Kevin Drum is moving to MoJo, Steven Benen is moving to the Washington Monthly.
I will probably remember to fix my links to them sometime in 2010.
by John Cole| 16 Comments
This post is in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
Kevin Drum is moving to MoJo, Steven Benen is moving to the Washington Monthly.
I will probably remember to fix my links to them sometime in 2010.
by John Cole| 50 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Republican Stupidity, I Read These Morons So You Don't Have To
David Freddoso, one of the minions at K-Lo’s House of Crazy, dedicates an entire piece in the WSJ to this:
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Obama’s petition challengers reported to him nightly on their progress as they disqualified his opponents’ signatures on various technical grounds — all legitimate from the perspective of law. One local newspaper, Chicago Weekend, reported that “[s]ome of the problems include printing registered voters name [sic] instead of writing, a female voter got married after she registered to vote and signed her maiden name, registered voters signed the petitions but don’t live in the 13th district.”
One of the candidates would speculate that his signature-gatherers, working at a per-signature pay rate, may have cheated him by signing many of the petitions themselves, making them easy to disqualify.
In the end, Mr. Obama disqualified all four opponents — including the incumbent state senator, Alice Palmer, and three minor candidates. Ms. Palmer, a former ally of Mr. Obama, had gathered 1,580 signatures, more than twice the 757 required to appear on the ballot. A minor, perennial candidate had gathered 1,899 signatures, suggesting the Obama team invested much time working even against him.
The act of throwing an incumbent off the ballot in such a fashion does not fit neatly into the narrative of a public-spirited reformer who seeks to make people less cynical about politics.
Not only have we heard this story over and over an over again, does anyone else find it amusing that law and order Republicans completely get their knickers in a twist because…. Barack Obama followed election laws? I mean, I understand the GOP has become a lawless party of criminals and reprobates, but I didn’t know they were openly advocating NOT following laws.
At any rate, Mr. Freddoso, after watching you and your cohort tongue-bathe the current administration’s perenially lawless and criminal behavior, you might be surprised to find folks getting less than worked up about a candidate who, as you say in your title, played by the rules. It would be a refreshing change.
OBAMA FOLLOWED THE RULES- DO YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR THAT?Post + Comments (50)
by John Cole| 16 Comments
This post is in: Media, General Stupidity
by John Cole| 74 Comments
This post is in: Media
I kinda like Dan Abrams, for whatever reason, and wish she was replacing David Gregory, but this is definitely good news on the talk show front:
Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election, MSNBC is shaking up its prime-time programming lineup, removing the long-time host –- and one-time general manager of the network — Dan Abrams from his 9 p.m. program and replacing him with Rachel Maddow, who has emerged as a favored political commentator for the all-news cable channel.
The moves, which were confirmed by MSNBC executives Tuesday, are expected to be finalized by Wednesday, with Mr. Abrams’s last program on Thursday. After MSNBC’s extensive coverage of the two political conventions during the next two weeks, Ms. Maddow will begin her program on Sept. 8.
Good for her. She has earned it.
by John Cole| 58 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Republican Stupidity
Michael Goldfarb is at it again, once again trotting out another veteran turned GOP hatchet man to prove to us that someone, somewhere, did in fact draw a cross in the dirt. This time, it is Swift Vet Bud Day:
After a brief conversation with Col. Bud Day, I can confirm that Col. Day is most likely the toughest man alive in addition to being the most decorated Air Force veteran in history. Some of the details Day shared with the McCain Report are too gory to reproduce here, but he did confirm that “not long after we all got back together [in the camp],” McCain told him the story of the prison guard who drew a cross in the dirt one Christmas.
You will remember Bud Day as the guy who appeared in the Swift Vet ads but who conservatives insist is not to be referred to as a Swift Vet- just bad timing on his part ending up in the same AO as the filming of that commercial. Funny, that, especially since he seems to not shy away from their core message, either. He most recently was trotted out to attack the service and credentials of Wes Clark.
Goldfarb must have unleashed some nerd fury yesterday, because D&D fans were not slighted in this venture. On the other hand, Goldfarb most assuredly was sporting his Star Spangled underoos when writing today’s post, because we get a link to Day’s Medal of Honor write-up. Why is that relevant?
Shut up, that is why!
On a serious note, I am laughing that it was, of all places, the Free Republic where this silliness started. The bonus funny is that Goldfarb seems to have co-opted McCain’s online election effort to continue his on-again off-again feud with Andrew Sullivan. The only thing that has changed, really, is that Goldfarb has moved his portion of the fight from the pages of the Weekly Standard to the McCain campaign blog. That, my friends, is change you can believe in.
Another Day, Another Swift Vet (WILL AUGUST NEVER END?)Post + Comments (58)
by John Cole| 71 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Mainstream Media's McCain Mancrush
He is just an innocent victim of the media, bloggers, and the conservative establishment:
Brooks is a conservative who admires McCain, so I suppose even this level of criticism is sort of admirable. Still, the passive-voice construction of the entire column really grates. Bloggers are somehow responsible for McCain running juvenile ads comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears? A bored press is responsible for McCain claiming that Obama puts personal interest ahead of country? The conservative establishment prevented McCain from calling out Jerome Corsi’s book for the vile trash that it is? The system forced McCain to hire one of Karl Rove’s disciples as his campaign manager?
Enough. Just enough. There are plenty of ways of getting attention, and McCain made his own choices. No one forced them on him, not the system, not bloggers, not the press. If McCain is running a campaign based on personal destruction, he’s doing it because that’s the choice he made. Less passive voice, please.
And don’t you dare wonder why we should vote to give this guy control of the country when he can’t even control the direction of his campaign.
Why? Shut up, that is why! Don’t question his patriotism! You know he was a POW, dontcha!
by John Cole| 34 Comments
This post is in: Humorous