The Atlantic posted an article online by Jack Beatty earlier this week entitled “War and the American Voter.” Beatty looks at the historical parallels between this year’s Congressional elections and previous Congressional elections during wartime. Beatty’s conclusion? Things don’t look good for the Grand Old Party: In the five wartime congressional elections since 1860, theContinue reading “On the Upcoming Elections”
Tag Archives: Politics
On Failures
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo makes an interesting analogy to President Bush’s Iraq policy and his insistence upon “stay[ing] the course”–Iraq is a business start-up, and President Bush knows business start-ups. Unfortunately, what Bush knows of business start-ups is how to fail at business start-ups, as Josh explains: Setting aside the vast costs inContinue reading “On Failures”
On Rick Santorum's Faulty Analogy
Pennsylvania’s junior Senator, Rick Santorum, spoke recently about Iraq and terrorism: Santorum said that the United States has avoided terrorist attacks at home over the past five years because the “Eye of Mordor” has been focused on Iraq instead. “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhereContinue reading “On Rick Santorum's Faulty Analogy”
On Presidential Ambitions
Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner is expected to announce today that he won’t be seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination for 2008. I’m disappointed–Warner did great things in Virginia, righting the state’s economy after the terms of now-Senator George Allen and Jim Gilmore whose tax policies put the state into the red. He’d have been aContinue reading “On Presidential Ambitions”
On Voter Registration
My new voter registration card came today. And not a moment too soon.
On Cellular Drivers
Otto Stern writes at The Register about the threat of drivers on their cell phones. It’s a threat drivers deal with every day–drivers focused on conversations, on fumbling for numbers on the keypad, not focused on the road. Stern writes that “California last month approved a law to ban talking on cell phones, starting inContinue reading “On Cellular Drivers”
On Pelosi's Plan
House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unveiled a plan that she would like to enact if the Democrats can take control of the House in this November’s mid-term elections. From the Washington Post: Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, toContinue reading “On Pelosi's Plan”
On John Yoo
I'm sure many of you have heard about the NPR interview with legal scholar John Yoo. Yoo, in case you don't know, is the legal theorist behind many of President Bush's philosophies. Signing statements, the unitary executive–they all originate in the writings of John Yoo. Yoo was interviewed by NPR yesterday on the Congressional billContinue reading “On John Yoo”
On Things That Need To Be Said
In all the insanity of the week–from a scandal that could bring down a government to an appalling crime in Pennsylvania–Garrison Keillor offered some words on what our country has become that went overlooked. I would quote only excerpts, but the whole thing need to be read. So, let’s look at then–“A Shameful Retreat fromContinue reading “On Things That Need To Be Said”
On the Terror Legislation
WASHINGTON – Congress sent President Bush a bill Friday that endorses his plan to interrogate and prosecute terror suspects, legislation Republicans hope will win them political points on the campaign trail. Many Democrats opposed the legislation because they said it eliminated rights of defendants considered fundanamental to American values, such as a person’s ability toContinue reading “On the Terror Legislation”