President ’12

Mitt Romney’s Five Policy Goals

By Carroll Andrew Morse | August 31, 2012 |

During his acceptance speech at last night’s Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney presented five policy goals that would be his focus, if elected President…Paul Ryan and I have five steps. First, by 2020, North America will be energy independent by taking full advantage of our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, and renewables. Second,…

The Brilliance of Clint’s Empty Chair

By Justin Katz | August 31, 2012 |

Politicos and policy wonks have been parsing every major speech offered at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, each with his or her own lens.  (The exception is MSNBC, which apparently declined to parse several speeches by ethnic minorities.)  Some have commented on the gender-war content of Ann Romney’s statements; some have focused on…

Umm… Who (and What Policies) Got Us into This Mess?

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2012 |

I’ve had the extreme good fortune to shift careers to one that allows me time to create and stare at charts. (Sadly, yes, that’s a literal description of some of my afternoons, as well as my feelings about those afternoons.)  So it’s with an especially strong “What!?” that I watched this video, via Ann Althouse, via Glenn…

Not The Most Qualified Pick for Vice-President

By Patrick Laverty | August 15, 2012 |

And he even said so himself. she’s (Hillary Clinton) easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. Then-Vice-Presidential Candidate Joe Biden September 10, 2008 Ok, the quote is four years old. I’m rehashing old stuff. I get that. But…

Ryan on Medicare

By Marc Comtois | August 14, 2012 |

As the Wall Street Journal writes: There’s no excuse in particular for letting the White House claim that Mr. Ryan would “end Medicare as we know it” because that is demonstrably false. Late last year, Mr. Ryan joined Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden in introducing a version of his reform that explicitly retains Medicare as…

Romney Picks Ryan for VP

By Marc Comtois | August 11, 2012 |

Mitt Romney has selected conservative Congressman Paul Ryan from the swing-state of Wisconsin to be his Vice-Presidential running mate. The possibility of Ryan as VP has been gaining ground over the last few days. Politico ran a piece over the supposed “split” within GOP over the notion: Ryan advocates, including some of his colleagues and…

Scott Brown Says It Best

By Patrick Laverty | July 25, 2012 |

Yes, this is a US Senator from Massachusetts, but I don’t think anyone could explain it better. In case you haven’t seen this statement from Scott Brown yet, it’s moving.

Credit for Building, Blame for Dividing

By Justin Katz | July 19, 2012 |

President Obama’s teleprompter style has been the subject of substantial (often mocking) critical commentary, and with some justification, as this nearly parodic 2010 video from a Virginia classroom proves: Given recent political events, one can sympathize with the desire of public officials to avoid extemporaneous speech. In a world in which one’s every public utterance…

Remember when 310,000 new jobs & 5.6% unemployment just wasn’t enough? Barack Obama does….

By Marc Comtois | July 7, 2012 |

Yesterday we learned that the economy created 80,000 jobs and was at 8.2%, which President Obama called “a step in the right direction”. Back in 2004, coming out of a recession, the economy created 310,000 new jobs and unemployment was at 5.6%. But that wasn’t good enough–wasn’t the real story–for a little-known state legislator running…

How Are The Presidential Polls Looking?

By Patrick Laverty | May 17, 2012 |

Speaking of polls, how are the polls looking for President? After a tough primary season, what are Romney’s chances against Obama? I think the go-to site for national polling is http://realclearpolitics.com. They’re a site that aggregates a few of the major polling organizations and comes up with an average of them all. Currently, they’re showing…