In what I believe is unprecedented, the US government has agreed to pay Steven Hatfill, who was falsely and publicly accused of being the “anthrax mailer,” a multi-million dollar settlement. Federal officials leaked defamatory information, and journalists published it. Unlike the case of Wen Ho Lee, the government is paying, Hatfill directly. In the Lee [...]
Entries from June 2008
19 June 2008
Obama’s Senior — Really Senior — Working Group on National Security
Obama has to run a fine line between demonstrating that he has experience and committing himself to policy change. His choices for his national security group show too much of the former and too little of the latter. And even some of the “experience” is dubious.
Take a look at his “Senior Working Group on National [...]
16 June 2008
Let Obama Be Obama
The Obama campaign rejected McCain’s proposal for 10 town-hall debates before uncommitted voters, but has not explained the decision very well. OpenLeft speculates as to why, and they sound like the usual, stupid gamesmanship that prevent real debates from occurring.
So long as the town-hall debates would not be moderated by any of the usual networks [...]
14 June 2008
What the Boumediene Decision Really Means
Once more, talk radio and the blogosphere has erupted over a Supreme Court decision. This time it is Boumediene, et al. Once more, the decision is misunderstood. The Court does not say that the detainees must be released; it does not say that they are or are not enemy combatants. It applies on to those [...]
14 June 2008
What’s Up With Obama and the Town-Halls?
Why is Sen. Obama’s campaign dodging the 10 town-hall style debates before uncommitted voters that Sen. McCain has proposed? Obama has countered with a proposal for five meetings, only two of which would be town-hall meetings. Why propose “traditional debates” given the all-around lousy role that TV newsreaders have played in the primary “non-debates”? [...]
9 June 2008
“Garbage bags full of testicles on every curb”
Best commentary on sexism against HRC.
Kristen Schaal is a national treasure.
9 June 2008
PressStink?
“Off the Bus” was created, in part, to further citizen-journalism. Citizens, not professional reporters, report via blogs at the Huffington Post about the campaign. It is an interesting concept, but most of the posts are more descriptions of what the candidates or their proxies say at campaign events and how the crowd or supporters react. [...]
7 June 2008
Electoral Math
Neil Degrasse Tyson writes in the NYT that using a method of predicting swing state outcomes to see who would beat McCain today results in Clinton being more competitive than Obama. This is true, but Obama only loses to McCain if tied polls are allocated based on 2004 results.
RealClearPolitics has an odd set of “swing [...]
4 June 2008
Health Care v. Insurance
Last night, Hilary Clinton said:
It is a fight I will continue until every single American has health insurance, no exceptions and no excuses
Americans don’t need “health insurance, no exceptions no excuses” — they need affordable health care, no exceptions and no excuses. I have very good health insurance, but if my wife were to lose [...]
4 June 2008
Gimme Money
Sen. Clinton now recalls the 11-year-old Kentucky boy who sold his bicycle and video games to donate over $400 to her campaign. In his 2004 concession speech, Sen. John Kerry mentioned a student who raided his piggy-bank to contribute (it is not clear it was accepted). Kerry went on to thank volunteers in general., but [...]
