Nader’s Quixotic Quest

To nobody’s surprise, Ralph Nader has announced his intention to run for the presidency again, stalking Harold Stassen’s record for futility with grim determination (Stassen ran for president 9 times between 1948 and 1992). Although he argues vehemently against the notion, instead blaming Democrats themselves,  Nader likely cost Al Gore the White House in 2000, [...]

The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

Obama’s refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin, along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem has led conservatives on the Internet and in the media to question his patriotism. CNN.com even ran a reader poll discussing this issue, adding to the smear as [...]

Superdelegates

The last time a Democratic contest was this close was in 1984, when Walter Mondale led by 40 pledged delegates over Gary Hart going into the convention. Superdelegates voted with Mondale and gave him the victory. Mondale spun it as the superdelegates voting with the people. Hart claimed that Mondale used his [...]

The American Inquisition

” I have seen the enemy, and he is us.” – Pogo

Waterboarding entered the lexicon of popular culture sometime after September 11, 2001, but it is a technique that has been in use at least since the Spanish Inquisition. For anybody who may be unfamiliar with the term (who avoids all news media and [...]

Nightmare Scenario

While the Republican nomination is all but wrapped up, albeit with the conservative wing being dragged kicking and screaming all the way to the convention, the Democrats are caught up in a tight race between two iconoclastic candidates. Some question the wisdom of the Democratic back room boys who designed this system, saying [...]

Dems Political Divide?

I had an interesting conversation with a die hard Clinton supporter who said that she would not vote for Obama under any circumstances if he became the democratic nominee. She also related to me her discussions with Obama supporters, who similarly vowed not to vote if Clinton were to win the primary. Both sides [...]

The Charlie Brown Syndrome

The buzzword of this and every other presidential election you can think of, is “change”, particularly at the end of the second term of a highly unpopular incumbent. The electorate, which suffers from both short and long term memory loss, invests their hopes in the candidate with most convincing spiel and says Maybe this [...]

Its a New Day in America

I acquired US citizenship in 1998, but I became an American in 2001 in the days following 9/11. That was when I finally shed my world weary cynicism and bought into the spirit that seems to define this country. It is a combination of pugnacious defiance (Think Winston Churchill’s most famous speech*) and [...]

So Long, Mitt. See you in 2012.

So Mitt Romney, having spent $35 million of his own money, finally realized something about the Republican electorate. You don’t like me! You really, really don’t like me! Astute business man that he is, he decided not to spend an additional $15 million trying to buy their affection and goes off to take more [...]

No Country For Old Men

At his first inauguration, Ronald Reagan was 70, 2 years younger than John McCain would be if he wins the election in November. In Reagan’s second term, staffers, journalists and the general public began to notice symptoms of incipient Alzheimers, with which he was eventually diagnosed. Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen’s recently pondered whether [...]