LOS ANGELES -- I would like to pay due deference to the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States. I am happy for her that she was not asked a question during last Thursday night's "debate" that she could not robo-answer with memorized talking points.
The base of the Republican Party -- a dwindling but still significant group -- clings to a handful of pseudo-facts that don't hold up to serious scrutiny but that still occupy a central place in GOP ideology.
Creators Syndicate - John McCain may have just let slip his last best chance to be president of the United States.
Creators Syndicate - For all the Republicans' complaints about Gwen Ifill, the moderator's questions were softballs compared to what Sarah Palin faced from Katie Couric.
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Like so many Americans, I feel as though I am holding my breath.
The talk everywhere -- in the newspapers, on cable TV, on Wall Street, in European and Asian markets -- is of an economic meltdown. That's too narrow a perspective. We're witnessing a far broader meltdown.
The Nation -- For all the talk about Afghanistan being the "right war," and with both Obama and McCain insisting that they want to send thousands of additional US forces there, our British allies have let the camel, so to speak, out of the bag. Meanwhile, more and more information is coming out to confirm that the government of Afghanistan is negotiating with (gasp!) the Taliban. This is important stuff.
Some members of the chattering classes -- pinot-swilling, arugula-chomping snobs -- seem to think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be vice president. Well, that's not fair.
Washington - To drill or not to drill is the wrong question.
While Gov. Sarah Palin is being grilled on her position on mark-to-market accounting rules, the press can't bother to ask Joe Biden if he could give us a ballpark estimate on when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president -- or maybe take a stab at guessing the decade when televisions were first available to the public.
Creators Syndicate - Here's an extremely obvious test of how secular our entertainment culture has become:
In the midst of a severe financial crisis -- a meltdown fueled by clueless homebuyers, greedy lenders and money-grubbing financiers -- some observers have decided to blame "minorities" for the mess. Though wiser heads have proclaimed the emergency too serious for partisan gamesmanship, some in the conservative commentariat still can't resist playing the race card.
In late September 2006, Republicans knew they faced a difficult political landscape, though few anticipated the party would lose as many seats as they did. Then, on September 29, Florida Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned amid charges of inappropriate relations with young House pages, a moment many call a tipping point that cost the GOP majorities in both chambers.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The 43rd president, George W. Bush, added a couple more quotes for historians to consider after he finally gives up the leadership of the country, which is what he seemed to be trying to do last week:
The Court of Peeves, Crotchets & Irks opens its autumn assizes with a motion from Jeff Horner in Mableton, Ga. He asks the court to abolish the use of "woman" as an adjective. Specifically, he moves to end the identification of Sarah Palin as a "woman candidate."
Creators Syndicate - If scientists were able to determine, beyond doubt, that the sky were actually going to fall on Monday, Oct. 6, Congress would pass legislation containing tax breaks for lobster fisherman in Maine and glue manufacturers in Paducah. It's just what they do.
LOS ANGELES -- Driving to work on Thursday morning, I heard a radio report that began with the words: "Good news!" That news turned out to be that gasoline prices at California pumps had dropped to $3.78 a gallon, down from more than $4 a month ago.
Creators Syndicate - McCain loses — the first debate, that is.
Creators Syndicate - Will 2008 be the year of the Chicken Little Congress? Or can the House of Representatives show the panic-driven Senate what it really means to be a deliberative body?
A candidate's idealism can evoke feelings beyond resultsIn response to the Oct. 3 Opinion piece, "Dare I believe Obama can win?": I so rarely am moved by columns these days. So many people have an opinion on just about everything that even the Internet seems overcrowded with comments on minutia that hardly affect anyone.
NEW YORK -- As a member of the Elite Eastern Media in good standing (I hope), I would like to say that St. Paul was the most educational and enjoyable Republican National Convention I have ever watched. Thrilling, really. I did not know that we, the people like me, were running the country until hearing it from John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and the rest of that wonderful bunch from real America.
It's another election season, so that means it's time for Democrats to start uttering wild malapropisms about the Bible to pretend they believe in God!
Washington (The Weekly Standard) Vol. 014, Issue 05 - 10/13/2008 - The odds are against John McCain and Sarah Palin winning this election. It's not easy to make up a 6-point deficit in the last four weeks. But it can be done.
Creators Syndicate - No one wants to talk about who is most to blame for the financial crisis that now threatens the U.S. economy, though there is plenty of blame to go around. It is far easier to blame other people — greedy Wall Street executives, predatory lenders, President Bush, federal regulators, members of Congress —than it is to look at ourselves.