Category: Politics

Republicans still in pursuit of Mr. Right

Posted by dcrim – February 21, 2012

Jonah Goldberg writes in the Los Angeles Times that Mr. Right continues to elude the GOP in this year’s presidential race.

This is one of the amazing things about the final four. The various factions of the Republican Party and the myriad slices of the conservative mind are represented (with the one obvious missing ingredient being the lack of a Southern evangelical Christian), but none of the pieces is in the right place. It’s like playing with a Mr. Potato Head when the feet are where the ears should be and an arm stands in for a nose.

Click here for the story.

Politico reports that Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney is burning through cash more than twice as fast as he’s raising it. It could be a sign that a protracted GOP primary fight could leave the front-runner limping into a general election fight with President Barack Obama.

Do Republicans have a Plan B?

How well will Romney fare in New Hampshire?

Posted by dcrim – January 9, 2012

Less than 36 hours separate Mitt Romney from what is supposed to be his campaign coup de grace: the New Hampshire primary. But Josh Lederman of The HIll writes that with pitfalls presenting themselves in seemingly every direction, the pressure on the front-runner is rapidly intensifying. Click here for the story.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post points out that there has been one consistent reservation many Republican voters — and others — have expressed about Romney. They question his authenticity. They don’t know if they can trust him. They wonder who he really is. Click here for the story.

Writing on op-ed piece for the New York Times, Bill Keller lays out the scenario he believes gives President Obama the best chance to win a second term. Click here for the story.

 

Is GOP race over? Or will Iowa make a difference?

Posted by dcrim – December 27, 2011

With a week to go before the Iowa caucuses, the biggest question is which GOP candidates will survive to fight another day. As Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin note, all the candidates dream of finishing at the top of the pack, but where the losers place and whether they drop out or valiantly trudge ahead could be as significant as who comes in first. Click here for the story.

Nate Silver of the New York Times us bullish on the prospects of Mitt Romney: “ … for him to fail to win the nomination, someone else has to, and it’s hard to see who that is.” Click here for the story.

Peter Beinart writes that Ron Paul isn’t just stirring controversy, he’s threatening to expose profound divisions within the GOP.  Beinart details how the libertarian upstart could change the Republican Party in 2012.

USA Today reports that starting federal salaries have soared the past five years.

 

Gingrich is latest anybody-but-Romney candidate

Posted by dcrim – November 30, 2011

Embattled presidential candidate Herman Cain is claiming a “groundswell of positive support” from backers even as allegations of a 13-year extra-marital affair raises questions about his campaign’s viability, which apparently means he plans to stay in the GOP race for now.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times somewhat sarcastically opines that maybe Newt Gingrich is the ideal man to fix Washington’s dysfunction because he is the one who made it dysfunctional. “He broke it so he should own it,” Dowd writes. Click here for the column.

Meanwhile, columnist Roger Simon, writes that this has been The Year of Living Dangerously in politics. And he blames the media.

The media have driven it. Faced with an incumbent president running a careful and as yet uninspiring campaign, and a Republican field as dynamic as wet laundry drying on the line, the press has felt obliged to step up and fill the void.

Click here for the column.

Finally, Politico offers this political cheat sheet.

Will Penn State prompt change in college culture?

Posted by dcrim – November 23, 2011

The Christian Science Monitor, in an editorial, notes that the NCAA will “examine” Penn State’s loss of control over its sports program following the sex and coverup scandal. But it says the NCAA needs a robust solution to break the culture of sports dominance in colleges.

The newspaper concludes:

Individuals who have been charged will be held responsible in a court of law. But Penn State and the NCAA need to break a culture that serves an institution first instead of the values its stands for.

Click here for the editorial.

Making a sad story even sadder, the New York Times reports Victim 1, according to friends and others, was taunted by classmates after it became widely known this month that he had testified against Sandusky as part of a case that ultimately caused Joe Paterno, the longtime football coach at Penn State, to lose his job. Click here for the story.

Politico and The Daily Beast offer analysis of the CNN GOP presidential debate.

On the Pujols contract, the ‘New Newt” and Pinkel’s DWI

Posted by dcrim – November 17, 2011

Question of the day: Will members of the Quincy School Board ever learn how to play nice? Or are we going to have to put some of them in time out?

ESPN host Colin Cowherd says the Marlins’ nine-year contract offer to Albert Pujols is terrible, and that the Cardinals would be smart to not pay the iconic first baseman that much money. Click here for the video clip from his syndicated radio show.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in a virtual tie with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in recent polling of GOP presidential candidates, just months after his candidacy was thought to be dead. Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times likens Gingrich’s revival to that of Richard Nixon in 1968. In the end, however, McManus concludes Gingrich is no Nixon. Click here for the column.

Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated Wednesday night in Columbia. A poster on Facebook urged that Pinkel be given a pass on this one because, with Missouri moving to the SEC next year, the coach is going to be drinking a lot. Ouch!

What’s a little insider trading among colleagues?

Posted by dcrim – November 14, 2011

Just when you thought insider trading was illegal …

Steve Kroft reported Sunday night on “60 Minutes” that members of Congress and their aides have regular access to powerful political intelligence, and many have made well-timed stock market trades in the very industries they regulate. For now, Kroft said, the practice is perfectly legal, but some say it’s time for the law to change.

As the Washington Post noted, the story exposed, among others, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for participating in a lucrative initial public offering from Visa in 2008 that was not available to the general public, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies began making its way through the House (the bill never made it to the floor). And it showed how during the 2008 financial crisis, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) — then-ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee — aggressively bought stock options based on apocalyptic briefings he had received the day before from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

The report was based on a new book by Peter Schweizer that will hit stores on Tuesday. It’s called “Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison.” (Kinda long, but you get the point.)

Click here for the “60 Minutes” report.

Memo to Penn State students: This isn’t about football

Posted by dcrim – November 10, 2011

Penn State fired football coach Joe Paterno Wednesday night in the wake of the horrific sexual abuse scandal involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky. The firing of the winningest coach in major college football history sent angry students into the streets where they shouted support for Paterno and tipped over a news van, creating a surreal scene.

Writes Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com: Finally, adults with backbones and courage made a prudent decision at Penn State. Paterno was fired because he failed miserably while making the biggest decision of his life. Click here for the full story.

Notes Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com: It is a sad and stunning end to a 20th-century American success story. An Italian-American kid from Brooklyn grew up to become one of the most influential figures in American sports. He supped with Presidents. He transformed a university. And a career that should be celebrated is sullied instead. Click here for the story.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle says Paterno got what he deserved. Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes that Paterno failed Penn State more than any coach has failed any school.

The students? Their disturbing actions are detailed here and here. The first questions that pops to mind: Where was their outrage for the eight boys who allegedly were molested? C’mon. Football coach, icon or not, or one of the most disgusting stories of our time? Seems like these future leaders have their priorities out of whack. Maybe they should take the time to read the grand jury report.

On the political front, one question that emerged from Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate: Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry now officially toast? Click here and here to see what insiders think.

Is Republican primary about to enter elimination stage?

Posted by dcrim – November 9, 2011

A look at politics and poverty while we ponder who will reach a new deal first: The NBA and its players or the Quincy School District and its teachers?

The Republican presidential candidates will square off tonight in Michigan in a CNBC debate on the economy, and Alexander Burns of Politico notes that they will no longer be trying to make a first impression. Instead, Burns writes, the GOP primary is about to enter the elimination round with about two months to go before the Iowa caucuses. Click here for the story.

Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal writes that Newt Gingrich, left for dead months ago, can still win the GOP nomination.

Whoever his competitors are in Iowa and beyond, Mr. Gingrich faces a hard fight for the nomination. His greatest asset lies in his capacity to speak to Americans as he has done, with such potency, during the Republican debates. No candidate in the field comes close to his talent for connection. There’s no underestimating the importance of such a power in the presidential election ahead, or any other one.

His rise in the polls suggests that more and more Republicans are absorbing that fact, along with the possibility that Mr. Gingrich’s qualifications all ‘round could well make him the most formidable contender for the contest with Barack Obama.

Click here for the entire story.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll released today shows that most Americans see an increasingly large gap between rich and poor, and want the federal government to intervene in an attempt to address the disparity.

A happy 76th birthday to Bob Gibson, the greatest right-handed pitcher of all time (at least in my book). And Whitey Herzog turns 80 today.

Obama takes aim at Romney in just-released web ad

Posted by dcrim – November 3, 2011

The Washington Post reports the Obama SuperPAC has just released a web ad that should receive an R rating for violence. Watch it below if you want a sneak preview of the Obama campaign. Read about it here.