What would be the boldest vice presidential choice John McCain and Barack Obama could make? (Updated)
The gang behind Newsweek's Ruckus blog is asking its contributors to answer the following question: "What would be the boldest vice presidential choice John McCain and Barack Obama could make?" If we leave aside the silly and absurd, for McCain, the answer seems obvious: Joe Lieberman. This would double down on his foreign policy experience as well as reinforcing his cultivated image ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 25, 2008 10:32
McCain Making Kerry Mistake on Vietnam?
Pat Lang, a retired Green Beret colonel, is somewhat bemused at how much is being made of John McCain's military experience. John McCain is an admirable man. There are many such who wore the uniform of the United States in adverse circumstance. Jim Webb, Chuck Hagel, Daniel Inouye, Bob Dole... Shall I go on? How many ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 13, 2008 13:40
G.I. Bill Needs Updating
Wes Clark and Jon Soltz take to the op-ed pages of the LAT to urge John McCain to support a massive increase in educational benefits for our veterans. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, sponsored by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), will restore the promise of a cost-free education to those who serve in the military. The ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 10, 2008 13:26
Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Phony Soldiers’
Media Matters has again successfully embroiled the blogosphere in a controversy with a press release. The latest, entitled "Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are 'phony soldiers,'" has gained wide circulation on the left. The lede: During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 28, 2007 09:12
Secretary of Agriculture Johanns Resigning to Run for Senate
Former Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns (R) will reportedly be resigning from the Cabinet in order to run for the Nebraska Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel. Johanns resigned as Nebraska’s Governor at the start of the second Bush Adminstration (Jan 2005), after being reelected in 2002 with 69% of the vote. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is resigning to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 20, 2007 01:09
Bloomberg-Hagel 2008: Third Party Fantasy #9
If we needed confirmation that silly season is in full swing, we need look no further than David Broder's wistful column this morning about a possible independent bid by a Michael Bloomberg-Chuck Hagel ticket. Aside from the standard "Washington is gridlocked in partisan battle between two equally spent parties" and people are tired of it mantra, there's no ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 26, 2007 07:15
Sam Nunn Mulls Presidential Bid on Unity08 Ticket
Former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn is thinking about a White House bid, the AJC's Jim Galloway reports. Sam Nunn left the U.S. Senate more than 10 years ago. Since then, the Georgia Democrat, who made his name nationally as a defense-minded hawk, has watched what's happened to the country, and he's more than a bit ticked — at the "fiasco" in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 20, 2007 16:28
Filibuster Kills Troop Withdrawal Bill
After staying up all night to make a point, Senate Democrats allowed a cloture vote on the troop withdrawal bill. As expected, it easily failed. Senate Republicans scuttled a Democratic proposal ordering troop withdrawals from Iraq in a showdown Wednesday that capped an all-night debate on the war. The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 18, 2007 13:15
Republicans Isolationist, Insulationist Power-Projectors?
Chuck Hagel was on "Face the Nation" yesterday and left open the option of an independent big for the White House, perhaps sharing a ticket with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He's been flirting with that possibility for a while, and is a perfect match for the Unity08 concept, so it's not that newsworthy (despite substantial blogger commentary for a ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 14, 2007 09:10
1st Republican Debate of 2008 - Video, Transcripts, Reax
I caught perhaps half an hour of last night's so-called debate between Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and eight other guys. I don't feel deprived at not having seen the rest. The format was awful and the not unreasonable decision to include people whose candidacy has no shot (Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul, at a minimum) made the time to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 4, 2007 07:59
