The Krile Files

Stuff like this really does wear me out.  I pretty darn inquisitive, but I highly doubt that there’s going to be some blockbuster issue in the Hillary Clinton’s tax returns.  Especially since she’s said she has no problem releasing them, if she is the nominee.  Wonder if that promise holds true if she’s the VP nominee?

Obama attacks Clinton for not releasing tax returns

Barack Obama is firing back at Hillary Clinton just hours after she picked up two big victories in the Ohio and Texas primaries, partly on the strength of a dramatic last-minute television ad challenging his readiness to answer a “3 a.m. phone call” as commander-in-chief. Minutes ago, the Obama campaign sent out a memo to reporters challenging [...]

Almost forgot about this.

New FBI privacy violations confirmed

FBI Director Robert Mueller says an upcoming Justice Department report will show the bureau improperly used national security letters to obtain personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations. Mueller says the report focuses on national security [...]

We’re talking health care plans. McCain’s, in particular. Ouch.

Cohn: Like Bush, McCain’s health care plan is a ‘disaster.’

In a new article, Jonathan Cohn, the New Republic’s resident health care wonk, examines “the disaster that is McCain’s health policy.” Cohn writes that “the reform plan he unveiled back in October” indicates that McCain will act “a little like George W. Bush” when it comes to health care policy. By embracing the same ideas [...]

Ready for the next round.  There’s a seven-week countdown to Pennsylvania, with lesser dustups in Wyoming and Mississippi along the way. This will be interesting…

Obama to Challenge Clinton on Foreign Policy in Pushback

On board his plane, tells the press corps: “Over the coming weeks we will join her in that argument. Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crisis? The answer is ‘no.’” Plus: Obama’s Axelrod: “If Sen. Clinton wants to take the debate to various places, we’ll join that debate. We’ll do it on our terms and [...]

Big ones, at some caucuses.  But, that’s the result of a turnout that exceeded all projections. I agree, huge turnout is a good thing.  But, everybody knew there would be more people than usual, but organizers didn’t seem to have their collective act together to handle the crowds.  Not close.

The Big News? Dem Voter Registration And Turn-Out Still Enormous

Democratic turnout was enormous in every state yesterday. Huge. As in ran out of ballots and had to get more, long lines going out the door huge. For a primary. In Texas, the caucuses were swamped in places that previously had seen as little as 3 or 4 people participating in past years. Voter turnout in TX blew the prior primary record out of the water by around a million voters [...]

They are a-changin’.

The Internet vs. Traditional Journalism

There is a new Zogby poll on the nation’s attitudes toward Internet vs. traditional journalism. Some highlights: 67% believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news. 32% said Internet sites are their most trusted source for news and information, followed by newspapers (22%), television (21%) and radio (15%). 75% believe the Internet [...]

Always striving to keep you informed on what’s going on with the economy, there were a number of developments today. Oil’s still above $100 a barrel.  It looks like prices at the pump nudged higher again today, at least in my neighborhood. Our fine friends at OPEC thumbed their collective nose at us today, saying they’re not going to increase output. That means there will be no pressure to reduce prices.

A trade group says the nation’s service sector contracted in February for the second month in a row.

And, oh, yes. Bankruptcy Filings Skyrocket

Americans filed for bankruptcy in growing numbers in February, buckling under the combined weight of rising energy prices, a weakening housing market and sky-high personal debts. An average of 3,960 bankruptcy petitions were filed per day nationwide last month, up [...]

Nice and friendly, weren’t they today? Bush says McCain is his man and McCain seems more than willing to accept that title.  Did you catch his victory speech last night? I heard part of it on Sirius on the way into work this morning. I thought McCain was going to nod off during his own speech! Finally, the crowd realized he was saying he had the nomination locked up and started to cheer.  Until that point, he came off like an old man who had just lost his best friend, not a man who wants to win the race for the White House.  It HAS been a long week. Already. 

John McCain: The Answer to Republican Prayers

In his acceptance/victory speech last night, John McCain made clear his foreign policy would be based on a world view that assumes a global war with radical Islam is the great calling of our time. And he was defiant on Iraq, laying out a set of benchmarks and preconditions for withdrawing so impossible that not even George Bush has had the temerity to [...]

Obama-Clinton? Hillary’s hinting. Obama says the talk is “premature”.

Clinton Hints At Sharing Ticket With Obama

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hinted at the possibility of a democratic “dream ticket” with Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking on the Early Show on CBS, Clinton said “that may be where this is headed, but we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket.” [...]

A new, and frightening, bit of information in the rumors of War with Iran. Consider yourself warned…

Bush May Fire CENTCOM Chief Adm. Fallon, Replace With Commander More ‘Pliable’ To War With Iran

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon “one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today.” Fallon opposed the “surge” in Iraq and has consistently battled the Bush administration to avoid a confrontation with Iran, calling officials’ war-mongering “not helpful.” Privately, he has vowed that an attack on Iran “will not [...]

It appears there might have been some misplaced pressure to keep this story out of the public eye.  It’s always been my experience (supported by this report) that the opposite usually happens - the story suddenly jumps to the top of the lineup, to the front page, to the Internet.

Rep. Heather Wilson Accused of Felony Vote-Buying in New Mexico; Reporter Quits After News Director Scrubs Story

Reporter Dennis Domrzalski’s terrific scoop deserves to be read in full, so I won’t quote much of it here. The short version, however: New Mexico’s ABC field producer and KKOB afternoon drive news reporter, Laura MacCallum, a 32-year news veteran, has quit her job after her story on an alleged vote-buying [...]

We went through problems with an M.E. here in Arkansas a few years ago.  Heck, the work he did is still coming back to haunt us. But, our neighbors in Mississippi appear to  have a real doozy on their hands.

Mississippi’s Medical Examiner for Hire: New Probe Underway

Dr. Steven Hayne, Mississippi’s medical examiner for hire, had his faulty forensic work exposed when two inmates, wrongfully convicted in separate child murders, were exonerated a few weeks ago after serving 15 years in prison. The Innocence Project has [...]

DCMediaGirl ain’t happy with the way America’s media is covering the campaign. She makes some good points and has a heck of a discussion underway over at the “No Quarter” blog.

There’s Got To Be a Morning After

While Susan et. al. look at the bright side of what happened last night, which in terms of sheer excitement and suspense rivaled Super Tuesday, I’ll be the skunk at the picnic and force all of you nice people to think about the so-called “press” assigned to cover this campaign and the so-called Democratic “party [...]

McCain won. Big.  Huckabee dropped out. Grab your trusty crystal ball and see if you can figure out what’s next for our former Arkansas governor.  Here’s the way the guessing is going, so far.

Mike Huckabee’s Next Stage: Television?

How does “The Mike Huckabee Show” sound? As Mr. Huckabee’s campaign plotted a concession speech on Tuesday, some analysts suggested that viewers would see the longshot Republican presidential candidate on television again very soon. On the MSNBC program “Morning Joe,” the Republican strategist Mike Murphy predicted Mr. Huckabee would “suspend his campaign, hire excellent agents, [...]

Yeah, we’ve really turned the corner in Baghdad.  It’s going just fine, thank you.

Baghdad Bureau: A Constant Fear of, What If?

Balen Y. Younis is an Iraqi employee of The New York Times. BAGHDAD — Life in Baghdad is very dangerous. At some level it resembles American action movies, with a difference that is called Death. There is nothing more awful than walking out on the road and being afraid of every car that passes by. Or any [...]

Could the Texas democratic primary/caucus system be any more complicated?  Any more screwed up? They’re saying it may be Saturday before they can sort through everything and give us definitive results. SATURDAY??!! At least we know Clinton won the popular vote in Texas. And in Ohio (double-digit win).  And in Rhode Island.  Still, the wins didn’t help that much in the race for delegates. This is just goofy.

So far, Clinton may have picked up only 2 delegates more than Obama yesterday

…She can’t win. But she can ensure that Obama is so bloodied, to use Rush Limbaugh’s description of the Clinton strategy, that Obama is damaged goods come the fall. After all, if Hillary can’t get the nomination, then nobody should. While I respect the arguments that the lengthy primary process has skyrocketed [...]

After the jump, this would explain why it’s taking so long to work through the caucus results:

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