My friend and former classmate Matt Mundy offers this analysis of Bill Kristol’s prognosticating this election season and takes him out to the woodshed. Shorter Matt: Kristol offers advice, the McCain campaign seemingly follows it and tanks in the polls, and now Kristol is criticizing the campaign for following a course of action he advocated.
Archive for October, 2008
Bill Kristol’s Punditry
Posted: October 29, 2008 in 2008 Elections, John McCain, Media, Sarah Palin, Talking HeadsTags: 2008 Elections, John McCain, Media, Sarah Palin, Talking Heads
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Palin Energy Policy Speech
Posted: October 29, 2008 in 2008 Elections, John McCain, Sarah PalinTags: 2008 Elections, John McCain, Sarah Palin
She should have done this right after the Republican convention. We are weeks beyond the point of giving major policy speeches. Palin should be focusing on making the closing arguments for why voters should elect John McCain.
Draper Blogging
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 Elections, MediaTags: 2008 Elections, Blogging, Media
GQ’s Robert Draper, who wrote the much ballyhooed story on the McCain campaign’s changing narratives that ran in the recent edition of the New York Times Sunday Magazine, is now officially a blogger. Check it out.
The Tell
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 ElectionsTags: 2008 Elections, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Republican National Committee, Republicans, Swing States, Virginia, West Virginia
The Republican National Committee buys TV time in deep-red MONTANA and WEST VIRGINIA, a sign the party is scrambling to stave off a historic landslide a week from today. “Tough environment,” one Republican official says sardonically. The McCain campaign has not officially given up on VIRGINIA but a top official concedes it is LOST, while maintaining that a PENNSYLVANIA miracle can still get Sen. McCain to 270. He and Gov. Palin will be there repeatedly before Election Day. But should they also be shoring up Nevada, now a must-win?
Update: Marc Ambinder makes a great point here when comparing the websites for the national parties. What, or rather who, is missing is as telling as what is there.
Lieberman On the Way Out as Homeland Security Committee Chair
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 Elections, SenateTags: 2008 Elections, Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, Senate
Elections have consequences, and Joe Lieberman bet on the wrong horse.
***LIEBERMAN ALSO OUT: Bres reports that Reid hopes Sen. Lieberman will “voluntarily” leave as Homeland Security Committee chairman after energetically backing McCain. We’re told he’ll be booted if not.
Expect him to defect to the Republican caucus some time after the election or at the beginning of the next Congress.
Circular Firing Squad
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 Elections, John McCain, Sarah PalinTags: 2008 Elections, Is It 2012 Yet?, John McCain, Sarah Palin
It is getting nasty inside the McCain campaign. An unidentified adviser takes a whack at Sarah Palin:
***In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.”
Update: The finger-pointing over the $150,000 shopping spree is reaching fever pitch. Palin allies are trying to toss communications adviser Nicolle Wallace under the bus. Jake Tapper has the details. This particular excerpt stands out:
At McCain HQ, senior aides rolled their eyes, unable to believe that Palin was continuing to give the story more airtime.
And some Republicans are starting to now say they should have seen this coming, since Palin has a reputation for making friends who can help her and then screwing them over.
Off With His Head
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 Elections, John McCain, October Surprise, Sarah Palin, SenateTags: 2008 Elections, Alaska, John McCain, October Surprise, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Senate, Ted Stevens
McCain says it’s time for Ted Stevens to go, but his running mate does not.
The Republican presidential ticket appears to be of two minds on whether or not convicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens should resign from the Senate. John McCain called on the longest serving Republican senator to step down today in a statement.
“It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all,” McCain said.
His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has not called on her home state colleague to resign. While the statement released by the campaign today had the McCain-Palin logo on it, it was a statement only from the Arizona senator. CNN reported Monday that Palin called the conviction a “sad day” for Alaska and said she was confident that Stevens “from this point on will do the right thing for the people of Alaska.” She did not respond when asked if she would vote for Stevens on Nov. 4.
Mixed messages during the last days of the campaign? Not a good idea.
Update: Looks like Sarah Palin figured out it wasn’t a good idea to be seen as potentially aligning herself with a convicted felon. She got with the program and called for Stevens to go.
The Worst of the Worst
Posted: October 28, 2008 in 2008 ElectionsTags: 2008 Elections, Democrats, House of Representatives, Republicans, Senate
Politico compiled this list of the 10 worst TV ads of this campaign season.
Icepicks and Nukes 