On tonight’s Late Show, Dave Letterman asks Barack Obama about the issue of race in the current political climate.
“First of all I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” says the president, to laughs.
Letterman’s comeback is quick. “How long have you been a black man?”
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Today’s Bob Woodward scoop regarding General Stanley McChrystal’s report about the status of the war in Afghanistan is both unsurprising and provocative. McChrystal’s assessment was about as expected. As I reported last week, McChrystal was bequeathed a flawed battle plan by his predecessor David McKiernan–too much chasing after bad …
Not really. Or, even less than it usually means to win an unscientific poll of an incredibly small and relatively unrepresentative group of people. Yes, Mike Huckabee won the Values Voters Summit straw poll this weekend with 28% of the vote. But then again, he’s been the frontrunner for Preferred Candidate of Religious Conservatives in …
New York Governor David Paterson insists he’s staying in the race. Meanwhile, Obama travels to an event in upstate New York tomorrow where both Paterson and Andrew Cuomo are also scheduled to appear. That’s the political equivalent of Jennifer Aniston running into Brad and Angelina right after the break-up. Something tells me Paterson …
From TIME’s Sophia Yan, on-site at the Values Voters Summit:
FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly spoke here on Friday evening, but at the last minute he barred press from the ballroom where he delivered his remarks. Family Research Council media relations staff were left to apologize to the media, including the FOX crew covering the Summit–they
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Has Obama asked beleaguered and unpopular NY Governor David Paterson to drop out of the race to keep his seat? That’s what the New York Times is reporting. If true, this is fairly extraordinary. It’s highly unusual for a president to step in and tell a governor who is not facing something like a crippling scandal or imminent indictment …
Paul Slansky again offers us his weekly summary of what grabbed his attention: Newt Gingrich’s PAC chose a pornographer as its Enterpreneur of the Year, Rush Limbaugh is trying to incite a race war, and, five-and-a-half years later, the FCC has nothing better to do than to keep obsessing about America’s brief glimpse of Janet …
A smaller, more subdued crowd than usual showed up to the first day of the Values Voters Summit here in Washington (maybe the regulars are busy getting ready for Rosh Hashanah services?) And the roster of GOP politicians showing up to court religious conservatives seemed smaller than usual as well. Sarah Palin cancelled, surprising no …
Much mayhem at the Al Quds day festivities in Iran yesterday. The former reform President Mohammed Khatami was attacked by thugs, apparently. The former establishmentarian President Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who endorsed Mousavi in the last election, was denied his traditional position as the Quds Day speaker at Friday prayers. The …
Is it possible to be America’s Most Embarrassing Mayor even after stepping down from office? Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is making a valiant bid to retain the title. As part of his plea bargain on obstruction of justice charges stemming from a text message scandal last year, Kilpatrick agreed to pay $1 million to the city of …
The Obama Administration is about to announce that it is scrapping plans for anti-missile defense facilities in Poland and Czechoslovakia. This is likely to enrage the already apoplectic neoconservatives, who see the system not merely as an anti-Iranian measure, which is its stated intent, but as another means to put pressure on Russia. …
Not just for the trouble he is causing the White House. Not just for the odd “czar” investigations he has launched on Capital Hill. Not just for the dramatic political attack he has choreographed against ACORN. And not just because of his considerable talent. As David Von Drehle argues in the piece, Beck is a man for our moment, when …
On the strategic mistake the military has made in Afghanistan.