Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Noonan defends McClellan (sort of)

By Brendan Loy

Peggy Noonan:

Leave [Scott McClellan] alone. He wrote a book. It is true or untrue, accurately reported or not. If not, this will no doubt be revealed. It is honestly meant and presented, or not. Look to the assertions, argue them, weigh and ponder. ...

The book can be seen as a grenade lobbed over the wall. Thus the explosive response. He is a traitor, turncoat, betrayer, sellout. If he'd had any guts he would have spoken up when he was in power. ... But those damning him today would have damned him even more if he'd resigned on principle three years ago. [The right]—and the administration—would have beaten him to a pulp, the former from rage, the latter as a lesson: This is what happens when you leave and talk. ...

When I finished the book I came out not admiring Mr. McClellan or liking him but, in terms of the larger arguments, believing him. One hopes more people who work or worked within the Bush White House will address the book's themes and interpretations. What he says may be inconvenient, and it may be painful, but that's not what matters. What matters is if it's true. Let the debate on the issues commence.

Bob Dole: Bob Dole is angry. Bob Dole.

By Brendan Loy

Bob Dole told Scott McClellan today that Bob Dole thinks Scott McClellan is a "miserable creature," a "total ingrate," a greedy bastard, and a poor excuse for a man. (Bob Dole, of course, knows a thing or two about manhood.)

"If all these awful things were happening," Bob Dole wrote in an e-mail to McClellan, "and perhaps some may have been, you should have spoken up publicly like a man, or quit your cushy, high profile job." That, says Bob Dole, would have taken "integrity and courage."

Instead, Bob Dole wrote, McClellan chose the path of greed. Bob Dole added that Bob Dole thinks McClellan should donate his book proceeds "to a worthy cause, something like, 'Biting The Hand That Fed Me.'"

Bob Dole also pointed out that McClellan is hardly unique in this regard. "In [Bob Dole's] nearly 36 years of public service, [Bob Dole has] known of a few like you," Bob Dole said. McClellan, says Bob Dole, is just another "miserable creature" who doesn't "have the guts to speak up or quit if there are disagreements with the boss or colleagues," but instead "soaks up the benefits of power, revels in the limelight for years, then quits, and spurred on by greed, cashes in with a scathing critique."

"You’re a hot ticket now," Bob Dole concluded, "but don’t you, deep down, feel like a total ingrate?"

According to Politico, Bob Dole "signed the email simply: 'BOB DOLE.'"

Uh-oh, now Obama's in trouble

By Brendan Loy

Ricky Martin endorses Hillary Clinton.

This weekend's schedule

By Brendan Loy

For anyone trying to figure out when exactly to tune in to Wolf Blitzer, Wolf Blitzer this weekend, here is the schedule:

Saturday: DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee meets to rule on Florida & Michigan challenges. Oral arguments begin at 9:30 AM EST. After a lunch break, RBC members will "consider and debate the challenges" in the afternoon. As many as 368 delegates -- 313 pledged, 55 super -- are at stake. More on the numbers here.

Sunday: Puerto Rico votes. The polls are open from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM EST. 55 pledged delegates are at stake. As for the "popular vote," depending on how you do the math, Hillary Clinton needs to win by more than 113,000, more than 177,000, or more than 268,000 votes to have a shot at staking any sort of arguably plausible claim on a popular-vote "victory." (Of course, the "popular vote" is inherently illegitimate, and moreover, counting every vote isn't such a good idea for Clinton anyway. But the question right now is whether she'll even have an argument, not whether it's a winning argument.)

My blogging on these events will probably be rather light, as my parents are in town this weekend.

McCain's Arab-American problem

By Brendan Loy

Will John McCain lose the presidency because of the Arab-American vote?

Arab-Americans are both very likely to vote -- their turnout is 20 percent higher than that of the general population -- and they are concentrated. Two-thirds of them live in just 10 states, including the swing states of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, Arab-Americans have made up 2 percent of the electorate in recent elections. That sounds like a small proportion, but in a close race it can make a difference. In 2000, Bush won the Arab-American vote over Gore by 7.5 percentage points. ... [This year, however,] Zogby polling has found that a strong majority of Arab-Americans now favor Obama.

(Hat tip: Sullivan.)