I mentioned last week that the winner of Iowa does not always go on to win the nomination, in either party. It’s also true that the winner of New Hampshire often goes on to lose the race for their party’s nod. But candidates who win both have always excelled. Throughout November and December, Howard Dean […]
As a practical matter, George W. Bush is not facing a primary challenge for the GOP presidential nomination. But as a literal matter, he is, with unknown people challenging the incumbent for the Republican nod. This sort of thing happens every year, but it never really means anything. Looking over the results from New Hampshire’s […]
You’ve probably seen plenty of analysis on the New Hampshire primary from everyone else, but for what it’s worth, here’s my two cents. In the off chance you rely exclusively on The Carpetbagger Report for information, the final results out of New Hampshire (with 100% of the precincts reporting) are as follows: Kerry — 39% […]
Bill Clinton, who oversaw the longest period of economic prosperity and the largest surpluses in U.S. history, was recently giving a speech in South Florida. He noted, “People ask me what great new ideas did you bring to Washington. I say, ‘Arithmetic.’” It’s a good line, but more importantly, it’s a valuable observation about the […]
The ongoing debate in Democratic Party circles over whether our presidential nominee should even think about winning southern states has a new participant: John Kerry. Unfortunately, I think Kerry may be making the same mistake Howard Dean made when he got the ball rolling on this issue several months ago. Over the weekend, Kerry casually […]
Since congressional Republicans seem intent on ignoring the White House’s Plame Game scandal, Dems on Capitol Hill have decided to go around the GOP majority and ask the non-partisan General Accounting Office to launch an investigation. By all accounts, the purpose of the proposed GAO inquiry would be different from the ongoing Justice Department investigation. […]
When CNBC announced that it was hiring Dennis Miller to host a new cable talk show, it wasn’t much of a surprise. Another news network hiring another conservative to share GOP talking points to a national television audience? Aside from the fact that Miller has a better vocabulary than most of ideological cohorts, this sounds […]
Grover Norquist, the nation’s most powerful conservative lobbyist/activist, raised a few eyebrows in October when he compared the Estate Tax to the Nazi Holocaust, suggesting that the two were morally equivalent in an interview with NPR. For reasons that continue to astound me, the national media more or less ignored the remark and Norquist continues […]
I thought it was kind of funny, and kind of scary, in July 2003 when Bush said Saddam Hussein refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq, which then led to the war. Bush said, “[W]e gave [Saddam Hussein] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn’t let them in. And, therefore, after […]
I noticed an op-ed in Sunday’s LA Times by Tony Quinn, a California-based political analyst who co-edits the California Target Book. It struck me as terribly wrong so I wanted to refute Quinn’s central argument — that Democrats have “abandoned religion” and are “too secular” to win on the national stage. This is utter nonsense. […]