National Republicans
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
At first glance it looks like Barack Obama’s sitting on top of the world, but this poor fellow’s actually sitting on a dozen time bombs. Running the American Empire these days is first cousin to being assigned hazardous duty in the bomb squad. The war we were winning, Afghanistan, is going downhill – so the…
Read MoreRescue
George Bush’s presidency was defined and dominated by the image of jets skimming low over Manhattan, slamming into the World Trade Center. Yesterday, his farewell address was overshadowed by the image of a jet resting in the Hudson River, all aboard alive. Might the miracle on the Hudson be a metaphor for new hope in…
Read MoreThe Shortest Honeymoon on Record
Last fall, after Obama got elected, Richard the Intellectual got so discouraged about politics he took to reading religious poetry – The Divine Comedy about cured him of that but, then, he switched to the Civil War and when he got to the Battle of Antietam the gloom thickened. The way Richard tells it the…
Read MoreClueless
George Bush’s exit interviews accomplish nothing more than to remind us how far in over his head he was as President. Many Americans voted for Bush in 2000 – I remind you that we did not elect him – because they thought he would be a better guy to have a beer with than Al…
Read MoreHappy News Year!
Christmas should always come on Thursday. Because that means New Year’s Day is a Thursday. Which puts off Back-to-Work day to January 5. You have to love the quiet week between the two holidays. But it has its disadvantages. Newspapers and TV news – with little of consequence to cover – deluge us with lists:…
Read MoreRepublicans and Ostriches
The smoke’s clearing from the election and the voter statistics tell a simple straightforward story: Four years ago African-Americans were 19% of the voters – this year they were 25%. Obama’s campaign said it was going to turn out 250,000 new African-American voters – and darn near did it. Thanks to Obama’s relentless ‘ground game’…
Read MoreFathers and Sons
For Christmas, I usually ask for books. And I get some unexpected pleasures. Unexpected this year was Jacob Weisberg’s The Bush Tragedy, which I started reading Christmas night and found captivating. I hadn’t read it before, because I had expected predictable Bush-bashing. But Weisberg – who makes the perceptive observation that journalistic insight often comes…
Read MoreBlue Christmas
A Blue Christmas is a Merry Christmas for Democrats. Not so much for Republicans who are sure the end of the world is nigh. So let me offer a note of hope and cheer. Yes, the news is bad. Retail sales are down. Home sales are down. Car sales are so down Toyota is losing…
Read MoreDriving Off the Cliff
George Bush may have screwed up everything else in eight years, but even he knew better than to drive America’s automobile industry into bankruptcy at Christmas. Not so with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker and some of his Republican colleagues in Congress. All I have to say to them is: Keep driving, boys. Because – if…
Read MoreRepublican Death Wish
Republicans today remind me of Democrats after Reagan won in 1980: Determined to become a permanent minority party. If I could be a mole and dupe the GOP into a sure-fire strategy for self-immolation, I would keep them doing what some Republicans seem determined to do anyway: Drive GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Ignore the…
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