I am so pleased that our freedom loving president has decided to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I'm sure he is relieved that he doesn't have to pretend to care about those wild ass Tibetan monks and nuns who just a short while ago were being slaughtered in the streets of Lhasa. After all, if CNN isn't paying attention, why should he?
We are, after all, into our "Let’s not be beastly to the Chinese" mode this month – despite Beijing's utter refusal to seriously assist the world in stopping the slaughter in Darfur where they hold sway with the government and continue to supply them arms. The same could be said for most hot spots in the world today where China has chosen – shall we say – a more "pragmatic" approach to international diplomacy. In other words, if the solution would harm Chinese economic interests, better to be a Sabot than pragmatist.
-- RICK MORAN
[O]n Iraq the McCainiacs have more to worry about then Obama. They are being undermined by Baghdad.
-- DAVID CORN
The Democrats may win this election battle this year. However, if they want to bring about a lasting change to the political scene, one in which a true generational realignment occurs, it's time for them to stop pretending to be Republican Lite. It's time for them to stop their bullshit moves to the center. Because for the first time in a generation or two, the electorate is fully up for grabs, and playing it safe will not bring about what Booman and others are dreaming about -- a return to the dominance of the liberal wing of the Democratic party such as FDR ushered in in 1932. Instead they will be setting themselves up for a conservative return to power sooner than any of them imagine.
-- STEVE D
All of this intrigue breeds discouragement among even those former McCain associates who do not dispute the notion that voters now might be getting an early glimpse of the messy, unstructured way in which a McCain White House might be managed. They are hard-pressed to explain why Mr. McCain tolerates this — or encourages this — or why he has trouble cutting ties with people who have not served him well over the years.
"I can’t answer the why," said John Weaver, who was one of Mr. McCain's closest advisers before being forced out in a shake-up last year. "It is just that way and for his own sake, he needs to finally, firmly decide where he wants to take this campaign."
There's a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to run afoul of the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery. . . .
No, national service isn't slavery. But it contributes to a slave mentality, at odds with American tradition. It assumes that work not done for the government isn't really for the "common good."
Like most working journalists, whenever I type seven letters — Fox News — a series of alarms begins to whoop in my head: Danger. Warning. Much mayhem ahead.
Once the public relations apparatus at Fox News is engaged, there will be the calls to my editors, keening (and sometimes threatening) e-mail messages, and my requests for interviews will quickly turn into depositions about my intent or who else I am talking to.
And if all that stuff doesn’t slow me down and I actually end up writing something, there might be a large hangover: Phone calls full of rebuke for a dependent clause in the third to the last paragraph, a ritual spanking in the blogs with anonymous quotes that sound very familiar, and — if I really hit the jackpot — the specter of my ungainly headshot appearing on one of Fox News’s shows along with some stern copy about what an idiot I am.
. . . At Fox News, media relations is a kind of rolling opposition research operation intended to keep reporters in line by feeding and sometimes maiming them. Shooting the occasional messenger is baked right into the process.
As crude as that sounds, it works. By blacklisting reporters it does not like, planting stories with friendlies at every turn, Fox News has been living a life beyond consequence for years. Honesty compels me to admit that I have choked a few times at the keyboard when Fox News has come up in a story and it was not absolutely critical to the matter at hand.
-- DAVID CARR
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