National Republicans
Obama’s Polls
The media frenzy over the last month or so has been that Americans don’t support – or understand – President Obama’s health-care reforms. Bad news for Barack, the media and the pundits proclaim. In Washington this week, a local executive told me, she heard one of the media Big Feet pontificating about how…
Read MoreGiddy GOP
A Democratic friend who was in Washington recently reports that Republicans there are “giddy.” They’re convinced they have Obama and the Democrats on the run, certain they’re finally headed for a big election. But they may have miscalculated. The election is next year, not this year. And they may be overreaching. Especially if…
Read MoreRepublican Death Panels
Sometimes Democrats are too logical. They forget that communication is mostly emotional. Like health care “death panels.” Democrats need to get off the defensive and turn the issue into political death for Republicans. A Harvard Medical School study says 45,000 Americans die every year because they don’t have insurance. People will gladly…
Read MorePicture This
Imagine that the shoe was on the other foot – or the shout came from the other side of the aisle. Imagine this: President Bush gives a speech about reforming Social Security. He says we should adopt a partial privatization plan. And he vows that no older American will lose any of their Social…
Read MoreThey’re Back
My son James has an intriguing theory about Barack Obama’s September Slumps. Candidate Obama had one last year. John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin had shaken up the race, and she had not yet imploded. Nor had the economy. The polls were tied. Democrats were in a panic. This year, President Obama had…
Read MoreThe Internet Strikes Again
Hardly a Democrat has a doubt the Internet has become a force majeure in politics; and if any Republican had any doubts take a look at whatâs happened to Representative Joe Wilson Congressman Wilson was cruising to reelection in a Republican District when he called out, âYou lie!â on national TV â then overnight a…
Read MoreThe News
There’s plenty of hot news lately. Iran’s close to building a bomb. ACORN operatives got caught on film trying to figure out how to bring young girls from Honduras to Baltimore for what sounded a lot like a prostitution ring. And the Republican National Committees are going all out to elect a…
Read MorePersuader-in-Chief
Never underestimate a President who can talk eloquently about moral issues. It’s easy to forget that. We haven’t had a President who could do it for 20 years – since Ronald Reagan left the White House. The Bushes could hardly put together a coherent sentence. Yes, Bill Clinton could talk a blue streak.…
Read MoreCrafty Obama
One of the many brilliant (that means “Democratic”) readers of this blog has offered what could be a spot-on analysis of Obama’s new strategy on health care. I share it with you in full: “He has leaned back and relaxed and let Mitch McConnell and the screaming chorus shout and work themselves into a…
Read MoreCharacters
Bill Friday surprised me in our UNC-TV interview when he asked me about the most remarkable characters I’ve met in politics. So I’ve given it more thought. I’ve come down to two people I met during Governor Hunt’s 1984 campaign against Jesse Helms. At different times that year, our campaign was advised by…
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