Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/politics/page/14/)
Why do we still have political conventions? There is a legal requirement that they actually sit down and have the formal vote on who their nominee will be, but that does not take days of speechifying and pageantry. If another political party like the Greens or Libertarians tried to get their conventions on prime-time teevee night after night they’d be laughed at. Continue Reading
OK, for the time being, things are looking about as good as I dared hope, for President Obama’s reelection. But I’m not as sanguine as many; it just doesn’t feel right, to be that way. The bottom could still fall out of the labor market, though that looks unlikely. Gas prices could continue to rise, even after Labor Day, though most analysts seem to be anticipating a drop. Continue Reading
The long season that leads up to an election is more like a basketball game than any other sports analogy – you make your shots, stay with the plan, and stay focused in the last few seconds. That is why campaigns are often defined by gaffs and mis-statements.
The choice of a running mate can easily be over-stated. Did anyone vote for Obama because they like Biden? How about Dick Cheney? Or, for that matter, Joe Lieberman? Continue Reading
Mitt Romney chooses Paul Ryan as his VP. What are we to make of this choice? Quite simply, this is one of the best things that can happen for Obama and it also demonstrates a recurrent crisis and problem for Mitt Romney and the Republican Party.
If there’s one irrevocable law in politics, it’s that whatever works will be done and re-done until it fails completely. The stakes for a Presidential include the most powerful office in the world and total expenditures of $10B. Continue Reading
Much has already been written about the frivolous (many would say dangerous) claims Michele Bachmann has made about radical Islamic influence in our government. No need to revisit those; and the comparisons with Joe McCarthy have been well documented. Actually, since I lived in the McCarthy era, I can attest to the validity of those contentions. However, if you drill deeper into the Bachmann phenomenon, there are factors in her actions that are mostly unexplored, and worthy of comment.On the surface, Bachmann shows concern for the security of our government. Also, the idea that she is seeking attention is plausible. Continue Reading
Today I got a fundraising letter on behalf of Mitt Romney quoting President Barack Obama:
Friend (that’s what the Romney campaign always calls me, “Friend,” it’s a pet nickname they have for me, they gave it to me on a weekend antiquing/B&B trip we did in Stillwater, it’s kind of cute–“Friend,” my nickname for the Romney campaign is “sugarboots, anyway:)
Speculation over who Mitt Romney will select as his vice-presidential running mate is reaching a fever pitch. Will it be Rob Portman from Ohio to help him capture that swing state, or will it be Mark Rubio from Florida to shore up that state and support with Hispanic voters? Continue Reading
Why hasn’t Mitt Romney released more than one year of tax returns? Continue Reading