I had meant to edit this down for another podcast, and still hope to, but, for now… the raw file. McCain call (Quicktime)
More Metrics
McCain has spoken about other metrics, btw. I’m trying to find my audio from last November, when we had an especially spirited discussion about, as I recall, such things as quality of life as measured by admittedly subjective standards such as the percentage of “safe” and “liveable” neighborhoods (i.e., not just places that are basically …
Re: Obama Pounces on McCain’s Iraq Metric, So Let’s Talk Metrics
Because you can make anything about process: the back and forth between the campaigns was also remarkable for the sheer speed with which it happened. It was like following a conversation — a not very friendly one — in real time. It’s obvious that the Obama camp would want to hammer McCain on Iraq, what’s less clear is why McCain would …
Obama Pounces on McCain’s Iraq Metric, So Let’s Talk Metrics
Ahh, the glories of a general election. For months, McCain has been arguing on a weekly, if not daily basis, that the most important X Factor in Iraq is not time (as in, how long do we stay) but casualties (as in, how many Americans are getting hurt).
So McCain went on the Today Show this morning and said what he has said probably …
Johnson Steps Aside
The Obama campaign just put out this statement:
“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept. We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of
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In the ArenaUncategorized
General Jones
The estimable Noam Scheiber has done some research on the estimable General James Jones, recently mentioned as a potential running mate for Barack Obama…although Jonathan Martin disagrees. But I suspect that Jones will wind up with a major role in either a McCain or Obama administration, possibly as national security advisor.
Obama’s 50-State Investment
My story today on Obama’s 50-state strategy.
Obama’s Awesomely Sucky Blog, McCain’s Awesome but Doomed One
A counter-intuitive take on the online outreach efforts by the campaigns:
If there’s one phrase to describe Obama’s blog–and, in fact, his entire Internet operation–it’s “a means to an end”; Obama may benefit from unprecedented online enthusiasm–four to eight million email addresses, 1.5 million donors, 800,000 registered users of
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In the ArenaUncategorized
Progress in Iraq…and What To Do About It
Fred and Kimberly Kagan have been such persistent Pollyannas about progress–they would call it “success”–in Iraq that it is easy to dismiss their latest offering as more of the same. But that would be a mistake. To be sure, the Kagans still overblow the political progress made by the Maliki government and oversimplify the intraShi’ite …
Bush: Regrets, He’s Had A Few
And he airs some of them in an interview with The Times of London that produced this story:
President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a “guy really anxious for war” in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for
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Speaking of the Google
Might be a good time to mention that I’m a speaker at this year’s Personal Democracy Forum. It’s my first time, so I’m not really sure what to expert but the line up is incredible: Arianna, Josh, Craig Newmark, Elizabeth Edwards, Lessig, and the granddaddy of it all, Vint Cerf. I was just talking to one of the forum’s organizers and we …
McCain Plays Defense
As a rule, political candidates have more success when they’re telling people what they’re for and who they are — rather than defensively explaining what, and who, they are not. Which is why you might have found the first two national salvos of the general election from the McCain campaign a bit puzzling. First, in his general election …
Blogging in Tongues
A group of Ohio bloggers has organized an ingenious protest against a House-passed bill that would require state agencies to use only English. (A goofy and pointless piece of legislation, considering they already pretty much do.) You can read about it at Jill Miller Zimon’s Writes Like She Talks.