The reactions to the resignation of infirm, 81-year-old Cuban President Fidel Castro have been, for the most part, predictable: whether pragmatically political or purely — and personally — partisan. The former was in evidence in a bipartisan congressional letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that called for a “complete review” of U.S.-Cuba policy. The [...]
Don’t look for a John McCain-Charlie Crist GOP ticket in ’08, even though the governor presides over a critical swing state and is owed something for his key Florida primary endorsement of the presumptive GOP nominee. McCain is a soft-core conservative admired for his well-earned war-hero status. Crist, who is Republican Light, doesn’t give McCain [...]
Did you see that recent Harris Interactive Poll on the “Top 10 Presidents”? Whatever the criteria, whoever the participants, nothing explains Thomas Jefferson at 7, unless the first six places were all reserved for George Washington. They weren’t. Ronald Reagan (2), John F. Kennedy (4) and Bill Clinton (6) preceded Jefferson. For the record, Abraham [...]
When it still mattered, Charlie Crist endorsed John McCain and arguably helped the senator win Florida and thus gain stature and momentum for Super Tuesday. Here’s hoping his reward might yet be a more favorable McCain view of, say, the national catastrophe fund bill should the Arizona senator become president. What the reward won’t be [...]
For those still concerned that the Democratic primary could still be decided by super-delegates, here’s a suggestion. Do a Florida and Michigan re-vote — not a caucus — in the spring. And fund it from the obscene coffers of the Clinton and Obama campaigns. Florida, for one, can’t afford it, and they can. But this [...]
So what’s with the flap over John Mellencamp denying John McCain use of his songs at campaign events? So the balladeer of middle class sufferance looks askance at the McCain candidacy? So McCain is precluded from using “Our Country” and “Pink Houses”? McCain had a winner on his last Tampa visit. No, not the Four [...]
David Shuster, network talking head for MSNBC, was recently suspended for crassly referring to the way the Clinton campaign had been using Chelsea Clinton to call celebs and super delegates. He said they had “pimped out” Chelsea. Ouch. The “P” word, of course, is very insensitive and should never have been uttered. Shuster should have [...]
Last fall Hillary Clinton changed her position on torture. She said, “As a matter of policy, it cannot be American policy, period.” That’s straightforward and consistent with American ideals, even in a perilous world. The previous year she had said, “In the event we were ever confronted with having to interrogate a detainee with knowledge [...]
Like most news junkies, I watch way too much political analysis. Indeed, I have found myself actually taking a break from the nightly chatterfests that trivialize the process with that day’s snapshot of who’s up, who’s down and who’s spinning what. Having said that, it’s now nigh on to impossible to not watch this current [...]
It’s a political aphorism that Pennsylvania looks a lot like Alabama between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who’s backing Hillary Clinton, underscored that labeling recently. “You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate,” Rendell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [...]
