Questions for Dr. Retail
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 8, 2008
QUESTION: Dr. Retail, now that the Democratic presidential race has entered its long, bloody slog phase, I figured it was time to get a fresh perspective. Can you explain to me what it’s all about?
(I thought this was a blockbuster of a story – Clinton gets $100 million for setting up a $3billion uranium mine deal with a dictator. But it didn’t seem to go anywhere. Is there something I’m not seeing? Some reason it’s not a bigger story? – promoted by Ben)
After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton
January 31, 2008
By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.
(Chris Kelly is a writer on the Bill Maher show. He also writes a column on the Huffington Post. – promoted by Ben)
by Chris Kelly
TheHuffingtonPost.com
John McCain’s campaign just produced a new internet ad called “A Tale of Two Mitts.” (Get it? It’s a pun. Because “Mitt” and “City” are both words. Must be old people humor.)
Bush reminded me of a part card player. He really wanted to say mission accomplished again but didn’t dare. He so badly wants to believe that he is winning the war that he has lost all perspective. I can’t think of another time when military success has been defined in a reduction of fatalities with no other clear goal. One thing for sure, a lot of Iraqis have died and the ones with guns aren’t going away. I suspect that Romney’s long occupation or the Democratic withdrawl are going to be tricky. It is the danger that comes of starting bad business and not knowing how to finish it. At least Bush seems happy with himself. To bad..
(Remember how Arthur Miller said charisma is not making people like you, it’s making people want you to like them? It looks like Obama read the same Arthur Miller book we did – and is taking Miller’s advice to heart. Either that, or he just knows it in his bones. – promoted by Ben)
Team Obama Is Courting Everybody But the Press
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 28, 2008;
GREENVILLE, S.C. — When reporters filed onto Barack Obama’s press plane after his acrimonious debate with Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, one thing was noticeably missing amid the wine and snacks on the Boeing 737.
Hillary’s campaign tactics are causing some liberals to turn against the couple.
January 26, 2008
by Jonathan Chait
Something strange happened the other day. All these different people — friends, co-workers, relatives, people on a liberal e-mail list I read — kept saying the same thing: They’ve suddenly developed a disdain for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe this is just a coincidence, but I think we’ve reached an irrevocable turning point in liberal opinion of the Clintons.
I write this more out of sadness than anger. Bill Clinton’s ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks on Barack Obama are doing no credit to the former President, his legacy, or his wife’s campaign. Nor are they helping the Democratic party. While it may be that all is fair in love, war, and politics, it’s not fair – indeed, it’s demeaning – for a former President to say things that are patently untrue (such as Obama’s anti-war position is a “fairy tale”) or to insinuate that Obama is injecting race into the race when the former President is himself doing it.
I like Keith Olbermann as much as the next guy. He certainly is the only news guy on TV with even a modicum of independence from corporate spin. But we progressives fall in love with him at our peril. While it’s fun to watch him lecture Bush on his incompetence while all the other anchors hem and haw and spout administration talking points, it’s impossible not to notice that Olbermann shills for a corporate power structure that’s a little bit hipper than the Republican country club Bush boosters – but no less sychophantic when it comes to getting in good with the winning team.
Any other candidate who went around selling “change” would be a total joke to me. But, somehow, I believe Barack. Or, not exactly believe him…but support him DESPITE his rhetoric. As if I think I understand the guy on a deeper level and realize he’s not talking to me when he spouts that infantile bullshit about “change.”
OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Democrats’ Fairy Tale
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
Published: January 14, 2008
“Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.” Thus spoke Bill Clinton last Monday night, exasperated by Barack Obama’s claim that he – unlike Hillary Clinton – had been consistently right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) on the Iraq war.