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Category Archives: Columns
Toothless Watchdogs – OutFront – CNN
Despite President Barack Obama’s lead in new polls, he has been outspent pro-Romney Super PACs. John Avlon has been looking at the Super PAC economy all week and how the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Videos
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Fiscal Responsibility, OutFront
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Pope Francis’s Lessons for the GOP – The Daily Beast
On the heels of Pope Francis’s triumphant visit to Brazil for World Youth Day, the humble pontiff is reinvigorating the Catholic Church after a time of scandal by reaching out, advancing reforms that threaten powerful special interests and leading by … Continue reading
Dark Money Shuffle – OutFront – CNN
A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned a ruling that would have tightened disclosure rules for political donations. The decision may make it even harder to follow the money trail at a time when record amounts of money are being poured … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Videos
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Fiscal Responsibility, OutFront
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The Super-PAC Economy – The Daily Beast
This is the first installment in a series by The Daily Beast, in partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics, on the influx of money into the 2012 campaign. These articles were co-authored with Michael Keller. Beneath the still struggling … Continue reading
Romney Foreign Policy Attack Was Disgraceful – CNN.com
“Partisanship ought to end at the water’s edge” is a longstanding adage of American politics. But in the hours after the death of the first U.S. ambassador killed in decades, Mitt Romney — panicked as his poll numbers have slipped … Continue reading
The Super PAC Economy – OutFront – CNN
One problem Mitt Romney doesn’t have is raising money. The Super PAC supporting him has already raked in more than 65-million-dollars. That’s more than outside groups in total spent at this point in the 2008 election. CNN Contributor John Avlon … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Videos
Tagged 2012 Elections, CNN, Elections, Fiscal Responsibility, OutFront
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Video Defaming Prophet Mohammed is a Con Job That Pits Fundamentalist Christians and Muslims Against Freedom – The Telepgraph
More than 100 years ago, Mark Twain said: “A lie will go round the round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” The world received a chilling 21st century update of that aphorism last week, as a plot … Continue reading
Wisconsin’s Healthy Union Mess – The Daily Beast
Republicans in VP nominee Paul Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin got unwelcome news late Friday afternoon when Judge Juan B. Colas declared significant portions of collective-bargaining reform unconstitutional. This was Governor Scott Walker’s signature reform, the result of a hard-won … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, Fiscal Responsibility, The Daily Beast
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Democrats for Education Reform? Why Policy Fault Lines Are Shifting – The Daily Beast
“On this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.” So said Paul Ryan at the outset of the Chicago’s teacher strike this week. Now in its fourth day, the Chicago strike affects 350,000 kids. It occurred despite … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Former FBI Agent Ali Soufan on Bin Laden’s Death, War on Terror – The Daily Beast
Terrorism is always one bad day away from being issue number one and on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, it can be easy to forget that the terrorist’s war on us hasn’t stopped. The good news … Continue reading
The Obama Iconography: Only One Candidate in Race Inspires Heartfelt Fandom – The Daily Beast
The two-week convention caravan is now at rest, and Tampa and Charlotte are in the rear-view mirror. So how did the two conventions compare, seen up close and side by side? Well, sometimes stereotypes ring true: Republicans fall in line, … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Obama Needs a Second-Term Agenda in His Democratic Convention Speech – The Daily Beast
President Obama’s blessing is his curse—a soaring speech won’t be good enough Thursday night. Call it the Obama discount or just a credibility gap, but words are cheap where this POTUS is concerned. That’s why he needs to get serious … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Better Off Than When, Exactly? – The Daily Beast
This is literally the most anticipatable question for a presidential re-election—and the fact that Governor Martin O’Malley got caught flat-footed on it is a cause for head-scratching, if not concern, given his otherwise stalwart performance as a Obama surrogate. If … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Will Republicans’ Vast Super-PAC-Money Advantage Swing the Election? – The Daily Beast
As Democrats gather in Charlotte, N.C., the optimism is palpable. But the party has been dangerously overconfident throughout this election, and some are still in denial about the big money behemoth they are facing this fall. Mitt Romney just announced … Continue reading
Many 2008 Conservative Obama Backers, or ObamaCons, Will Stay True – The Daily Beast
Back in 2008, Barack Obama boasted the support of more than 40 prominent Republicans and conservatives, including Colin Powell, Bush press secretary Scott McClellan, and Reagan solicitor general Charles Fried. These “ObamaCons” were offered as a barometer of Obama’s crossover … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, President Obama, The Daily Beast
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Politics of Clint Eastwood’s Empty Chair – CNN.com
Clint Eastwood’s rambling speech to an empty chair in Tampa, Florida, was more than just awkward performance art on a political stage. It actually provided a useful metaphor for one of the most nauseating aspects of this presidential election — … Continue reading
US Election 2012: Why Mitt Still Needs to Polish His Sales Pitch – The Telegraph
The Republican Convention in Tampa ended after three days of frenzied networking and made-for-television speeches, all against a backdrop of American flags. This is now Mitt Romney’s Republican Party, even if it is more unified by intense dislike of President … Continue reading
Mitt Romney’s Missing Character Narrative Must Be Part of GOP Convention Speech – The Daily Beast
Mitt Romney’s nomination speech is receiving final edits as you read this—examined to make sure every essential theme is included, every phrase shined and sharpened. But Romney has an additional burden in this nomination address—he needs to fill in the … Continue reading
Is That the Best Mitt Romney Can Do? – CNN.com
Is that the best he can do? On family, Mitt Romney got an ‘A’ in his nomination speech last night. On positive presidential vision he got a ‘C’ — and on presidential policy he got an incomplete. There’s no question … Continue reading
The Convention’s Key Moment: Paul Ryan Introduces Himself to America – The Daily Beast
There’s been a lot of GOP spin about how this convention is Mitt Romney’s chance to “introduce himself to the American people.” This is ridiculous: the man’s been running for president for five years. If polls show he has a … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, Republican Reformers, The Daily Beast
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