Joe Conason from Creators Syndicate

Fake Outrage Over Clark Comments for 07/03/2008

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Despite all the feigned outrage fanned by the mainstream media and the right-wing noisemakers, Wesley Clark — retired four-star general, former Supreme Commander of NATO, wounded and highly decorated veteran of ground combat in Vietnam and a military man to his core — assuredly did not denigrate the war record of John McCain when he talked about the Republican candidate on televisio ...

Updated: Thu Jul 03, 2008

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They Must Be Joking for 07/17/2008

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

An expression of outrage is the highest compliment that politicians can bestow upon a satirist. So when spokesmen for Barack Obama and John McCain echo each other and many another stuffed shirt in complaining about the current cover of The New Yorker, the magazine's editors and cartoonist Barry Blitt should accept such remarks in precisely that spirit.

From Mark Twain to Lenny Bruce and ...

Updated: Thu Jul 17, 2008

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Washington's Overrated "Old Hands" for 07/24/2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Barack Obama knows which countries border Iraq; he understands the difference between Shia and Sunni; and he is probably aware that Czechoslovakia no longer exists — but as John McCain complains, the young senator has "no military experience whatsoever." Indeed, like both of the last two presidents, Sen. Obama possesses scant credentials in national security and foreign policy.< ...

Updated: Thu Jul 24, 2008

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McCain's Oil Drilling Hoax for 07/31/2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Forced to cancel a planned visit to an oil platform off the Mississippi coast last week because of inclement weather — and the untimely leaking of hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil by a shipwreck in the vicinity — John McCain finally got his photo op at a Bakersfield derrick on July 28. Speaking on site, the Arizona senator delivered extraordinarily good news to the beleaguere ...

Updated: Thu Jul 31, 2008

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His Drilling Plan Full of Holes for 08/07/2008

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Touring America's oilrigs and nuclear plants, John McCain sometimes sounds as if he'll produce enough wind to power the nation all by himself. So strongly does his current rhetoric smell of methane — the gas emanating from manure — that he might even qualify for an alternative energy tax incentive.

The former straight talker, who once could not help but tell the truth, has fo ...

Updated: Thu Aug 07, 2008

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A Cut-and-Paste Foreign Policy for 08/14/2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The discovery that John McCain's remarks on Georgia were derived from Wikipedia, to put it politely, is disturbing and even depressing — but not surprising. Under the tutelage of the neoconservatives, who revealed their superficial understanding of Iraq both before and after the invasion, he favors bellicose grandstanding over strategic thinking. So why delve deeper than a quick Google se ...

Updated: Thu Aug 14, 2008

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Questions for Hillary's Zealots for 08/28/2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As the Democrats convene in Denver to celebrate Hillary Clinton and nominate Barack Obama, a tiny minority of her supporters continues to behave petulantly. They whine, they bluster, they agitate themselves and each other. But what is it about Sen. Clinton's repeated endorsements of her former opponent that they cannot understand? How do they honor her by undermining him?

No doubt many o ...

Updated: Thu Aug 28, 2008

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Why Bristol's Baby Matters for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Families deserve privacy about family matters, but families that want absolute privacy should stay out of politics. Sooner or later someone would have noticed the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, 17-year-old daughter of John McCain's vice-presidential pick, especially since everyone in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, seemed to know already.

The question that remains is what, if anything, her ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

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Two Bridges to Nowhere for 09/11/2008

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Is Sarah Palin the implacable pit bull of government reform, lipstick and all? The latest Republican campaign commercial pictures her in heroic terms at the side of John McCain as one of the "original mavericks," declaring that she "stopped the bridge to nowhere."

The fate of that canceled span — which would have used nearly $400 million in federal funds to conn ...

Updated: Thu Sep 11, 2008

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The "Reform" McCain Wants to Forget for 09/18/2008

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

With the markets in frightening turmoil and the public outraged by financial irresponsibility and excessive greed, John McCain has suddenly rediscovered the importance of strong, watchful government. Only six months ago, he assured the Wall Street Journal that he is generally opposed to regulation, but today he is ready to control executive compensation, defend 401k accounts from corporate pred ...

Updated: Thu Sep 18, 2008

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A Special Prosecutor for Wall Street for 09/25/2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Debate over how to resolve the nation's financial emergency is taking a salutary direction for the moment, as politicians of both parties refuse to be herded by the Bush White House into a ridiculous $700-billion swindle. Before Congress approves such a stunning expenditure to save the undeserving hides of the super-rich, they may at least create provisions for independent oversight, new regula ...

Updated: Thu Sep 25, 2008

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Making the Bailout Less Toxic for 10/02/2008

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The initial failure to pass bailout legislation reflected a political system as bereft of confidence as the financial markets. President George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had no credibility to match the arrogance of their initial demand for absolute power in distributing $700 billion of public assistance (the old synonym for welfare). Many Republicans in Congress lacked the in ...

Updated: Thu Oct 02, 2008

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Honor Won and Lost for 10/09/2008

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Nothing in the presidential campaign so far has been as instructive as its swift descent into the politics of personal destruction. Although voters have probably heard little lately that they did not already know about Sen. Barack Obama, they have learned something very important about Sen. John McCain.

Back when this contest began, McCain expressed the desire for a different kind of cam ...

Updated: Thu Oct 09, 2008

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A Bush-Style Whitewash for 10/16/2008

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

For anyone who followed the story of how and why Sarah Palin fired her state's public safety commissioner, last week's release of a legislative investigation that found she had violated state ethics statutes was anticlimactic. After all, everyone knows that she and her husband, Todd, tried to push Walt Monegan, then Alaska's public safety commissioner, to fire a state trooper named Mike Wooten, ...

Updated: Thu Oct 16, 2008

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McCain's Socialist Delusion for 10/23/2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Wherever John McCain appears on the stump in these waning days of the presidential campaign, he is always accompanied by his imaginary friend "Joe the Plumber," but it is the specter of Karl Marx that lurks just offstage.

Reverting back to the Republicanism of eons ago, when he was just a child, McCain inveighs against the "socialist" design of Barack Obama's tax plat ...

Updated: Thu Oct 23, 2008

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Sarah the Scapegoat for 10/30/2008

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Writing a post-mortem for John McCain's presidential candidacy would be premature. But if and when that moment comes next week, toxic staff infection will be listed as a primary cause of death.

Rarely has any national campaign suffered from the combination of oafish incompetence and transparent malice displayed by the little coterie of operatives who surround the Republican nominee. They ...

Updated: Thu Oct 30, 2008

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America's New Political Center for 11/06/2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

When George W. Bush looks back someday on the wreckage of the past eight years, even he may someday realize that he missed his most important political opportunity in the months after 9/11. Despite his lackluster performance on that day, Americans stood with him as the symbol of the nation, displaying a steadfast and sober unity we had not felt for decades. He betrayed us all by discarding that ...

Updated: Thu Nov 06, 2008

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Who's Afraid of a Filibuster? for 11/13/2008

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

While the ultimate occupants of three United States Senate seats are yet to be determined in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota, chances seem small that Democrats will increase their new majority to 60 seats — the supermajority that ensures against a successful filibuster. So the same Republicans who once complained about the use of that legislative weapon by the opposition now brandish it in ...

Updated: Thu Nov 13, 2008

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Why Obama Can Keep Gates for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

As Barack Obama makes his way through the transition to power, he is learning the steps of an old dance. Having promised change, he now surrounds himself with experience. Having poured scorn not only on the Bush administration but at times on the Clinton administration as well, he now welcomes those who served his Democratic predecessor, including the former first lady who ran against him. And ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

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Obama's Shrewd Choices for 11/27/2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

While Barack Obama introduced the first members of his economic team, a wailing noise could be heard somewhere in the background. That was the sound of complaining liberals, who worry that the president-elect is already surrendering the progressive moment to centrists — the kind of post-election disappointment with which they are all too familiar.

Looking over the names of the new ...

Updated: Thu Nov 27, 2008

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