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Category Archives: Columns
George W. Bush to Republicans: Embrace Immigration – The Daily Beast
President George W. Bush’s first postelection speech was a call for immigration reform—and an implicit rebuke of the failed GOP nominee Mitt Romney. On Tuesday morning, the Bush Center held a conference on immigration and economic growth at the Federal … Continue reading
Beware the Fiscal Cliff Deniers – CNN.com
Washington is playing chicken with the fiscal cliff — the combination of automatic tax hikes and deep spending cuts in 2013 that could plummet our recovering economy back into recession. Brinksmanship is back while the clock ticks. Responsible voices in … Continue reading
Will the Second-Term Quicksand Swallow Barack Obama? – The Daily Beast
Second terms come with instant historic legitimacy—and seemingly inevitable scandal. Watergate, Iran-Contra, the Full Monica all started snowballing a year after strong second-term presidential wins. The defining domestic disaster of President Bush’s second term, the response to Hurricane Katrina, also … Continue reading
Democrats Must Step Up on Entitlement Reform for Fiscal Cliff Deal – The Daily Beast
The good news is that Republicans are starting to recognize the need to break with Grover Norquist and his anti-tax pledge. But that’s only part of the way toward a genuinely balanced bipartisan deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. Listen … Continue reading
The Man Who Changed Baseball Forever – CNN.com
Marvin Miller died Tuesday at the age of 95. And here’s why you should know his name: Miller transformed the game of baseball even though he never put on a uniform. This slight union lawyer was considered the enemy of … Continue reading
Don’t Fear the Gover – Republicans Wisely Break with Grover Norquist – CNN.com
Who’s afraid of Grover Norquist? Fewer and fewer Republicans, thankfully. In recent days, the declarations of independence from Norquist’s absolutist anti-tax pledge have been coming fast and furious. Add Southern Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Lindsey Graham to the growing list, … Continue reading
Bloomberg, Cuomo Should Revitalize the Rockaways After Hurricane Sandy – The Daily Beast
Almost one month after Hurricane Sandy, some storefronts in the Rockaways—the seven-mile stretch of beachfront below Brooklyn—are alight at night, but many small businesses are still boarded up. Floodlights illuminate intersections, and cop cars and sanitation crews line streets piled … Continue reading
Republican Politicians Must Stop Pandering to Conservative Populism – The Daily Beast
Republicans need to “stop being the Stupid Party.” That was a blunt postelection declaration of independence by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. “We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism,” continued Jindal. “We need to stop being simplistic, we need to … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, Independent Voters, Republican Reformers, The Daily Beast
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The Final Insult: Mitt Romney’s Clueless Gift Gaffe – The Daily Beast
Mitt Romney made his final newsworthy post-election pronouncement, explaining to a conference call of big-dollar donors that he had fallen short because President Barack Obama had bribed liberal special interests with expensive gifts. Here’s what he said, according to The … Continue reading
They Failed to ‘Buy’ the US Election in 2012: Will Conservative Donors Ever Open Their Wallets Again? – The Telegraph
An unprecedented amount of money was spent in the 2012 election — some $6 billion in total. But the real slumbering scandal was how much of that was an infusion of cash from Super PACs – supposedly independent “political action … Continue reading
Obama’s Strong Support Among Cuban Americans Underlines Demographic Shift – The Daily Beast
The depth, if not dimensions, of President Obama’s reelection victory is slowly resonating, even in Republican circles. After all the partisan spinning, it is clear that the combination of the Obama campaign’s ground game and demographic evolutions in our nation … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Welcome to the Twilight Zone – Newsweek – The Daily Beast
Partisan politics is starting to look like a cult, and after this presidential election, Republicans will need some serious deprogramming. The overheated anti-Obama echo chamber on the far right led to a fact-free fanaticism, inspiring otherwise educated folks to ignore … Continue reading
Battleground Blog: How the Swing Counties Swung – CNN.com
Over the last two months of the campaign, CNN focused on the swing districts of swing states as a way of looking at who would win the election. From Jefferson County Colorado and Loudon County Virginia on CNN’s OutFront’s Final … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Independent Voters, President Obama
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Nightmare Scenario—Ohio’s Provisional Ballots May Be 2012’s Hanging Chads – The Daily Beast
There was a traffic jam on the highway leading to the early voting station in Franklin County, Ohio, on Monday. Inside the former box store, lines snaked around the showroom floor with voters waiting more or less patiently for an … Continue reading
Independent and Centrist Voters Breaking with Precedent – CNN.com
The final polls are out and behind the national horserace is a fascinating dynamic – Mitt Romney is narrowly winning independent voters while President Obama is winning centrist voters by a nearly 20-point margin. For example, here in the must-win … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Independent Voters, President Obama
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Presidential Election Likely to Come Down to the Future vs. the Past – The Daily Beast
The fault lines in the 2012 election are the future versus the past—and not in an empty rhetorical “America is at a crossroads” sort of way. Something more fundamental and demographically measurable is at work. Consider this: President Obama’s largest … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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What’s Really at Stake in Election 2012 – CNN.com
The stakes in this election go far beyond just who takes the oath of office in January. Each of us is faced with choices that will have huge ramifications in our nation for decades — and the choice is not … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Independent Voters, President Obama
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Sex, Drugs, and Ballot Initiatives – The Daily Beast
Ballot initiatives are direct democracy—the cutting edge of politics—but they don’t get the respect they deserve despite the huge consequences that can come from giving citizens the rebellious ability to do an end run around their slow-moving state legislatures. With … Continue reading
Vote the Bums Out: the Eight Worst Members of Congress – The Daily Beast
This divided and dysfunctional Congress has earned its record low-approval rating. Luckily we have the remedy in our hands on Election Day: vote the bums out. Here is my brief list of the eight worst congresspeople in 2012 from both … Continue reading
Stand up for Centrist Candidates – CNN.com
There’s more to Election Day than just the presidential campaign. The polarization of the parties has led directly to the divided and dysfunctional Congress we’ve seen over the past two years, leading to the lowest congressional approval ratings in recent … Continue reading