Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

For the first open cycle in a long while, the religious right has had no discernable impact on the presidential race. And yet, the movement continues to believe that it’s powerful enough to start calling the shots when it comes to the Republican ticket, or at a minimum, that the religious right can veto those who fall short of its standards.

-- STEVE BENEN

Barack Obama has long been his party’s presumptive nominee. Now he’s becoming its presumptuous nominee.

-- DANA MILBANK

The span of time between candidate George H. W. Bush's "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge, and his subsequent decision as president to break his pledge by supporting new taxes, was approximately two years. John McCain has now managed to violate that same pledge in just 20 days.

-- DICK POLMAN

I note with interest today, John McCain's new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women.

-- JOSH MARSHALL

The best thing about the year in analogy is how diverse the comparisons have been. Almost simultaneously, Obama has been described as 2008's version of 49-state winner Ronald Reagan as well as its incarnation of 49-state loser George McGovern--in fact, he's been compared to every presidential candidate since World War II.

-- MICHAEL SCHAFFER

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is set to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for her California congressional seat.

-- FOX NEWS

Democratic leaders must learn that they cannot increase their majority in Congress by trampling on the political values of their own base. It’s crucial that they understand that they will not gain seats, but will lose seats, the more they accommodate the right’s agenda.

-- GLENN GREENWALD

Ted Stevens indicted. Schadenfreude overdoses expected all over the left-wing blogosphere. Possible antidotes include earnest discussions about how truly fucked we all are because of these guys.

-- JOHN COLE

Who says John McCain can't make a consistent case against Barack Obama and just tosses random aspersions based on the news of the day? Yesterday, the McCain campaign continued its longstanding efforts to frame Obama as inexperienced, a flip flopper, unpatriotic, a German national, unsupportive of the troops insufficiently committed to manned space exploration.

-- CHRISTOPHER ORR

Richard Cohen and others like him who play the role of "liberal" in the mainstream media are the reason why so many people hate liberals. They're idiots.

-- DIGBY

For four days, Sen. John McCain and his allies have accused Sen. Barack Obama of snubbing wounded soldiers by canceling a visit to a military hospital because he could not take reporters with him, despite no evidence that the charge is true.

-- MICHAEL D. SHEAR and DAN BALZ

A new Democratic administration with engorged Congressional majorities cannot let a well-intentioned desire to focus on the economy, the environment, health care, and foreign policy challenges get in the way of accountability for the crimes of the Bush administration. But that is what is likely to happen for a variety of reasons.

-- BOOMAN

You could call Obama the Teflon-coated candidate, but this would miss the fact that his slickness goes all the way to the core. What has gone unexplored until now is this: How did Barack Obama achieve superslipperiness without becoming greasy?

-- JACK SHAFER

If there is media bias toward Obama, it doesn't seem to be doing McCain much harm.

-- LOLA ADESIOYE

Cartoon by Pat Oliphant/Universal Press Syndicate