Is this politically prudent?

3 comments May 12th, 2008

John McCain gave a SPEECH today on climate change, seeking to distance himself from President Bush on this issue and calling for new limits on greenhouse-gas emissions.

I can’t figure the upside for McCain here.  I don’t think he can out-green Barack Obama in the fall campaign, and he’s running the risk of alienating the sizable portion of the Republican base comprised of global-warming deniers.

In fact, in the new TV spot below, he refers to those skeptics as an “extreme” element that “denies the problem even exists.” Is he asking for trouble?

I guess I’ll just have to give him credit for saying the right thing, politics be damned. (No! What am I saying?  It’s never politics be damned. It must be a strategy of some kind, a pitch for independents or something.)

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/WuRHRRYHKIY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

And the winner is…

3 comments May 12th, 2008

MoveOn, a liberal group that has endorsed Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, sponsored a competition in which a panel of 24 judges selected the best from among 1,100 pro-Obama video spots.

The winner was this effort, which features an Obamacan — that is, a Republican who’s backing Obama:

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Bush and McCain support the troops, right? Well, not necessarily

3 comments May 12th, 2008

 

The American Legion has COME OUT in favor of Democratic Sen. Jim Webb’s bill to expand benefits for returning veterans.

President Bush opposes the measure, and John McCain has resisted Webb’s entreaties to co-sponsor the bill.

Barack Obama CRITICIZED McCain’s posture on the matter in a speech today in West Virginia.

I wonder if McCain’s reluctance has anything to do with the fact that Webb is said to be on Obama’s short list of possible running mates.  But no, he wouldn’t put partisan politics ahead of the interests of veterans, would he?

The Long Goodbye

1 comment May 12th, 2008

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What if Hillary had moved back to her native Illinois after the White House years?

Add comment May 12th, 2008

 

Hendrick Hertzberg of The New Yorker SAYS Barack Obama likely would still be a state senator rather than a presumptive presidential nominee if Hillary Clinton had returned to her native Illinois after she and her husband left the White House.

POSTSCRIPT: HERE’s another early post-mortem on Hillary’s presidential campaign.