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Category Archives: Columns
Birthers, Smokers, Jokers – It’s Silly Season in GOP Politics – CNN.com
Silly season has begun again. The sideshow is threatening to move into the big tent, and distraction will seem like it’s the main event. We’ve begun that long stretch where political campaigns are viciously jockeying for position before the first … Continue reading
The End of TV Campaign Ads? – The Daily Beast
In the two hours after Herman Cain’s “Smoking Man” video was released to the public, it was watched more than 100,000 times. Two days later, it had tallied nearly 700,000 views on the campaign’s YouTube channel alone—a total that doesn’t … Continue reading
Rick Perry’s Missed Opportunity – The Daily Beast
Rick Perry unveiled the details of his flat-tax plan and overall economic package today in South Carolina. Give the man points for going big: it’s a 20 percent flat tax for both individuals and corporations. This is smart politics for … Continue reading
Obama Shouldn’t Use Bush’s Reelect Strategy – The Daily Beast
The buzz is that President Obama is going to use Bush-Cheney ’04 as his re-elect model. This is a bad idea on at least five different levels. First, the hallmark of the BC-04 campaign was play to the base in … Continue reading
The Battle For Wall Street – The Daily Beast
A little after 6:30 a.m., a cheer went up from the protesters gathered in Zuccotti Park. A press release by New York City Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway announced that Brookfield Properties—the owner of the park—had decided to call off their … Continue reading
Congress Finally Gets Something Right – CNN.com
Our dysfunctional divided Congress finally was able to find some common ground Wednesday, passing long-delayed free-trade bills with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Together, these treaties promise to increase U.S. exports by more than $12 billion a year while creating … Continue reading
Democracy in Name Only – City Journal
Election reform in New York is long overdue. Most elections for New York City offices are effectively decided in Democratic primaries with very low turnouts. In New York’s vibrant first City Council district, which stretches from Soho to Battery Park … Continue reading
Perry’s Do-or-Die Debate – The Daily Beast
Applications for the GOP’s Messiah of the Month Club are now closed. The Christies and Danielses have declined. Sarah Palin’s belated bow-out seemed bizarrely anticlimactic after three years of overheated speculation from fans now left at the altar while she … Continue reading
Tea Party for the Left? – The Daily Beast
We are living in a time of decentralized populist political movements, fueled by economic anxiety and magnified by social media. As Occupy Wall Street spread into satellite protests this past week, there was an understandable impulse to impose an established … Continue reading
Millionaire’s tax is on target – CNN.com
Here’s one idea that could unite Main Street voters with Occupy Wall Street protesters — raise taxes only on individuals making more than $1 million a year and use that revenue to pay for President Barack Obama?’s jobs bill, which … Continue reading
Vaclav Havel, a Hero for Today – CNN.com
Draw up a compelling character representing the arc of the 20th century and it might look like this — a child whose homeland is conquered by the Nazis and then occupied by communists; a playwright, essayist and dissident turned state … Continue reading
Occupy Wall Street’s Empty Protests – The Daily Beast
“Do what you’ve got to do, but don’t climb on the walls because you might fall off and get hurt.” This was the voice of “the man”—in this case, a police officer with a megaphone—on the opening night of the … Continue reading
2012’s New Contenders – The Daily Beast
We are living in a “pox-on-both-your-houses” moment. Congressional approval is at an all-time low. More than 40 percent of Americans believe that both Republican and Democrat policies are moving the country in the wrong direction, while Tea Party approval has … Continue reading
Politics as Ideological Blood Sport – CNN.com
They just don’t get it. Two months after playing partisan chicken with the debt-ceiling limit and leading directly to a U.S. downgrade, our dysfunctional divided Congress was at it again — carelessly bringing the country to the brink of a … Continue reading
Jeers for a Gay Soldier – The Daily Beast
The GOP presidential debate in Orlando produced a profile in courage and nine profiles in cowardice. The profile in courage came courtesy of the brave active-duty solider named Stephen Hill serving in Iraq who chose the Republican debate as the … Continue reading
Independent Voters and 2012 Election – C-SPAN
John Avlon talked about the role of independent voters in the 2012 elections. Topics included voter attitudes on issues, the two political parties and Washington politics in general, and the viability of an independent political movement. He also responded to … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Videos
Tagged 2008 Elections, 2012 Elections, C-Span, Elections, Independent Nation
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The Dark Money Shuffle – The Daily Beast
This is the second 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. Back in 2010, Justice … Continue reading
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Rick Perry’s Fantasy About Obama, Israel – CNN.com
Gov. Rick Perry unleashed an onslaught against President Obama’s Israel policy Tuesday in New York, calling it “moral equivalency,” “appeasement,” “naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous.” All this sounds very bad, deepening the narrative that Obama is hell-bent on alienating … Continue reading
Could Obama’s new tax plan really incite class warfare? – CNN
President Obama will unveil a plan today to cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade. A large part of the proposal is expected to be based on raising taxes on Americans making more than $1 million a … Continue reading
Obama’s Debt-Reduction Dare – The Daily Beast
“This is not class warfare—it’s math.” President Obama was playing the happy warrior while presenting his $3 trillion debt-reduction plan in a Rose Garden address, welcoming a fight over raising taxes on the wealthy while a tough re-election looms.