Category: The Dish

A reader writes:

We know where the photo of Obama in a turban came from. Two right-wing blogs (one of them Free Republic) posted it the weekend before Drudge did; and it was published in the tabloid National Examiner in its February 4, 2008, issue. Anybody could have sent it to Drudge; he could even have seen it himself if he was trolling the right-wing blogs for juicy material.

This has been common knowledge for quite a while now.

It’s inconceivable that the Clinton campaign would have sent it to Drudge without a guarantee from him of anonymity as to its source. What Drudge claimed is that the Clinton campaign had been sending it to other people, and one of those recipients (unidentified) had sent it to him.

It’s not clear to me whether the person who then sent it to Drudge hoped to hurt Obama or Hillary, or both. But the notion that the Clinton campaign deliberately sent it to Drudge to make Obama look bad is mind-bogglingly absurd.

By Patrick
Richelieu outlines why she would be a terrible veep choice. Marc, relying on his political spidey sense (and reporting), says the McCain camp isn’t interested. 

Clinton’s true colors? More Colombia woes here.

And ease up on the inevitable pot-kettle emails. I’m not running for president. And if you call at 3 am, it’s unplugged. As am I.

It is widely claimed that a college degree adds $1 million to lifetime earnings.  Charles Miller, head of the Dept. of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, is challenging that figure.

(Hat tip: Nick.)

Maasai Warriors dress themselves in warm attire after performing for media on April 7, 2008 in London, England. Six Maaasai warriors from Northern Tanzania will run in this weekend’s Flora Marathon in traditional dress to raise money to provide their dry village with water. By Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images.

By Patrick
Alexis Madrigal looks at the environmental impact of a regional nuclear war. It’s a small, small world.

An interview with Jim Cramer. Certainly more articulate and informed than the current president, or most other national politicians. Not that I agree with everything, but she knows her stuff.

There: I’m trying. One day at a time …

"The title, the position of chief strategist tended to be one that drew a tremendous amount of attention. And, number two, yes, I will have more time. We will continue – Penn and Schoen will continue to do the polling and I will be advising, but the net of it will still be that I will have more time than I otherwise would have had so that definitely is going to be the case," – Mark Penn, in a conference call today.

By Patrick
What Zimbabwe is doing about its world record inflation: "the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has rewarded the people of Zimbabwe with a new $50,000,000.00 bank note to reduce the number of notes they have to carry around."

Steve Coll notes an alarming SOS about the state of the military from the Army Vice-Chief-Of-Staff:

The Army is running on fumes, but Petraeus and his fellow surge advocates are driving flat out in Iraq, with no destination in sight. It hardly matters whether Petraeus would recommend keeping a hundred and thirty thousand or more combat troops in Iraq for a hundred years, or only ten. Neither scenario is plausible—at least, not without a draft or a radical change in incentives for volunteers.

The situation is much graver than the president seems to acknowledge. As if that could be a surprise by now.