-
Dan Rather on Bias: The GOP Is Biased; He’s Without Fault
Tweet Share on Facebook November 18, 2008 Comment (6)In an attempt to resuscitate his reputation as an honest news broker, former CBS anchor Dan Rather seems determined to prove that he is a victim of right-wing bias at the network.
Rather, you'll recall, was pushed out the door over his September 2004 60 Minutes piece that alleged President Bush received preferential treatment while in the Texas Air National Guard. In the story's bloody aftermath, it turned out that not only were smoking-gun documents fakes but Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes, lied that they had been authenticated by experts. Rather resigned from CBS and now is suing his former network for violating his contract and impugning his reputation.
-
Lieberman’s Fate: How Will the Dems Treat Him When the Cameras Are Off?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 18, 2008 Comment (4)The sanctimonious Joe Lieberman is on my television discussing his political near-death experience. He gets to keep his chairmanship and that's too bad.
But...the Democrats decided not to skin their wayward sheep with the nation watching (or that section of it that is still paying attention to politics) while a new president-elect talks about getting past the vicious partisanship of the last couple of decades. (That new president of course nudged his Senate colleagues in that direction.)
-
The Left’s Clock is Ticking on the Barack Obama Honeymoon
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (6)How long will the honeymoon last? How long will the far left of the Democratic Party continue to support President-elect Obama? My prediction? Not much longer— look for the hard-liners to start sniping soon and fall apart within months.
Today, that most liberal of hard-left blogs, the dailykos.com, started faulting Obama for sticking up for Democratic defector Joe Lieberman:
-
Preserving Civil War History One Battlefield at a Time
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (1)The Civil War Preservation Trust helped save another piece of American history last week, joining with local preservationists to secure a valuable chunk of the battlefield at Winchester, Va.
Coincidentally, the Washington Post published this piece on the Trust in its Sunday magazine, written by an acclaimed wordsmith familiar to you all.
-
The Public Is Not Sold on the Detroit Three Bailout
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (15)Here's my Creators Syndicate column on my ambivalent attitude toward government aid to the Detroit Three auto companies. For one who grew up in the Detroit area in the 1950s and 1960s, the plight of these companies is gut-wrenching and astonishing. I can't help imagining going back in a time capsule to that time and place and explaining to people what would happen 50 years later. It's like the thought I often have when I'm strapped in my seat and the plane is taking off: I wish I had Thomas Jefferson next to me so that I could explain (insofar as I understand it) how airplanes were working. The difference is that I imagine that Jefferson with his knack for cutting-edge machinery would have understood, while my 1950s Detroiters wouldn't.
The public is evidently not sold on the Detroit Three bailout. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that only 35 percent favor government aid, while 45 percent are opposed. Young voters are split, with 37 against it and 36 for it, while 27 percent remain unsure. And Americans apparently distinguish between the need to aid financial firms that provide credit vital to the economy and the need to help ailing manufacturing firms like the Detroit Three. A USAToday/Gallup poll showed that 47 percent of the public felt that "providing loans and other help" to the Detroit Three auto companies "is not very important." In contrast, 60 percent felt that setting new financial regulation was "critical" or "very important" for the economy.
-
Has Wall Street Hit Rock Bottom Yet?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2008 Comment (85)Has Wall Street hit bottom yet? Like that singularly annoying yet unforgettable Lipton TV ad, "Is it Soup Yet?" I keep asking myself, have we hit bottom yet? So it's a topic we can have fun debating in this space until the economy and stock market turn around, be it months or years from now.
-
Obama's Organization Delivered Impressive Results Against McCain
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (9)I have not had enough time to look closely at the election returns in all target states, much less all the 50 states. But my initial take on the returns in two neighboring states, Ohio and Indiana, shows an interesting contrast. Ohio was a target state in 2004 and 2000; Indiana wasn't but was this time. Indeed, from the 1970s up through 2004, Indiana has been in national elections much more Republican than the neighboring Great Lakes states. That changed in the 2006 off-year elections, when Democrats picked up three seats by impressive margins, and polls in the 2008 cycle indicated that Barack Obama was competitive there. As a result, the Obama campaign used its huge resources in money and manpower to make Indiana a target state.
Obama also carried Ohio 51 percent to 47 percent, a 3-percentage-point Democratic improvement over 2004, when George W. Bush carried it 50 percent to 48 percent (I am using the figures from Dave Leip's Election Atlas in all cases here). That's a 3-percentage-point Democratic gain and a 3-percentage-point Republican loss. Obama got 1 percent more popular votes than Kerry; McCain got 10 percent fewer popular votes than Bush. Overall turnout, as now reported, was down 4 percent. (I think this figure is a little fishy; with some votes still unreported; the numbers show overall turnout down between 31 percent and 44 percent in Marion, Tuscarawas, and Clinton counties.) It rose, at least according to these figures, in 13 of 88 counties, with the highest percentage rises in exurban counties where the population has been growing fastest (Delaware County outside Columbus, Warren County outside Cincinnati.)
-
The Recession is Here, Is a Depression in the Offing?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (13)Is the "D" word in the offing?
I have been uncharacteristically plucky about the economy—until today. I have been looking at signs such as low oil (which has declined by $90 per barrel since the summer) lower-cost housing (as a result of the housing slump) and the marginal increase in the availability of credit this past month and thinking: "OK, when's the turnaround going to start?"
-
Barack Obama, Israel, and Rahm Emanuel’s Father’s Intemperate Remarks
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (30)Today's papers bring the news that Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago congressman named to serve as President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, has had to apologize to Arab-Americans for remarks made by his father to an Israeli reporter.
"Obviously he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he?" the elder Mr. Emanuel is quoted as saying. "What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House."
-
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama's Secretary of State?
Tweet Share on Facebook November 14, 2008 Comment (20)Could the Obama administration-elect finally be making a good move? Say it ain't so, O!
The Washington rumor mill is rife with reports there are serious talks ongoing between the Obama transition team and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
I have mixed feelings about Clinton taking the job, but I have nothing but praise for the Obama transition team for considering her seriously. She's a highly credible figure in international relations and could do much to repair the damage the Bush administration has done to America's reputation abroad.
