Informed Speculation

It’s Bill Clinton’s finances, rather than his rumored-to-be-still-present zipper problem, that is on course to potentially derail HRC as SoS: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is President-elect Barack Obama’s first choice for secretary of State but his aides are becoming exasperated by the Clinton camp’s pokey response to demands for extensive information about former President [...]

Christopher Hitchens proudly wears the label ‘contrarian’, meaning that he grows quite uncomfortable when the crowd is all leaning towards one side of the ship…and the afterglow of Obama’s victory, though he supported the candidate, is making him a bit quesy: [I]f you think our own press and media are too uncritically adoring, just spend [...]

Will the ultra-liberal progressive blogs be able to stay in love with Barack Obama when he embraces their archenemy?  I’m talking about Joe Lieberman, of course – and it’s becoming more and more apparent that Obama is prepared to fight to keep him a Democrat: President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants [...]

I’m not blind to the obvious: President-Elect Obama has been named the most liberal senator two years running of 2007, and already, ‘progressive’ bloggers, magazines, columnists, and lobbyists are clamoring for a hard turn left.  There are encouraging signs, however, that Obama is not going to make the mistake of alienating further the almost half [...]

It didn’t take long for the first gaffe, but I’m still scratching my head over this one.  Barack Obama, in an otherwise pretty solid debut news conference, took an oddly tone-deaf swipe at Nancy Reagan that was both inaccurate and inappropriate, and has issued his first apology as President-Elect: President-elect Barack Obama called Nancy Reagan [...]

We’ve already seen a slew of articles in the “what’s next for the GOP” genre.  While a little navel-gazing is necessary, it ain’t rocket science.  An unpopular war, an unpopular president, and the bursting of the housing/credit bubble equals a big loss.  Those who say the country has lurched left can point to the large [...]

Well, one name has surfaced already – Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff.  Some other possibilities I have heard or read include keeping Robert Gates as Defense Secretary (bipartisan gesture, continuity during time of war, acknowledgment that he has been much better than Rumsfeld), and Paul Volcker as a dark horse for Treasury Secretary (THAT [...]

As the 10:00 Central hour passes, California has put Obama over the top…and I want to say, as a conservative and Republican, that I congratulate Barack Obama on his historic victory.  I sincerely – truly – hope he is a wonderful president.  We’ll have plenty of time later to go into further details…but let’s not [...]

Chins up, Republicans and conservatives. The world has not ended.  Obama is clearly going to win, but we knew that already…and sometimes a little time in the wilderness is good for the soul.  Refocusing, and all that…we’ll have more later…but get used to it: President Obama… UPDATE 7:44 p.m.:  I’m watching CNN, so maybe other [...]

Not his campaign team, but his media cheerleaders: At least one broadcast network and one Web site said Monday that they could foresee signaling to viewers early Tuesday evening which candidate appeared to have won the presidency, despite the unreliability of some early exit polls in the last presidential election. A senior vice president of [...]

We’re winding down now, and although I am going to keep this blog active under the current name for a little while after Tuesday (perhaps through the inauguration), I think it’s time to face facts: Barack Obama is the next President of the United States.  Why?  Let us count down the reasons:  #10: Guts.  It [...]

…(my God, I can barely sit through a debate), but Calvin Woodward, writing for the AP, checks the facts and comes away less than impressed: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was less than upfront in his half-hour commercial Wednesday night about the costs of his programs and the crushing budget pressures he would face in [...]

I know McCain is still running a race here, and his pollster wants to make his candidate happy, but contrast this: John McCain’s campaign has seen “significant” progress in internal polling in the last week, Republican pollster Bill McInturff said Tuesday, with notable strides among rural voters and soft Democrats. McInturff, the campaign’s chief pollster, [...]

Well, this can only be summed up under the rubric of ‘pathetic’.  Right Wing News surveyed 240 right-of-center blogs (I never get asked to participate in these surveys, for some reason) about the election.  76 answered.  We find that 53% believe John McCain will win the election (okay, not too out of line – a [...]

If you read conservative blogs and magazines regularly, you already know that Dean Barnett passed away today at the too-young age of 41.  A sad day…I mentioned his work often, though not of late, and read him even more than I linked to him.  RIP… Now, we stand a week away from the election that [...]

The former Democratic senator from Nebraska warms my heart for calling out the hypocrisy of the New York Times, with respect to Barack Obama and public financing: Bob Kerrey thinks The New York Times is in the tank for Obama — not that he minds. The former Democratic senator from Nebraska was here at the [...]

…in and of himself.  He’s far to the left, politically, he’s an economic ‘progressive’ (bad news, indeed). and he’s got ideas for a tax rebate plan that will pay millions of Americans who don’t even pay income tax rebates on their payroll taxes, which is a great-sounding idea until you realize he plans to do [...]

For the two people in the world who might had any doubt, rest assured: the New York Times has not, repeat, NOT endorsed the Republican candidate. I know, I know…you probably had to sit down after reading that.  Let’s take a peek: …The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s [...]

…and other polling shows Obama with leads up to double digits, but Republicans looking for any hope in a hopeless climate can cling to the new AP poll, showing Obama up by a statistically insignificant one-point among likely voters. But the GOP, under the heavy odds stacked against it in the current cycle, has turned [...]

…I did vote today, and I didn’t leave the presidential box blank.  Turnout in my polling location was not that heavy – there were far more people there for the primaries. As we head into the home stretch, there’s simply not much good cheer I can spread for Republicans (Democrats are feasting on a wide [...]