National Politics

Review: The Price of the Ticket by Frederick Harris

By Marc Comtois | June 17, 2012 |

Fredrick C. Harris is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of Columbia University’s Center on African-American Politics and Society. In the world of academia, his racial/political bona fides are beyond reproach. so when he proposes that our first African-American President hasn’t adequately addressed racial inequality, it’s worth a read. In his Price of…

The End of Democracy

By Patrick Laverty | June 6, 2012 |

Yep, democracy is over. Scott Walker won by ordering the Wisconsin National Guard to stand in front of the voting booths and shoot any likely Tom Barrett voter who entered. Yes, democracy is dead. Wait, what? Walker won because the opposition successfully pulled off getting a recall vote but then more voters sided with Walker…

The [Sheldon] Whitehouse Standard

By Marc Comtois | May 24, 2012 |

David Scharfenberg points to an interview that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse did with ThinkProgress in which he claims the five Supreme Court justices who ruled against Whitehouse’s preference on Citizens United shouldn’t have even been allowed to rule because they didn’t have the right experience to judge: Unfortunately you had the five right-wing judges, none of…

Political “Compromise” and Gridlock: Cause and Effect?

By Marc Comtois | April 30, 2012 |

In a recent column, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, authors of the new book It’s Even Worse Than it Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism, state that the Republicans are to blame for congressional gridlock. As I tweeted earlier,…

Iowahawk On the Fiscals of Romney Vs Obama

By Monique Chartier | April 15, 2012 |

Presumably referencing the divisive and pointless class war which the campaign of President Barack Obama (and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse) feels it needs to wage in order to win re-election, David Burge, aka Iowahawk, tweeted this remark Friday night. (H/T Instapundit Glenn Reynolds.) Apparently, I’m supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with…

More than a Political Narrative

By Justin Katz | March 24, 2012 |

Back in college, it was a matter of some classroom literary discussion that relativist thinkers still went about their daily lives as if they believed something to be true. (True enough, it appeared often to be that they deserved tenured sinecures that allowed them freedom to ruminate.) To broad readers of conservative political commentary, this…

Edging Toward the Inevitable

By Marc Comtois | March 7, 2012 |

Whether your response is excited, angered or tepid (ahem), Mitt Romney won 6 out of 10 primaries/caucuses last night, including the supposed bellweather, rust-belt state of Ohio. Though the latter was close, he still won it. Yet, as avowed Romney-supporter (some would say shill) Jennifer Rubin writes, you would think that Romney lost by winning…

Rasmussen: “Why Politicians Can’t Connect With the Middle Class”

By Marc Comtois | March 2, 2012 |

Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that only 27% believe government can adequately “manage the economy” and 50% thinks it makes things worse when it tries to “help”. Rasmussen focuses on why this attitude explains “why politicians can’t connect with the middle class”. (Incidentally, Steve Laffey’s film, Fixing America provides further evidence of this point). Upper-income Americans…

Jobless and Taking the “Disability Option”

By Marc Comtois | February 16, 2012 |

Glenn Reynolds points to a Republican Study Committee graphic that asks, “Where Are the Jobs?“. The above chart shows the “labor force participation rate.” This statistic represents the share of working-age Americans who are either employed or unemployed but looking for work. It is not a pretty picture. Only 63.7% of working-age Americans are currently…

(Re)State of the Union

By Marc Comtois | January 25, 2012 |

I mean, really….it doesn’t even seem like he’s trying anymore. Rehashing the same tired lines, delivered at an 8th grade reading level. It just reinforces the perception that President Obama likes the idea of being President much more than actually doing the job. Good thing the GOP has such a strong field of candidates….