Bird’s-Eye View

The U.S. Senate passed a foreclosure rescue bill 83-9, but President Bush is threatening a veto.
It’s a convoluted bill, and I’m going to focus on one aspect. From the Associated Press:
Congressional leaders also are divided on how high to place loan limits that apply to government mortgage insurance and financing. The Senate bill sets those […]

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As Aerosmith once said, “I’m back in the saddle, again!” Had a couple of nice days off, and I see the political arena has gotten itself in a frenzy.
Some random thoughts:
Obama foregoes public financing
I spent a couple of days with close friends in York County. One of them - mother of two, college educated, someone I […]

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Former Gov. Tom Ridge said on Fox News this morning he would consider becoming Republican John McCain’s running mate if the presumptive nominee asked him.
There are two reasons why I think Ridge won’t become the vice president pick.
First, Ridge is pro-choice on abortion, and if you thought the conservative wing of the GOP is unhappy […]

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It is waaaaaaay too early to make any definitive conclusions about November based on a poll in June, but …
The results are part of the Quinnipiac University poll conducted simultaneously in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania asking likely voters their opinions of 2008 presidential hopefuls.
Sen. Obama, who holds a 52 to 40 percent edge over Sen. […]

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Andrew Romano from Newsweek explains why he thinks calling John McCain “McBush” or “McSame” just ain’t right:
And as any objective observer will admit, there’s simply no way McCain would ever “carry out a third Bush term.”
Fact is, he couldn’t–even if he wanted to. According to the Cook Political Report, the Democratic Party is poised to […]

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John McCain sat down with Newsweek to talk about the general election against Barack Obama. Here are some excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Sir, Senator Obama is a hugely gifted politician. This is a brutal year on a clinical level for any Republican to be running.

McCain: Umhmm.
So what’s the strategy? How do you overcome those two things?

Well, the strategy […]

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Obama just wrapped up his speech in Minnesota. Spent much of the start listing Hillary Clinton’s credentials, which to me seemed as if it was he and not Clinton tonight making the case for her to be the vice presidential nominee.
The man’s an incredibly gifted speaker who knows how to seize a moment (see his […]

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Caught this in a transcript of Dana Milbank’s chat with Washington Post readers. Thought you might be interested:
Silver Spring, Md.: Wasn’t the McClellan book subject to pre-publication review by the White House? If it was, then the White House is lying about being surprised about ts contents. (That would not surprising.)
Dana Milbank: I am shocked […]

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Time’s Michael Scherer provides an interesting analysis about how modern-day White House hopefuls become president:
The conventional wisdom in Washington D.C. has long been that George Bush beat John Kerry in 2004 not by winning, but by making Kerry lose. As conservative activist Grover Norquist once told me, Bush would have lost if he ran against […]

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There’s an Associated Press story coming out about an interview Politico.com and Yahoo! had with President Bush. In it, the president said he gave up golf in 2003 so as not to offend the families of Iraq War casualties.
“I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal,” he said in an interview […]

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