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June 2008 - Posts

  • Web 2.Oh No


    BHO, JSM advisers tweet-debating tech policy tonight. Useless—like Twitter. How debate with 140 char limit? http://tinyurl.com/6ypjh8 about 0 minutes ago from Trailhead Read More...
  • The Calculator


    Barack Obama’s decision yesterday not to take public financing came as a surprise to no one. But it has still earned him scorn. The New York Times editorial page, a longtime proponent of public financing, tweaked him for renouncing the system. The AP Read More...
  • Details on Larry Sinclair’s Arrest


    It’s only fitting that the most bizarre press conference of this political season had an equally bizarre coda. Larry Sinclair, the man who claims to have had a naughty encounter with Barack Obama back in 1999, stood at a podium at the National Press Club, Read More...
  • Drilling McCain on Oil


    John McCain is taking heat right now for reversing his position on the federal ban on coastal oil drilling, as if flip-flopping itself were the cardinal sin here. But the biggest problem is the notion that lifting the ban will affect gas and oil prices Read More...
  • Where Does Obama’s Public Finance Money Go?


    Now that Barack Obama has opted out of public financing for the general, it means John McCain is the only one taking cash from the public coffers. So if you checked off the $3 donation box on your tax returns—the source of national public campaign financing—your Read More...
  • Larry Sinclair and Slander


    The National Press Club has been taking some heat for allowing Larry Sinclair, the wanted, formerly incarcerated crazy person who claims to have engaged in certain deviant behaviors with Barack Obama, to hold a press conference in its Washington, D.C., Read More...
  • Obama's Perfect Slogan


    Barack Obama has always acted suspicious of his own popularity, as though he suspects that the ability to inspire adolescent worship is not, shall we say, presidential. He has a special word for the way he feels about himself when he sees thousands of Read More...
  • The Mystery of John McCain’s “Bottled Hot Water”


    Last week, John McCain made a comment that still has everyone scratching their heads. During his speech in New Orleans, he described ways in which our country should prepare for natural disasters, including this one: “We should be able to deliver bottled Read More...
  • Ralph Nader's Plan To Fix the NBA and Win the Presidency


    Ralph Nader rocketed back into the spotlight Wednesday after disgraced ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy alleged that Game 6 of the 2002 Lakers-Kings series was rigged—a charge Nader (and, well, just about everyone with a pair of eyes ) has been making since it Read More...
  • Ralph and the Ref


    Yesterday, Ralph Nader had a moment of vindication. In a court filing, disgraced ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy claimed that Game 6 of the 2002 Lakers-Kings playoff series was manipulated by two of the three referees. Guess who has been saying that all along? Read More...
  • Repeat Offenders


    It wasn’t in his prepared remarks, but John McCain couldn’t resist one of his favorite economic anecdotes today. A minute into his speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses he paid his respects to Meg Whitman, his campaign co-chair and Read More...
  • Democratic Withdrawal


    In case you're still feeling a void in your heart where Hillary Clinton and the boys once lived, Slate humbly offers an eight-minute recap video of the entire Democratic race . Keep it handy; you may want to show it to your grandkids some day. Read More...
  • The Primary’s Seven Best Real-Life Campaign Metaphors


    Every four years, campaign reporters dust off the old metaphor kit. Some phrases reappear—the "horse race," the "coronation," the "salvos" and "barbs" and "verbal hand grenades" being "fired" and "traded" and "lobbed." Other riffs are specific to a particular Read More...
  • Change You Can Lift


    It’s the first full week of the general election, and John McCain is already getting shredded for plagiarism. Not copying, exactly, but framing his candidacy as a reaction to Barack Obama’s. It started Tuesday night, when McCain chose to orient his speech Read More...
  • Clinton's Classy Goodbye


    When Hillary Clinton didn’t concede to Barack Obama Tuesday night, members of the media reacted as if she had run over a puppy. MSNBC’s Russert/Matthews/Olbermann triumvirate were dumbfounded that she didn’t acknowledge that Obama had sealed up the nomination. Read More...
  • Suspending vs. Withdrawing


    Hillary Clinton will suspend her campaign Saturday. But what does it mean to “suspend” your operation rather than drop out? The question comes up every four years, and the answer remains largely the same: It lets the candidate hold on to his or her delegates. Read More...
  • Nasty Rumors: Deny or Ignore?


    It’s a perennial problem for political campaigns: How do you tamp down scurrilous rumors without appearing to dignify them? In Barack Obama’s case, the strategy has been direct and forceful denial, with some jokes mixed in. At Wednesday’s AIPAC conference, Read More...
  • Golf During Wartime


    Talking Points Memo points to a bizarre little detail on John McCain’s Web site. The front page currently promos four things: the “Decision Center,” the “General Election,” “Obama & Iraq,” and “Golf Gear.” Click on that last tab, and it takes you Read More...
  • Senioritis


    If the first day of the general election foretold anything about the rest of the contest, it’s that McCain will be struggling daily to avoid "senior moments." Yesterday, McCain had not one but two such moments. At a press conference in New Orleans, he Read More...
  • "Hillary Deathwatch" Odds: 0 Percent


    Hillary Clinton has finally announced that she will drop out —but not till Saturday. Thus Clinton departs as she campaigned, dragging it out to the last possible moment. After more than two months of daily odds-making, we sink Clinton to her final resting Read More...
  • Obama on Iran: “Evolving” or Not?


    After Obama’s speech at AIPAC this morning, ABC News noted what appeared to be new language on the subject of meetings with Iran: “But as President of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian Read More...
  • The AIPAC Factor


    Barack Obama is speaking right now before a roomful of Jewish leaders at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference, and Hillary Clinton’s up next. Clinton isn’t expected to concede today, but imagine the favor she’d be doing Obama Read More...
  • Pounds


    The presidential campaign—well, one in particular—has introduced a new greeting to the political world: the fist pound (also known as dap ). Last night, we saw perhaps the most high-profile pound of all time, as Michelle and Barack Obama bumped fists Read More...
  • Last Word on the Popular Vote (Hopefully)


    With Montana and South Dakota reporting, Clinton netted 3,000 votes tonight, according to Real Clear Politics . That hardly changes her argument that she’s winning the popular vote. You still have to count Michigan to make that case. But you might have Read More...
  • Great Moments in Election Night Commentary


    CNN's Anderson Cooper presses Donna Brazile to discuss a private conversation she had with Obama yesterday. Brazile explains why it's none of his business: Brazile: You’re not my boo. Cooper: I want to be your boo. Brazile coyly looks at her watch. Brazile: Read More...
  • A Consolation for Montana


    Poor Montana. They were so, so close to mattering. The moment South Dakota's polls closed at 9 p.m. ET, the balloons and confetti started raining on the Obama campaign as the Mount Rushmore State awarded Obama the four delegates he needed to clinch the Read More...
  • "Denver! Denver!"


    Tonight is the second time I’ve heard Clinton supporters chant, “Denver! Denver!”—the first being last Saturday outside (and inside) the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. It’s no secret that Clinton supporters are less eager to vote Read More...
  • Obama Speechwriter Replaced By Yoda


    From Obama’s victory speech: We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. Pull out all combat troops within 16 months he will. Meet with our enemies without preconditions he would. Bump fists with Read More...
  • Obama’s Stroke of Luck


    As we think back to What Went Wrong with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, it’s worth keeping in mind that whatever Barack Obama’s strengths as a candidate, however powerful his oratory, however tight his operation, he really lucked out this time. Several factors Read More...
  • The Last Endorsement?


    It's hard to know what to make of the superdelegates who are just now endorsing Clinton. Florida DNC member Jon Ausman says he's backing her in the name of party unity . But what about this one, announced just now by Team Clinton: The Clinton Campaign Read More...
  • McCain's Opening Argument: Meeting With Tyrants


    John McCain is slated to speak at 9 p.m. tonight in New Orleans, a necessary "Me too!" to make sure the Democrats don’t start the general election without him. (What Obama could do, if he really wanted to stir things up, would be to speak at 9:10, so Read More...
  • Calling Burkle and Bing!


    When we saw this New York Times headline (since changed ), we thought it could mean only one thing: Barack Obama was planning to recruit Bill Clinton buddies and all-around bad influences Ron Burkle and Steve Bing . Because if there's anything missing Read More...
  • "Hillary Deathwatch" Odds: 0.1 Percent


    Campaigning yesterday in Milbank, S.D., Bill Clinton effectively declared the race over , saying, "[T]his may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind." Clinton's advance team was told its work was done. Her schedule remains empty Read More...
  • Premature Barackulation


    n., The eagerness of media outlets to declare Barack Obama the Democratic nominee . Read more at the Encyclopedia Baracktannica . Thanks to Frayster " progressivebulldog " for coining the phrase. Read More...
  • Could Clinton Dominate in South Dakota?


    With all the "will she or won’t she" speculation about Hillary Clinton dropping out, a lot of people seem to forget that nobody knows how tonight’s elections will turn out. (This lack of interest may have something to do with the low stakes—Clinton’s Read More...
  • Dick's Joke


    Dick Cheney has a knack for almost killing people. No matter what his other accomplishments, history will remember him as the first vice president since Aaron Burr to shoot another man while in office. But now Cheney has outdone himself. Speaking about Read More...
  • Slate V: Hillary's Last Ad


    Hillary Clinton released a new TV spot on Sunday touting the 17 million people who have voted for her in the Democratic primaries. That's "more than any primary candidate in history," the narrator tells us. Well, sort of. Over at Slate V , we've got a Read More...
  • RBC: The Movie


    Saturday’s Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting had so many smack downs , cheap shots, hissy fits , and highfalutin lectures, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the episode will be turned into a Recount -style TV movie. We felt obliged to cast the inevitable Read More...
  • McCain's Divestment Dance


    Among John McCain’s proposals in his speech to AIPAC today was a “wordwide divestment campaign” against Iran. The idea has picked up steam in the past couple of years, with state governments from California to Maryland to McCain’s own state of Arizona Read More...
  • Today's "Hillary Deathwatch" Odds: 0.4 Percent


    The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hillary Clinton scored a win and a loss this weekend. She claimed a 2-to-1 victory in Puerto Rico on Sunday but netted only 24 delegates from Florida and Michigan in the decision passed down by the Read More...
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