Just in time to remind some Americans that the fight for gay rights is about much more than driving Wedge IssuesTM between political parties every election year, Sean Penn and what looks to be a promising lineup of co-stars are bringing the story of San Francisco city councilman and gay activist Harvey Milk to movie screens this fall.
There are three great moments in this short video of McCain’s acceptance speech. First, a Code Pink demonstrator interrupts McCain’s speech and gets dragged out to chants of “U.S.A.!” Then, McCain fumbles and makes an antiquated tech-related joke about static. Finally, McCain delivers his speech in front of a blue screen. Stephen Colbert, eat your heart out.
The first installment of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s interview with Bill O’Reilly aired Thursday, during which the Fox News host drove a hard line about Iran’s nuclear program and the success of the “surge” in Iraq. “Why can’t you just say, ‘I was right in the beginning and I was wrong about the surge?’ ” asked O’Reilly.
John McCain, a lobbyist and fixture of Congress for more than 30 years, nominee of the incumbent party and self-proclaimed foot soldier in the Reagan revolution, tried to convince Americans Thursday night that only he could bring real reform to that wretched place called Washington. Updated
Consider this the only gender-bias-in-the-media primer you’ll ever need, and a handy reminder to the Bill O’Reilly and Dick Morris types (not to mention Monsieur Rove) that gender bias cuts both ways—and sometimes, as Jon Stewart points out, the same people do the cutting without seeming to remember just a few short weeks later.
John McCain’s wife, Cindy, sat down with CBS News anchor Katie Couric for an interview that aired Wednesday night, pledging to Couric that the VP vetting process was indeed thorough and sounding her enthusiasm for Sarah Palin. She said she agrees with the Alaska governor about the need to teach intelligent design in the schools but disagrees that abortion should be prohibited even in cases of incest or rape.
Sarah Palin has been a one-woman soap opera the last few days, so when she strolled out onto that RNC stage Wednesday night without dragging a baby or a caribou carcass, she was already ahead of the game. Then she showed that she could handle the spotlight, casting herself as a small-town victim of the big-city media and relentlessly attacking Barack Obama.
Rudy Giuliani answered that question Wednesday with a despicable performance in front of the Republican National Convention. The former U.S. attorney said he learned as a lawyer “if you don’t have the facts, you gotta change ‘em.” Clearly, it’s a lesson he absorbed, filling his vindictive speech with distortions and cheap shots.
The hot mike phenomenon continues to yield fruit. Here Peggy Noonan and former McCain strategist Mike Murphy lament the Palin pick, while they think no one is listening. As Taegan Goddard points out, Noonan contradicts her own column with the statement, “It’s over.” Update 2: Noonan strikes back
Sen. Joe Lieberman did his best to make Sarah Palin look good on Tuesday by giving a speech at the Republican convention. Although the GOP faithful managed to keep Lieberman off what might have been one of the least charismatic tickets ever, the self-described Democrat stood by his man.
Here’s the hopeful commercial the McCain campaign recently released to introduce Sarah Palin to voters around the country, featuring a hopeful soundtrack and bittersweet reminders of a more hopeful time in the McCain presidential campaign—as in, five days ago—when Palin was really, really new to McCain too!
According to the “Democracy Now!” Web site, producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested Monday afternoon “while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention,” and host Amy Goodman was arrested for “defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.”
So what was with all of the invocations of the deity at last week’s Democratic National Convention? Stephen Colbert talks about the Dems’ public displays of piety with Lori Lippman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition for America, producing another kind of sacred text to take the Bible’s place as he swears Brown in for her “Colbert Report” testimonial.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama sat down for a “60 Minutes” interview with his vice presidential pick, Joe Biden, to talk about why he chose Biden and what he thinks about rival John McCain’s choice, Gov. Sarah Palin, for whom Obama has a couple of nice words before noting that she “subscribes to John McCain’s agenda.”
Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his running mate sent a clear and unpleasant message to the Arab world, as did the absence of former President Jimmy Carter from the lineup of speakers at the Denver convention last week.
In this week’s edition of “Left, Right and Center,” co-hosts Tony Blankley, Robert Scheer and Matt Miller weigh in about the Democratic convention in Denver, Barack Obama’s historic nomination acceptance speech, and whether John McCain made a sound decision in choosing wild-card Sarah Palin as his VP.
“Fox & Friends” co-host and international relations genius Steve Doocy filled some time before John McCain’s official VP unveiling extravaganza on Friday by suggesting that McCain’s chosen She-publican, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is actually a formidable player on the world stage because of Alaska’s proximity to Russia.
In post-Nixonian American politics, you’re nobody unless you’re associated with a scandal replete with shadowy intrigue and danger and commonly referred to in the press with the suffix -gate. Good thing John McCain’s VP pick, Sarah Palin, comes equipped with her own: Troopergate.
Although the story was corrected later, the first version of AP writer Charles Babington’s critique of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday night contained at least one technical error and other potential discrepancies that some analysts, such as MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, considered to be off-base, to put it mildly.
Maybe this isn’t precisely how George W. Bush played his cards the first time he met his wife, Laura, or maybe it is, but it’s how director Oliver Stone has recreated the mating dance of the would-be president and his future bride in this scene from Stone’s upcoming film, “W.”
During his speech to the Democratic convention, the aspiring veep praised the courage of his good friend, John McCain—right before twisting the knife in his back. It’s the vice presidential candidate’s job to go on the attack, and Joe Biden does his job well.
Bill Clinton reminded Democrats on Thursday why he’s one of the brightest stars in the political universe—and a great cheerleader to have on your side—with a rousing speech in support of Barack Obama.
Hillary Clinton brought down the Pepsi Center Tuesday night with a ringing endorsement of Barack Obama. If her supporters were waiting for her blessing to back the nominee, they got a mandate instead. Update: Olbermann and Dowd differ.
The “Shock Doctrine” author tells the Real News that while she understands why progressives are going soft on Obama, they should toughen up: “If you’ve proven that you’re a doormat, you can pretty much expect to get stomped on.”
Why Do They Hate the West So Much, We Will Ask
