Jerome Corsi and the Coarsening of American Politics
Jon Henke argues that the embrace, by both sides, of unsavory characters under the principle of the enemy of my enemy is my friend has "poisoned both the Left and the Right in American politics." Accordingly, he takes on one of his own: The continued tolerance and prominence of Jerome Corsi - his books, columns and appearances - is just embarrassing. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 16, 2008 10:19
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 ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 2, 2008 09:33
Swift Boater on McCain’s Truth Squad
John McCain's Truth Squad, formed a few months ago in order to respond to charges by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth clone Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, is prominently featuring an actual member of the Swifties as a spokesman, CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand reports. One of the members of John McCain’s new Truth Squad — which his campaign says was launched ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 30, 2008 16:02
Wes Clark on McCain’s Military Experience
General Wesley Clark is trying to argue that John McCain's military experience is irrelevant to future service as commander-in-chief: Clark said that McCain lacked the executive experience necessary to be president, calling him “untested and untried” on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” And in saying so, he took a few swipes at McCain’s military service. After saying, "I certainly honor his service as ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 29, 2008 19:41
Swift-Boating Here to Stay
Michael Kinsley hopes that Swift-Boating, a combination of smear and truth that "exploits its own complexity and the reluctance of the media to adjudicate factual disputes" and thus sticks, will not reappear this election season. The raw material for swift-boating this year is already apparent. There is Obama's loony pastor, his friendship with a former radical, his dealings with a convicted ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 13, 2008 12:05
Do McCain’s Medals Matter?
Jake Tapper, notes the contrast between DNC chair Howard Dean's statements about John Kerry's military service in 2004 and McCain's in 2008. Commenting on John McCain's new "The American President that Americans Have Been Waiting For" ad yesterday, Dean said, "While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 29, 2008 06:36
Swift Boating Obama?
Andrew Sullivan has declared that the "Swift-Boating" of Barack Obama has begun, noting that both Republican operatives and Clinton supporters are piling on over the Jeremiah Wright scandal. He cites a report by The Politico's Jonathan Martin that, "A YouTube video mash-up that attacks Barack Obama on issues relating to his patriotism that has rocketed around the Internet in recent days ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 20, 2008 09:07
Democrats Attack McCain’s Military Experience
Supporters of Hillary Clinton, apparently forgetting that she's probably not going to get the nomination, yesterday moved on to the general election campaign and trotted out a new line of attack: John McCain doesn't have the right experience to be commander-in-chief. The opening salvo came from, of all people, Gloria Steinem. And she did it in Texas. Feminist icon Gloria ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 3, 2008 07:18
New Book Reveals Romney . . . A Mormon
Last week, I wrote about some weird emails I received inviting me to attend an event at the National Press Club unveiling a new book that would Swift Boat a major candidate. As promised, I skipped it but kept alert for the details. Mary Ann Akers, who writes "The Sleuth" blog for WaPo, attended, along with "about a dozen reporters ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 7, 2008 20:27
Candidate to Be ‘Swift Boated’ Monday
Joe Gandelman reports on an email that he, myself, and presumably several others have gotten, twice, in recent days promising a shocking revelation against some unknown candidate to be revealed Monday, on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. I received the first email with the subject line "Right for your Blog?" on Monday and a second, entitled "Major Presidential ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 2, 2008 19:29
