Not endorsing the sentiments, but you just have admire the sheer brilliance of an ad that has Hillary Clinton supporting $1 million of pork-barrel funding to commemorate Woodstock–and thereby planting her firmly on one side of the cultural revolution–while John McCain was “tied up” as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Leave aside the fact [...]

This from the Wall Street Journal’s Jackie Calmes: Hillary Clinton’s campaign will close down Washington’s Union Station for all but the trains to hold a major fund-raiser there Dec. 6 — a month before the first and most-anticipated presidential-nominating vote in Iowa. The location is no accident, says a lobbyist who’s among the planners (though [...]

My first love was music. My primary literary influences for the first decade of my writing life were Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus (who I’ve come to be irritated by but whatevs), and Richard Hell. I wish it showed. Anyway, it was a delicious little thrill to read today about Mac McCaughan (founder/lead singer for Superchunk [...]

An especially brief ‘Cast today; you’ll understand when you see my hair. The ad I discuss here:

It’s long been my belief that the GOP hole card in 2008 is going to be a rancid furriner-bashing anti-illegal-immigrant smear campaign. Make no mistake, whatever lipstick they put on this pig, the bottom line is the same old know-nothing nativism that has been a minor American stain since the Protestants began to get worried [...]

This is a setback for the Dems, as he was their best prospect to win the Nebraska Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel. UPDATE: Commenter Sy asks: WHO was pushing for Kerrey to run? Among others, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer, who was putting on pretty much of a full-court press. Nebraska [...]

Basic rule of Congress-watching: If they’ve passed something, it’s either meaningless, stupidly symbolic or crass porkification. Today’s edition.

There they go again. An AP story that ran on A10 of the Washington Post this morning quotes two unnamed sources as saying the White House “significantly edited” the testimony of Centers for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding to delete references to the effects of climate change on the spread of disease: A CDC official [...]

The most stirring compliment Michael Cooper dug up for this profile of the McCain campaign manager that took over from ousted Terry Nerlson is this: “Mr. Davis deserved credit for keeping the operation afloat.” That is probably a lot harder than it sounds. Indeed, McCain has collected a string of coups, from minor to middling, [...]