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By Anne Tyler
$15.94
By Susan Sontag
$16.50
$35
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The Center for Investigative Reporting has traced the origins of a mysterious attack ad that made headlines earlier in the campaign with its portrayal of Barack Obama as an anti-Christian Muslim who refuses to pledge allegiance. It turns out that the nonsense was assembled by a hypnotherapist, a wedding videographer and a felon on the run, showing “the outsize influence that a hodgepodge collection of political amateurs can have in a national election—in this case, by accident.”
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RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch —
Posted on Aug 28, 2008
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RJ Matson, Roll Call —
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By Joe Conason — As the Democrats convened in Denver to celebrate Hillary Clinton and nominate Barack Obama, a tiny minority of her supporters continued to behave petulantly. They whined, they blustered, they agitated themselves and each other. But what was it about Sen. Clinton’s repeated endorsements of her former opponent that they could not understand?
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By Ellen Goodman — Democrats have provided nearly all the drama of this campaign season, an 18-month run, a narrative with two compelling leads, a race between two people to open the door of history. A door that could only admit one at a time.
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By Marie Cocco — It is worth pausing during these orchestrated partisan celebrations to look afresh at entitlements. There is no more recent evidence of their enduring value than the latest report from the Census Bureau on the number of Americans who are doing without health insurance.
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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.
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Flickr / BohPhoto
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It’s time to drop the presumptive. Barack Obama is America’s first African-American presidential nominee from a major political party. Hillary Clinton called for Democrats to “declare together in one voice, right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president.” They agreed, and so did he, but it’s not officially official until Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday.
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Flickr / World Economic Forum, iowapolitics.com
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The Washington Post takes an in-depth look at all the petty, childish and absurd reasons Bill Clinton and Barack Obama don’t get along. Among them: Not enough “phone calls on a somewhat regular basis.” Of course this is probably one of those minor rifts that the media exaggerate for the sake of ratings. Remember how Hillary Clinton was supposed to lead a rebellion at the convention?
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dipdive.com
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Will.i.am’s viral hit will be performed live before Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech in Denver on Thursday. Other musical acts expected to perform include Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sheryl Crow and Jennifer Hudson, who will sing the national anthem. Bruce Springsteen has been rumored and un-rumored to appear, so we’ll have to wait and see. Updated.
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By Amy Goodman — Former Sen. John Edwards was supposed to speak in Denver at the Democratic National Convention, but he had an affair. Will the Democrats now forget about his signature issue?
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Flickr / Photo Mojo
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According to a one-line report on CNN, a “source close to former President Bill Clinton” has tipped off the news network that, unlike Hillary, Bill Clinton will be conspicuously absent from the crowd watching soon-to-be-official Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday.
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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.
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AP photo / John Raoux
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By Robert Scheer — Just great! Nuclear-armed Pakistan is falling apart, Iran’s nuclear program is unchecked and congressional legislation on cooperation with the Russians on controlling nuclear proliferation is now dead in the water. Horrid news except for Sen. John McCain, who thrills to a repeat of the danger lines of the Cold War, and now stands a good chance of being our next president.
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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.”
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AP photo / David J. Phillip
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While Hillary Clinton was preparing for her big speech in support of Barack Obama on Tuesday, her husband was busy throwing the presumptive nominee under the bus. Here’s what the former president had to say in Denver: “Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?”
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AP photo / Bill Ross
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By Bill Boyarsky — Although the Democratic National Convention officially started Monday, a more significant event occurred 24 hours before at a religious service held several blocks away from the main convention hall.
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Family values? Check. Revelatory personal stories? Check. Kudos to Hillary Clinton? Check and check. Michelle Obama delivered on all the important subjects she had to hit (but not too hard) in her keynote address Monday night at the Democratic National Convention—and she had a little help on tugging some heartstrings at the end.
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A possible plot to kill Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during his acceptance speech Thursday at the Democratic National Convention was foiled in Denver on Monday night when at least three suspects were arrested, authorities reported.
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By Eugene Robinson — If they want to win in November, Democrats have one task to accomplish this week: Snap out of it. Somehow, tentativeness and insecurity have infected a party that ought to be full of confident swagger.
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By Marie Cocco — If there is a political job more fraught with peril than running to become the next commander in chief, surely it is being cast as cheerleader in chief.
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AP photo / Elise Amendola
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Hillary Clinton kicked off the Democratic convention with a plea for unity, but behind closed doors she has been busy negotiating what that might look like. One thing’s for sure: It may be Barack Obama’s big week, but there’s going to be plenty of Clinton face time in Denver.
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AP photo / Charlie Neibergall
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By Bill Boyarsky — As Barack Obama moves into the Democratic National Convention, he should speak out more clearly and forcefully on an issue that clearly distinguishes him from his do-nothing opponent—national health insurance.
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Flickr / ragesoss
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As the Olympics wound to a close on Sunday night, the Democrats gathered in Colorado for their convention, and already they’ve got a surprise. Ted Kennedy was supposed to stay home, but he’s in Denver and will join the Kennedy clan in a special section. The ailing senator might even address the crowd Monday night.
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AP photo / Rafiq Maqbool
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By Chris Hedges — Mounting bombing raids and widespread detentions of Afghans are rapidly turning Afghanistan into the mirror image of Iraq. But these very real events, which will have devastating consequences over the next few months and years, are largely ignored by us.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — In selecting Joe Biden, Barack Obama has signaled clearly what this week’s Democratic National Convention will be about: He intends to move aggressively to ease the problems that have worried so many Democrats in recent weeks—problems, it turns out, that Obama is worried about, too.
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AP Photo/Joel Ryan
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Madonna is no John McCain fan, and the feeling’s definitely mutual. The newly minted quinquagenarian icon is once again playing the provocateur on her latest tour, taking aim at McCain by making some undesirable comparisons between the GOP’s presumptive nominee and certain nefarious world leaders from past and present.
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Here he is, the man Barack Obama introduced Saturday as “the next president of the United States of America” (before immediately correcting the slip of the tongue). Following his introduction at the Springfield, Ill., event, Biden wowed the crowd with a sprightly trot to the podium, showcased his facility with the all-important politician’s point and waxed poetic about his personal history.
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AP photo / M.Spencer Green
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The New York Times sheds some light on the back-room dealings, global developments and veep-vetting sessions that went into whittling down Barack Obama’s short list of vice presidential candidates to the final contender, who heard Obama’s final pitch while at the dentist’s office.
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There were probably some really scintillating attack ads about Barack Obama’s other rumored vice presidential candidates ready to launch, but alas, they’ll never see the light of day.
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biden.senate.gov
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By the time Barack Obama officially confirmed that Joe Biden was to be his running mate, John McCain’s campaign had prepped its response—as Obama’s own camp has no doubt done for McCain’s pick from the Republican VP pool. Two candidates = double the attack-ad fodder!
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AP photo / Charles Rex Arbogast, file
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Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden as his running mate. It’s an interesting choice, given that Obama is running a change campaign and Biden has been a Washington fixture for decades. Also because the two ran against each other in the primary, during which Biden famously had to apologize for unfortunate comments about his rival. Updated
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This week the “Left, Right & Center” panel tackles pullouts both real and imagined in Iraq and Georgia, John McCain’s many residences and more.
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Flickr / World Economic Forum
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With Barack Obama expected to announce his running mate any day now, he will almost certainly not choose Hillary Clinton. She doesn’t even appear to be on his list. A Democratic official tells the Politico, “She was never vetted. ... She was not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never had a single conversation about it.”
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By David Sirota — McCain’s ads are (inadvertently) incisive commentary on the death of Jeffersonian democracy. They aim to mock Obama, but they really lampoon “presidentialism”: our paternalistic view that presidents are godlike saviors—and therefore democracy’s only important figures.
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By Eugene Robinson — There’s a candidate in this presidential race who remains a mystery—hazy, undefined, so full of contradictions that voters may see electing him as an enormous risk. I’m referring to the cipher known as John McCain.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The Obama folks will hate hearing this, but in planning for the next 10 weeks, their campaign would do well to learn from what Bill Clinton achieved in 1992.
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Flickr / Joe Crimmings Photography
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Mark Halperin tells of two “Republicans close to the situation” who say McCain has settled on Mitt Romney as his VP. Still other Republicans say the decision hasn’t been made, while The New York Times is reporting that Gen. David Petraeus could be in the running. Barack Obama, meanwhile, has made his choice, but he’s keeping hush.
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John McCain has spent a small fortune trying to convince voters that Barack Obama is an out-of-touch celebrity (a tactic that appears to be working), but columnist Dave Lindorff argues that Obama’s dip in the polls is actually the result of his march to the right, much like the last two Democratic losers.
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Barack Obama has slipped in the polls since John McCain began his negative ad blitz, but now the Democrat is throwing a few punches of his own, including this ad, which capitalizes on McCain’s house collection. Update 2
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newsweek.com
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Here’s some news that’s bound to spark outrage from within the Democratic ranks: None other than Sen. Joe Lieberman, “Independent Democrat” and vice presidential candidate on the 2000 Democratic ticket, is slated to speak at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Minnesota.
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AP photo / Rick Bowmer
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If Barack Obama thought he had a battle on his hands when he was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, he’s in for an even bigger struggle now, if the latest Zogby poll represents an accurate read on American voters’ inclinations at this stage in the game.
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By Marie Cocco — I long for a candidate who would ‘‘focus like a laser beam’’ on the economy. That’s what voters are doing as they see their paychecks shrink from inflation, their jobs threatened and their middle-class dreams diminished.
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music.aol.com
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Is this the same Toby Keith who unleashed the cheese-slathered anthem, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” (complete with fluffy golden retriever puppies and rippling flags in the video version), on the general public in 2002? Mr. “We’ll-Put-A-Boot-Up-Your-Ass”?
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Flickr / EricaJoy
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Barack Obama has a problem: According to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, one in six voters thinks he’s just too black—for America, that is. It’s the political equivalent of “I’m not racist, but my friend is” and, sadly, it may have something to do with the competitive nature of the campaign.
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Truthdigger of the Week: Medea Benjamin
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