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By Lawrence Ferlinghetti
$22.95
By David Shulman
$14.69
$18
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By Marie Cocco — Voters put Democrats in control of both houses of Congress last fall and, for this act of civic determination, they face an infuriating conundrum. Republicans are still running things.
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democrats.georgetown.edu
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John McCain’s campaign is in dire straits, which may be why he told Beliefnet that he would prefer a Christian president who would “carry on in the Judeo-Christian principled tradition,” and that “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The GM-UAW labor contract could prove to be a victory of innovative thinking in the private sector. Now politicians should be clear on how they would attack the deepening problems that confront working people.
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By Eugene Robinson — Yes, you heard it right: At the Dartmouth College debate Wednesday evening, not one of the three leading Democratic candidates could pledge that all U.S. combat troops would be out of Iraq by the end of his or her first term as president.
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getreligion.org
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Lest anyone forget that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was the mayor of New York on Sept. 11, 2001 (it’s true, we looked it up), a buddy of his is throwing a fundraiser that will charge—wait for it—$9.11 per person.
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By Marie Cocco — Republicans almost suffered strokes over Hillary Clinton’s health insurance plan. Now that the screams of outrage have subsided, a close examination reveals that the GOP alternatives are either nonexistent or unworkable.
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AP Photo / Charlie Niebergall
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By Bill Boyarsky — If there’s any candidate who knows what he or she would be dealing with in attempting to change the American healthcare system, it’s Hillary Clinton. And, according to Boyarsky, charging into that particular political battleground might have made her a stronger contender.
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AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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How could the $720 million the U.S. is currently spending on the Iraq war each day be put to better use? Well, how about paying for the health care costs of 423,529 children? Or giving 34,904 college students four-year scholarships, or providing 6,482 families with homes?
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Here is why the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination seems so peculiar: Political campaigns are normally about highlighting differences, but never have the philosophical distinctions among Democratic candidates been so small.
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By Joe Conason — Hillary Clinton’s skillful introduction of her new health care plan demonstrated why she is the most formidable Democrat running for president. It also suggested that if victorious, she won’t be defeated so easily by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries as she and her husband were the last time they tried to reform the dysfunctional American medical system.
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The “Daily Show’s” Samantha Bee investigates whether America is ready for a woman president, “Sex and the City” style.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The genius of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has been her skill at turning liabilities into assets and weaknesses into strengths. By putting out a detailed health care plan on Monday, Clinton embarked on this year’s most daring act of political jujitsu.
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By Andy Borowitz — The satirist jokes that Fred Thompson, exhausted by the rigors of his weeklong campaign for the Oval Office, has called it quits.
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fred08.com
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Fred Thompson has just barely entered the race, but he’s already stepped in it. First the candidate painted Osama bin Laden as an irrelevant figure, but later said he had to be “caught and killed.” Then, after more reflection, he said bin Laden should get due process, which an aide later defined as Gitmo-style interrogation.
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As reader Ender points out, Fred Thompson bears a striking resemblance to Vigo the Carpathian (played by Wilhelm von Homburg) from the movie “Ghostbusters II,” a character who, coincidentally, also had delusions of grandeur.
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All we can say is he either really believes in what he’s saying, or he really knows how to work a camera. We suspect the latter is true. Cheese Alert: Get ready to duck when the video hurls this doozy at you toward the end: “Fred needs you, and America needs Fred. Together, we’re a winning team!”
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conservapedia.com
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Fred Thompson has at long last thrown in his lot with the other (long list of) Republicans running for president. Frequently painted as an eleventh hour hero to conservatives, Thompson’s shtick so far strikes us as canned Gingrich opened long after its expiration date. What do you think?
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Fred Thompson, who proposes to be what Republicans need to overcome their malaise, may himself be part of the problem.
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Although it feels a bit like an ‘80s thriller or an episode of “Hard Copy” gone awry, this campaign video from Mike Gravel does a handy job of countering the president’s ill-advised comparison of the wars in Iraq and Vietnam.
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businessinnovationinsider.com
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Signaling a sea change in the advertising business, four top-tier ad agencies are lining up to pitch to former Vice President Al Gore in hopes of landing the account for his Alliance for Climate Protection and helping Gore design a multimedia global warming campaign with a whopping $100-million annual budget. The takeaway, according to AdAge: Global warming is hot on Madison Avenue.
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clinton.senate.gov
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Hillary Clinton has added her voice to a growing chorus blaming the lack of progress in Iraq on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Uninspired by President Bush’s expression of renewed confidence in the embattled PM, Clinton said she hopes the Iraqi parliament will oust Maliki when it returns from its vacation.
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A new Clinton campaign ad has the White House crying foul, and Clinton crying “Tough!” The commercial features the candidate saying that struggling families and troops are “invisible” to the president. Deputy press secretary Dana Perino said the claim is “outrageous” and that “it is unconscionable that a member of Congress would say such a thing,” which prompted this retort from Clinton: “Not only have I said it and am saying it, I will keep saying it because I happen to believe it.” Update: video added.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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Turkey’s Abdullah Gul says he will once again run for the presidency, which could lead to a crisis in the politically and religiously complex nation. Turkey’s avowedly secular military has already announced its willingness to intervene should Gul win the post, because of his Islamist background.
Posted on Aug 14, 2007
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Ron Paul may have soured his antiwar appeal among progressives with a speech Saturday at the Iowa straw poll. Paul referred to Roe v. Wade as “that horrible ruling,” called for the abolition of the Departments of Energy and Education and the IRS, and attacked welfare and immigrants. But the most bizarre moment came when he suggested airline passengers should be allowed to carry guns.
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Mitt Romney won the Republican straw poll in Iowa on Saturday by a wide margin, but his victory was tempered by the conspicuous absence of the other big names in the campaign: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, turned heads with a surprising second-place finish. Tommy Thompson said previously he would drop out of the race if he didn’t get second or better. He placed sixth.
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Gov. Bill Richardson dropped a bomb in what was billed as the first gay debate on Thursday, saying of homosexuality, “It’s a choice,” which is for gays the equivalent of saying there was no Holocaust. Melissa Etheridge was so perplexed by his response that she cut him off to say, “I don’t know if you understand the question.”
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cracked.com
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Cracked.com has a review of the candidates’ websites, including “awkward attempts at hipness” and “weirdest moments.” John McCain’s virtual outpost, for example, won this critique: “The main image from the pre-site landing page essentially says, ‘Welcome to the online obituary for the late Senator John McCain.’ ”
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By Joe Conason — Listening to the Republican candidates for president warn against “socialized medicine,” you might believe that national health insurance is really a plot to institute Soviet rule in the United States.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Watch out, Fred Thompson: By the time you get into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney may have run away with your constituency.
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sethapartner.com
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Barack Obama’s campaign reached out to supporters on Monday, attempting to downplay national polls that show Hillary Clinton gaining more of a lead. Campaign manager David Plouffe said Obama is still doing well in the key primary states, despite a seven-point bump nationally for Hillary.
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While it’s no secret that presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has had his share of family difficulties, his daughter’s Facebook profile, which has since been taken down, is raising eyebrows. Caroline Giuliani, 17, described her political views as “liberal” and said she was a member of the largest Barack Obama support group on Facebook.
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If you can’t get enough of Democrats fighting over who is least Bush-like, check out the Largest Minority’s roundup and critique of the YearlyKos debate.
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By Andy Borowitz — The satirist writes that, in what some political observers are calling an ominous sign for his cash-starved White House bid, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., today posted his campaign bus, The Straight Talk Express, on the Internet auction site eBay.
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By Eugene Robinson — The question of whether America is ready for a black president has already become a tiresome cliché in this campaign, but it seems that Barack Obama is having a hard time convincing African-Americans that white voters will say yes to a black candidate.
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rawstory.com
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In an interview with a Christian Broadcasting Network blog, Barack Obama stood by his assessment that conservative Christian leaders have “hijacked” religion. The candidate went even further, declaring that America is not exclusively a Christian nation.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The spat between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that emerged from the CNN/YouTube debate may seem petty, but it could go down as the moment that turned the race for the presidency.
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By Ellen Goodman — Among the endless reasons I will never run for public office is a deep-seated fear of having my wardrobe subject to the fashion police. Excuse me, the fashion shrinks—those media monitors who seek deep meaning in every shoe, sexual clues in every hemline, and psychological insights in every shirt collar.
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“The Daily Show” host explains why the YouTube debate appeals to young people: “They’re the only ones who can see it!”
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Why should the media worry about issues when there’s a new Clinton-Obama showdown to cover? Keith Olbermann plumbs the shallows of the latest non-controversy to emerge from the Democratic campaign.
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It was only a matter of time before the first ever CNN/YouTube debate found its way onto—where else?—YouTube. In case you missed it or just want to relive the Web-friendly fireworks, here it is for your embedded viewing pleasure.
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AP Photo / Jim Cole
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By Jon Wiener — The Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter on Watergate has just published “A Woman in Charge,” a biography of Hillary Clinton, for which he interviewed almost 100 of her friends and enemies. Carl Bernstein spoke recently with Truthdig’s Jon Wiener about the first former first lady to make a bid for the presidency.
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AP Photo/Susan Walsh
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By Bill Boyarsky — Although John McCain has made several serious missteps in his bid for the presidency, and although pundits and politicos alike have all but sounded the death knell for his campaign, McCain may still have the wild-card potential to make a comeback—especially if President Bush gives him even the slightest boost.
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Gone Tuesday were Sen. John McCain’s campaign manager and chief strategist as the 2008 presidential hopeful attempts to revamp his foundering White House bid. McCain’s campaign has been plagued with rumors about the sorry state of his fundraising efforts. McCain did not turn down the volunteered resignations of top aides Mark Selter and Terry Nelson.
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Feel strongly about Net Neutrality? Want to keep the online realm as free of pesky gatekeepers as possible? SaveTheInternet.com says yes to the above and is leading a rally to remind the FCC to work for the American people—not big corporations.
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Kudos to PBS for hosting an excellent debate—or “All American Presidential Forum” as it’s known in public television land. The event featured a “panel of color” asking questions on a range of often-ignored topics. And did we mention equal time for all candidates? What a novel concept.
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