Archive for June 2017
Georgia 6: The Debate
Karen Handel stood in front of the cameras looking grumpy and, beside her, Jon Ossoff looked pleasant but far too young to be on that stage. He said, You’ve got Super PACs. You’re a politician. She said, You’ve got Super PACs too. You’re Nancy Pelosi’s pawn. He said, I’m Independent. She said, How can you…
Read MoreSvengali or Bumbler?
Was Michael Flynn Svengali? Donald Trump’s back door conduit to the Russians? To get them to help him defeat Hillary? And if Flynn was Svengali does he now know – as David Axelrod has hinted – Trump’s worst secret? Is he whispering to Trump, Protect me or I’ll tell all? Does that explain Trump’s stubborn…
Read MorePolitical imports from Russia, the UK and France
Three overseas political stories either could, should or shouldn’t have an impact on American politics. Russia Trump & Co. are so set on smearing Comey, Democrats are so set on impeaching Trump and Republicans are so set on saving their skins that the Big Story from Comey’s hearing whizzed right past us. The Russians did…
Read MoreTrump’s (non)voters and Democrats’ (non)message
Two good political reads bust up two big political “truths”: (1) white working class voters elected Trump, and (2) Trump’s negatives will be enough to elect Democrats. Trump’s non(voters) Nicholas Carnes, an assistant professor of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School, co-authored “It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working…
Read MoreIt’s Not an Earthquake
It’s easy to agree with Donald Trump on trade and spending cuts but then his lips move and the same man who said, I get bigger crowds than Beyoncé, and, Trump University gets an ‘A’ rating from the Better Business Bureau, says, The FBI investigation is a witch hunt. Without honesty trust withers and without…
Read MoreThe Grab’s Still On
It’s an incurable vice: Railroad tycoons did it in the Gilded Age and over a century later Wall Street bankers did it, reaching into the government treasury to bail out their bad loans (with other people’s money) and the ‘grabbers’ don’t always live on Wall Street. Take fringe benefits. For government employees. Right now a…
Read MoreAnother Election, Anyone?
Sometimes it takes a while but the chickens always come home to roost and, more often than not, they come home at the worst possible time. Six years ago, when Republican legislators drew the new state House and Senate districts, they had a simple theory: They believed the Voting Rights Act required them to create…
Read MoreHold your horses
As my old friend J.P. used to say, “People even got tired of The Andy Griffith Show eventually.” So it is with the Trump Presidency. Understandably, Democrats want him out of the White House. Now! Today! His recklessness and willful ignorance are frightening. But the more Democrats rail and rant and rave, the more Trump’s…
Read MoreA Novel Kind of Diplomacy
The President rapped the Germans, Angela Merkel rapped back, and the President unsheathed a new type of diplomacy – he tweeted. NATO’s the key to the West’s alliance against Russia, and Germany – after the United States – is the biggest nation in NATO and the President’s having a twitter spat with the Germans. It’s…
Read MoreWhy the polls were wrong
Nate Cohn of The New York Times Upshot column has an eye-opening analysis of why so many state-level polls were wrong about Trump and Clinton last year. More on that later. But bad polls aren’t to blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss. Because her campaign didn’t do polls. That’s the most shattering revelation in a new…
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