The Jed Report on The Huffington Post

Expectations Rising For Sarah Palin's Debate Performance

2008-10-01T15:36:23Z

ABC captures what seems to be a newly emerging CW on Sarah Palin's debate prospects, at least among savvy political journalists. Jake Tapper:

it is a mistake to think that the Gov. Sarah Palin who you've seen in recent interviews is the one who will show up for the debate tomorrow night.

As Kate Snow nicely illustrated on Good Morning America this morning, Palin was quite impressive in her 2006 gubernatorial performances.

Here's Kate Snow's piece:

Tapper also cited the video I put together from Palin's previous debates, which he said "show her to be pretty on the ball -- sharp, concise, smart."

Update: Andrew Sullivan says the real test for Palin is a press conference.

She can debate when she knows what she's talking about...She can follow a script, she can repeat canned answers. We know that. What we need to find out is if she knows anything about national and international policy issues. Only a press conference will do that.

Headlines You Don't Want To See...

2008-10-01T15:21:28Z

...at least not if you're John McCain:

Age becomes part of the equation: The best news for McCain may be that he has already lived past 70

Oversensitive McCain?

2008-10-01T14:58:43Z

Jonathan Martin:

McCain's campaign was apparently expecting Obama to toss out more red meat today because they put out a statement that began: "As Americans teeter on the edge of economic crisis, Barack Obama continued attacking John McCain today."

Obama only mentioned McCain's name once.

The Great Communicator

2008-10-01T03:46:50Z

Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday in Reno, Nevada reminded me just how nice it would be to finally have a president who is able to convey his ideas.

If you have a few minutes, it's worth watching. Barack was at his best, and it'll fire you up for these last 34 days. You might even find yourself daydreaming about what it's going to be like when he's president -- if we manage to elect him.

We gotta' win this thing. We're gonna' win this thing.

Read more: Video, Barack Obama, Politics News

CNN: Sarah Palin Has Never Seen Russia From Alaska

2008-10-01T02:55:41Z

Just when you thought the whole "I can see Russia from Alaska" thing couldn't get any funnier...CNN's Gary Tuchman delivers the goods: it turns out that Sarah Palin has never seen Russia from Alaska.

Tuchman went up to the part of Alaska from which you can actually see Russia, a remote island called Little Diomede located just 2.4 miles from its Russian twin, Big Diomede.

It turns out Gary Tuchman's trip to Little Diomede sets him apart from Sarah Palin -- because she's never actually been there, nor has she set eyes on its neighbor in Russia.

Here's the video of Tuchman's report:

Tuchman says that only 150 people live on Little Diomede, and that the town of Diomede has no streets and no cars. The poverty rate is over 40%, there is no television, and the only practical way to reach it is by helicopter. Anchorage (near Palin's hometown) is 550 miles away.

No Alaskan governor has ever visited Little Diomede, though indicted U.S. Senator Ted Stevens has made the trip. The town's residents barely knew who Palin was, and one of them didn't know she was the VP nominee.

It's going to be fun watching McCain-land spin this one, and it's going to be even more fun watching Tina Fey parody it.

Why Sarah Palin Is A Better Debater Than You Think

2008-10-01T00:17:57Z

Sarah Palin might not give a good interview, and John McCain's advisers might not trust her to give a press conference, but in a highly structured debate like the one we are going to see on Thursday night, she has the ability to be dominant.

Because the format allows for very little give-and-take between Palin and Joe Biden, her "values"-oriented debating style stands a good chance of succeeding. The central feature of her debate style is that rather than getting bogged down in facts and specifics, she instead says what she is for and what she is against using terms like "healthier," "stronger," "more prosperous," and "fairer."

Andrew Halcro, who has debated her, explains his experiences debating Palin:

I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times. And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality. Against such charms there is little Senator Biden, or anyone, can do.

That sounds like a backhanded compliment, and perhaps it is, but that doesn't change the fact that Palin's debating style works, as you can see for yourself in this video that I edited together.

For the video, I looked at her past debates and randomly grabbed six answers that I thought were pretty good. These weren't cherry-picked answers, they were just the first six answers that I thought she handled effectively. (I only rejected one answer in which I felt she was too defensive about her experience.)

Given the debate's format on Thursday night, I expect Palin will do just fine. I will be quite surprised if she gets caught off guard or has a moose-in-headlights moment.

I don't think she'll display much in the way of specifics, but she will get the values-oriented language right, and that should be good enough at least for a draw, and that will mean she beats expectations.

Of course, the real political issue in the debate isn't whether or not Palin meets or beats expectations, it's whether she is able to make a case for John McCain that John McCain hasn't yet been able to make for himself.

That's something no vice presidential candidate in history has been able to do, and should serve as a reminder that in the end, this election is still between Barack Obama and John McCain.

McCain Urges Bush To Spend $1 Trillion On Bailout -- Without Congressional Approval

2008-09-30T22:03:55Z

I'm not making this up. John McCain today urged the Bush Administration -- on more than one occasion -- to immediately and uniliterally spend $1 trillion buying up home mortgages.

I was watching live when he made the proposal this morning, and it seemed like such a staggeringly insane idea that I assumed he couldn't be serious. He couldn't think that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without asking Congress for permission...could he?

But then I saw his economic adviser try to back the idea up, and then I saw McCain make the proposal again during the NBC Nightly newscast. So he's serious. He really thinks that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without talking to Congress, without seeking approval, without building any sort of consensus -- without getting any protections whatsoever for taxpayers.

Update: Here's video of him making the proposal on three separate occasions Tuesday.

End update.

::: ::: :::

This is the same John McCain who just a couple of days ago was railing on the $1 trillion price tag of the bailout (when it was actually $700 billion).

But just a few days after railing against the unbridled power of government, McCain now seems to envision the presidency as a dictatorship. He now thinks that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without allowing anyone to ask any questions -- and he supports doing it just one day after the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bailout.

This won't suprise anyone on the left. The question I have is this: when are conservatives going to wake up and realize that despite all his bluster about being a conservative, the Republican nominee for president has proposed the single largest expenditure in the history of this nation -- and that he's proposed that it be made without the approval of Congress?

Palin Says She's "Everyday Working Class" Despite $250K Income, 5 Properties, 2 Boats, And 1 Plane

2008-09-30T19:43:49Z

This defines being out of touch. On Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Sarah Palin calls herself "an everyday working class American" -- but the truth is that her family income is $250K and she owns five properties, two watercraft, and an airplane.

Here she was on Hewitt's show:

Todd and I, heck, we’re going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don’t like the idea of just an everyday working class American running for such an office.

The Washington Times (who'd have thunk it?) puts the lie to her claim:

Their combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year was five times the median household income for Wasilla's 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a half-million-dollar, custom-built home on a lake that is worth three times the average of other homes in town. For the future, they also have a 401(k) retirement account compliments of Todd Palin's years as an engineer with oil giant BP.

So I guess the question is: who's more out of touch, Palin or McCain?

Unearthed Video: McCain Pushed Bush Iraq War Agenda Two Months After 9/11

2008-09-30T16:58:54Z

Recently unearthed video shows that just two months after 9/11, John McCain was not only fully aware of the Bush Administration's Iraq War Agenda, but also that he actively helped make the argument for war.

In an interview broadcast November 28, 2001 on ABC News Nightline, McCain:

* Said that the Bush Administration would build a case for military conflict with Iraq, and expressed his support for such action

* Advanced false claims made by the Bush Administration about the threat of Iraqi WMD

* Connected Iraq with 9/11 by repeating the false claim that 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta had met with Iraq intelligence authorities in Prague before 9/11

Here's the video:

The Mother Of All Expectation Games

2008-09-30T14:24:52Z

First rule of thumb in presidential politics: if a GOP operative is saying it, it's not true.

That's why I'm disinclined to put much credibility in the WSJ's article today about GOP fears that Palin won't be able to pull off the Thursday debate.

The article doesn't feature a single GOP operative speaking in Palin's defense. Meanwhile, the article cites several examples of Plain "flubbing" mock debates, whatever that means.

Those leaks have to be coming from McCain-land. You never see that kind of stuff coming from a campaign unless it's planned, and their plan couldn't be more obvious. They are playing pre-debate spin wars, and they are doing it big time, workign feverishly to lower expectations for Palin's performance.

I'll give them some credit: they have done a great job of lowering expectations. They've made lemonade out of the CBS interview lemon, and it just might pay off in some small degree.

While there is always a chance Palin could gaffe during the debate, it's far more likely that she will do just fine, in large part because the debate's format is so rigidly structured (a fact that should also benefit Joe Biden, who is a gaffe-monster himself).

But even though they've managed to lower expectations, they haven't really dealt with the fundamental problem that they face, which is that at a time when the McCain campaign needs a game-changing moment, the best they can hope for in the debate on Thursday is that it isn't a calamity.

Fortunately for them, it probably won't be a calamity, but even if Palin wins the debate it won't mean much for the campaign. Remember Lloyd Bentsen's demolition of Dan Quayle in 1988? Take a look:

I'd be surprised as anybody if Palin won the debate as thoroughly as Bentsen did in 1988, but we all know what happened in 1988. (Similarly, if Biden wins like Bensten it won't change much.)

On the other hand, if Palin turns in a debate performance worthy of James Stockdale in 1992 (Ross Perot's "what am I doing here" running mate) McCain would suffer real demage, damage that no amount of pre-debate spin can counteract.

Again, a repeat of Stockdale 1992 probably isn't in the cards.

Most likely, on Friday morning we'll probably be looking at a race that's fundamentally unchanged. If it is changed, however, it won't be a good thing for McCain.

Blunt Walks It Back: It Wasn't Pelosi After All

2008-09-30T06:32:35Z

Maybe it was Barney Frank's mockery, or maybe it was just an impulsive decision to tell the truth, but Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, the lead House GOP bailout negotiator is backpedaling his claim from Monday that Nancy Pelosi's floor speech turned had led to GOP defections.

Blunt told ABC News that only "one or two" Members could have been affected by Pelosi's speech, adding "I think you don't want to give too much blame to that speech."

Politico also has an interesting piece up about how John Boehner's job may now be in jeopardy. What struck me most was this paragraph:

“You can’t break their arms, you can’t put your whole relationship on the line, ask them to do something that they do not want to do and have that member regret that vote for the rest of their life,” Boehner said. “Twenty years from now, nobody will care how anyone voted except those members. You can’t do that. You just can’t.”

No wonder the vote failed. Not only are they rabid right-wingers, but their leader doesn't even really think it matters much anyway.

McCain: I'll Veto Earmarks, But I Won't Vote Against Them

2008-09-30T06:09:49Z

Just two days after again promising the nation that he would veto every single spending bill with earmarks to cross his desk, John McCain said on Sunday that he would have voted for an appropriations bill containing two thousand earmarks.

The video is below, along with his oft-repeated veto promise.

It raises the question: if McCain can't even vote against it, how will he find the courage to veto it?

$1.2 Trillion, Lost

2008-09-29T22:57:48Z

Update: It's actually $1.2 trillion, but what's $100 billion among friends?

Original post: Because a bunch of Republicans got pissed off at Nancy Pelosi (or, more likely, because they are rigidly conservative), the market lost $1.1 trillion. Aravosis runs through the numbers.

The Dice Thrower Vs. The Poker Player

2008-09-29T21:39:03Z

Barack Obama, earlier today in Colorado, raising John McCain's penchant for casino gambling for the first time:

I read the other day that Senator McCain likes to gamble. He likes to roll those dice. And that's okay, I enjoy -- making a confession here, I enjoy a little friendly game of poker myself once in a while, but the one thing I know is this: we can't afford to gamble on four more years of the same disastrous economic polices that we've had had the last eight.

Here's video, with a couple of extras thrown in:

Something tells me McCain's staff ought to let him go back to playing craps -- I think they'd rather have him gamble with Cindy McCain's money than what he's doing, which is gambling with his chances of getting elected president.

Losing It: McCain Camp Goes Ballistic, Blames Obama For Crash

2008-09-29T16:35:28Z

Moments after the Dow Jones largest single-day point drop ever, the McCain campaign went on the warpath, blaming Barack Obama for the crash of the bailout plan.

Appearing on MSNBC, McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said that Obama had "failed the American people."

MSNBC's David Shuster did an admirable job of forcing Holtz-Eakin to defend his absurd statement, a feat the McCain aide was unable to accomplish. Watch:

After Hotlz-Eakin's appearance, the Obama campaign released a statement slamming McCain's knee-jerk partisan response:

This is a moment of national crisis, and today's inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington. Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to join together and act in a way that prevents an economic catastrophe. Every American should be outraged that an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to this point, but now that we are here, the stability of our entire economy depends on us taking immediate action to ease this crisis.

Barney Frank Mocks GOP: "Because Somebody Hurt Their Feelings, They Decide To Punish The Country"

2008-09-29T15:37:53Z

So the Republicans are saying they lost the vote because Nancy Pelosi gave a speech that offended twelve of their members.

Well Barney Frank has an offer for them:

Give me those twelve people's names, and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them, and tell them what wonderful people they are, and maybe they'll think about the country.

Here's video of the Republicans whining about Pelosi, and of Frank telling them to grow up:

Matthews Blames Bailout Crash On McCain's Failed Leadership

2008-09-29T15:05:02Z

Chris Matthews points to John McCain's failure to provide the leadership that he promised -- and took credit for:

McCain said he was going to lead the Republican charge, he was going to make sure that this was a bipartisan success...he called charge, and the Republican retreated. That's what happened here.

Here's video:

Here's what McCain staff and surrogates were saying before the vote:

"This bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain... This is a bipartisan accomplishment, a bipartisan success. And if people want to get something done in Washington, they just watch John McCain. He's been the guy whose name is at the top of major pieces of legislation for a long time."
-- Mitt Romney, NBC's Today show, 9/29/08

"What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the parties to the table, including the House Republicans, whose votes were needed to pass this"
-- Steve Schmidt, NBC's Meet the Press, 9/28/08

"We're optimistic that Senator McCain will bring House Republicans on board without driving other parties away, resulting in a successful deal for the American taxpayer."
-- McCain spokeswoman Kimmie Lipscomb, 9/26/08

Heckuva Job, Johnny

2008-09-29T14:25:27Z

Who knows whether John McCain will figure out a way to take political advantage of this bailout mess, but it's worth noting that he said the reason why he returned to DC was to win over House Republicans, and yesterday he claimed victory.

But before he got to town, Spence Bachus, the top ranking House Republican on the Financial Services Committee was meeting with negotiators on the bailout plan, and when that meeting ended, Bachus appeared with his colleagues to announce a bipartisan framework.

At the same time that Bachus was announcing the deal, John McCain was meeting with John Boehner. Within an hour, the deal had been rejected.

For the sake of the historical record, here's video of Bachus at the bipartisan deal announcement last Thursday:

Still Lying: Top McCain Aide Claims McCain Urged Firing Rumsfeld

2008-09-29T06:58:14Z

Sunday morning on Meet The Press, McCain chief strategist Steve Schmidt trotted out one of John McCain's tired old lies, the false claim that McCain had urged President Bush to fire Donald Rumsfeld.

The truth is that John McCain never urged Bush to fire Rumsfeld, nor did he call for his resignation.

Earlier this year, McCain aide Brian Rogers told the Washington Post:

"He did not call for his resignation," said the campaign's Brian Rogers. "He always said that's the president's prerogative."

Although McCain did distance himself from Rumsfeld towards the end of Rumsfeld's tenure, McCain has also heaped praise on him, saying that Rumsfeld and Cheney formed "the strongest" national security team in American history.

Here's video of Schmidt's lie, and of McCain standing by Rumsfeld:

Obama: McCain's Economic Crisis Response "Katrina-Like...Just Sorta Stood There"

2008-09-29T00:35:32Z

Barack Obama rolls out a new line during a rally in Michigan on Sunday, saying John McCain's response to the financial meltdown was "Katrina-like":

Senator McCain just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand that the storm hitting Wall Street hit Main Street long ago. That's why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response.

Sort of stood there. Said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. That's why he's been shifting positions these last two weeks, looking for photo ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do.

Here's video:

Krugman Offers Lukewarm Support For Plan, Rips "Frightening" McCain

2008-09-28T22:09:41Z

Update (11:42PM): Krugman offers lukewarm support for the plan in his new column, but warns that the plan isn't going to fix all our financial problems, putting a premium on who we elect as our next president:

The bailout plan released yesterday is a lot better than the proposal Henry Paulson first put out -- sufficiently so to be worth passing. But it's not what you'd actually call a good plan, and it won't end the crisis. The odds are that the next president will have to deal with some major financial emergencies.

So what do we know about the readiness of the two men most likely to end up taking that call? Well, Barack Obama seems well informed and sensible about matters economic and financial. John McCain, on the other hand, scares me.

Krugman says he wishes Obama had been more out front on the bailout bill (apparently forgetting that it was Obama who first used the line "no blank check"), but he saves the brunt of his ire for John McCain. Krugman details the long list of McCain failures on the economy, ultimately concluding that McCain's approach to modern economic issues is "frightening" and questioning whether McCain has "the judgment and temperament to deal with" them.

Original post:After reading the legislative draft, Paul Krugman offers a tepid acquiesqence to the bailout deal, but with a caveat.

On the deal itself, Krugman says:

The plan's real traction, if any, is in (2), which is a backdoor way to provide troubled firms with equity -- and the bill seems to say that taxpayers have to own this equity, although I wish it was clearer how much equity will be judged sufficient.

Not a good plan. But sufficiently not-awful, I think, to be above the line; and hopefully the whole thing can be fixed next year.

Krugman does offer a caveat, however:

House staff tells me that there are significant changes from this draft. More info when I get it.

The draft he was reading was posted on CNN.com and is an earlier version than the one on Huffington Post.

According to news reports, the deal has now been finalized, but no matter what they are saying, Krugman raises an important issue, which is that we need to be wary of any bait-and-switch efforts on the part of Congress, particularly on equity warrants.

Obama-Biden Rally In The Virginia Rain

2008-09-28T21:30:57Z

Here's the full video of Barack Obama's speech before 26,000 rain-soaked but enthusiastic supporters in Fredricksburg, Virginia on Saturday, September 27.

You can find local news coverage of the event here, including the front page of the local newspaper.

Palin Needs To Deliver A Game Changing Debate Performance

2008-09-28T17:48:25Z

In the next few days, there's going to be an awful lot of wrangling over what the expectations ought to be for Sarah Palin in Thursday's vice presidential debate.

The way pundits look at these things, the lower the expectations are for Palin, the better it is for McCain -- because low expectations are easier to meet. Conversely, the higher the expectations are for Palin's performance, the better it is for Obama.

Palin is winning this expectations game rather handily, doing herself wonders over the past few days, not just with her disastrous CBS interview, but also her suggestion (since walked back by McCain) that she agrees with Barack Obama on Pakistan. And it can't hurt to have conservatives piling on either.

In normal circumstances, winning the expectations game this thoroughly might be a good thing for the McCain campaign, but the problem they face is that at the same time that Palin's expectations are plummeting, the need for her to have an especially strong performance is growing.

As you can see in the Kos/R2000 tracking poll, Palin's net favorability ratings have dropped by 25 points over the last two weeks. This is a huge shift in public opinion and it means that for Sarah Palin on Thursday night, "good enough" just won't do.

The issue isn't so much what the expectations are for Palin's performance, but rather the fact that for her debate to have an impact on the campaign, she must deliver a game-changer for the McCain campaign -- and it has to be a positive one.

Make no mistake, a game-changer is exectly what McCain-land needs; after all, the only thing more distressing to them than Palin's dropping numbers is John McCain nosedive in the polls relative to Barack Obama.

Making things worse, all this is happening as time is running out. No matter how many times McCain may try to suspend his campaign, the election is on November 4, and nothing can change that reality.

Think about the fact that when Joe Biden and Sarah Palin take the stage, there will be just 33 days left until the election. That's not a lot of time, and unless Palin is able to turn the election around -- which no vice presidential candidate has ever done in the history of presidential politics -- her debate performance will at best be a non-issue.

Basically, she needs to be superhuman: to not only to turn her negative ratings around, but also to somehow make the case for John McCain in a way that he has not yet been able to do for himself. This is a task that even the greatest politician in history would probably not be able to achieve, and whether or not you think Palin is a decent debater (in my view, given the tightly structured format, she'll probably be fine), she's not the greatest politician ever.

If I were Joe Biden in this debate, I'd hardly engage with Sarah Palin at all, not because of any concern about being labeled a sexist, but rather because there's no percentage in battling with her. He's already winning. Why get in a fight?

At the same time, he can't be arrogant and dismissive like McCain was. He needs to look Palin in the eye like any normal human being would do in a debate.

But he can also borrow a line from Barack Obama and point out that this campaign isn't about the personal fortunes of the candidates, this campaign is about the people they are running to represent. He can use that to explain why he isn't directly engaging Sarah Palin, why he's keeping the focus on John McCain, because at the end of the day, this contest is about Barack Obama vs. John McCain -- and that's a contest he is winning.

That's a contest we all are winning.

The McCain Gambling Story

2008-09-28T11:00:20Z

Two really quick thoughts on the NYT article about McCain and gambling.

(1) Wes Gullett, one of the key lobbyists in the article, is an old gambling buddy of John McCain.

(2) Every conservative who does not trust the federal government should read that article because it shows in no uncertain terms that John McCain is a creature of the federal government and that he's very comfortable with expanding its power, oftentimes in arbitrary fashion.

As Negotiators Struck Bailout Deal, McCain Dined At Opulent DC Hotel

2008-09-28T08:55:45Z

Update (10:40AM): It turns out Politico got the wrong restaurant (but right hotel) in its original post. They had initially said McCain dined at CityZen at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Instead, McCain dined at Cafe Mozu, another restaurant inside the hotel. The Washingtonian describes it as "sophisticated pan-Asian at the opulent Mandarin Oriental Hotel."

Original post (see update): So lawmakers struck a deal on the bailout last night, but where was John McCain?

Was he part of the negotiations that he rushed back to Washington, DC to rescue? Was he valiantly battling the forces of the status quo to get something done for Main Street?

Well, it turns out that he wasn't. Instead, he indulged in a luxury dining experience at CityZen, an icon of haute cuisine in Washington, DC.

Politico reports (update: Politico has updated the article and removed the reference to McCain's dinner, but as you can see in this Google search, the reference was there in the original article):

As his colleagues worked on the deal at the Capitol Saturday night, McCain and his wife, Cindy, dined with Sen. Joe Lieberman and his wife, Hadassah, at CityZen, one of Washington's best restaurants.

No word on exactly what McCain ate at CityZen (which boasts an 800-bottle wine selection), but there's a limited range of possibilities, according to the establishment's menu.

Three menus are offered: a three-course prix fixe menu, a six-course chef's tasting menu or a vegetarian tasting menu.

The six course meal costs $110, with an optional "Sommelier's Pairing" for $75.

The restaurant serves treats such as Monterey Bay Squid Ratatouille; Shaved Sashimi of Geoduck Clam; Basic Infused Lettuce; Fricassee of Summer Beans, Flageolets, and CityZen Chorizo; Fromage Blanc Soufle Glace with AN Almond Biscuit Navel Orange Salad and Orange-Licorice Emulsion.

In it's 4-star review of the restaurant, Frommer's wrote:

You choose among three prix-fixe menus: three courses for $75, a six-course vegetarian tasting menu for $90, or a six-course $105 tasting menu. Starting with an amuse bouche of fried mushroom with truffle butter; moving on to a grilled pork jowl with marinated French green lentils, micro watercress, and shaved foie gras confit; and further on to the crispy skin filet of Atlantic black bass served with Rancho Gordo shelling beans, CityZen chorizo, and baby leeks -- every taste is exquisite and out of the ordinary. Waitstaff bring intermission refreshments, such as olive oil custard topped with infused butter or ginger sorbet in homemade root beer. Only a food artist would think to create sensations like the cardamom-dusted orange cruller with kumquat marmalade and African amber tea sorbet. The restaurant's 800-bottle wine selection concentrates on bordeaux, burgundy, and California cabernet.

Washingtonian Magazine hailed the restaurant's "chili consommé with an oval of chili-powder mousse."