National Democrats
Mitt’s Tin Ear
What political planet does Mitt Romney live on? How long does he really think he can get by without releasing his tax returns? He’ll have to do it. The longer he waits, the greater the pressure and the anticipation. And the clearer it becomes he has a lot he wants to hide from the…
Read MoreFired Up, Ready to Go
I call it Hickman’s Law, because I first heard it from pollster Harrison Hickman: “The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted.” Mitt Romney has inflected a doozy on himself: “I like being able to fire people.” He did it just as Winning Our Future, a super-PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, released a doozy of…
Read MoreThe Bedrock Beneath Our Feet
While General Washington camped in New York waiting for the British to attack, fifty-six men in Philadelphia – who said they not only had a Creator but that He’d given them what they called inalienable rights – crossed the Rubicon and told the King of England they were done being colonists. Then, years later,…
Read MoreMitt Broccoli
Mitt Romney is like political broccoli: Republicans may have to swallow him, but they still don’t like the taste. On CNN last night, James Carville cut through all the clutter and chatter with this dead-on analysis of what Iowa means: – Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee. – A lot of…
Read MoreThe Year of the Negative Ad
I begin this new year by publicly thanking the U.S. Supreme Court for all it has done to make 2012 the Year of the Negative Ad. The high court’s bold, wise Citizens United decision already has claimed one victim – and an appropriate one: Newt Gingrich. But the best is yet to come. …
Read MoreBlind Dumb Luck…
A week ago, I thought, It’s too farfetched – Rick Santorum rising in the polls in Iowa would be like blind dumb luck or lightning striking. All year with pure steadfastness a quarter of the Republican voters have stuck by Mitt Romney though thick and thin. But they’ve been the only thing steadfast in…
Read MoreSuper Irony
Democrats have fretted over the emergence of Super PACs, fearing that their big money and negative ads will help Republicans. But, so far, Republicans are the leading victims of Super PACs. Newt Gingrich has been savaged by them. Mitt Romney feigns innocence while his millionaire friends dump a truckload of negatives on Newt. One…
Read MoreNewt and the Judges
He’s fed up with elitist judges, Newt says, so as President he’s just going to ignore their rulings. And what’s more, he adds, as a historian he knows that Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln would agree with him. Of course, the press pounced, immediately, asking, So, if President Newt can ignore court rulings –…
Read MoreMitt and Newt?
This is it? This is the best Republicans can do? They’re about to fumble away what should be an open-field run to the White House. Case in point: An NBC/Marist poll this weekend shows President Obama leading both Republicans in South Carolina. I repeat: South Carolina. Maybe Rob Christensen is right and…
Read MoreHow Obama Wins
Two reasons: the speech he gave this week and his record. In 2008, Obama had a gift for giving exactly the right speech at exactly the right campaign moment. He did it again yesterday with his speech echoing Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal (Click here for the full text): “I believe that this country…
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