Oliver Willis Every day the dumb flows like water. Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it. The requirement applies to … Read more
Who knew that the RNC would bust out the wahmbulance so soon in the 2008 campaign. And they’re going straight to legal maneuvers to squelch the ad. Funny how the party of “tort reform” always jumps to the lawyers. The ad hits a nerve. And I hope it keeps doing so (I gave to the … Read more
When I see nonsense like Newsweek’s cover about the so-called “Bubba Gap” for Sen. Obama and other members of the punditocracy saying that the path to the presidency can only be achieved by pandering to these larry the cable guy(mostly southern) conservatives I always have to roll my eyes (I also roll my eyes at … Read more
As the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s murder comes up, this is worth noting. 1983: McCain Voted Against Creating Martin Luther King Holiday. McCain voted against the Hall (D-IN) motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill to designate the third Monday of every January as a federal holiday in honor of the late civil … Read more
I’m not wild about the polling that’s been done this cycle – and clearly nobody should pay any attention to Zogby polls, but I think this Gallup poll is of note: Sen. Obama leads Sen. Clinton 52% to 42%, now I’m sure after they’ve cited these numbers before the Clinton campaign (and their blogosphere apologists) will … Read more
This ad from Mitt Romney that they released today sort of encapsulates just whats wrong with Romney. It’s fine and dandy for political ads to step outside of the box in their format, but Romney’s is the first I’ve ever seen that seems to think those bland ads for GlobalChemCorp are the sort to be … Read more
Juno: Great comic writing and not too “look at me, I’m quirky” acting (Wes Anderson, I’m looking at you and your suck movies). Not many have noted it but Allison Janey gets to bring the humor you didn’t get to see too often from the West Wing to her character. I hope Ellen Page, the … Read more
The biggest question with regard to Barack Obama’s candidacy is: Is America ready for a black president? My gut reaction, sadly, is no. But I think that Barack Obama is clearly ready to be president, and for America to truly move forward we need to elect him as our next president. Sen. Obama represents the … Read more
Lawrence O’Donnell thinks the thrice-married Giuliani will deliver the election to the Dems. When Republican primary voters discover how liberal Giuliani has been on social issues–along with how many wives he’s had and how many gay men he has lived with while waiting for a divorce to come through–they are going to abandon him faster … Read more
From May: As state forestry officials predict an unusually harsh fire season this summer, the California National Guard says equipment shortages could hinder the guard’s response to a large-scale disaster. A dearth of equipment such as trucks and radios — caused in part by the war in Iraq — has state military officials worried they would … Read more