According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don’t care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace — in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough’s show — the American people will learn all they need to know (and all [...]

From a Reason Magazine interview with Bill Scannell, an Alaskan political activist who helped kill off CAPPS II: Q: I was just talking to someone who claimed to have knowledge of Alaska to some degree, and they say where Sarah Palin comes from it’s the equivalent of Humboldt or Chico in California, like, of course, [...]

• “BOLTON: Who’s he dating?” [Panopticist] • “What reporters do, as Sullivan surely knows, is ask important questions and address rumors by reporting, and only bringing them to readers’ attention upon confirmation.” [Reason] • “I was completely underwhelmed. She was a Republican novelty act with a sophomoric script. It was not even a speech I [...]

Slowly, slowly, I am recovering from the extremely effective bilge festival staged by the Republicans last night. And while there is much to discuss, there was one item, in particular, that has to be considered infuriating: the attack on Barack Obama’s service as a community organizer by the odious Rudy Giuliani–he’s come to look like [...]

This week’s column, about the vice presidential selections and what they say about the candidates. Review of Curtis Sittenfeld’s excellent new political novel, American Wife.

I’ve done a couple of radio interviews this morning with Michael Carey, a columnist with the Anchorage Daily News. He says the speech Sarah Palin gave last night was no surprise to those who have covered her, except for one thing. Here’s how Carey put it in his blog: Her jabs at the Democrats, specifically [...]

I think you’ll notice a specific point at which the number of people willing to bet that Palin would be pulled dropped precipitously…

Scott Lilly, former top staffer of the House Appropriations Committee, puts her record on earmarks in this context: Fiscal year 2008 was the first year for which there was a complete listing of all earmarks contained in all appropriation bills. That information was loaded into several databases, including the one developed by Taxpayers for Common [...]