Taking Separation of Powers Seriously

Glenn Greenwald, reacting to reports that Barack Obama has told Harry Reid that Joe Lieberman should not be stripped of his committee chairmanship and thus making it very difficult for him to do so, has written a long and passionate plea for a return to vigorous separation of powers with strong institutional jealousies. [W]hatever the outcome here is, it's vital that ...

McCain Pollster: Race Too Close to Call

Bill McInturff, John McCain's chief pollster, released a memo last night saying the campaign has made "significant progress" in the last week and that "All signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call by next Tuesday." Disclaimer up front: As I've noted numerous times before, my wife is Chief Operating Officer of McInturff's ...

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 ...

John McCain’s Houses

How rich and out of touch with ordinary American working stiffs is John McCain?  Why, he doesn't even know how many houses he owns! This story, published by The Politico, is now the top story on Memeorandum. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. "I think — I'll ...

North Carolina Man Quits Rather than Lower Flag for Helms

A North Carolina bureaucrat retired rather than honor Jesse Helms. L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff ...

Who’s Smearing Whom?

James Kirchich, recent nominee for an Yglesias Award for fairness, says that, while the Obama campaign is setting itself up to believe that "The only obstacle between Barack Obama and the presidency is the mountain of smears that will no doubt come his way," the truth of the matter is that most of the smears are coming from his side. Thus ...

Obama Has 15 Point Lead in Newsweek Poll

A Newsweek poll of registered voters shows Barack Obama with a whopping 15-point lead over John McCain, 51 to 36. Newsweek's Michael Hirsh is stoked. Barack finally has his bounce. For weeks many political experts and pollsters have been wondering why the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain had stayed so tight, even after the Illinois senator ...

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 ...

Cult of the Presidency

George Will decries the romanticization of the presidency. Barack Obama recently said, "I believe in our ability to perfect this nation." Clearly there is something the candidate of "change" will not change—the pattern of extravagant presidential rhetoric. Obama is trying to replace a president who vowed to "rid the world of evil"—and of tyranny, too. [...] If you can name it, presidents ...

Two Blogs that Pass in the Night

Yesterday's exchange with Thers over the state of conservatism reflects a major defect in the blogging medium. For the most part, we write blogs in serial fashion, as a conversation with our readers, and presume that recent posts on the same subject have been read. Most blog readers, on the other hand, parachute into posts based on links ...