National Republicans
Blow Up
You could hear Republican heads exploding when the President announced a deal to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Predictably, Republicans sided with Bibi over Obama. There is something about their knee-jerk response that raises suspicions. Is it really a bad deal, or is it just that Obama’s political enemies are just bound…
Read MoreWhip It
Thanks to a TAPster who remembers the 1980s for this one: “(North Carolina Congressman) Patrick McHenry is listed as an organizer of a new joint fundraising committee named – drum roll – Whip It Good PAC. At first I thought it was a joke, but apparently not.” For those not familiar…
Read MoreTed Cruz: A Glimmer of Conversation
Folks who vote in Republican primaries, if asked, will tell you they’re Conservative and most will firmly add they’re Very Conservative as opposed to A Little Conservative. In the uncompromising depth of his conservative beliefs, Ted Cruz is their cup of tea. But… It’s hard to put your finger on that ‘but…’…
Read MorePolitics As Usual
Sometimes in politics you have to rise above principle. Republicans vow to resist fight President Obama’s “redistributionist” economic policies. Then GOP legislators plot to redistribute sales tax revenues from urban (Democratic) to rural (Republican) counties. Senator Ted Cruz vows to repeal Obamacare. Then he signs up for insurance under Obamacare. Governor McCrory…
Read MoreLooking for a Voice
With the Irish Prime Minister sitting beside him, Obama said Republicans are against education. Infrastructure. Research. The things needed to create jobs. National defense. And the middle class. Then having thrown down the gauntlet, and concisely summed up how he felt about the Republican budget, the President rolled out the welcome mat for the…
Read MoreHoldering On
Ex-Congressman Barney Frank suggests this slogan for Democrats: “We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.” Take the GOP’s hard-line opposition to Loretta Lynch’s nomination as Attorney General. On one of Sunday’s talk shows, a Republican said the Senate shouldn’t even vote on her nomination. Why? Because, he said, she’ll continue the policies of current AG…
Read MoreDeceiving Ourselves?
Back when Navy Seals evened the score with Osama bin Laden, the Secretary of Defense proclaimed “defeating al-Qaeda” was within our grasp. Victory was at hand. Then the wheel came off the cart. And now up in Washington the Director of National Intelligence is telling Congress the threat of ‘terrorism is worse than…
Read MoreThe Same Old Mistake
Over a decade ago some genius up in Washington – I think it may have been Donald Rumsfeld – figured we could conquer Iraq with 150,000 soldiers; that we could fight a little war with a little pain and have the troops home by Christmas – so we rolled straight into Baghdad then found out…
Read MoreSave Your Breath
Before any 2016 death match, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush face a death march through the media and their own parties’ chattering crowds. Last week’s crisis was Clinton’s email while Secretary of State. The DC media pounced and some Democrats went into a frenzy of fretting: The Clintons are their own worst enemies! They…
Read MoreSecond Fiddle to South Carolina
This is about as good a tale of conniving as I’ve heard: I can’t remember why but forty years ago back in 1976 the state legislature moved our Presidential primary up from May to March – then the unexpected struck and Ronald Reagan whipped Gerald Ford. It was the first time Reagan won a…
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