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Category Archives: Presidential Politics

Rubio, the moderate 

Paul Krugman noted recently that Rubio, the establishment choice and media darling, is hardly the moderate they are so desperately trying to make him out to be. He’s all they’ve got left, and he’s only hanging on by a thread. They still can’t bring themselves to cast Cruz in the “moderate” mold, and Kasich is […]

Rubio: 300.01 on the DSM

If this is true, I have a question: Millions of people watched Marco Rubio’s televised tailspin in the opening minutes of last weekend’s Republican presidential debate — but what, exactly, they saw depended on the viewer. To rivals, Rubio’s reflexive retreat to the same snippet of well-rehearsed rhetoric — over and over, and over, and […]

Is that an echo?

I have to admit that I’m always gratified when I read something by someone who is basically saying the same things I’m saying, and sometimes I feel the need to pass these things along, for after all, if they are saying what I’m saying, they must be spouting profound thoughts indeed. Today, I point the […]

In politics, you can’t get what you won’t demand

If you read a range of left wing blogs you know that one of the knocks against Bernie Sanders is that, given the present makeup of Congress, there’s no way that he could get his proposals through even if he wins. It follows, therefore, as the night the day, that he shouldn’t be advocating for […]

Rainy day pessimism 

The Real News Network recently ran an interview with some British Economists who think that the new Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is steering the party’s policies where they ought to go. John Weeks, a Professor Emeritus at SOAS, at the University of London, had this to say, and it struck me that there are […]

Jeb! hands the Dems a talking point 

As all the world knows, Jeb! has turned out to be a terrible politician, the latest example coming yesterday, when he announced to a room full of supporters that his brother George (remember him?) was a case study in leadership. Now, if your brother was inarguably the worst president in history, and you were trying […]

Reflections from Fantasy Island

Scott Walker, who has held elective office since he was 25, is not a “career politician”. Let Scottie explain: “A career politician, in my mind, is somebody who’s been in Congress for 25 years,” Walker said. via Madison.com Some people have laughed at Scottie about this, but I fully understand where he’s coming from. You […]

Batman speaks

My wife passed this on to me from one of her Vermont Facebook friends.   

Debate Wrapup

First, let me say that I didn’t watch the “debate”. Now, you may think that, given that admission, I have no right to express an opinion about the goings on in Cleveland. But this is America, a place where everyone has the right to express their opinion, regardless of their state of ignorance. In fact, […]

A corollary

Upton Sinclair once said: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Self evidently true. I believe I have discovered an equally obvious corollary to Sinclair’s observation: It is easy to get a man to believe something, when his salary depends on his believing […]