Energy Insanity

John Aloysius Farrell 11:31 AM ET

A Gloomy Forecast for O'Bama

CHICAGO—A spectral place, was 9009 Archey Road, tucked in a bend of the river on the South Side, with the night's mist rising. A tavern out of time.

On the walls were a faded Parnell poster, lithographs of racehorses, and portraits of the town's political thoroughbreds: Hinky Dink Kenna and Bathhouse John Coughlin, the great U.S. Sens. Paul Douglas and John Blutarsky, and assorted Mayor Daleys.

The barkeep, Dooley, was a man of stature. He poured with a liberal elbow, and was easy with his opinions.

"So, it's off to Dinver with you, to see our own dear Senator Barry be sintinc'd to the fed'rl penitentiary in Washinton," he said. "I don't envy th' man, what with the pa-apers goin' on about Putin actin' up and th' noocleer Pakistanis and Washabis flying airplanes into buildings and the oil companies having no safe place to invest their profits.

Robert Schlesinger 11:06 AM ET

When the FBI Spied on My Father

I wrote a column yesterday recounting the experience of going up to the National Archives last week to pore over my father's OSS file. (My father being the historian and JFK aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr.) As an example of how weirdly coincidental the universe is, Newsmax published a piece this week looking at another file pertaining to Dad—his FBI file, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

It recounts the various times the FBI investigated him (mostly for absurd allegations of Communist sympathies), and details some of the antipathy between my father and the reprehensible J. Edgar Hoover. As a friend of mine who E-mailed me the piece last night noted: I wish I was old enough to be called a "jackass" by Hoover.

Sam Dealey 10:51 AM ET

The Zogby Poll—Does it Mean Anything?

As Bonnie and Rob mentioned earlier, there's a lot of buzz about the new Zogby poll showing McCain ahead nationally by 5 points.

I don't put too much faith in the poll—if for no other reason than that national polls really don't mean anything.

Bonnie Erbe 05:49 PM ET

Swapping Leads in the Race?

As my colleague Robert Schlesinger posted earlier today, one new major national presidential tracking poll shows Sen. John McCain beating Sen. Barack Obama by 5 points. This is the first time this political season I've seen Senator McCain in a national poll this far ahead.

Sam Dealey 05:09 PM ET

Is Darfur Genocide?

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir today claimed that his government's brutal counterinsurgency in Darfur isn't genocide.

That's hardly a man-bites-dog story, and, to most casual western observers, Bashir's claim may seem like nonsense. Among scholars and diplomats who specialize in genocide, however, the verdict is far from clear.

Robert Schlesinger 04:59 PM ET

Sebelius vs. Clinton for the Women's Movement

I've been bugged by the stern warnings that Barack Obama selecting a female running mate not named Hillary Clinton (think Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius) would be an unforgivable insult to the hordes of Hill-ions still smarting from her primary defeat. I couldn't put my finger on why, but now I have: Isn't it insulting to women in general and Sebelius in particular to suggest that her defining political characteristic is being a woman? And should the women's movement be subsumed to one woman's movement?

Michael Barone 05:01 PM ET

Bad News for the Obama Campaign

Some bad news today for the Obama campaign.

Realclearpolitics.com yesterday had John McCain ahead of Barack Obama by 274 to 264 electoral votes, counting leaners. RCP has Obama carrying just two Bush '04 states, Iowa and New Mexico, with 12 electoral votes. McCain's lead in two other Bush '04 states, Virginia and Colorado, with 20 electoral votes is microscopic, but then so is Obama's lead in New Hampshire, with four electoral votes. And when RCP takes tossup states, with 132 electoral votes, out of the totals, Obama is ahead 228 to 178. Still...

Bonnie Erbe 04:29 PM ET

We're Child-Free, Not Childless

More American women are choosing not to have children, according to a new report from the Census Bureau.

But the Census Bureau and the mainstream media continue to refer to women without children as "childless" instead of "child-free." Child-free implies women made an affirmative decision not to have children. Childless implies women are infertile and could not have children. As one who made that affirmative decision (I had no children on purpose), I am hereby launching my own personal media campaign to make "child-free" the term of choice, not "childless."

Robert Schlesinger August 20, 2008

Zogby's Margin: McCain by 5

So, John Zogby's latest poll has John McCain up a clear 5 points over Barack Obama. What do you think, readers, is Zogby's poll an outlier or a harbinger?

John Aloysius Farrell August 20, 2008

The Conversion of John McCain

Sometimes it's not a candidate's big flip-flops—the giant midcourse corrections, the Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus conversions—that provoke a contemptuous snort.

Sometimes it's a little news item like this, from Atlanta, heralding Ralph Reed's wormy attempts to return to respectability.