Or rather, if a presidential candidate, or this case spouse, holds an event without press, did it happen? It’s bad enough being late – like the two hours late Edwards usually ran – but somehow it’s even worse being early. People who show up on time are disappointed to have missed the event. And press have no video, no sound and …
In the ArenaUncategorized
McCain’s Savannah Press Conference
Savannah, Ga.
At a press conference here, I just asked John McCain about why he keeps talking about Obama’s alleged willingness to talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has no power over Iranian foreign policy, rather than Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who does. He said that Ahmadinejad is the guy who represents Iran in international forums …
McCain and Money Potpourri
Money is a dominant theme in much of today’s coverage of John McCain’s campaign. First, there’s the continuing storyline about staffers and advisers to the McCain campaign having to resign because of their ties to lobbying firms or outside political groups. The latest casualty, deemed the biggest story of the morning by the Washington …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Stop Lying About My Record
…as Bob Dole once said to George H.W. Bush, memorably, before getting whipped in the 1988 New Hampshire primary.
Relevance? Oh, sorry: It seems the only way the neoconservatives are able to attack Barack Obama’s foreign policy proposals is to exaggerate and misrepresent them.
The evidence? On Friday, I promised to check into whether …
Tit for Tat
• “The mag’s publisher Carey Exton says he thinks many tattooed people are for Clinton because she ‘tells it like it is.'” [Philly]
• “In the seemingly counterfactual, hateful sentence ‘Obama IS a muslim and he IS a racist and this is a fulfillment of the 911 threat that was just the beginning,’ the slashless ‘911’ isn’t a reference
…
FEC Fixed
The Republican nominee to the FEC that brought on stonewalling from both parties, Hans von Spakovsky, has withdrawn his name from consideration. His departure from the list of nominees (Republicans had been holding out for a single up or down vote on all the new members, Obama and Feingold both put a “hold” on von Spakovsky’s …
Shorter George Packer
The 2008 cycle is America’s first post-60s election. (Post-division, post-Nixon, post-McGovern, post-Southern Strategy, post-Vietnam… It’s hopeful diagnosis but a considered one.)
Flailing Clinton Camp Discovers Use for Sarcasm
I thought this was particularly subtle: “Declaring mission accomplished does not make it so.”
And, for what it’s worth, Obama insists that tomorrow night’s speech is not declaration of victory. With emails like this floating around, the work is sort of done for him.
To: Interested Parties
From: Howard Wolfson, Communications
…
In the ArenaUncategorized
Weekend Book Club
Karen’s mention of Connie Schultz below reminds me that I’ve been meaning to recommend Schultz’s book, …And His Lovely Wife, which is her account of her husband Sherrod Brown’s successful campaign for the Senate in 2006. It’s just a delight, funny and insightful, offering a glimpse of how difficult it is to be a politician and a human …
If Not Her…
I’m just back from what turned out to be a fascinating symposium at the National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio. It was supposed to be a look at the influence that spouses have had on presidential campaigns, but not surprisingly, it turned into a far more up-to-date discussion of a First Lady who ran for President in her own …
Concerns for Teddy Kennedy
A story today on Kennedy. We hope he recovers.
Bush Launches the General Election
However unwittingly. A wrap up of the week’s appeasement drama for your weekend enjoyment.
In the ArenaUncategorized
It Gets Worse
John McCain’s campaign is now accusing Jamie Rubin of lying about McCain’s position on dealing with Hamas. Fascinating. And I suppose Rubin was manipulating McCain’s mouth when, at Davos in 2006, the Arizona Senator said that we would have to “deal with” the new Hamas government, “one way or another.” I mean, it’s there on tape.
Now, …