Month: July 2008
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Nexis searching for liberal tendencies
From Dan Drezner via Kevin Drum, here is the Nexis search used by the Justice Department’s Monica Goodling to vet potential Bush administration appointees (see page 20-21 of the DOJ report [PDF]): [first name of a candidate] and pre/2 [last name of a candidate] w/7 bush or gore or republican! or democrat! or charg! or
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NYT/WP vs. Social Security facts
Two of our nation’s best newspapers apparently can’t find reporters who understand Social Security and/or have the courage to state the facts without faux “objective” hedging. Michael Powell and Susan Saulny in the New York Times (7/28): Mr. McCain also touched on domestic policy, saying he would not rule out tax increases in discussing Social
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John McCain’s silly analysis of oil prices
Via TNR’s Chris Orr, John McCain made this fantastical claim about President Bush’s influence on the price of crude oil: “In case you missed it, soon as the President announced that we were going to end the moratorium on offshore drilling the price of a barrel of oil went down $10,” the presumptive Republican nominee
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Warren Ballentine smears McCain as a racist
The New York Times quotes radio talk show host Warren Ballentine smearing John McCain as a racist who privately complains about having to speak to “Negroes”: Warren Ballentine, one of black talk radio’s new stars, was on a tear against Senator John McCain as he broadcast from the Greenbriar Mall here last week, blithely dismissing
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Is Obama vetting Tim Kaine’s eyebrow?
Via Drudge, the Washington Post and Politico are suggesting that Virginia governor Tim Kaine is high on Barack Obama’s vice presidential shortlist. Substantively, I don’t have strong feelings about Kaine either way at this point. But on a more practical level, did Obama and his vetters watch Kaine’s State of the Union rebuttal back in
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McCain raises Obama’s lack of service
ABC’s Jake Tapper reports that John McCain is questioning Barack Obama’s judgment because he didn’t serve in the military: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Monday hit Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, not for only being, in his view, wrong on the surge of troops in Iraq, but also for not having served in the military. Arguing that
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The myth of Bush spending growth
Ross Douthat and Sadly, No! catch elite conservative economists making misleading suggestions that pork barrel spending has grown dramatically under President Bush. But this is a myth, as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (among others) points out (via Yglesias). Funding for domestic discretionary programs has actually “shrunk both as a share of the
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How not to fact-check political ads
More straight talk from John McCain: NARRATOR: Gas prices. $4, $5, no end in sight. Because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump? (chant) Obama, Obama. One man knows we must now drill more in
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John McCain’s “Country first” ad
John McCain has occasionally denounced the various smears and rumors about Barack Obama’s patriotism and allegiance to this country, but his new ad will only serve to reinforce them: NARRATOR: Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. He hasn’t been to Iraq in years, he voted against funding our troops — positions
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Quoting emails from “John McCain”
Isn’t the New York Times really stretching it by attributing an email message to John McCain today? “I returned to the Senate with greater influence than before I ran, and I used that influence to work with senators on both sides of the aisle,” Mr. McCain said in an e-mail message. “I don’t believe in