Informed Speculation

…it turns out that Bristol Palin (now age 17) IS in fact pregnant at the moment!  The campaign released the news in response to the fake pregnancy rumors concerning Palin’s 5th child, born with Down syndrome: Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is pregnant and will keep the baby and marry the father, [...]

…well, we’ll keep our eye on the hurricane and pray for all Gulf Coast residents, not just the residents of New Orleans.  It would appear from this vantage point that we are engaging in a bit of post-Katrina overreaction, but better to overreact than to underreact, that’s for damn sure.  What we know as of [...]

Well, I was out of the loop for more of the day yesterday than I had planned – obviously, the pick went in a different direction than I or almost anyone else anticipated.  I like it, though – besides the bold stroke of choosing a woman, this particular woman has some very solid credentials of [...]

Okay, I didn’t want to distract myself by blogging, so I saved everything for the end, and I’ll try to organize my thoughts a little. First, some general impressions: very, very effective.  He pulled it off, and I was on the record as doubting the setting and doubting his ability to rise to the moment.  [...]

…but I wanted to see Teddy Kennedy.  I’m no fan of his policies, but I was very affected by his illness, as he is undeniably an American political icon.  His speech wasn’t particularly great – lots of liberal buzzwords, some strange syntax, and no real meat…but he looked surprisingly well, and his voice was certainly [...]

As we say goodbye to the Beijing Olympics (overall, I think, it was a Chinese success, though not without a few glitches), we say hello to the much more meaningless spectacle of the Democratic National Convention (no, I’m not being partisan – the Republican one doesn’t mean much, either). Those looking for a play-by-play, schedule-wise, [...]

…as it’s all but confirmed that Joe Biden is indeed Barack Obama’s VP choice.  Biden is a fantastic choice…for the other side.  Of course, we all know about the plagiarism, and it’s hard to take anyone with hair plugs seriously (hey, baby, I’m balding, but natural!), yet there are other, lesser known (for now) reasons [...]

TIME’s Mark Halperin is quoting two McCain sources as saying he’s settled on Mitt Romney – and also is saying bet on Biden for Obama. If this is true, I’m going to have to seriously consider sitting out this election (on a personal level – of course, I’ll continue to blog).  I hate to do [...]

An incredible amount of buzz is surrounding the most unlikely of VP picks for Barack Obama – a pick that may be only hours away: Going into the final days, Obama was said to be focused mainly on three candidates: Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Joseph Biden Jr. [...]

…and all signs seem to point to Kaine: ABC News’ Teddy Davis, Tahman Bradley, and Ayana Harry Report: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) said Tuesday that Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., list of possible vice presidential running mates “seems to be getting shorter”. “There has been a long list. It seems to be getting shorter. And [...]

I know that for Republicans and conservatives who back President Bush and Senator McCain, it is more than a little dispiriting to read almost daily now how the Iraqi government has apparently decided, whether for political reasons or our of real conviction, to all but endorse Barack Obama.  Today brought more stories in this vein: [...]

…I’m well aware that the Iraqi Prime Minister gave a boost to the Obama campaign by seemingly endorsing a quicker troop withdrawal than either Senator McCain or the Bush Administration is in favor of, and indeed, in seemingly direct contradiction of the recent joint statements of the Iraqi government and the Administration of a general [...]

So finely tuned is the public nose in the age of blogging that it detects the scent of outrage and scandal in the most innocuous of places.  The New Yorker, as you’ve no doubt heard by now, has as its latest cover a broadly satirical representation of the more far-fetched attack lines against Obama embodied [...]

At least, that’s the impression you get from following Obama’s VP vetting process. First up, Hillary: Is the so-called Democratic ‘dream ticket’ off the table? Despite speculation that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is seriously considering Hillary Clinton for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic presidential ticket, a former senior advisor to Clinton said Thursday [...]

It’s not all bad for conservatives and Republicans if Barack Obama wins…there are some very positive things about the man.  For example, he’s not Jesse Jackson: Whatever the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. said in a live microphone on Fox News, it was really, really bad, and none other than his own son seems to know [...]

Yesterday, I blogged about my relief that James Webb was out of the Obama veepstakes…but my relief is short-lived.  If there is one person in the entire world that would perhaps overtake even Webb in my least-desired category, it’s phony-baloney Mr. “Two Americas” himself, John Edwards.  Yet the possibility is raising its very ugly (ghastly, [...]

I will sleep a little easier tonight knowing that, in the extremely likely event of a Barack Obama presidency, at least I won’t have to live with James Webb as the VP: Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., long rumored to be a leading candidate for Sen. Barack Obama’s choice as his vice-presidential running mate, announced Monday [...]

So says Sarah Baxter of The Times (London, that is): ONE name has risen to the top of John McCain’s shortlist for vice-presidential running mate. Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, a trucker’s son and advocate of Republicanism for the masses, is the favourite to join his ticket, according to sources close to the McCain [...]

David Brooks in the New York Times: Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry [...]

Don’t get me wrong – I like Obama, and I don’t intend to turn this blog into a “slam of the day”. But one day after he backed off his NAFTA rhetoric, he most definitely broke a promise by forgoing public funding of his general election campaign. John McCain immediately accused him (rightly) of rank [...]