Month: June 2008
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Confusing hate group quote on Obama
In a Washington Post article on increasing traffic to white supremacist websites as a result of Barack Obama’s presidential nomination, there’s a puzzling quote from the leader of one of the hate groups: “I haven’t seen this much anger in a long, long time,” said Billy Roper, a 36-year-old who runs a group called White
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The strange Obama financing debate
It’s amusing to me that the defense of Barack Obama’s decision to refuse public funding centers on the idea that no one will have leverage over him because he has so many small donors. It exposes the essential silliness of campaign finance reform rhetoric. Consider the opposite case. Even if all his donors were maxing
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MoveOn promotes McCain “100 years” myth
MoveOn.org is running an ad that reinforces the myth that John McCain wants to continue the Iraq war for 100 years: Hi, John McCain; this is Alex. He’s my first. So far, his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog — that, and making my heart pound every time I look
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David Leonhardt’s questions for McCain
New York Times business reporter/columnist David Leonhardt has three questions for John McCain about his tax plan, which is disturbingly reminiscent of George W. Bush’s 2000 tax proposal in its use of gimmicks and its failure to add up: A week before Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary… John McCain traveled to Pittsburgh to remind everyone how different
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McCain’s Obama/Ahmadinejad ad
John McCain is currently running a banner ad online that puts a picture of Barack Obama and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad side by side (screenshot of it on my site): I’m not one of those people who demands that negative ads can’t ever use pictures of hated foreigners like Osama bin Laden, but doesn’t this
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Orrin Hatch warns of “Democratic tsunami”
How bad are things for the GOP? In a fundraising letter to the National Republican Senatorial Committee email list, Senator Orrin Hatch warns that “the coming Democratic tsunami” could lead to a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate (PDF): For all of us, there comes a time when the choices are so stark, the risks
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Does Obama’s health care plan save money?
Last week, I questioned Barack Obama’s statement that “over the long term we will save money” under his health care plan, which suggests that the plan actually decreases government health spending in the long term. This is not true. However, estimates for Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker’s health care plan, which is similar to Obama’s
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Fred Hiatt revives “Bush lied” debate
Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt has returned us to the morass of the tiresome debate about whether President Bush lied about the war in Iraq — the same one that bogged down Jon Stewart’s interview with Scott McClellan. Hiatt quotes a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report saying “the administration repeatedly presented intelligence
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Will Lieberman lose his chairmanship?
Last month, I argued that Democrats will end up deciding not to strip Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship in the next Congress for fear of causing him to switch parties. But based on Lieberman’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric, Josh Marshall is suggesting in a post and video that the Connecticut independent will be stripped of his
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Do people really know John McCain?
TNR’s Noam Scheiber flags an interesting quote from Obama strategist David Axelrod: “Even though Senator McCain has been on the scene for three decades, there are a lot of people who don’t know a lot about him — and there are a lot of people who don’t know about us,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s