in general has definitively shown up on Europe's radar screen. For Germany's Die Welt, Lord George Weidenfeld writes of Obama's recent speech to AIPAC - the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee: The candidate of American Democrats, Barack Obama, is campaigning with the help of the American Jewish lobby. Going further than many presidential candidates before him; Obama calls for an undivided Jerusalem' and threatens to do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.' Then highlighting the source of the global confusion, Weidenfeld continues: Confusing for many voters are the... More
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  • Calitics: John McCain is thrilled to Oppose Equality!

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 06:09 AM
    rom another chapter of the "Arnold and McCain Feud", McCain officially endorses the end of marriage equality. Today the Destroy Marriage propaganda operation released this statement from McCain (h/t CapAlert ): "I support the efforts of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman, just as we did in my home state of Arizona. I do not believe judges should be making these decisions." How very "Maverick" of him. He's really taking it to those "agents of intolerance" by, um, supporting their agenda. That will show them!... More
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  • Hot Air: The Ed Morrissey Show: Week in Review, Liz Mair

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 06:00 AM
    Today, on the Ed Morrissey Show (3 pm ET), Duane Patterson joins me to co-host our Week in Review... More
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  • Hot Air: Obama still doesn’t get YouTube, does he?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 05:20 AM
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  • The Moderate Voice: Obama Moves To Center McCain To The Right?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 04:52 AM
    Are we seeing so many political positioning moves on the part of Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain that they two of them could open up a special road show of NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro note the fancy footwork: But what we find fascinating is that as Obama has moved to the center on some thorny subjects, McCain keeps on making overtures to the right. At his meeting yesterday with social conservatives in Ohio, according to participants, McCain said that he was open to learning more about their opposition to embryonic stem cell research (which he supports), that he would talk more openly about his opposition to gay marriage, and that he would listen seriously to their requests... More
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  • Hot Air: New McCain ad: “Purpose”

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 03:20 AM
    John McCain clearly recognizes the opening that the high gas prices has provided him in the general election... More
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  • Hot Air: Time poll: Virtual dead heat

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 02:26 AM
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  • Crooks and Liars: ‘Dr. No’ is almost as old as Barack Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 01:30 AM
    John McCain clearly wants to make unflattering Barack Obama comparisons, but he seems to be having a little trouble with cultural references. A couple of weeks ago, McCain said Obama reminds him of William Jennings Bryan . Given that Bryan last ran for president literally 100 years ago, this was something of a dud. Shortly thereafter, McCain went with a Jimmy Carter reference, which is likely to fall flat with about half the voters. Now, the McCain campaign is going with an ad, riffing off the first James Bond film, “ Dr. No ,” which was released just one year after Barack Obama was born. First, of course, is the generational problem. James Bond movies remain popular, but if the campaign is sensitive about McCain’s status as a... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Millionaire Penalty Struck Down by Supreme Court

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 12:46 AM
    McCain-Feingold, the signature legislation of the presumptive Republican nominee for president, took another blow yesterday as the Supreme Court struck down the so-called Millionaire's Amendment in yet another 5-4 decision. “Supporters of reasonable campaign finance regulation are now zero for three in the Roberts court,” said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “This is a signal of what is to come. What could easily fall following this case are the longstanding limits on corporate and union spending in federal elections.” The law at issue in Thursday’s decision imposed special rules in races with candidates who finance their own campaigns. Those candidates are required to disclose more information, and... More
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  • Hot Air: Supreme Court deals blow to BCRA

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 12:33 AM
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  • TalkLeft: Polls! Polls! Polls!

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 27, 2008 12:18 AM
    What sense can we make of the national polls? Newsweek says Obama by 15. LATimes says Obama by 12. Gallup tracker says it is tied. Ras says Obama by 4. And today, the Time poll says Obama by 4. What can we believe? Let me assure you of one thing we can believe, Obama will not win this election by double digits. Period. But let's see if we can makes some sense of the numbers . Setting aside voter screens and other polling anomalies, let's look at the ranges each candidate scores in these polls. Obama ranges from a low of 42 to a high of 51. Much of the divergence is likely due to the inclusion or exclusion of leaners. RCP's average has Obama at 47 which seems about right. More . . . McCain's range runs from a low of 36 to a high of 45... More
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  • TalkLeft: Feet Of Clay

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 11:51 PM
    Politico writes: Barack Obama has crafted an image as an unconventional candidate, a change agent and a post-partisan politician who represents a dramatic break from the status quo. But since securing the Democratic presidential nomination, when confronted with a series of thorny issues the Illinois senator has pursued a conspicuously conventional path, one that falls far short of his soaring rhetoric. Faced with tough choices on fronts ranging from public financing and town hall meetings to warrantless surveillance and the Second Amendment, Obama passed up opportunities to take bold stands and make striking departures from customary politics. Instead, he has followed a familiar tack, straddling controversial issues and choosing... More
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  • Anderson@Large: The Next Commentator

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 07:32 PM
    After a 12-year run, Tavis Smiley gave his last commentary on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" yesterday. In summing up what Tavis meant to the TJMS, Tom Joyner wrote: Before Tavis came on board, I was happy with almost every element of our show, but something was missing. I had the vision of educating and empowering our listeners, and Tavis helped me make that happen. We started with a national voter registration campaign/party that eventually became The Sky Show. It grew into protesting the sale of slave memorabilia and leading the fight for Rosa Parks to receive the Congressional Medal of Freedom. Tavis called it radio activism. I called it a party with a purpose. It gave our show the balance of music and comedy it needed. Joyner’s... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: June Worst Dow Month Since Great Depression

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:10 PM
    No matter what the reason, if the Democrats fail to win the White House this year they should be sued for political malpractice. They say people vote their pocketbooks but these days a lot of folks can't afford pocketbooks: U.S. stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst June since the Great Depression, as record oil prices, credit-market writedowns and a slowing economy threatened to extend a yearlong profit slump. General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, plunged the most in three years as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised selling the stock and crude rose by $5 a barrel. Citigroup Inc. led the KBW Bank Index to an almost 10-year low as Goldman said the lender may report an $8.9 billion... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: June Worst June Dow Month Since Great Depression

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:10 PM
    No matter what the reason, if the Democrats fail to win the White House this year they should be sued for political malpractice. They say people vote their pocketbooks but these days a lot of folks can't afford pocketbooks: U.S. stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst June since the Great Depression, as record oil prices, credit-market writedowns and a slowing economy threatened to extend a yearlong profit slump. General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, plunged the most in three years as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised selling the stock and crude rose by $5 a barrel. Citigroup Inc. led the KBW Bank Index to an almost 10-year low as Goldman said the lender may report an $8.9 billion... More
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  • Hot Air: Which party offers ethnic attacks?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:30 PM
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  • The Moderate Voice: The Real Issue for Obama and McCain: Religion

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:03 PM
    Most people observing the American presidential election of 2008 regard health care, Iraq and perhaps immigration as the major issues of the campaign. But Juan Gabriel Vasquez, a columnist for El Espectador of Colombia, believes that there's one issue that overshadows all the rest. Vasquez writes in part: Among the things of most concern to citizens, according to the polls, are the war in Iraq, education and public health. But it's possible that the real challenge for Obama or McCain will have nothing to do with these. Rather, they'll have to address an item that is directly responsible for the problems in public health, education, and Iraq: religion. And how did it all get this way. Vasquez continues: Never in the history of... More
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  • The World According to Oatney: Yes We Can

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:00 PM
    o We Can't... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Obama and McCain– struggling with high gasoline prices

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 12:11 PM
    Rivals Barack Obama and John McCain agree on one thing – that persistence of $4-a-gallon gasoline will damage their electoral prospects. Obama democrats often place the blame on Big Oil, speculators and price gougers while McCain’s people blame controls on drilling offshore or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Both sides agree that the US has compelling reasons both economic and geopolitical to sharply reduce its use of oil and import less from the unstable Middle East. Many from both sides also agree that emissions of greenhouse gases must be cut to mitigate global warming. Energy could push aside other domestic issues and the Iraq war if gasoline and other petroleum related prices continue to rise and recession or stagflation... More
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  • The World According to Oatney: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 09:43 AM
    LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE Reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision today that the D.C. gun ban is unconstitutional. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are intent on censoring talk radio via the "Fairness Doctrine ." President Bush makes the worst foreign policy decision of his presidency, and the worst in decades, in deciding to lift economic sanctions against North Korea... More
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  • Oliver Willis: Al Franken’s Problem

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 08:06 AM
    In the same poll that shows Sen. Obama with a 17 point lead in Minnesota, Al Franken is 10 points behind Norm Coleman. I've never been super wild about the Franken run (I don't like entertainers and other media folks running for office most of the time), but I'm even less so now. Maybe he can still win, but that's not a good sign... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: No Reset Button in Foreign Policy

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 06:17 AM
    Nick Gvosdev , the outgoing Editor of The National Interest and soon-to-be professor at the Naval War College makes a point that can't be emphasized enough: [T]here is no reset' button in U.S. foreign policy. . . . [N]o matter who the next president is, there are challenges to be faced that will require adaption to the changes occurring underway in the international system. While this is obvious in many ways, candidates and their supporters often talk as if this is not the case. The world does not suddenly change the day a new president takes office nor is the new guy free to promulgate policies without regard to what has happened before. The countries with whom we must engage will continue to have the same interests, issues, and... More
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  • Hot Air: Dogs And Cats Living Together: NPR Lambastes Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 06:10 AM
    In the Credit Where Credit's Due department, be sure to give a listen to a weekend podcast from NPR's Scott Simon. He first takes on Barack Obama over his reversal on public financing while expressing support for the system, calling it the we have to destroy the village to save it rationalization. Simon saves his big guns for Obama's accusation that the McCain campaign would conduct race-based attacks on his candidacy. Simon reminds Obama that McCain has a biracial family himself, which created the impetus for a rather notorious smear in 2000 and accuses Obama of manufacturing a new smear with his accusation... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: McCain Obama Campaigns: The Same Old Same Old?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 05:09 AM
    MSNBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro , writing in First Read note that the bloom is falling off the John McCain Straight Talk Express and Barack Obama Change You Can Believe In campaigns: A different kind of campaign? Hardly: There’s a common theme running in Dan Balz’s column (which notes that the McCain-Obama contest isn’t any different from past campaigns) and James Rainey’s piece (asking why the candidates aren’t getting tough questions on Iraq). The campaigns simply aren’t being challenged by the press or the public. And they are acting, well, just like any other modern presidential campaign. Where's the new and different type of campaign so many folks expected? Perhaps the answer lies that it has seemingly... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Sabato’s Crystal Ball: The Nomination Gap

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 05:03 AM
    I apologize, it appears that I have missed several Sabato's Crystal Ball emails due to accidental unsubscribing. Here is today's article - I will post the others as I have time to read them. Today's article is by Michael Baudinet of the U.Va. Center for Politics: Time Is On My Side: The Nomination Gap Much has been made in the past of presidential candidates' campaign theme songs, but there would be no more appropriate choice for this year's Republican nominee, John McCain, than the Rolling Stones' classic, Time Is on My Side. Political observers, including your Crystal Ball, are virtually unanimous in their assessment that the prevailing conditions this fall are ideal for sending a Democrat to the Oval Office. We have,... More
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  • Hot Air: Team McCain Conference Call: Heller

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 04:48 AM
    The McCain campaign shows once again that they have honed the rapid-response instincts in the campaign by quickly arranging a conference call for the media on the Heller decision and gun control within an hour of the decision... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Gitmo’s Got to Go… but where?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:39 AM
    In the face of growing national discontent and an increasingly complicated legal situation, both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have called for the closing of the United States detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. McCain has suggested moving at least some of the alleged terrorist detainees to Fort Leavenworth. (We need to say alleged until we find a way to give these people some kind of a trial or military tribunal that passes constitutional muster.) As pointed out to us by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air today, the two Senators from Kansas are giving this plan the big thumbs down . “ Not all prisons are created equal ,” Brownback and Roberts wrote in their appeal. The prison facility at Fort Leavenworth “ is not equipped to... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Novak: McCain Worried About Republican Obamacons Defectors

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:33 AM
    Republican presumptive Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is worried about Republican who could openly or all but openly support rival Democratic Senator Barack Obama come November, columnist Robert Novak writes. What's a Republican with a reputation for being independent who wants to distance himself just enough from the Bush administration so he doesn't lose his party base to do? Novak writes: What is an The phrase surfaced in January to describe British conservatives entranced by Barack Obama. On March 13 the American Spectator broadened the term to cover all conservative supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate. Their ranks, though growing, feature few famous people. But looming on the horizon are two big... More
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  • TalkLeft: How To Read Polls: Part . . .

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:23 AM
    A few state polls to analyze. First SUSA's Missouri poll that has McCain up 7. the demos are whites (86% of the electorate) for McCain 55-37 and African Americans (12% of the electorate) for Obama 89-8. In 2004, Missouri went for Bush by 7, with Bush winning whites (77% of the vote) 58-41 and Kerry winning African Americans (11% of the vote) 88-11 (Latinos were said to be 8% of the vote in Missouri in 2004, a figure I find impossible to believe frankly, and Kerry won them 53-44.) Here's my thinking, African Americans will be more than 12% of the electorate in Missouri and Obama will carry 95% of them, making this a closer race than 7. But still, this is a lean McCain state. More The Q poll polls a number of states, and not surprisingly... More
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  • Hot Air: Next in Bus & Driver: Obama’s position on guns

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 03:16 AM
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  • Outside The Beltway: Jindal Signs Chemical Castration Bill

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 02:44 AM
    Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal yesterday signed the Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill hours after the Supreme Court overturned that state's law allowing capital punishment for child rapists. It provides that on a first conviction of aggravated rape, forcible rape, second degree sexual battery, aggravated incest, molestation of a juvenile when the victim is under the age of 13, or an aggravated crime against nature, the court may sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration. On a second conviction of the above listed crimes, the court is required to sentence the offender to undergo chemical castration. Ben Domenech thinks Jindal is sending a suggestive message to the Supreme Court. But, of course, the law had passed through... More
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  • Hot Air: Put Gitmo detainees where?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 02:30 AM
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  • Outside The Beltway: ‘Smart Republican Strategists’ Give McCain Unsolicited Bad Advice

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:45 AM
    Mark Halperin presents a list of 22, mostly inane, suggestions as to What Smart Republican Strategists Think Should Be on John McCain’s To-Do List. It's certainly true that the McCain campaign needs to be about the American people and what is best for their lives and that this requires going beyond foreign policy and McCain's biography. And, yes, his television ads need much work. Most of the other advice is either platitude, contradictory, or both. Yes, it's true that staying on message is important. One can't simultaneously have one guy dictating the whole show, grow the staff with non-loyalists, hire consultants that fundamentally disagree with you on core issues, and end all divisions in the campaign. Nor can one simultaneously... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: The Obama strategy emphasizes down-ballot races

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:30 AM
    We know quite a bit about the Obama campaign’s intention to “stretch” the map and compete in “red” states that a) Dems would be expected to skip; and b) the McCain campaign doesn’t want to have to fight for. But Ben Smith went a little deeper and considers what this might mean for Dems further down on the ballot . Barack Obama will focus his resources largely in 14 states George W. Bush won in 2004, his chief field operative said Tuesday, hoping to score upsets in places like Virginia, Indiana, and Georgia. But winning the White House won’t be his only goal, deputy campaign manager Hildebrand told Politico: In an unusual move, Obama’s campaign will also devote some resources to states it’s unlikely to win, with the goal of influencing... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Conflating Luddites with Fair Trade Advocates

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:12 AM
    Some attention is being given to an only partly humorous video from reason.tv which takes a fairly disparaging look at American reactions to various labor threats. The phrasing is worth noting: Sometimes the threat comes from China, Japan, or outsourcing to India. Today, it’s NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement—you know, all those Mexicans taking our jobs. The article then goes on to quote Drew Carey ranting about the robot threat. “Now, think about it,” says Reason.tv host Drew Carey. “How are we supposed to compete against something that doesn’t get paid, doesn’t get health insurance, and never goes on breaks?” “No job is safe from the robot threat!” A couple of the usual sources have a good guffaw over this. (Give... More
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  • The World According to Oatney: Obama's Impact in the Parallel Universe

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:09 AM
    he great Frank Cagle , East Tennessee politico extraordinaire, co-host of The Voice , former Van Hilleary gubernatorial campaign spokesman, resident conservative at the liberal MetroPulse, and without doubt the finest political analyst in the South-and perhaps the country-hit the nail on the head two weeks ago when it comes to the way that Barack Obama may impact Tennessee : Hillary Clinton most likely would have carried Tennessee in November. Her husband did it twice; John McCain couldn’t do it in the primary. But Barack Obama? If Harold Ford Jr., a conservative-talking candidate from Tennessee, couldn’t win his Senate race campaigning here daily, then a liberal from Chicago who is unlikely to campaign here at all wouldn’t seem to... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: FISA Reform Moves Forward, Netroots Angry at Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 26, 2008 01:03 AM
    The Senate easily invoked cloture yesterday, ending a threatened filibuster of a major overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The revised bill is expected to pass today. This may be the most important bill we pass this year, said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), an architect of the bill crafted over four months of negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House. The bill would require that the secret FISA court approve procedures for intercepting foreign nationals' e-mails and telephone calls. Spying on U.S. citizens, including those overseas, would require individual warrants from the same court. It also would establish the FISA law, and the secret court... More
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  • Anderson@Large: Nader Talks Nonsense

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 07:29 PM
    Perennial presidential candidate loser Ralph Nader told the Rocky Mountain News that Barack Obama "talks white." A guy who can’t rustle up enough supporters to meet in a cell phone booth offered this advice: I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law. Nader is trapped in an era, circa the 1970s, when he was relevant and folks used the term "ghettoes." Why would anyone, let alone Obama, listen to... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Clinton’s Clincher for Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 04:54 PM
    As they begin their unity tour this week, Hillary Clinton has a powerful argument to win over diehard supporters who resist backing Barack Obama because he kept her from becoming the first woman in the Oval Office. If John McCain is elected, they can kiss goodbye to Roe v Wade, which has been teetering in the Supreme Court balance since Bush started naming Justices and would surely be overturned in another Republican Administration. As late as last year, McCain told Tim Russert on Meet the Press: I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade was a bad decisionTo me, it's an issue of human rights and human dignity. So much for pro-choice and the illusions of Independents and disaffected Democrats that, on the overriding... More
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  • TalkLeft: Obama Disagrees With Supreme Court Ruling Requiring a Death to Invoke the Death Penalty

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 12:48 PM
    Where is Sen. Barack Obama on the death penalty? With Justices Alito, Scalia and Thomas. Here is what Sen. Obama had to say about today's excellent Supreme Court ruling striking down a state statute allowing the death penalty to be imposed for crimes where no death occurs: When asked about Supreme Court ruling against the use of the death penalty in instances of child rape today at a news conference in Chicago, Obama answered, I disagree with the decision. I have said repeatedly that I think that the death penalty should be applied in very narrow circumstances for most egregious of crimes. I think that the rape of a small child, six or eight years old is a heinous crime, and if a state makes a decision that under narrow, limited,... More
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  • Hot Air: Breaking: FISA passes cloture in Senate

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 12:30 PM
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  • Hot Air: Lexington for Independence Update: Psst, CBS — Lexington isn’t in Virginia

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 11:05 AM
    Today John McCain hit on energy policy in two different directions. First, as Allahpundit noted earlier, he cast Barack Obama as Dr... More
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  • Oliver Willis: Doctor No? Doctor No?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 10:36 AM
    That's how the McCain camp plans to mischaracterize Sen. Obama's posiiton on energy . Policy aside, this is yet another reference going back multiple decades - back to 1962 , specifically. So far McCain has compared Obama to: William Jennings Bryan, a politician from the late 1800s Jimmy Carter, president in the late '70s Dr. No, from the 1960s Can John McCain make a cultural reference in the current century? He can't use the computer to do a Google to make it happen, so he's got a handicap. A nation waits. MORE: The lame web ad is also out of the '60s. I dunno, maybe McCain thinks sixties schtick is cutting edge... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: The Lexington Project

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 09:39 AM
    I've been hesitant to build up a lot of hope, but I'm starting to think that the future of America's energy policies may wind up being the turnkey issue that drives a lot of us off the fence who have been either undecided or hovering around third party candidates out of frustration with our major party choices. CBS News is reporting on a new proposal from Sen. John McCain which is being dubbed The Lexington Project which may provide a ray of hope for those dismayed by Congressional inaction on an incresingly urgent topic. Senator John McCain unveiled the name of his energy project in Las Vegas today as he wrapped up the western swing of his two week energy tour. Deemed the Lexington Project, McCain’s plan states the U.S. will be... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: I For One, Welcome our New Liberal Overlords

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 08:02 AM
    Sorry, but I had to use a version of that Simpson's quote (and I basically copied it from a writer ). Piggybacking on yesterday's post , I found this article by Reihan Salam about the doomed McCain Presidency. It's not as much his problem, but it is the problem of the GOP not being able to notice that the times they are a-changing. As I said yesterday, the nation is moving towards a new liberal era as the conservative era ends. He notes that Britian is in it's own liberal (or more precisely, Labour) era and the British Conservatives have wisely tailored their party to suit the new time. Here on the other side of the pond, the GOP still thinks it's Morning in America; Britain’s Conservatives might be plotting a triumphant return... More
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  • Hot Air: Gallup: All tied at 45

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 07:24 AM
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  • Outside The Beltway: Ralph Nader: Obama Not Black Enough

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 05:38 AM
    Ralph Nader says that Barack Obama talks white and ignores black issues. There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American, Nader said. Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards. The Obama campaign had only a brief response, calling the remarks disappointing. Asked to clarify whether he thought... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Hillary Clinton Returns to the Senate

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 05:07 AM
    Apparently, during Hillary Clinton's months-long absence from the Senate, her office has been taken over by young, ping-pong playing staffers in hats and sunglasses. She returned yesterday to a warm reception , Dana Milbank informs us. And got rid of the recreational equipment. Among the well-wishers was Sen. John F. Kerry, the failed Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, who had some hard-won advice for Clinton. he recommended. Still, Kerry predicted, she'll be extraordinarily received. [] Clinton delivered a version of the party-unity theme she had voiced behind closed doors. I come back with an even greater depth of awareness about what we have to do here in Washington, she said. She spoke with vagueness about her new role... More
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  • Calitics: John McCain's California Adventure

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 04:29 AM
    ell, John W. McCain had a great couple of days in the Golden State. First he went to Santa Barbara, site of a huge 1969 oil spill, to promote his plan to cancel the moratorium on offshore drilling, and he ran into an expert who rebutted his entire premise . Feeney also took issue with McCain's controversial proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore oil exploration: "It makes me nervous to think about those who are proposing to drain America's offshore oil and gas reserves as quickly as possible in the hopes of driving down the price of gasoline, because I think when you look at the good sources of information, were we to open up the California coast or the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, it would be 12, 15, maybe 20 years... More
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  • Hot Air: Video: Richardson tosses himself under the Obama bus?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 04:24 AM
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  • The Moderate Voice: Quote Of The Day: Dowd On Rove, Obama, And Terrorist Attacks

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 03:50 AM
    New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has a MUST READ COLUMN today pegged to GOP political maven Karl Rovere's assertion that Democratic presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama is like an arrogant country club member who hands around the clubhouse smoking a cigarettee with a beautiful woman on his arms making snide comments. Read this in FULL because she notes at the beginning that once upon a time (before he was the presumptive nominee) Rove said he was impressed with Obama. Read it from beginning to end. One thing her piece underscores again: as a campaign strategist (and he is an informal campaign advisor to GOP presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain) Rove will create and promote a caricature of a candidate that is then cloned on talk... More
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  • Hot Air: Rapper chants “Obama or Die” at the BET Awards

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 03:48 AM
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  • Hot Air: Rapper chants “Obama or Die” at the BET Awards Update: Video added

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 03:48 AM
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  • Hot Air: Obama was right: Bigot accuses Obama of “talking white” — Ralph Nader

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 03:15 AM
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  • The Moderate Voice: Blue, Blue Oregon

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 02:47 AM
    Over at Newshoggers, my old colleague Ron Beasely shows up with one of the more arcane bits of political news in a season already ripe with weirdness. It appears that Republican Senator Gordon Smith is running television ads for he reelection bid showing how much he is in line with Barack Obama? In the ad, Smith, running hard away from Bush, associates himself at length and explicitly with Obama. Who says Gordon Smith helped lead the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment? the female narrator asks. Barack Obama. The ad shows Obama's face and an image of his website. I approve working together across party lines and this ad, Smith closes. As Ron points out, however, Obama isn't exactly giving a warm welcome to his... More
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  • Hot Air: Video: Non-satirical rebuttal to “Not Alex”

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 02:38 AM
    Last week, MoveOn debuted its first general-election campaign ad, Not Alex, in which a young mother told John McCain that he couldn't have her baby for his 100-year war. Unfortunately, no one apparently taught math to Alex's mom, since Alex would be all of nine years old when McCain would leave office. The military doesn't draft nine-year-olds; in fact, they don't draft anyone , and haven't since the Vietnam War. Alex would have to choose to enter the military on his own, and do so in the Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal administration... More
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  • TalkLeft: Enough With Elitism

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 02:19 AM
    Maureen Dowd: Conservatives love playing this little game, acting as if the Democratic candidates are not in touch with people like themselves, even though the guys doing the attacking like Rove, Limbaugh, O'Reilly and Hannity are wealthy and cosseted. ... Everyone who ever became president was in the elite one way or another, including Andrew Jackson. ... Rove's mythmaking about Obama won't fly. If he means that Obama has brains, what's wrong with that? If he means that Obama is successful, what's wrong with that? If he means that Obama has education and intellectual sophistication, what's wrong with that? The election isn't about who you'd want to have a beer with. It's about who will best govern... More
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  • Hot Air: Was Black right, and does that matter?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 02:04 AM
    The off-hand analysis of Charlie Black on the political effect of a terrorist attack continues to reverberate, but the Washington Post wonders if Black wasn't right. The Obama campaign certainly acts as though he was, with their high-profile efforts to counter Black's remarks in Fortune , which seem almost almost innocuous in context . Just a hint of bin Laden in 2004 cost John Kerry the election... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: A novel defense for McCain’s policy reversals

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 01:30 AM
    Two months ago, the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen noted in passing that John McCain has “fudged and ducked and swallowed the truth on occasion.” Cohen, however, said McCain deserved a pass because he had “ understandable ” reasons for his mendacity. And what, pray tell, were these “understandable” reasons? Cohen didn’t say. They were just, ipso facto, understandable. Yesterday, Cohen added a little substance to the claim. McCain may be a flip-flopper, but that’s fine, Cohen argues, because he’s also a former prisoner of war. Seriously. Cohen notes from the outset that McCain has “abandoned his maverick persona of old and moved to assure the GOP that on most matters, he is devoutly orthodox.” Cohen then lists six issues on which McCain... More
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  • Hot Air: Feingold FISA flip puts pressure on Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 01:30 AM
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  • The World According to Oatney: The Importance of Number Two

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 12:50 AM
    emocrats would appear to be positively giddy over a new Los Angeles Times poll that has Barack Obama leading John McCain by twelve points : A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll seems to back up the Newsweek poll. This new survey has Obama up 12 points over McCain (49%-37%). It is entirely too early for Democrats to take a breather (and, as I have told Adam Graham on several occasions, I still think John McCain will pull out the General Election -these numbers look strikingly similar to John Kerry 's numbers at this point in the race four years ago. John McCain's biggest weakness, however-the one thing that can beat him-is not Democrats, but conservative Republicans staying home: “McCain suffers from a pronounced... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Bill Clinton Miffed at Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 25, 2008 12:06 AM
    Marc Ambinder has a report entitled Why Bill Clinton's Miffed At Obama. Given the man bites dog nature of that headline, my curiosity was piqued. It turns out that Clinton thinks Obama ran against Clinton’s presidential record at times, implying that it was timeworn, divisive, and damaging to the party and went out of its way to portray the former president as a racist. Of course, given that Hillary Clinton was basically running on a return to the Clinton glory platform and that, when that didn't work, Bill Clinton was running a borderline racist smear campaign against Obama, it's hard to get too upset at these things. Perhaps that's why he's merely rather than, say, Share This... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Barack Obama: From Messiah to Pariah?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 10:56 PM
    There is something comical but ultimately rather sad about the widespread dropping of jaws over Barack Obama's support of the expansion of government surveillance powers and other recent actions that reveal him to be someone whom he has been all along a hard assed and thoroughly pragmatic politician who does not walk on water but has been astute at harnessing this image to power his own ambitious path to the Democratic presidential nomination and White House. Part of the disappointment has to do with Obama supporters having much more to lose as the scales fall from their eyes. When John McCain does one of his routine flip flops, it is par for the course. But the howls of outrage in the blogosphere and sense of betrayal on the part... More
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  • TalkLeft: Enabling

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 09:22 PM
    Jonathan Singer is urging donations to the Democratic candidate for Senate in Colorado Mark Udall. I am not from Colorado and Jeralyn is, but I personally would not lift a finger for Mark Udall. Why? Because he has not lifted a finger for any issue I care about. He voted for the Steny Surrender. He has never supported timelines for withdrawal from Iraq. He never has spoken for anything that I care about. This reminds me of the Netroots campaign for Travis Childers of Mississippi, who hasically ran as a Republican. Look, obviously it is better that a Democrat win instead of a Republican in every race, and I believe in a Big Tent, but don't you think people who care about their issues should support the candidates who actually will at... More
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  • Oliver Willis: Their Brand In Crisis

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 07:32 PM
    How bad is the Republican brand, and by extension, John McCain's brand? Oregon's Gordon Smith, in one of the most endangered Senate seats, has a new ad touting a purported connection to a presidential candidate Barack Obama. Sen Obama issued a statement making clear where he stands: Barack Obama has a long record of bipartisan accomplishment and we appreciate that it is respected by his Democratic and Republican colleagues in the Senate. But in this race, Oregonians should know that Barack Obama supports Jeff Merkley for Senate. Merkley will help Obama bring about the fundamental change we need in Washington, said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. Has this ever happened before? An incumbent senator touting a connection to the... More
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  • Anderson@Large: Elián González: A Blast from the Past

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 06:39 PM
    Elián Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who became a political football during the Clinton Administration, is back . The saga of little Elián dominated the news for months. I would have volunteered to take him back to Cuba just to get his dysfunctional family off my TV. In 2000, I wrote : For more than two months, Elián’s best interests have been sidelined as politicians pander to Cuban exiles. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 900,000 Cubans in the United States, including 474,000 naturalized citizens. The relative small number of Cuban Americans belies their political influence in Florida… The battle over Elián is fraught with irony. Polls show a majority of Americans support the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: The Close of the Conservative Era (for now)

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 04:47 PM
    John McCain can't get a break. In 2000, he ran up against the Bush machine that slimed him and ran his campaign off the rails. Eight years later, he is now makes it to the top spot as the GOP nominee and has to run against someone that seems to be more popular than Jesus. While I support John McCain, there is a sense that this is a losing battle. He is a good man stuck with a party in disarray and a movement that was run off the rails by the same man he faced in 2000. Allan Lichtman has a worthy piece up on Politico about how McCain is failing to ignite the conservatives and that no matter if he wins or loses, he will ultimately lose because the conservative era is at its nadir. Licthman writes on how McCain has bent himself into odd... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Polls: Obama 12 Points Or 3 Points Ahead Of McCain?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 03:50 PM
    Two new polls again show how polls can come up with truly contradictory findings. A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg shows Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama 12 points ahead of GOP presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain. And a Gallup Daily Tracking poll finds Obama 3 points ahead. The partisans of each candidate will point to the one that shows their candidate ahead and say that's the most accurate, and pooh-pooh the other one. But both do have some intriguing (if contradictory) findings. The Times: Buoyed by enthusiasm among Democrats and public concern over the economy, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has captured a sizable lead over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the opening of the general election... More
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  • TalkLeft: Report: Obama Tells His Finance Committee to Help Hillary With Debt

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 03:43 PM
    Via The Swamp at the Chicago Tribune : A Democratic source with knowledge of the situation said Obama instructed members of his national finance committee during a conference call today to help Clinton with some of the $10 million she owes to vendors. The former first lady, who exited the Democratic contest on June 7, ended May with $22.5 million in debt, more than half of it from personal loans to her campaign. I wonder if he used the word "some" as a limiter and if so, why? Why not just ask them to help her with the $10 million she owes to vendors? It seems to me she will be raising more than that amount for him during the general election campaign from her donors who maxed out to her. Why wouldn't he ask the same of his big... More
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  • TalkLeft: Pass the Fruitcake

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 02:24 PM
    Listen to this: I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology." Is this a rational observer commenting upon Rev. James Dobson ? No, it is Rev. Dobson commenting upon Barack Obama. Just days after Senator Barack Obama met quietly with religious leaders, including the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, another of the evangelical movement's most prominent names, James C. Dobson, has sharply attacked Mr. Obama, accusing him of having a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution and twisting the meaning of both the Old and New Testaments. This is surely not the first time that Rev. Dobson and "fruitcake" have appeared in the same sentence. [more ...]... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: Bill Clinton Endorses Obama Amid Announcement He’ll Play “Big” Campaign Role

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 01:31 PM
    What a difference a few (political) days makes. Several days ago Reuters reported that former President Bill Clinton smilingly and pointedly didn't answer when pressed by reporters whether he'd endorse Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Barack Obama. But things happen and change in politics. Perhaps the Reuters report raised some eyebrows (and perhaps some voices) in Democratic party elite circles: today it was announced Bill Clinton supported Obama. But if came in a weird way: through a spokesman. And varying journalists saw exactly what Bill Clinton Bill Clinton's spokesman said differently. For instance, the Boston Globe (like many) saw it as an endorsement: Former President Bill Clinton, who has been noticeably... More
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  • Hot Air: Obama running from Muslims?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 11:35 AM
    Or, as Glamour of all outlets put it, between a hijab and a hard place. Barack Obama has had to deal with a rather persistent smear that he is a crypto-Muslim for most of the time he ran in the Democratic primaries. His main opponent, Hillary Clinton, didn't make his life any easier with her as far as I know denials of Obama's Muslim bona fides, nor with her campaign's distribution of Obama in African garb on his trip to the continent... More
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  • TalkLeft: Hillary Clinton Returns to Senate Amidst Cheers

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 10:49 AM
    Hillary Clinton returned to the Senate today . She's back to her day job, promising to roll up her sleeves, get to work, and yes, help Barack Obama become President. Two hundred journalists, interns and others awaited her arrival at the carriage entrance outside the Senate chamber yesterday. A Senate official tried to keep order among the cameras, boom microphones and shotgun-wielding cops: "I need media credentials out! I need a space for her!" ...."Heads up!" somebody called out. The interns erupted in a cheer as soon as the leg of Clinton's turquoise pantsuit appeared though the doorway of her Lincoln Town Car. The cheers continued at a private Senate luncheon. [More...] as Clinton entered a private luncheon in the Capitol,... More
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  • The Moderate Voice: How America Generates its Political Superstars …

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 10:48 AM
    As has been repeatedly demonstrated over the past year, the world is riveted by the way Americans are choosing their president. This op-ed from France's Liberation examines the primary process and how it results in the selection of America's highly-trained' political athletes. Anne-Lorraine Bujon writes for Liberation: The 2008 Democratic primary race illustrated how, first and foremost, America is a grand spectacle of democracy. The primaries cost one dearly. They are reserved for highly-trained athletes capable of committing themselves to a quasi-permanent campaign. But they have served to give America some of its biggest stars, like Ronald Reagan who reinvented conservatism to Bill Clinton who introduced a “third way.” And... More
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  • Hot Air: A tale of two videos: Obama’s two-steps

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 10:09 AM
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  • The World According to Oatney: The 1970's Rehash

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 09:29 AM
    LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE David Oatney discusses the state of the economy and the comparisons with the 1970's. Thoughts on the passing of Tim Russert and the NBC coverage of Russert's life and death. Adam Graham and Paul Stanton join the show... More
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  • Crooks and Liars: Rove picks the wrong metaphor to slam Obama

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 08:50 AM
    Karl Rove has made it clear on multiple occasions that he actively dislikes Barack Obama — if there’s a more helpful testament to the strength of Obama’s character, it doesn’t come to mind — and he continues to make his criticisms of the Democratic candidate more and more personal . “Even if you never met him, you know this guy,” Rove said, per Christianne Klein. “He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.” Of all the metaphors Rove could have used to attack the first credible African-American candidate for the presidency, he had to go with “the guy at the country club”? Seriously? Jake Tapper noted,... More
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  • Outside The Beltway: Obama More Experienced Than We Thought?

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 08:29 AM
    Governing magazine executive editor Alan Ehrenhalt argues that we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss Barack Obama's eight years of experience as an Illinois state legislature. Twenty-first century U.S. senators are, virtually by the nature of the job, gadflies. They flit from one issue to another, generally developing little expertise on any of them; devote a large portion of their day to press conferences and other publicity opportunities; follow a daily schedule printed on a 35 card that a member of their staff has prepared; depend even more heavily on staff for detailed and time-consuming legislative negotiation that they are too busy to attend; and develop few close relationships with colleagues, nearly all of whom are as busy as... More
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  • Hot Air: Video: Ethanol gets worse mileage

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 07:30 AM
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  • Hot Air: Newsweek on clubbing baby seals

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 06:40 AM
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  • The Moderate Voice: Palestinians Must Campaign to ‘Alter Obama’s Position’ …

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 06:02 AM
    Let the Arab-Israeli battle for Barack Obama's heart and mind begin For Yemen's Al-Wahdawi newspaper, Ziyad Abu Shaawish writes of the crushing disappointment felt by Palestinians when Obama appeared before the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee calling for a united Jerusalem under Israeli control. Reflecting continuing Arab and especially Palestinian frustration with their lack of influence within the U.S. electorate, Shaawish writes in part: Because he is Black and of Islamic origin, when Obama declared himself a candidate for the U.S. Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton, some of us thought that perhaps American politics would change, resulting in a more equitable approach to the Arab cause, the Palestinian... More
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  • Hot Air: Breaking: Bill will actually answer questions now on Obama!

    Anonymous [Edit] | Jun 24, 2008 05:25 AM
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  • TalkLeft: Democratic Convention to Be Simulcast In Spanish

    Anonymous