Posts by Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the former lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, Crooks & Liars, Salon.com’s War Room, Political Wire, and Seven Days.

Fox News: 'McCain's TV Commercials Contain ... Out-Right Lies'
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on September 5, 2008 at 2:01 PM.

We talked the other day about a surprising Washington Post editorial, which criticized John McCain's demonstrably false claims about Barack Obama's tax policies. Hiatt & Co., hardly a reliably liberal bunch, didn't pull any punches, concluding that "McCain's ads on taxes are just plain false," and noting his campaign's message is peddling a "phony, misleading and at times outright dishonest" line. The Post indirectly noted that candidates shouldn't "outright lie" about each other's policy positions.

How transparent are McCain's bogus claims? Even Fox News has noticed. Consider this report from Major Garrett:

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Main Message of the RNC? The GOP Loathes Itself
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on September 4, 2008 at 5:41 AM.

Going into their convention, the Republican Party faced a rather daunting challenge. The nation wants change, and a conservative Republican president has been in office for eight years. He's failed miserably, and the former head of the NRCC recently compared the Republican brand to dog food. It's similar to the predicament facing the party in 1992.

What to do? If the last couple of nights are any indication, the GOP has decided to simply pretend that they haven't been in power for most of the decade.

Three days into the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the G.O.P. has settled on a message: "Washington is not working." The phrase is included in virtually every speech and every statement in St Paul.

We agree completely that Washington is in desperate need of renewal and reform. We're not even going to quibble about the fact that Barack Obama said it first. The problem is that American voters have yet to hear -- from John McCain or his warm-up acts -- any serious ideas on what, exactly, is wrong with Washington, apart from the fact that a Democrat might win the White House, never mind how to truly fix it.

The difficulty for the Republican ticket in talking about change and reform and acting like insurgents is that they have been running Washington -- the White House and Congress -- for most of the last eight years.

Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, was a combative and witty relief at a torpid convention. But it was bizarre hearing the running mate of a 26-year veteran of Congress, a woman who was picked to placate the right-wing elite, mocking "the permanent political establishment in Washington."

And we couldn't imagine what Mitt Romney was thinking when he denounced "liberal Washington" and then, at the convention of the party that brought you unimpeded presidential spying, declared: "It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!"

Watching the speeches, and the contortions Republicans have to go through to avoid mentioning the current president (and ostensible head of their party), it's like getting stuck in a "Twilight Zone" episode. The multi-millionaire former mayor of New York railed against "cosmopolitans." The multi-millionaire, Harvard-trained, former governor of Massachusetts railed against "eastern elites." Just 48 hours after the party's nominee insisted the convention would be less partisan, we're bombarded with the most ugly and nasty partisanship of any party gathering in years.

Welcome to The Ironic Convention, 2008.

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Palin was a Member of Fringe Alaskan Secessionist Party
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on September 2, 2008 at 10:02 AM.

What may prove to be the single most damaging angle to Sarah Palin's role on the Republican Party ticket? There are quite a few contenders (ethics scandal, earmarks, inexperience, outside-the-mainstream views), but following up on Hilzoy's item from last night, Palin's association with the Alaska Independence Party might be the most politically detrimental.

It's practically impossible to make a "Country First" argument when your running mate is affiliated with a political party that puts country second.

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

"We are a state's rights party," Clark -- a self-employed goldminer -- tells ABC News. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."

For all the talk about Barack and Michelle Obama's patriotism, John McCain's running mate was a member of a political party that liked the idea of seceding from the United States altogether. It's the kind of idea that would have been more common in the 1850s.

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McCain Campaign Spins Sarah Palin's Teen Daughter's Pregnancy
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on September 1, 2008 at 10:22 AM.

Adding a coda to some speculation about Sarah Palin's family life, this seems to be getting a fair amount of attention today.

The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

Now, there are different schools of thought on this, but I'm very much inclined to think a politician's kids are entirely off-limits for public scrutiny. Bristol Palin's pregnancy has no political relevance whatsoever.

I can't help but notice, though, that the McCain campaign emphasized the fact that she "made the decision on her own to keep the baby."

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Is the Love Affair Over? McCain Gets Combative With Reporters
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on August 28, 2008 at 2:54 PM.

John McCain became a media darling by offering extraordinary access to campaign reporters. The candidate and the journalists would spend hours hanging out on a bus, enjoying the gabfests, on and off the record, about any subject that came to mind. The media ate it up, and rewarded McCain with the kind of fawning, sycophantic coverage most politicians can only dream of.

Asked during the primaries if he'd maintain his signature style if he got the Republican nomination, McCain told reporters, "You think I could survive if I didn't? We'd never be forgiven." McCain even had a sofa installed on his plane, in order to make his chats with the media more relaxed.

That was, of course, before Karl Rove's team took over the McCain campaign operation. Howard Kurtz recently had a good item detailing the remarkably curtailed access the senator now offers reporters, and the ways in which McCain replaced "straight talk" with stale talking points. To see just how dramatic a transformation this has been, take a minute to read this fascinating interview between McCain and Time's James Carney and Michael Scherer:

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McCain's Ad Scam: Why Pay For What the Media Will Do For Free?
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on August 27, 2008 at 11:14 AM.

Just about every day, the McCain campaign releases a new "ad," which is released to the media along with a vague promise that the commercial will air somewhere, at some point. Cable networks, predictably, run the ad over and over again, for free, as part of their coverage of the campaign. This has been especially true this week, with a series of McCain campaign "ads" featuring Hillary Clinton.

The WSJ's Aaron Rutkoff noted that this is part of a well-executed scam that the news networks keep falling for.

That doesn't mean these McCain ads won't be seen by voters. The national media, which has its sensors tuned to any signs of Clinton-Obama drama in Denver, has readily amplified the messages. "These were basically video press releases," says CMAG's Evan Tracey. McCain's Hillary-related ads are "designed to get under Democrats' skin in Denver and designed to get into the convention coverage."

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Veteran Republican Rep Shreds GOP at Dem Convention; Media Yawns
Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly on August 26, 2008 at 9:00 AM.

Last night, DDay asked a very reasonable question: "If a 30-year Democrat spoke at the RNC, excoriated his former party, and endorsed the Presidential candidate of the opposite party, would the media cover it?"

DDay was referring, of course, to former Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa, a respected, long-time Republican lawmaker who not only endorsed Barack Obama, but appeared at the Democratic convention last night to urge others to follow his lead.

This development barely generated any attention at all. When Zell Miller appeared at the Republican convention, it was a key development. When Joe Lieberman, who isn't even a Democrat anymore, announced his own appearance at the GOP convention, this was a major story. Some former Democratic delegate in Wisconsin moved inexplicably from supporting Clinton to backing McCain, and her switch is treated as exceedingly important.

Leach, however, is getting the short shrift. He's a credible, serious guy, who was part of the House Republican caucus for decades, and this year, Leach concluded that Obama is the leader the nation needs.

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Money Bags Alert: McCain Unsure of How Many Houses He Owns
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 21, 2008 at 9:34 AM.

Throughout the campaign, there have been various trivialities that have taken on enormous political significance. Nearly everyone can no doubt rattle more than a few examples off the top of their heads -- haircuts, arugula, bowling scores, lapel pins, etc.

But I have a hunch not one of these is as humiliating as this one.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think -- I’ll have my staff get to you," McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. 'It’s condominiums where -- I’ll have them get to you.'

It’s one thing to be so extraordinarily wealthy that you own multiple homes. It’s another to be so extraordinarily wealthy that you can’t even remember how many homes you own.

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McCain Campaign Inadvertently Stirs Nerd Army
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 21, 2008 at 4:01 AM.

When the McCain campaign unveiled its now-infamous Spears/Hilton ad, the NYT's editorial board, like every other sensible political observer, criticized it. Michael Goldfarb, McCain's official in-house blogger, responded by comparing the Times' editors to "the average Daily Kos diarist sitting at home in his mother's basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons."

This week, after questions arose about the veracity of a McCain anecdote from his days as a prisoner of war, Goldfarb went back to the well.

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

After the first insulting comment, Goldfarb backed away, while sticking to the vernacular: "If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American."

This led my friend Adam Serwer to raise an excellent point:

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Why Rachel Maddow Getting Her Own Show Matters ... A Lot
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 20, 2008 at 9:26 AM.

I'm very rarely encouraged by any of the decisions made by major news outlets. Yesterday afternoon, however, was a spectacular exception.

Rachel Maddow has been sounding off about politics on MSNBC so often she might as well have her own show.

And now she does.

The liberal commentator and Air America radio host, who has become a breakout star for the cable channel during the presidential campaign, is taking over the 9 p.m. slot following Keith Olbermann, whom she often subs for on "Countdown." Olbermann broke what he called a "fully authorized leak" yesterday on the left-wing Web site Daily Kos. Dan Abrams, the former MSNBC general manager who had been hosting "Verdict" at that hour, will continue as NBC's chief legal correspondent, become a "Dateline" contributor and serve as a daytime anchor for MSNBC.

A recent profile of Rachel in the Nation noted, "Maddow didn't get here by bluster and bravado but with a combination of crisp thinking and galumphing good cheer. Remarkably, this season's discovery isn't a glossy matinee idol or a smooth-talking partisan hack but a PhD Rhodes scholar lesbian policy wonk who started as a prison AIDS activist."

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Why are Corporate Media Giving Fat Paychecks to Former Bush Aides?
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 19, 2008 at 7:31 AM.

I’m not surprised Dan Bartlett is going to one of the networks; I’m surprised Dan Bartlett didn’t go to one of the networks sooner. (via TP)

Former Counselor to President Bush, Dan Bartlett, has joined CBS News as a political analyst. Bartlett will provide on-air analysis on a variety of political issues, “including at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and beyond,” according to the press release.

Said CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus, “We’re very pleased to have Dan Bartlett join our team. We now go into the final stages of this fascinating political season with two analysts — Dan and Joe [Trippi] — who have had unique and extensive hands-on experience in major political campaigns and government.”

This is the latest part of a strange phenomenon of rewarding the Bush gang with high-profile opportunities at major media outlets. The Bush White House has been, for lack of a better word, a disaster for the country. From a journalistic perspective, these guys have been a nightmare — embracing almost comical levels of secrecy, propaganda, and media manipulation.

And yet, the moment presidential aides leave the West Wing, media outlets jump at the chance to put them on the payroll:

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More McCain Plagiarism?
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 18, 2008 at 12:02 PM.

In December, when most of the leading presidential candidates were releasing holiday-themed ads, John McCain -- who's "reluctant" to talk about his service during Vietnam -- was able to combine two messages in a single campaign commercial: "One night, after being mistreated as a POW, a guard loosened the ropes binding me, easing my pain. On Christmas, that same guard approached me, and without saying a word, he drew a cross in the sand. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas."

It's a story McCain has not only put in his ads, but has also repeated for several years, including over the weekend, at the forum at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church.

Yesterday, however, questions arose about its veracity:

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McCain's 'Cone of Silence' Not So Quiet
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 18, 2008 at 8:43 AM.

Before the candidate forum at the Saddleback Church got underway on Saturday night, the Rev. Rick Warren explained that both candidates would get the exact same questions. Barack Obama would go first, and John McCain had been "safely placed ... in a cone of silence."

As it turns out, that's not quite right.

Members of the McCain campaign staff, who flew here Sunday from California, said Mr. McCain was in his motorcade on the way to the church as Mr. Obama was being interviewed by the Rev. Rick Warren, the author of the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life."

The matter is of interest because Mr. McCain, who followed Mr. Obama's hourlong appearance in the forum, was asked virtually the same questions as Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain's performance was well received, raising speculation among some viewers, especially supporters of Mr. Obama, that he was not as isolated during the Obama interview as Mr. Warren implied.

Nicolle Wallace, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, said on Sunday night that Mr. McCain had not heard the broadcast of the event while in his motorcade and heard none of the questions.

"The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous," Ms. Wallace said.

Now, I have no idea if McCain heard any of the questions, or if anyone on his staff gave him a heads-up on what to expect. The McCain campaign hasn't exactly operated with a high level of integrity, but we'll probably never know for sure. The Obama campaign is reportedly "not pursuing" this and I doubt it's a "story" with legs.

That said, I can't help but notice that Nicolle Wallace, a veteran of Karl Rove's shop, responded to a question about this by reminding us that McCain is "a former prisoner of war."

I'm afraid the campaign took a right turn at embarrassing, and is headed straight for ridiculous.

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WTF? McCain Thinks Georgia is the 'First Serious Crisis' in Post-Cold War Era
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 15, 2008 at 11:04 AM.

Once in a while, the depth of John McCain's foreign policy confusion stops being funny, and starts getting scary.

For those of you who can't watch clips online, McCain told an audience at the Aspen Institute yesterday, "My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War. This is an act of aggression."

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Democratic Convention Alert: Clinton to be Put in Nomination
Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report on August 15, 2008 at 5:02 AM.

Hillary Clinton's recent talk about "catharsis" was in large part about having her name being placed in nomination during the Democratic National Convention. It's largely a symbolic move, but it appears that's precisely what's going to happen.

The decision was reached this week, according to Democratic officials, and will be announced later today. It comes after long negotiations on both sides, with many backers of Mrs. Clinton vigorously pushing for her candidacy to be validated by giving her delegates the chance to support her through a roll call vote.

For Democrats inside the convention center in Denver, as well as the television audience at home, it could create some interesting moments. After the state-by-state roll is tallied, Mrs. Clinton is expected to turn over her cache of delegates to Senator Barack Obama.

So how will Mrs. Clinton, who is a superdelegate herself, vote? Associates say she will throw her lot behind Mr. Obama and ask her supporters to follow suit. To see if it unfolds as the Obama campaign hopes -- free of acrimony -- tune in on Wednesday, Aug. 27.

According to the various reports, this wasn't exactly the result of a "negotiation," per se, but was simply the move both camps saw as the right way to go. A Democratic Party operative familiar with convention plans told CNN that the Obama campaign hopes the move will bring "peace in the kingdom."

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