A Tale of Two Murders

DrewM. passes on Michelle Malkin's post and column noting that the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller by a white "Christian" got scads more media commentary and more intense presidential attention than did the murder of Private William Long and maiming and attempted murder of Private Quinton Ezeagwula by a black "Muslim." It's a fair point and very much worth noting ...

Ending the Vice Presidency

Sunday's WaPo put together a collection of half-baked ideas by smart folks, designed to generate controversy and discussion more so than shed serious light on policy ideas.  Thomas Ricks' suggestion to close the service academies and war colleges got the most attention, overshadowing the abject silliness of Jeremy Lott's column advocating doing away with the vice presidency, an idea not ...

Military Service Demographics

Danielle Allen takes to the editorial pages of WaPo to decry the regional disparity of military service in a piece titled "Red-State Army?" [caption id="attachment_28761" align="alignright" width="274" caption="Veterans Day in Maysville, Ky. Photo Credit: By Terry Prather -- Associated Press"][/caption] Whereas in 1969 13 percent of Americans were veterans, in 2007 only 8 percent of us were. Even more important than these general ...

Obama’s Landslide in Perspective

In the discussion on Obama's apparent 365-173 Electoral College victory, Rodney Dill asks, "How close is this, historically? The popular vote difference seems like it was pretty big by modern standards, but usually that would result in an even more lopsided electoral vote." It's an interesting question. Dave Leip's Atlas has the results for every election. In 1980, the first ...

2008 Election County-By-County

After George W. Bush won the 2000 election, despite having received substantially fewer votes nationwide than Al Gore, many of us took great comfort in this famous map, showing the election results county-by-county: [caption id="attachment_27108" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="2000 Election County-By-County Map"][/caption] In 2004, Bush won re-election by a majority -- but John Kerry nearly took it anyway because of a close call ...

McCain Wins Tennessee

Fox and CNN project that John McCain has won Tennessee's and its 11 Electoral votes, as widely projected. Recall that "native son" Al Gore lost there in 2000, costing him the White House.

Palin Most Qualified Recent VP Nominee

John McCain is getting some guff for his assertion on the Don Imus show that Sarah Palin is "the most qualified of anyone recently who has run for vice president to tell you the truth."  And, no, not for the syntax but the point itself. Steve Benen is incredulous: Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, Al Gore, Lloyd Bentsen, and George H.W. Bush? No, ...

Sarah Palin’s Expensive Clothes

[caption id="attachment_26462" align="alignright" width="297" caption="Sarah Palin, in a red leather jacket, waves as she steps on stage before a crowd at a baseball field in Grand Junction, Colo., on Monday."][/caption] We've had John Edwards' haircuts, John McCain's shoes, Michelle Obama's snacks (a story that turned out to be untrue), and now, Sarah Palin's wardrobe. The Republican National Committee has spent more than ...

Obama-McCain 3rd Debate Reaction

If I ever find Joe the Plumber,  I'm going to punch him in the nose.[*]  I'm not a big fan of Louise Ledbetter, either. [caption id="attachment_26232" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Obama McCain Third Debate Photo via YahooNews"][/caption] As a general matter, I find the idiotic personalization of American public policy extremely annoying.  Phil Gramm, with his unfortunately named "Dicky Flatt Test," at least hit ...

Obama a Terrorist! McCain a Crook!

We've reached the seemingly inevitable part of the campaign where the trailing candidates start hurling charges out of desperation and the leader responds in kind. In the closing days of 1992, President George H.W. Bush, ordinarily among the most decent, genteel fellows you'd ever meet, was running around calling Bill Clinton and Al Gore "bozos." He simply couldn't ...

Abolish the Vice Presidency?

Bruce Ackerman thinks the vice presidency is an anachronism from the political era of the Framers and ought be abolished. For two centuries, presidential nominees have used the office to balance the ticket by naming a running mate from a different region, or one who speaks with a different ideological accent to a specific constituency. This means that a president's death ...

SNL Parodies Palin, Debates

"Saturday Night Live" is continuing to weigh in heavily on the presidential race, hitting Sarah Palin and John McCain hard in last night's installment. Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," again appearing as the Republican vice presidential candidate in an opening sketch. Saturday night's show — the third of the season for the NBC comedy ...

Experience: Obama v. Palin

Josh Marshall headlines as "Sadly Nuts" a post responding to John McCain's retort, to questions of Sarah Palin's qualifications to serve as president, "If they want to go down that route, in all candor, she has far, far more experience than Senator Obama does." Says Josh, Set aside the bravado. Can McCain possibly believe that? And if he does, what are we ...

Obama’s Acceptance Speech: The More Things CHANGE, The More They Remain the Same

I wrote a quick post before bed last night giving my off-the-cuff reaction to Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech, arguing that, despite all the talk of "change," it was basically a speech that Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry could have given. The NYT has a six-page transcript of the speech as delivered.  Let's ...

Obama as Jackie Robinson

Adam Serwer laments the fact that Barack and, particularly, Michelle Obama have to humanize themselves to the electorate and fight back against an elitist caricature. [T]he Obamas are still fighting Jackie Robinson Syndrome, the reflexive double standards and often small, sometimes large, but always public humiliations that come from being the first black person to do something. Ezra Klein thinks this "beautifully ...