Eight years ago, then Governor George W. Bush revealingly joked about his backers at the 2000 Al Smith Dinner. "This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores," Bush said, adding, "Some people call you the elites; I call you my base." With his own quip Saturday night that "$5 million" is his […]

Two days after the fact, questions continue to surround John McCain's surprisingly strong performance Saturday at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. The mainstream media and blogosphere alike are abuzz with rumors that McCain pierced Warren's so-called "cone of silence" and, more serious still, may have purloined his legendary POW "cross in the dirt" story from […]

In ways large and small, Barack Obama's visit to the Pastor Rick Warren Saddleback Church resembled a Christian taking on the lions. The audience, after all, was overwhelmingly predisposed to the Republican John McCain. To be sure, the questions posed by Warren had a purpose-driven life for the conservative agenda. And making matters even more […]

Senator John McCain may have helped investigate the Jack Abramoff affair, but the stench of the scandal continues to engulf McCain's campaign and his Republican Party. On Friday, convicted friend-of-Jack and former Ohio congressman Bob Ney was released from a Cincinnati halfway house. And on Monday, McCain will attend an Atlanta fundraiser hosted by former […]

On Saturday, August 16th, megachurch preacher and Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren will host the first joint appearance of campaign '08 by Barack Obama and John McCain. In what CNN is billing as the "Compassionate Leader Forum," Warren will lead separate conversations with Obama and McCain, who will meet on stage at the beginning and/or […]

Back in July, an envious McCain campaign blasted Barack Obama for being "presumptuous" during his tour of European capitals. That charge was not only echoed in the right-wing media, but amplified by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank. But with conflict now raging between Russia and Georgia, it is the presumptuous John McCain who is pretending […]

One of the most enduring moments of the 9/11 Commission hearings came when Condoleezza Rice casually recalled the now infamous August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief (PDB). "I believe," she said, "the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" Now almost exactly seven years later, Secretary of State Rice seems to […]

In ways large and small, CBS News continues to offer John McCain's presidential campaign a helping hand. Less than a month after Katie Couric edited out McCain's shocking confusion over the timeline of the surge in Iraq, CBS News on Monday featured Robert Kagan, not identified as McCain foreign policy adviser, as its lone analyst […]

The announcement this morning that Russia will halt its military operations in Georgia will almost certainly be followed by another. No doubt, the McCain campaign and its conservative amen corner will claim that John McCain's tough talk is responsible for it. As with the July release of Colombian hostages and the recent dip in oil […]

Back in early April, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain kicked off a week-long "Service to America" tour. Headlining that biography-building swing was a visit to Episcopal High, the ultra-elite DC area prep school McCain attended during the 1950's. But now, with Barack Obama vacationing in Hawaii, the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee […]