Politics

Small Donations, Loosely Justified

I'm the example in a new BusinessWeek article on small donors in political campaigns, who apparently have less impact than we think: Rogers Cadenhead wants to have an impact on this year's Presidential election. So he's heeded online appeals for contributions, making $25 to $40 donations to candidates including Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), and Representative Ron Paul (R-Tex.). "The allure of one-click participation in democracy was too hard to resist," ... (read more)

2008/01/18

Ron Paul and the Electability Question

During last night's South Carolina Republican debate, Fox News moderators were tough on Rep. Ron Paul, most notably when journalist Carl Cameron asked him an incredibly derisive question: Congressman Paul, yet another question about electability. Do you have any, sir? There's always the question as to whether or not you are, in fact, viable. Your differences with the rest of the Republicans on this stage has raised questions about whether or not you can actually win the Republican nomination, ... (read more)

2008/01/11

Hail to the Racial Slur

Joe Gibbs abruptly resigned today, ending his second stint with Washington's football team on significantly less successful terms than the first. In posting the story on SportsFilter and the Drudge Retort, I made the conscious decision to avoid referring to the team's racist mascot name. Original lyrics to Washington's team song: Hail to the Redskins Hail Vic-tor-y Braves on the Warpath Fight for old Dixie Scalp 'em, swamp 'em -- We will take 'em big score Read 'em, weep 'em, touchdown -- we ... (read more)

2008/01/08

Ron Paul's Raving Republicans

I don't think I've ever seen anything in American politics quite like the "Ron Paul Revolution," the fervent support for the grandfatherly old-school constitutionalist who is pulling liberty-minded voters and money into the Republican primary at astonishing rates. Check out the scene at Paul's New York City headquarters last night when the candidate broke another fundraising goal, raising $6 million in one day to break $12 million for the quarter. I can't decide whether that rave-like scene is ... (read more)

2007/12/17

Peggy Noonan Can't Pin the Tail on a Donkey

Right-wingers have gone ballistic since Wednesday's Republican YouTube debate because four of the questioners appear to be Democrats, including the retired "do ask, do tell" soldier who hogged not one but two microphones, and it's apparently GOP policy to avoid speaking to outsiders until the general election. But when Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan went hunting for Democrats today in that debate's target-rich environment, she still came up empty-handed. Check out this huge blunder ... (read more)

2007/11/30

YouTube Questioner in the Dark on Immigration

During last night's Republican YouTube debate on CNN, a disembodied head asked the candidates if they would ever support amnesty for illegal immigrants. None of the candidates who answered his question -- Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain -- wanted to anger the head, which makes perfect sense to me. That guy was terrifying. When CNN moderator Anderson Cooper followed up the question by announcing that the head was in the audience, I expected the cameras to pan to a scene of ... (read more)

2007/11/29

CNN's Self-Importance is Beyond Debate

At last night's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer spoke for more time than five of the seven candidates, repeatedly getting in the way of substantive discussion by reducing issues to yes/no options. But it wasn't until the audience got its chance to ask questions that the CNN team demonstrated how inflated in self-importance our leading broadcast journalists have become during presidential campaigns. After a commercial break, undecided voter LaShannon ... (read more)

2007/11/16

Supporting the Writers Guild Strike

I'm in full support of the 10-day-old Writers Guild strike, which you can follow by reading their strike blog United Hollywood and television writer Mark Evanier's News From Me blog. There's a lot of money being made in DVD sales and online viewing of TV shows, and writers get bupkiss, as Lost head writer Damon Lindelof explains: My show, Lost, has been streamed hundreds of millions of times since it was made available on ABC's Web site. The downloads require the viewer to first watch an ... (read more)

2007/11/15

Obama Hits Wrong Note with National Anthem

Of all the presidential candidates to make their feelings known about symbolic expressions of patriotism like flag lapel pins and the National Anthem, none has been more candid than Sen. Barack Obama -- hands down. In early October, Obama told a TV reporter in Iowa that he had made a conscious decision to stop wearing a flag pin on his lapel, a standard fashion accessory for American politicians since 9/11. "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after ... (read more)

2007/11/08

Ron Paul: The $4.2 Million Dollar Man

I gave $25 to Ron Paul Monday because I couldn't resist being part of the largest grass-roots fundraising day in the history of American politics. The libertarian Republican raised $4.2 million from 37,000 contributors, according to a final tally provided to USA Today, from an effort that wasn't even organized by the campaign. The idea to raise his profile with a "money bomb" on Nov. 5 was the brainchild of Trevor Lyman, the publisher of ThisNovember5th.Com. Lyman adopted the incendiary ... (read more)

2007/11/07

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