Rocking for Rouzer

It’s a fad: Paul Ryan put his mother on TV, then David Rouzer put his grandmother on TV, then Tom Murray (who’s running for State House) put his mother in a TV ad. So which will folks say, ‘No one knows him better than his mother’ – or – ‘Does that mean he couldn’t get…

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On Her Wavelength

Imagine Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton sitting in a room together, listening to a pollster describing the mythical undecided voter, saying: She’s forty-six years old. She grew up on a farm or in a working class neighborhood. She’s a working mother now with two children, living in the suburbs. She’s pro-choice. And she’s…

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Mitt Gets Real

The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted. After a week, it’s clear that Mitt Romney inflicted a doozy on himself when he got carried away about the “47 percent” at that high-flying Florida fundraiser.   Voters today are sophisticated consumers of political messages. They know political ads lie. They know that every word a candidate…

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Our Scientific Poll Shows…

It’s been a long hard fought political war – for years the folks over at the Civitas Institute have been racing the liberals at Public Policy Polling (who seem to be able to churn out a poll every five minutes) to see who could bombard the newspapers with the most propaganda disguised as polling.  …

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Out of the Battle

I’m just back from several days in Northern California: spectacular rocky coastlines, innumerable wineries, gut-wrenching mountain roads, falling-apart expressways, low humidity, bohemian lifestyles – and no presidential election.   That’s an exaggeration. They have an election, too. But no suspense. California’s 55 electoral votes are already counted toward Obama’s goal of 270. He and Mitt…

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How Politics Works

In the Senate race in Virginia George Allen debated Tim Kaine the other night and right off moderator David Gregory – thinking of Mitt Romney and the 47% – pointed out one million Virginians do not pay any taxes. Then asked Kaine, Do you believe everyone should pay something?   In other words, he asked…

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How About the Mossad?

From Singapore to Casablanca outside our embassies Muslims are rioting – so, exactly how much of the Muslim world is mad at us? Ten percent? Half? Ninety percent? Or, more to the point, how many Muslims agree that taking revenge for a YouTube video by murdering a diplomat who never saw or heard the video…

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The Grit in the Gears

Mitt Romney’s getting pummeled for saying 47% of the voters will not support him because no one getting a check from the government’s going to vote for him over Obama.   Even the conservative pundits are giving Romney the blazes.   But while Romney was fumbling the facts he may also have put his finger…

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Mr. Bowles Goes to Washington

Here’s betting that, whoever wins the presidential race, Erskine Bowles ends up in Washington.   He’s being mentioned as Obama’s Secretary of Treasury. And wouldn’t Mitt Romney be smart to put Bowles – a Southern, Clinton Democrat – in a top position? Maybe Treasury, Budget Director or something out of the box like Defense?  …

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Romney Goes Negative – On the Voters

Mitt Romney is going to make me a sorry seer. I blog that he’s bound to come back, then he says the dumbest, most damaging and most unintentionally revealing thing I’ve heard in politics in ages.   Romney’s “47 percent” remarks hurt him on so many levels.   One, he’s wrong. I’m voting for Obama.…

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