Bookworm Room

By now you’ve heard that the President, who’s been sitting on his jobs speech for days, if not weeks (or maybe years), has suddenly announced that he’s going to give it on the same night as a Republican presidential candidate debate that’s been schedule for months.  It’s a tacky gesture, at best (and at worst, [...]

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One of the big issues heating up for the election is “science.”  I noted the other day that Krugman has thrown down the gauntlet, saying that the Republicans are returning us to a flat earth world, and, many, including Roger L. Simon, have picked it up, pointing out that Krugman and others have totally abandoned [...]

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Ace has an excellent post up today about the way in which the media invariably frames Democratic and Republican victories:  when Democrats win, Americans are intelligently embracing the Democrat agenda; when Republicans win, Americans are acting irrationally, operating from fear, or failing to understand the virtues of the Democrat agenda.  As Ace says: I’d be [...]

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As the primary season heats up, here’s a good question to ask:  If we want to end the primary season with a viable political candidate to face off against Barack Obama, are there limits limits to the nature of the attacks that bloggers launch against the Republican candidates during this primary season? My take is [...]

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The Left is very, very, very worried about Rick Perry.  At Mother Jones, Kevin Drum has assembled a long list of alleged problems Perry has, all of which explain (in Drum’s mind) why Perry can’t possibly win.  Aside from the fact that the list is jaw-droppingly amusing (I’ll explain more below), Drum precedes it with [...]

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Stephen Hayward advances a solid argument that Romney has the lock on the nomination.  As I read it, the core of is argument is that Romney is the seasoned Republican campaigner, whose weaknesses have already been thoroughly exposed by a hostile media.  Perry still has ahead, as Hayward says, a comprehensive and public proctological exam.  [...]

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Interesting item from the New York Times today about a “mischaracterization” (what we knucklewalkers call a “lie”) Obama made during the 2008 campaign. The lede: “The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about [...]

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 We’ve skirted this topic before in Bookworm Room, but never really plunged into it: If you could plan the GOP’s 2012 campaign against Obama, what themes and visuals would you bring into it? This assumes you have a big war chest and carte blanche regarding the many embarrassing and critical things you can bring [...]

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I presented my daughter with the following scenario: Imagine that the president you elected has been in the White House for one term.  During that time, everything that indicates the health of the country is worse than when your man came into office.  Whether one looks at the economy, national security, relations with other countries, [...]

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Paul Ryan seems adamant about not running, but boy! do I like him.  This video perfectly exemplifies his highly intelligent policies and his extremely pleasant persona:

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I’ve long since learned that, if the liberal media endorses an ostensibly Republican candidate, I should run far and fast in the other direction.  Verum Serum has a nice video explaining why Huntsman is the current go-to Republican candidate as far as the liberal media is concerned: By the way, Huntsman’s California background may explain [...]

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I disagreed with John Podhoretz’s casual dismissal of Candidate Herman Cain, but I believe he is absolutely right about the reason more seasoned political figures are saying “include me out”: So why is this happening? Simple. You’ve probably heard that the president and his team are looking to raise $1 billion to run on in [...]

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Do I mind that Mitch is out in 2012?  No.  Even though I understand that he’s a stellar government executive, with some good (although not great) conservative chops, I could not like him.  I would have voted for him on the ABO (Anyone But Obama) principle, but I wouldn’t have liked it. Of course, 2012 [...]

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Since I’m in California, which has always been a late primary state, and since California is now switching to open primaries anyway, it’s always hard for me to get very excited about primaries.  The fact is that I never feel I really have any say in them, since the front runners are already decided by [...]

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Obama has already thrown his hat in the ring.  Democrats therefore have a “payee” for their political donations.  The money can start rolling in instantly. Republicans, however, don’t know yet who is going to be opposing Obama.  Pawlenty?  Trump?  Palin?  Bachmann?  Paul?  Cain?  An as yet unknown candidate? The fact that we’ll only have a [...]

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Mitt Romney has two significant flaws as as Republican candidate:  Romney Care in Massachusetts and the fact that he is a Mormon, which is anathema to many committed Protestants and Catholics.  During the 2008 primaries, some people were saying that he was so flawed they couldn’t possibly vote for him, even if it meant abstaining [...]

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We have enjoyed spirited discussions on these pages with Book’s question about universities and the values thereof. A recurring theme that I hear among Liberals is one of educational snobbery. I heard this with regard to G.W. Bush (despite his Harvard MBA) and now we hear it about Sarah Palin and other conservative candidates that [...]

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An email friend of mine advanced the notion of General Petraeus running in 2012.  The man has shown himself to be incredibly competent, but I don’t know much more about him.  He certainly has executive experience.  My friend, who knows (or knows of him) quite well says that he has many of the virtues that [...]

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I’m going to be working, not blogging, tomorrow morning, November 4, 2008, so feel free to consider this an open thread.  I can’t let this occasion go by without a few words, though. On the candidates: If you believe government can solve most of our problems; if you believe Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry [...]

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DJ Drummond, who blogs at Wizbang, has two spectacular articles explaining in simple terms why we shouldn’t blindly trust the polls this year.  You should read them, here and here.  Bottom line:  no matter what the polls seem to be saying, make sure to vote.

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Before you let the polls spook you, Ann Coulter has some useful history: Reviewing the polls printed in the New York Times and the Washington Post in the last month of every presidential election since 1976, I found the polls were never wrong in a friendly way to Republicans. When the polls were wrong, which [...]

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I had a lovely time last night at a reception on the Bonhomme Richard, and plan on writing about it later today.  However, other work calls, so I thought I’d fill this space with recommendations for interesting stuff you may want to read.  In no particular order: William Katz, a witty, erudite man who has [...]

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I’m getting emails from committed conservatives who are unhappy right now, feeling that the air has gone out of the election balloon.  I’m looking at things a different way. The ACORN registration fraud has inflated the numbers of registered Democrats.  Given that some people registered as Dems 72 times, there is no way that ACORN [...]

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I don’t think Glenn Reynolds will mind my reprinting this in its entirety, since it deserves to be read as widely as possible.  Send it along to your friends — and, maybe, to your local newsroom: A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the [...]

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Yesterday, I urged you to read Thomas Lifson’s January 2006 article looking to the two political seasons that affect most Americans — the long inattention season and the short attention season.  Today, Thomas was good enough to revisit his original premise and analyze how it helps Republicans generally (which is why, every election dumb-founded Democrats [...]

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