All Blog Posts from Horserace

White House press secretary Dana Perino announced this afternoon that, “the President and Mrs. Bush look forward to welcoming President-elect and Mrs. Obama to the White House on Monday afternoon. The Bushes will greet the Obamas, and then the President will visit with the President-elect in the Oval Office. Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama will meet in and tour the Private Residence. We understand that the Obama children will not be accompanying them on this visit, but we very much look forward to meeting them.”

In a statement, Obama said, “Michelle and I look forward to meeting with President Bush and the First Lady on Monday to begin the process of a smooth, effective transition. I thank him for reaching out in the spirit of bipartisanship that will be required to meet the many challenges we face as a nation.”

President Bush today cast an early ballot for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, the Associated Press reports.

The president and first lady have traveled to Texas to vote in past elections. The pair plans to be at the White House on election night this year, according to AP.

An interesting side note: In an effort to draw attention to the vote, the campaign of Barack Obama, which has repeatedly tied McCain to the unpopular Mr. Bush, emailed the AP report about the vote around to campaign reporters.

The backbiting is setting in early among some Republicans who see very little good news of late. Much of it began a couple of weeks ago when some of the conservative intelligentsia in Washington broke ranks on the John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, openly criticizing the Alaska governor.

Some Republicans were reportedly incensed over news that the party had spent $150,000 to outfit Palin and her family for the campaign (almost always via anonymous quotes, of course). The McCain campaign’s strategy has been second-guessed at every turn with no lack of hindsight advice over decisions made.

The candidate himself dipped a toe into the blame-game pool today in an interview with the Washington Times, criticizing President Bush and Republicans in congress for creating the circumstances the party finds itself in now.

“We just let things get completely out of hand,” McCain tells the paper. He had no shortage of items on his list, citing “spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously."

Of all the finger-pointing that has gone on so far, McCain’s complaints are probably the most accurate.

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President George W. Bush has no plans to participate in Republican fundraisers or political appearances between now and the presidential election, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

Spokesman Scott Stanzel tied the scheduling decision to the financial crisis.

"The President remains focused on addressing the needs of our economy and we don't expect to schedule any more fund-raisers and don't anticipate political rallies over the next 18 days," Stanzel said in response to questions from CBS News.

So far this year, Knoller reports, Mr. Bush has done 45 money events for the GOP or its candidates, raising more than $75 million dollars. All but four of the fund-raisers have been closed to press coverage.

He has not appeared at any campaign rallies this year.

The White House released the following excerpts of President Bush’s speech tonight via satellite to the Republican National Convention:

Read the whole thing here.

On Hurricane Gustav:

We are thankful that the damage in New Orleans and across the Gulf Coast was less than many had feared.

I commend the Governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas for their sure-handed response and seamless coordination with the Federal government. I thank all of the wonderful volunteers who stepped forward to help their brothers and sisters in need.

On Senator McCain Being Prepared To Make the Hard Decisions That Fall Solely to the President:

John McCain’s life has prepared him to make those choices. He is ready to lead this Nation.

We live in a dangerous world. And we need a President who understands the lessons of September 11, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again. The man we need is John McCain.

On Senator McCain’s Courage and Vision:

John McCain’s life is a story of service above self.

John is an independent man who thinks for himself. He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. ... No matter what the issue, this man is honest and speaks straight from the heart.

Last year, John McCain’s independence and character helped change history. The Democrats had taken control of Congress and were threatening to cut off funds for our troops. In the face of calls for retreat, I ordered a surge of forces into Iraq. Many in Congress said it had no chance of working. Yet one Senator above all had faith in our troops and the importance of their mission – and that was John McCain. Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his Presidential campaign at risk. He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. That is the kind of courage and vision we need in our next Commander-in-Chief.

On Americans Choosing the McCain-Palin Ticket:

I am optimistic about our future, because I believe in the goodness and wisdom of the American people. I am optimistic because I have faith in freedom’s power to lift up all of God’s children and lead this world to a future of peace.

And I am optimistic about something else: When the debates have ended, and all the ads have run, and it is time to vote, Americans will look closely at the judgment, the experience, and the policies of the candidates – and they will cast their ballots for the McCain-Palin ticket.

As John McCain’s convention gets back on track with a message of “Country First,” Barack Obama continues to insist that the Republican candidate would represent one more term of Bush Administration policies. Obama’s campaign is up with a new ad, titled, “Same.”

Announcer: “They share the same out of touch attitude. The same failure to understand the economy. The same tax cuts for huge corporations and the wealthiest one percent. The same questionable ties to lobbyists. The same plan to spend ten billion a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America.” McCain: “I voted with the president over 90 percent of the time, higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues.” Announcer: “We just can’t afford more of the same.” Watch it:

(ST. PAUL) Calculating political fallout from something as serious as a hurricane while it is bearing down on the Gulf Coast seems a little crass. But the fact of the matter is that Gustav, it’s impact and the decisions by the Republican Party on how to handle their presidential nominating convention in the middle of it could have a profound consequences as voters really begin tuning into the campaign.

Nothing symbolizes the image of the Republican Party over the past four years better than Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The devastation of New Orleans and parts of Mississippi and the perceived ineptitude of the government’s response hangs over the GOP still. So much so that it was mentioned over and over again at the Democratic convention in Denver last week.

There’s no escaping the political peril John McCain could be in as a major hurricane hits Louisiana again just as his convention is set to kick off. Anything close to a repeat of Katrina would reinforce many of the reasons why the Bush administration has sunk in approval over the past three years.

It also gives McCain an possible opportunity of sorts. Efficient reaction at the federal and state level (both guided by Republicans) would show at least that the lessons of Katrina have been absorbed. In short, it gives them the chance to get it right this time around.

The decision by McCain and the party to cancel the celebratory elements was a necessary one. Not only can Republicans afford to be seen as having a party right now, there would have been a real question as to who would have tuned in – or carried any of it. Both President Bush and Vice President Cheney were scheduled to appear tonight which clearly would not have happened even if the decision were made to go forward.

While President Bush remains highly popular among the delegates gathered here (a CBS delegate survey shows him with an 80 percent approval rating among convention goers), his low approval among the majority of voters is a drag on McCain’s campaign. Bush’s absence here will be understood by the delegates while it helps dissolve the ties to McCain’s campaign even further.

Cancellation of tonight’s events gives John McCain the opportunity to walk the walk. Sacrifice and service to the “greater good” have long been staples of McCain’s political message. His selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate signaled, among other things, McCain’s desire to run as his own man, not the party’s man. So far in this uncommon convention, he’s getting a chance to prove that further.

When The White House announced this morning that President Bush and Vice President Cheney will not be attending the Republican National Convention on Monday, as previously scheduled, the president and vice president joined a long list of Republican leaders who will be conspicuously absent in St. Paul.

Bush and Cheney are skipping the big event because of the serious threat to the Gulf Coast that Hurricane Gustav poses, but many other prominent GOPers never planned on making the trip to Minnesota, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Perhaps the biggest name of all other Republican non-attendees—California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger—had vowed that he wouldn't attend if a state budget dispute wasn't settled. The budget is still in limbo, and Schwarzenegger remains in California.

The Times reports that at least 10 incumbent senators won't attend the RNC, and only three incumbents in tight reelection races planned to be there.

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The trailer for Oliver Stone's biopic of President George W. Bush, "W," is now online. The film is expected to be released October 17th, less than three weeks before voters go to the polls to choose Mr. Bush's successor.

The movie appears to portray the young Mr. Bush as a beer-drinking, hard-partying screw up who looks chastened during a lecture from his father, George H.W. Bush.

"If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job," the elder Bush says in the trailer. "Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior."

Josh Brolin, who starred in "No Country For Old Men," portrays President Bush in the film, which also features portrayals of Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney.

It is impossible to know what, if any, impact the film might have on the presidential election. Democrat Barack Obama and other Democrats have tried to cast rival John McCain as representing a continuation of Bush administration policies, and a negative portrayal of that administration and Mr. Bush himself could feed into that narrative.

Watch the trailer below.

In the summer of 2004, JibJab burst onto the political scene with an animation mocking President Bush and John Kerry to the tune of "This Land Is Your Land." (relive it here) Even before the days of YouTube, we sent the link to all our friends and neighbors as the video spread throughout the Internet and the world, bringing some levity and cheer to the campaign (or at least the people watching it).

Now the two brothers who started the company have come out with their latest edition on this presidential race, to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'." You can watch it below, and then comment on whether it's as good as the rest of their work.



You can also go to their site and put yourself in the video.