May 16, 2008
Is John McCain Bush's Poodle? (Brent Budowsky)
John McCain is a much better man than the low-road campaign he pursues when the worst president in history, George W. Bush, launches a low-road attack on Barack Obama from abroad and John McCain is reduced to saying: Me too.
If Tony Blair was called Bush's poodle, John McCain now aspires to that mantle by giving total support when George Bush does what no other president has ever done, attack a domestic opponent while abroad.
McCain cannot have it both ways, giving a speech claiming he will work with Democrats, then within minutes parroting Bush's low-road attack. McCain apparently forgot his own position about talking to Hamas, which Obama does not support, putting Obama to the right of McCain on Hamas, while Bush and McCain slander Obama with the latest cheap shot. > Read More
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What's This His for the Taking (A.B. Stoddard)
The 41-point whooping Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama in West Virginia has clearly done little for her, particularly after Obama stole her show the next night with the John Edwards endorsement. But boy, is John McCain happy.
The win upon wins — often with a staggering 70 percent or more in rural areas — Clinton has managed in blue-collar, white America has drawn a precise map for McCain through swing states he needs to win in November. These voters usually pick person over party. They voted for Ronald Reagan, for Bill Clinton, and for George W. Bush. This year they want to hear about the economy and healthcare, and McCain should polish up on these top issues to woo them.
As I described in my column this week, these voters have trouble listening to Obama. It could be racism, patriotism or a fundamental culture clash. Likely it is a combination of the three. No matter, it is McCain's gift to run with or squander. It's time for him to travel every pocket of Appalachia and cement his standing early with these voters. He won't have to down shots or talk tough, because he is. Many of these people will come back to Obama, but many of them won't and are McCain's for the taking. > Read More
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What's This The War Inside America (John Feehery)
The New York Times had an interesting story on the front page today called “Immigration and Gang Violence Propel Crusade,” about the bubbling war between African-American gangs and Mexican gangs in Los Angeles. Apparently, members of the African-American community are asking the police to start checking on the immigration status of suspected Mexican gang members.
According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center report, “Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations control the transportation and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in every area of the country except the Northeast; their influence is increasing. Their established overland transportation routes and entrenched distribution networks enable them to supply primary and secondary drug markets throughout these regions. They have gained a greater share of the drug market by forcing African American street gangs out of midlevel drug distribution and relegating them to lower-level retail distribution.” > Read More
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What's This Obama Goes for a Michigan and Florida-Proof Majority (Dick Morris)
For months, everyone who follows the Democratic presidential nominating contest has focused on 2,025 delegates, the total needed to win the nomination if you do not count the delegates from Florida or Michigan.
Now, in her West Virginia victory speech, Hillary is floating an alternative number — 2,209 — the number of votes to secure a majority with both of these states fully counted. But there is a third number for which Obama must now strive — 2,075 — the number of delegates he needs to win to assure that even if Florida and Michigan were fully counted, he would still have a majority at the convention. > Read More
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What's This May 15, 2008
Edwards Catches the Late Train (Dick Morris)
It took John Edwards four months to make up his mind to belatedly endorse Obama for president.
His backing, now, is really an effort to play catch-up and to avoid being consigned to irrelevance should Obama win the election. But the process that led Edwards to act is emblematic of that which will assure Obama of sufficient delegates to win the nomination.
No longer is it a question of whether to endorse Obama or Hillary. Now the professional politicians who are the uncommitted superdelegates have to rush to get seats on the late train for Obama before it leaves the station. > Read More
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What's This Black Men Can Wait (Armstrong Williams)
Just one year ago, pundits like myself were speculating about how in the world Republicans would be able to cope with the racial subtexts that haunt them every presidential election cycle — that awkwardness of appealing to minority voters and visiting NAACP candidate forums, the mass exodus of Latinos from the party due to failed immigration policies; the list went on … Yet here we stand, not ruminating about McCain being "too white" for this color-wheel country, but wondering instead if Barack can get past the argument that black preachers in black churches say the darnedest things.
I have to believe that the Obama campaign longs for the days where they could play the race card on their opponents, or, better still, rise above the veiled innuendo and make Bill Clinton look foolish in the process. But those days are gone, and identity politics are back in full effect. > Read More
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What's This A Not-Quite-Ringing Endorsement (A.B. Stoddard)
Barack Obama's orchestration of an endorsement by John Edwards — timed to knock Hillary Clinton's interviews off of several network newscasts — was a political smackdown for the record books. Not only did it change the subject from his 41-point loss in West Virginia, but it said what it needed to: This is my party, I call the shots, and this is over.
But the endorsement from Edwards, so long awaited it is practically past the sell-by date, was a semi-deflated event. Edwards came alone, without his wife, who is reportedly now behind Hillary Clinton because of her healthcare plan. In addition, Edwards insisted on complimenting Clinton in his first remarks, to the sound of booing from the surprised crowd of 12,000 that had spent hours assembling in a stadium and had heard nothing of a coming Edwards endorsement. Upon hearing their loud boos, Edwards awkwardly tried to press on over the sound while Obama began flailing his arms to quiet the crowd's disapproval, as if swatting flies. The most poignant part about this shout-out to Hillary was how genuine it was; it is clear Edwards is far more torn than enthusiastic about endorsing Obama. > Read More
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What's This Obama, Edwards and the Disappearing Hillary (Bob Franken)
If we didn't realize it before, now we know that Barack Obama is a magician. Or at least, he knows how to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
The rabbit, of course, is John Edwards. Although I'm sure he won't appreciate the imagery, Edwards chose Wednesday as the day he hippity-hopped to Obama's side in Michigan to deliver his long-awaited endorsement.
What a coincidence! The announcement was perfectly timed to steal the headlines and newscasts away from Hillary Clinton and the embarrassment she caused Obama by clobbering him the day before in West Virginia.
Suddenly, in the fickle news world, "Almost Heaven" became almost nothing. The reaction to Clinton’s sentimental media victory lap was "Not so fast, Hillary." > Read More
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What's This George Bush Demeans the Presidency, Attacks Obama in Israel (Brent Budowsky)
To understand why the American military is facing such extreme challenges, why our security has been so gravely endangered by failed policies, and why the Republican Party faces a catastrophe in congressional elections, look no further than George Bush taking the low road addressing Israelis.
It is astounding and possibly unprecedented for an American president to make partisan cheap-shot attacks on a domestic opponent while in a foreign land. Only George Bush is so unwise, so partisan, and so low-road to do what Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Bush 41 and Bill Clinton have never done. > Read More
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What's This May 14, 2008
What Was Fox Thinking? … AGAIN (Peter Fenn)
As I sat over at XM’s POTUS channel going over the election results last night, I couldn’t help but stare at the bank of television sets.
There was CNN, carrying Hillary Clinton’s West Virginia speech live … and MSNBC and C-SPAN doing the same. From start to finish, the cable channels were all tuned in to her speech.
And what about Fox? Funny — the “UnFair and Out-of-Balance” channel was the only one not to carry audio of the Clinton speech. The “We Distort, You Decide” network was content with Dick Morris doing the talking, with a visual of Clinton giving her speech. Maybe he was channeling her … what do you think? > Read More
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