If it seems like the Democratic presidential candidates are talking more about religion in this election than they have in the past, it's because they are. While there is very little focus on the candidates' individual beliefs (as there is on the Republican side), all three front runners are flexing their respective Christian credentials by making more frequent broad statements about their faith and making ecumenical appeals.
I have previously mentioned Barack Obama's controversial (i.e., radical racist) pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. While the Afrocentric church is unique, it is officially a United Church of Christ member church (Note: NY Times requires free registration). Hillary Clinton is a member of the Methodist church, but she and Bill attended Jesse Jackson's
Salon says Hillary is from Mars, Obama is from Venus. Elizabeth Edwards agrees that Hillary is not womanly enough, but insists that it is in fact her husband who is the prettiest girl in the race.
This does highlight a real problem in this race; are blacks going to assume that Obama is a better advocate for all blacks merely because of the color of his skin? Is Hillary going to be better at addressing issues important to women because she is one? Does Edwards represent whites better than Obama could, and if so, does that mean that 70% of the population should vote against Obama because he's only half white? I think the answer to all of these is no, but I fear that some may feel that way.
And while the Democrats all want to be the First Lady before being president, some of the Republicans (namely Fred Thompson) have taken hits because of who would be First Lady if they were elected. And while much of the blame can be placed on the fact that Thompson is a higher-profile candidate than Dennis Kucinich, it should be noted that he has a much younger wife as well. Just check out her myspace page, complete with Massive Attack profile song.
The good news for the Republican candidates is that none of their competitors are leading the polls. The bad news is that "none of the above" is the most popular choice.
While Rudy Giuliani is a pro-choice, pro-gay rights Republican, he does have some cultural conservative street cred. Ardent Romney supporter Hugh Hewitt recommends that he play it up.
Also, here is the Romney ad that he mentions. It is visually different than the kind of ads we've been seeing for the last few election cycles, and it does communicate his message effectively.
John Edwards appeared on Good Morning America not too long ago. Also briefly featured was a man nodding off. Sleepy, however, got disappeared at some point during the interview. Did ABC show bias in removing the sleeping audience member, or did he simply roll out of his chair and onto the floor for a nap?
And speaking of media bias, here's something that will surprise you: Americans think the MSM leans left. The networks, according to the poll, are the least-objective news sources, with NPR, Fox News, and CNN getting the highest marks, although less than 40% found any of them to be without bias.
Seemingly unaware of the potential consequences, JetBlue has aligned itself with popular lefty blog The Daily Kos. Anything political can be damaging to businesses, especially something as vitriolic and intensely partisan as Kos. It's just one more reason to fly with the industry leader in on-time arrivals, Southwest, who supports Red Friday.
The Peddlers point out that, while a withdrawal or change of strategy in Iraq is an important national security and political issue, it is also a major logistical issue.
I saw Meet the Press on Sunday, and quite enjoyed Jim Webb and Lindsay Graham going at each other. And while Webb was trying to make a point about al-Qaeda only being in Iraq because the US is in Iraq, he essentially made Graham's point for him. It's worth watching the video (for free) on NBC's website just to see Graham ask Webb if he's been to Iraq about five times in a row while Webb refuses to answer or even look at him.
Mickey says that CNN took a good idea for the Democratic debate, and then made it a bad one. As a side note, I think this is the same thing that NBC did with Last Comic Standing and Fox is doing with On the Lot. Perhaps networks, even cable news networks, feel the need to make their summer programing worse than anything in the fall.
If you are unfamiliar with XXXChurch, you may not appreciate Pete the Porno Puppet as much as I do.
If you think you've seen every Will Ferrell sketch from SNL, here's a cut sketch that didn't even make it onto one of his two DVDs.
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