National Republicans
Trials for Terrorists
I had dinner last night with my old friend Will, the lawyer, and, right off, after the first beer he said, President Bush is as dumb as a post. Now, Will is an old Reagan man. He remembers seeing Reagan’s speech for Goldwater on TV in 1964 and he’s a purist. He still thinks of…
Read MoreObama’s Head Fake
Barack Obama is supposed to be quite the pickup basketball player, and he’s putting quite the head fake on John McCain in North Carolina. It’s good strategy. Obama has the money and the grassroots organization to make the Republicans worry – at least for now – about how much time and money to spend here.…
Read MoreGeorge McGovern in the Age of the Internet?
Every time a fellow opens his mouth he tells you something about himself – though politicians try harder than most folks to fool you. Senator John McCain spoke for a solid hour on Fox News Primary Night – and it was tough sledding. He read his speech from a teleprompter – and it was not…
Read MoreWhy Obama Will Win
Because the choice between Obama and McCain will come down to Change versus Race. And Team Obama is smart enough to make McCain pay for a race-based campaign. Obama owns Change. It’s one big reason he beat Clinton, Edwards, et al. That one-word Change message gets ridiculed. It would be worthy of ridicule if change…
Read MoreLetting Off a Little Steam
Scott McClellan: Truth teller or dirty rat? Whatever the truth is McClellan’s sent the political pundits on MSNBC and Fox into the kind of feeding frenzy you usually see reserved for Hollywood, say, when Britney Spears has one of her meltdowns. Keith Oberman is ecstatic. Sean Hannity is outraged. The political pundits are stampeding like…
Read MoreThree Trends
It seems to me, over the years, I’ve witnessed two political earthquakes that changed the ground rules in American politics and gave birth to new political movements. The pictures on TV of American soldiers and refugees fleeing Saigon on the skids of helicopters said to the generation of men and women who’d fought in and…
Read MoreCaution to Business: Left Turn Ahead
Toe-sucking transpartisan consultant-turned-pundit Dick Morris, the only man alive who advised both Bill Clinton and Jesse Helms, is right about one thing: Politics in America is headed left. Race may keep Barack Obama from becoming President. But otherwise 2008 looks like 2006 continued. That could mean more Democrats in the Senate and House. It could…
Read MoreWhat Is John McCain Hiding?
John McCain’s Straight Talk Express has become the Double Talk Detour. First the scourge of lobbyists and special interests had to purge his campaign of some, but certainly not all, of the teeming special-interest lobbyists on board. Then Mister Integrity dumped his medical records and wife’s income taxes on the Friday before Memorial Day in…
Read MoreDead White Males
The world up and moved on its axis yesterday morning while I was listening to National Public Radio. It started innocently enough. Cokie Roberts was talking about her two books, Ladies of Liberty and Founding Mothers, when a lady called in to thank her for recognizing the ignored Female Founders of our nation – then…
Read MoreThe Mystery of 2008
I had an argument with my friend the pollster. I told him – in no uncertain terms – Barack Obama’s a rerun of George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. And said, We’ve seen this story before. The Democrats fall in love, young people swoon, then the day after the election they wake up and…
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