With the clock running out on the 2008 presidential race and John McCain sinking like a stone, the excuses for why his campaign has come a cropper are flying fast and furious. I've been collecting them over at Kiko's House in a daily feature titled "McCain-Palin Trainwreck Excuse du Jour." Here are synopses and links to the first seven entries: Sarah Palin can't be … [Read more...] about McCain: So Little Time, So Many Excuses
Grand Ayatollah Sistani Offers Blessing to U.S.-Iraq Security Deal: From Iraq’s Al-Sabaah
A few days ago, a meeting of great significance to the United States took place in the Iraqi Holy City of Najaf. With Iraq on the cusp of signing a historic, long-term security deal with Washington, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought the approval of that nation's most powerful man: the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. According to this article from Iraq's … [Read more...] about Grand Ayatollah Sistani Offers Blessing to U.S.-Iraq Security Deal: From Iraq’s Al-Sabaah
The Accidental Debate
Fed-up and disappointed with the presidential and vice-presidential debates, and with all the muck, insults and accusations being hurled during the campaign rallies, I happened to be channel-surfing tonight, when I came across a "debate" that I had not seen advertised. It was the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, being held at the Waldorf Astoria in New … [Read more...] about The Accidental Debate
The GOP’s Race Problem
In 1944 the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal acutely subverted a classic paradigm in American political culture: the so-called "Negro problem." As Myrdal pointed out in his work, An American Dilemma, there really is no "Negro problem" in America. There is a white problem. White people in America systemically prevented people of African descent from fulfilling what most Americans … [Read more...] about The GOP’s Race Problem
Afghanistan: A Chilling Front Line Analysis
Christina Lamb, of The Times of London, has provided one of the best assessments of the ground realities in Afghanistan. She should know as she has been reporting from Afghanistan for 20 years. I strongly recommend that her present analysis should be carefully read. One has to be patient as this is a longish report where she argues why the US and the NATO forces cannot beat … [Read more...] about Afghanistan: A Chilling Front Line Analysis
Three Questions
Which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives? Who is the current Secretary of State? Who is Great Britain's prime minister? Only 18% of people answered all three of those questions correctly when they were posed in a survey by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. That so few people would get answer all three correctly sadly isn't that surprising. … [Read more...] about Three Questions
Toe The Line
The Republican Party keeps inching right up to that line of calling Barack Obama a terrorist. … [Read more...] about Toe The Line
Reflections on the Third Obama-McCain Debate
I actually don't have a great deal to add today to what I wrote last night about the debate in my long and occasionally rambling live-blogging post. Obama won. Pretty easily. That's about it. And that's pretty much the consensus today. One of the best summaries comes, as usual, from TNR's Noam Scheiber: "[T]he debate in a nutshell: McCain fulminating angrily, if sometimes … [Read more...] about Reflections on the Third Obama-McCain Debate
iGoogle gets gadgets
CNet News Webware: Google's personalized homepage, iGoogle, is getting an update today. Widgets on the page can support a new "canvas view," which expands the widget to the full iGoogle window. The sixteen new or updated widgets that Google is promoting today support this feature. There are over 40,000 iGoogle widgets available, iGoogle group product manager Jessica Ewing told … [Read more...] about iGoogle gets gadgets
Report: U.S. to Help ‘Oust’ Black Sea Fleet from Crimea: Moskovskii Komsomolets of Russia
Is the United States engaged in plans to 'oust' Russia's Black Sea Fleet from its centuries-old home port in Ukraine? According to this news item from Russia's Moskovskii Komsomolets, the United States is offering U.S. naval vessels to Ukraine in order to assist them with a plan that includes whipping up a crisis that would allow the Ukrainian leader to impose a state of … [Read more...] about Report: U.S. to Help ‘Oust’ Black Sea Fleet from Crimea: Moskovskii Komsomolets of Russia
Inflammatory GOP Robocall Contradicts McCain On Ayers Last Night
The McCain campaign continues its descent into the kind of politics that is now surpassing in sleaziness what Karl Rove & Co. did to McCain in South Carolina in 2000. The Politico: A harsh new robocall -- at least the third in a series -- attacks Obama for having "worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers" whose group "killed Americans." Robocalls are a … [Read more...] about Inflammatory GOP Robocall Contradicts McCain On Ayers Last Night
Say It Ain’t So, Joe
Martin Eisenstadt says Joe the Plumber wasn't vetted: John McCain did great tonight in the debate. But every time John mentioned “Joe the Plumber,” some of us in the campaign banged our heads against the wall. If Steve Schmidt had any hair left, I hear he would have been pulling it out tonight. He reportedly screamed at John’s debate prep team tonight (out of earshot of … [Read more...] about Say It Ain’t So, Joe
The Last Debate
Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant … [Read more...] about The Last Debate
Media Weighs In On The Final McCain-Obama Debate
And the news is not good for Republican candidate Sen. John McCain. Americablog offers this huge roundup of media reaction. … [Read more...] about Media Weighs In On The Final McCain-Obama Debate
(Updated) Joe The Plumber Springs A Leak
I am a great believer in making one's own luck, but at this point John McCain can't catch a break. His invocation during the debate of Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher was a winner, but Joe promptly threw a wet blanket over that modest coup in telling CBS News that Barack Obama's response to a question that he had posed about the economy had left him feeling uneasy: "I've … [Read more...] about (Updated) Joe The Plumber Springs A Leak
John McCain And The Risks Of Negative Campaigning
John Avlon, the former aide to former President Bill Clinton and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who wrote the best book ever on the independent voters' role in America politics (Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics), has a MUST READ on the politics of negative campaigning -- on how Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's campaign … [Read more...] about John McCain And The Risks Of Negative Campaigning
On the Air in a New Spot
Just a fast note for TMV readers... My partner in literary crime, Cindy the Lady Logician and I will be interviewing a senior adviser from the McCain campaign at 1 pm at a new radio address. Stop by The Lady Logician show from 12:30 pm eastern to 1:30 pm Eastern. We should be doing the interview right around 1 pm. For those who miss it, I'll write up the results to post them … [Read more...] about On the Air in a New Spot
Joe the Plumber
Eric Allie, Caglecartoons.com … [Read more...] about Joe the Plumber
News You Need Kleenex For
It took a heart of stone to watch PBS' News Hour last night without breaking into tears over America in ruins-- a collapsing economy with no end in sight, the falling-apart of charity and culture in Seattle, poor people without medical care in New Mexico and, to cap it off, a critique of how helpless the presidential candidates are to do anything meaningful about it. How did … [Read more...] about News You Need Kleenex For
What Do McCain’s eBay Sale and Overhead Projector Claims Have in Common?
One thing you have to grant McCain is that he is persistent. Whether he is persistently truthful, is another matter. He was persistent about claiming outright that Palin sold the Alaska government's jet on eBay, and at a profit. Even after it had been proven to be a lie, McCain continued the farce. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin, with a cheering and applauding Palin … [Read more...] about What Do McCain’s eBay Sale and Overhead Projector Claims Have in Common?