Decision 2008
Quagmire reality check
In the midst of the Obama-McCain sparring over Iraq this past week, George Packer provides a useful reminder: “The Shiite-led government has been trying to get American forces out of the way for at least two years.” Maliki’s endorsement of the Obama timetable is not some bolt from the blue, and it has everything to do with Iraq’s internal politics,
Greenwald misreads Obama
Some very smart liberal bloggers are up in arms about Obama’s perceived move to the center — perhaps with some justification, although Glenn Greenwald’s beef with the Obama patriotism speech borders on dishonest: [Obama] defended his own patriotism by impugning the patriotism of others, specifically those in what he described as the “the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties” for “attacking
“Boo hoo”
That is the published view of Michael Goldfarb, John McCain’s new Deputy Communications Director, on the matter of torture techniques once practiced by the Khmer Rouge and the Soviet secret police. Another example of torture-opponent McCain’s lack of principle. By the way, it’s time to pull the mask off McCain’s “I was wrong” routine — his apology for backsliding on the
Point-counterpoint on “naïve”
It’s frustrating to see liberal hawk Oliver Kamm recite John McCain’s talking points on Obama’s supposed foreign policy naïvete. The argument, as we know, centers around Obama’s assertion during the July 2007 YouTube debate that he’d be willing to meet with hostile foreign leaders. Yes, this was an answer that I criticized myself. I still think it was hasty and
“America, this is our moment”
I endorsed Barack Obama in July 2007, and it has come to pass. Between now and November, this blog will devote as much energy as possible to the election of Obama, a man of true intellectual substance and democratic temperament, as President of the United States. For now, however, I’m speechless. Forward into battle.
More on Florida, Michigan…
I’d been wondering: Why this Florida-Michigan fiasco in the first place? Is the DNC powerless to enforce its own voting schedule? No, it’s not like that, as Marc Cooper explains: Who’s kidding who? The original DNC decision to authorize only four states to vote early was a blatant act of pandering to Iowa, NH, Nevada and South Carolina. The leap-frogging
“An inadequate black man”
Get a load of footage of some of yesterday’s pro-Hillary protesters, unashamedly declaring support for John McCain if Obama secures the nomination. Here, here and here. One of them, Harriet Christian of Manhattan, describes Obama as “an inadequate black man,” and in fairness, it’s clear from the clip that she’s mentally unstable. As for the rest, we’ll have to see
Post-Hagee post
I’m late to the party on this, but in the wake of the John Hagee “Hitler was a hunter” flap, McCain and his supporters are relying on the argument that Hagee, ahem, wasn’t McCain’s pastor for 20 years — i.e., Obama’s association with Reverend Wright is worse. Garbage: It’s exactly the reverse. Obama, who knew Rev. Wright not just as