National Republicans
Torpedoes
It seems Republicans up in Congress have split into two hostile tribes – whether you call them ‘Moderates and Conservatives’ (as they did forty years ago) or the ‘Conservatives and Pragmatists’ (as they did twenty years ago) or ‘Insiders and Outsiders’ (as they do now). Now, say, on spending, the Conservatives (or Outsiders) are…
Read MoreReal Trouble
You can easily flick aside a Republican witch hunt on Benghazi. After all, they’ve been at it since Mitt Romney popped off the first day. You can manage a controversy about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups – so long as, unlike Nixon, the White House wasn’t involved. But your Justice Department subpoenaed…
Read MoreOn Mark Sanford’s Trail
The trouble with South Carolina, Robert E. Lee supposedly said, is that it’s too small to be an independent nation and too large to be an insane asylum. Which helps explain why Mark Sanford may win his congressional race tonight. The other explanation is our politics today. We are so deeply and bitterly divided…
Read MoreIn All of America…
Up in Washington, Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Leader John Boehner and a handful of politicians have been sequestered in secret meetings, trying to agree on a solution to one of Washington’s most burning problems: How to exempt Congressmen and their staffs from ObamaCare. Then, to their surprise, word of the meetings leaked…
Read MoreWorrying About Primaries
A legislator looked at a bill, winched, looked at another legislator and said, ‘Well, if I don’t vote for it I guess I’ll land in a primary.’ ‘You think,’ the second legislator said, ‘that Republicans in your district are for people carrying guns in bars?’ The bill allowed people carry guns in bars, restaurants…
Read MorePower of the Saving Perception?
Last week Gary thoughtfully wrote a squib (below) urging people to visit young Thomas Mills’ new website PoliticsNC – so I did. And got a surprise. Young Mr. Mills was – genially – taking me to task for writing how the Democrats passing voter laws (over the years) to elect Democrats, had led to Republicans…
Read MoreMurdering Santa Claus
For years Jesse Helms wrote every speech he made, typing each on an old reporter’s typewriter, then one year when he was unusually harried he decided it was time to hire a speechwriter – so we hired ‘John.’ John was an unusually gifted writer but for all his virtues he had a peculiar view…
Read MoreWacko Birds and Old Birds
There’s nothing political folks like better than a good Civil War – whether you happen to be a Republican or a Democrat it’s hard to find a pogrom more satisfying than purging the heretics in your own party, which is not necessarily an unproductive experience: After all, Reagan’s victory in 1980 was the result of…
Read MoreThe Democrats’ Leaked Plan – Summary
A pair of ‘grassroots organizers,’ Jessica Laurenz and Sean Kosofsky, took a poll, found three issues, and wrote a plan. Neither had ever run a major statewide campaign and they lacked money and a voice but they had passion and zeal and sailed into uncharted waters to breathe life back into the moribund Democratic Party…
Read MorePolitics 101
The vote is a powerful thing. In less than a year, it has taken immigrants from pariah to power in American politics. This week, Tea Party centerfold Rand Paul softened his position on immigration. (Remember when Mitt Romney called for “self-deportation”?) Paul’s 2016 rival Marco Rubio – and other Republicans – had already beat…
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