Readers will not have lacked for analyses and comments on President Trump’s State of the Union Message. Nevertheless, some brief thoughts from this corner may… Read More »Blog No. 207. The SOTU: A Rhetorical Mess with Conspicuous Omissions
Wring Out the Old Many, perhaps most, readers may prefer to think of 2018 as eminently forgettable and have little wish to revisit its high… Read More »Blog No. 201 Wring out the Old, Ring in the New
For a week, the eyes of all Americans, from politicians in Washington to private citizens in every state in the nation, have been focused on… Read More »Blog No. 154. A Salute to Harvey
Amid the Sturm und Drang of Washington these days, it is easy for positive developments to go largely unnoticed. That was the fate of the… Read More »Blog No. 135. The GOP and Climate: Patches of Blue Sky?
Like the media in general, we are guilty of giving more time and space to commenting on Donald Trump than he deserves or we would wish. Nevertheless, we believe that the possibility of his election is such a grave threat that it cannot be ignored. So we will continue to try to puzzle out what he is up to and what it may amount to. Since our last blog, significant events have included Trump’s speech on economic policy, as well as some peculiar and offensive comments on the Second Amendment and ISIS.Read More »Blog No. 108. More Trump in August: Trumponomics and Loose Lips
In our last blog, we were critical of the format and the performance of the moderators at the debate conducted by CNBC. Since that time there has been extensive discussion and “debate about the debate.” While numerous suggestions have been made by the candidates and various observers, most of them have been little more than tweaking. We have something a bit more radical (or “modest” in the Swiftian sense).Read More »Special Bulletin. Can a Future GOP Debate Be More Informative and Entertaining? A Modest Proposal.
On a recurring basis a rather troubling vision comes to mind. It is a reprise of that night on August 11, 2011 when Bret Baier said to the assembled candidates:
“I’m going to ask a question to everyone here on the stage. Say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal, 10-to-1, as Byron [York] said, spending cuts to tax increases…. Who on this stage would walk away from that deal? Can you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you’d walk away on the 10-to-1 deal?”
All eight candidates dutifully raised their hand. It was then, if not before, that the image of Mitt Romney as human pretzel began to form.
Read More »Blog No. 38. Climate Change: Will the GOP Ever Warm Up To It?