Month: October 2007
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Buyers’ regret on Obama?
As awareness grows (here, here, here, and here) that Barack Obama may not have the stomach to lead an effective negative campaign, will Democrats turn toward John Edwards as the best hope of the anti-Hillary opposition? He was really good on Meet the Press…
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Bush: Tax cuts reduced the deficit
In a photo opportunity with his economic team today, President Bush used the new deficit numbers to again suggest that tax cuts increase revenue: You know, last February, it was projected that our deficit would be $244 billion, and today the Director informed us that the deficit — actual deficit is $163 billion. In other
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Leibovich vs. Leonhardt: NYT’s good and bad
Mark Leibovich is a former writer for the Washington Post’s loathsome Style section who now writes narrative-driven political “news” for the New York Times. Today he has an annoying piece on Fred Thompson’s performance in last night’s GOP debate: “All he has to do is not fall asleep,” the columnist Roger Simon wrote of Mr.
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More supply-side claims at GOP debate
In yesterday’s New York Times, Jon Chait got out his crystal ball: Remember the Republican presidential debate a few months ago, when three candidates raised their hands to indicate they didn’t believe in evolution? Something just as laughable is likely to happen today, at the first Republican debate on the economy. Every candidate will probably
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Bob Filner goes soundbite-crazy
Talk about trying too hard to get on the news — Rep. Bob Filner made English teachers cry during a speech against a proposed new Blackwater compound outside San Diego: Blackwater is a black mark on American democracy. We can’t let them blackmail us into this so they can blackmail democracy further. What they’re doing
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The xenophobic Swiss poster
The New York Times reported yesterday on disturbing xenophobia in Swiss politics, focusing on a poster distributed by a leading ultra-right party: The posters taped on the walls at a political rally here capture the rawness of Switzerland’s national electoral campaign: three white sheep stand on the Swiss flag as one of them kicks a
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Off-message Hillary phone bank
I got a fundraising call from Hillary Clinton’s campaign last night. During the call, the phone bank guy, who admitted he was paid, said my donation would help demonstrate her grassroots support. He then said this was important because Obama has more grassroots support to date. I’m pretty sure that isn’t in the official script.
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Response(s) to Alterman
FYI the post on Eric Alterman now has two updates responding to him.
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Eric Alterman: My enemies are evil
In his Media Matters blog, Eric Alterman often attributes evil motives to his political opponents — a tactic that the group criticizes non-liberals for on a near-daily basis. The latest example came Thursday during a discussion of President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have expanded the SCHIP children’s health insurance program: Bush’s preference
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Hyping the gas price-Bush approval link
Matthew Yglesias flags netroots activist Chris Bowers hyping a graph plotting gas prices (inverse) against presidential approval: It isn’t discussed often enough, but Professor Pollkatz regularly produces updates one of the most important statistical projections for American politics, ever: A round of semi-apocalyptic pontification then ensues: Our move off the petroleum economy is still slow,