Hillary Clinton missed some opportunities tonight. Her complaint at the beginning about the format of the debate seemed to fall flat. She might have done better with a brief lament about the consequences when the press goes soft on a presidential candidate by arguing, as Democrats do, that George W. Bush received far gentler handling …
In the ArenaUncategorized
The Democratic Debate
He won. He not only won by not losing, but he also won on points–and on demeanor, and on quickness, if not quite substance (although this was a fairly substantive debate on both sides). A few points:
–On health care: she’s right and he’s wrong. His implication that she would force people “who can’t afford it” to buy health insurance …
Care For a Mint With That Pillow?
Anyone wondering if tonight’s debate between Obama and Clinton would be sugar or spice you got your answer 16 minutes in: SPICE!
After a 16 minute somewhat testy but nicely substantive exchange on healthcare – Obama challenged HRC to lay out how she’d enforce her mandate and she accused him of leaving 50 million people out in the …
McCain and Lobbyists
There were contrasting columns in the nation’s leading newspapers today. In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne agrees with Clark Hoyt, the New York Times’ public editor, that the Times disastrously and unprofessionally injected unproven allegations of a sex scandal into its quad-authored story about John McCain’s ties to a telecom …
Nader Spoils for a Fight
Here‘s my Q&A with Ralph Nader today, a shortened verision of which will appear in the dead tree edition this week.
McCain Raises the Bar, Says No to the Name Game
I remember clearly the first time I heard Barack Obama’s middle name. It was November 28, 2006, and the Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers was on Hardball. “Count me down as someone who underestimates Bar-Ack Hu-Sane Oh-Bama,” said Rogers, exaggerating his southern accent for effect. “Put me down as somebody that counts him …
Edwards, What’s Taking So Long?
What is John Edwards holding out for? Attorney general? Secretary of Labor?
With each passing day the power of an Edwards endorsement is dwindling. Which begs the question: why didn’t he strike while the iron is hot? The progressive groups that endorsed him – and those whose sway he could’ve claimed if he’d endorsed earlier – …
Ickes’ Sticky Memory
At a Washington DC breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning reporters did their utmost to get Clinton senior advisor Harold Ickes to admit the campaign has failed to meet even their own goals laid out in near daily conference calls since Super Tuesday.* Ickes played the expectations game like a maestro.
One …
What McCain, Obama and Clinton Have In Common
With the end of the primaries in sight, the Great Polarization has begun. John McCain talks about Barack Obama’s “most liberal” ranking in the Senate, while Hillary Clinton and Obama describe McCain as the 100-year warrior. “We just have fundamental difference in philosophy,” McCain explained Friday in Indiana. “I’m a …
Clinton Campaign Responds: ENOUGH WITH THE FUNNY OUTFITS
Says the campaign manager: We didn’t bring this up, YOU brought this up.
Statement by Maggie Williams, Campaign Manager:
“Enough.
“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries
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BREAKING: HILLARY CAMPAIGN TOTALLY GRASPING AT STRAWS! DEVELOPING…
Hillary staffers have a serious complaint: Reporters not covering Obama’s FUNNY OUTFITS. The Obama campaign responds:
“On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this
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Huck on SNL
NYT Public Editor Slams McCain Story
And I think he gets it right:
A newspaper cannot begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did. And if a newspaper is going to suggest an
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