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 ...

Democrats Attacking McCain’s Military Record: Is A Pattern Emerging?

Jim Geraghty is not buying the notion that Wes Clark's attempts to diminish John McCain's military service was done without coordination with the Democratic Powers that Be. After statements by a half-dozen high-profile Democrats and Obama surrogates, you cannot persuade me that there is not a concerted effort on the part of Obama Democrats to criticize McCain on his war record. ...

Obama Rebuffs Clark on McCain

Barack Obama has wisely distanced himself from surrogate Wes Clark's disparagement of John McCain's military experience. "For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country — no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary," Obama said. "And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a ...

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 ...

Sam Nunn Joins Veepstakes

In the long months between now and the conventions, one recurring theme we'll see in the press and the punditocracy is speculation of who Barack Obama and John McCain will chose as running mates. None of us have any idea, of course, other than that Dick Cheney is not on anybody's list. But it's still fun to speculate. For ...

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 ...

Fred Thompson This Year’s Wesley Clark?

Publius draws some parallels between the Fred Thompson's current campaign and Wesley Clark's ill-fated 2004 effort. The Clark and Thompson campaigns have eerily similar pre-histories. Because the party elites and rank-and-file weren’t very happy with the slate of candidates, Clark and Thompson’s names got floated for months. Party members didn’t know much about them, so they projected their desires ...

Terrorists as Criminals Rather than Soldiers

Retired General Wesley Clark and UCLA law professor Kal Raustiala have an op-ed in today's NYT arguing that the Bush administration policy of treating terrorists as “unlawful combatants” rather than criminals is problematic. Treating terrorists as combatants is a mistake for two reasons. First, it dignifies criminality by according terrorist killers the status of soldiers. Under the law of war, military ...

Evan Bayh Not Running for President

Evan Bayh is joining the increasingly long line of touted Democratic candidates who have bowed out of the 2008 race for the White House. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, FOX News has learned. Bayh made the decision depsite having made several visits to test states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and raising millions ...

Wesley Clark Signals 2008 Presidential Bid

It looks like Wesley Clark is running again for president. Wesley Clark said Tuesday he wants to avoid waiting too late to make a decision on whether to run for president — a mistake he made in his failed 2004 bid. "I think it was clear that I got in too late last time," the retired general and former NATO commander ...