One of the more frustrating things about mainstream media coverage of this year's Presidential primaries has been their short attention span and preference for the low-calorie sensational stories over the meatier issues of the day. ie: Samantha Power calling Hillary Clinton a "monster" (a comment which, taken in context, is hard to argue to with) is somehow more … Continue reading Bill Maher does journalists’ job for them
Tag: Obama
Know Hope
April 22nd is a long way off and my nerves are a little bit frayed right now so I'm going to step away from politics for a while here on the blog and focus on some other stuff (see below). For a final bit of perspective on the meaning of last night's results, I cede the floor to the inimitable Andrew Sullivan: … Continue reading Know Hope
Primary Predictions: Prepared for the Worst
I'm fully prepared for the highly likely possibility that Clinton wins both OH and TX tonight, albeit narrowly, and if so, will rightfully declare that her campaign will continue through Pennsylvania's 4/22 primary. The "comeback kid" spin will be dizzying, again, for the next 24 hours, despite the reality being that she won't actually have managed to put much of a dent in the overall … Continue reading Primary Predictions: Prepared for the Worst
About that 3am phone call
It’s 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House, and it’s ringing. The mother of one of the nearly 4,000 soldiers who have died fighting in Iraq is on the other end of the line. Who do you want to answer that call?
Scorched Earth Politics
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou4JnWQsxKw] Because in the end, it's all about getting a Democrat Clinton back in the White House, right? I'm not terribly confident that this thing is going to end tomorrow night, but I'm more and more confident that the Democrats are going to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet … Continue reading Scorched Earth Politics
Clinton Endorses Obama
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZW0m2nWB_M] Obama needs to work this into every one of his speeches between now and Tuesday! A Keith Olbermann flashback offers some background: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BB4Vvgn_4k] Crazy that this was only two months ago! Feels like forever...
The War in Iraq Summed Up
In last night's debate, Obama put it this way: "The question is who's making the decision initially to drive the bus into the ditch. The fact is that Senator Clinton often says that she is ready on day one, but in fact she was ready to give in to George Bush on day one on … Continue reading The War in Iraq Summed Up
About the Farrakhan moment
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=nJkU1e-_r3w] The lowlight of tonight's debate was, without question I think, when Tim Russert referenced Louis Farrakhan's "endorsement" of Barack Obama this past weekend, asking if he accepted his support, and after Obama clearly and completely denounced Farrakhan's past statements about Jews and Judaism as "unacceptable and reprehensible" and defended his own record on Jewish issues and U.S.-Israel relations, … Continue reading About the Farrakhan moment
Not just empty words, not just false hope
Not all Obama supporters are being driven solely by emotion and recent articles about the "cult-like" aura surrounding his campaign seem to suggest there's a not-unexpected backlash brewing in the media. The most overt instance of this was probably the FOX News stunt with one of Frank Luntz' post-debate "focus groups" where several Obama supporters were asked to name … Continue reading Not just empty words, not just false hope
Latino politics follow-up
There's been some interesting comments so far in Friday's "When politics gets personal for Latinos" post, including the one point the media often overlooks, that Latinos are not some monolothic entity that can be stereotyped in one particular way. Today, I came across a couple more interesting nuggets, one that digs a little deeper into Clinton and Obama's support within the Latino community … Continue reading Latino politics follow-up