 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Another small piece of evidence that McCain is Dole redux: I went back and found that Dole’s lifetime ACU rating in 1996 was 83, which is actually seven tenths of a point higher than McCain’s lifetime rating but close enough to be a bit uncanny.
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Bush has received little attention or thanks for his compassionate reforms. This is less a reflection on him than on the political challenge of compassionate conservatism. The conservative movement gives the president no credit because it views all these priorities — foreign assistance, a federal role in education, the expansion of an entitlement — as […]
2 Comments »
Filed under: politics
He views both meditation on the past and speculation about his legacy with equal suspicion, preferring to live in the urgency of the now. ~Michael Gerson
Who knew that George Bush was already living Obama’s dream?
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Mitt Romney’s campaign is based on the wholesale deception of voters. ~John McCain
This has been, and remains, the crux of the problem with Romney. Of course, McCain can be charged with deception every time he denies that “comprehensive immigration reform” is amnesty, and the same criticism can be leveled at the other candidates who have […]
3 Comments »
Filed under: politics
So Giuliani dubbed the GOP the “party of Bush” on the night that McCain won out over Romney 36-31 and the day before Giuliani endorses McCain. That is unfortunately fitting, as it is only the “party of Bush” that could have ever briefly vaulted someone like Giuliani into major contention or propelled McCain to his frontrunner position (for a […]
3 Comments »
Filed under: politics
Giuliani must be dropping out. He just included Ron Paul in the list of other candidates he respects.
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics
It’s still a bit early, so the Republican result is not certain, but if Romney should lose it will reinforce the impression that, having tried to buy his way to a victory through massive ad buys (3x McCain’s advertising), he could not persuade most voters to bring themselves to vote for the man even though […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Ross responds to Yglesias:
But as an analysis of what’s actually going through the minds of those same sophisticated conservatives as they say nice things about Obama now - and especially of what’s going through the mind of David Brooks - this imputation of machiavellian bad faith seems like the purest nonsense.
I don’t know who is […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Wait a minute. Why is Obama giving his own response to the SOTU? Didn’t Sebelius already say everything for him? He sounds surprisingly combative and not very “post-partisan.” Obama pushes back on the rhetoric about the “surge,” insisting on holding the administration accountable for its claims that progress on the Iraqi political track was the purpose of the “surge.” […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
In a couple months, I will be the best man at a friend’s wedding in Taipei and then turn around the next day and come back home to get back to work on Tuesday. That old saw that the journey is what matters must be right, since I will probably be spending more time on the […]
8 Comments »
Filed under: personal
And isn’t that a fitting end for the Bush Administration: resurrecting the best of the Bob Dole 1996 campaign… ~Andrei Cherny
It is all the more fitting when you consider that McCain is on the verge of launching the Bob Dole Mk II down in Florida, and represents mind-numbing continuity with the administration on a host of […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
A final thought on the now-preposterous notion that anyone would select Kathleen Sebelius as a running mate: if Obama chose the female governor of Kansas, wouldn’t that be over-egging the Obama symbolic biography pudding just a bit?
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
The shameless insertion of the Kennedy line on the day of Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama is the epitome of a partisan argument: we are the New American Majority, we are the New Frontier.
P.S. Did she just wish the President a good night’s sleep? That was weird.
Update: Word is that Sebelius is endorsing Obama tomorrow, […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
“Caring for our children…is what grow-ups do.” Apparently, grown-ups do this by passing federal subsidies. This speech is a guarantee that no one will confuse Gov. Sebelius with a potential vice presidential pick ever again.
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
“Each of you is, above all, an American.” I was wrong. Sebelius is going to rehash Obama’s stump speech. She’s right about the eye-rolling line. The eyes are still rolling.
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
It’s like this, James: if you push for more neoliberal policies in Latin America, that will magically reduce the popularity of the “false populism” that has flourished on account of the backlash against the last round of neoliberal policies pushed by Washington, whereas if you don’t support those policies “false populism” will run wild. That’s clear, […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, economics, foreign policy
My assumption is that this response is going to be much more low-key than Jim Webb’s “I’ll show you where you can put your agenda” speech, especially since Sebelius is reportedly going to declare as an Obaman. Her state holds a caucus next week, and it seems unlikely that she’s going to craft the response in a way […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics
So far, he has vowed almost as many vetoes (2) as he has actually issued (3) in his entire Presidency.
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
The emerging theme seems to be “trust.” Bush makes for a rather odd messenger for this kind of “restore people’s trust in the government” message, wouldn’t you say?
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Rod says of Obama:
A conservative’s dilemma: Is the pleasure one takes in watching the vaderish Clintons vanquished by Barack Skywalker worth the increasing possibility that not only will Obama win this fall, but he will transform the political landscape such that the GOP turns into what the Tories were under the Blair government?
There is a […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics
Between Ryan Sager and Giuliani, that is. In his analysis, Sager has missed the crucial point: there was never any reason to have a Giuliani candidacy when McCain provided a viable alternative for the “moderate GOP electorate.” Because McCain was already occupying his space in the race, and because the one thing that nearly destroyed McCain’s […]
5 Comments »
Filed under: politics
I will second Will Wilkinson up to a point when he complains about this pro-McCain article, since I am probably just as appalled for different reasons by “National Greatness Conservatism” and its cousins as he is. The misspelling of Friedman’s name in the article (and the fact that no editor there managed to catch it before it was published) is indicative of a general […]
3 Comments »
Filed under: politics, libertarianism
Compassionate conservatism was, in practice, nothing more than spin and a vague gesture at a higher-order justification for corruption. ~Matt Yglesias
Speaking as someone who viewed “compassionate conservatism” as something more than spin, I would note that from a conservative perspective the first term proposals of “compassionate conservatism,” whether NCLB or the “faith-based initiatives” or something […]
1 Comment »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Romney told the crowd of roughly 150 at the Jorge Mas Canosa youth center that he ‘’would never give money to Fidel Castro’’ — prompting a swell of cheers. ~The Miami Herald
Perhaps I haven’t been following Florida politics as closely as I thought I was–is there a live controversy about subsidies for Castro that has […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy
Watch out, Romney supporters: Liz Cheney, fresh from badly advising Fred Thompson on foreign affairs, is backing your candidate. It’s only a matter of time before the cold, creeping touch of Matalin follows and brings political doom with it. In the endorsement race, McCain has picked up nods from two popular Floridian politicians who endorsed him […]
No Comments »
Filed under: politics, foreign policy