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Don't Buy the Republican Oil and Gas Scare Tactics
Tweet Share on Facebook July 31, 2008 Comment (50)The Republican Party has decided that the way to win over disenchanted voters this campaign season is to stir up anger on gasoline prices. The GOP answer: Drill like hell on the outer continental shelf and in the wild reserve of Alaska.
Sen. John McCain and President Bush are pinning the blame for those running numbers we see on gas pumps on Democrats in Congress. It is a charade.
Almost in a postscript whisper, the Republicans admit it will be years before new drilling would bring any relief. (Even by conservative estimates, it could be nearly 10 years.)
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Appreciating Bob Novak
Tweet Share on Facebook July 29, 2008 Comment (6)Bob Novak is a friend of mine and has been for decades. I make no apology for it.
The liberal readers of this blog may be surprised or even angered to read that the Prince of Darkness and I are friends. That's the way it is.
Even younger journalists have expressed astonishment when they hear that the conservative columnist is a friend. They don't understand that reporters of our vintage were on the campaign trail with typewriters and deadlines that permitted some camaraderie and even fun.
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John McCain's Negative Attacks Against Barack Obama Hit a Low Mark
Tweet Share on Facebook July 28, 2008 Comment (89)In every presidential campaign, candidates of both parties will say something over the line. Sen. John McCain has already hit a low mark.
The senior senator from Arizona said his Democratic rival would "rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." What's next, an open charge of treason?
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The Incredible Shrinking Democratic and Republican Conventions
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2008 Comment (5)Suppose there were political conventions and the media were nowhere to be found. It may look like that in Denver and the Twin Cities late this summer.
Severe cutbacks and buyouts at newspapers, large and small, and similar budget woes at the networks are forcing media organizations to scale back their coverage.
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The Myth of the Media Bias Toward Barack Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2008 Comment (45)Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, the now resigned economic guru to Sen. John McCain, was right to say there were whiners among us. However, they were really his colleagues in the McCain camp howling over news coverage rather than over economic woes.
It is almost pathetic to see McCain's aides hopping mad over coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East and Europe. If that is the crux of their strategy, it is a sure loser in public relations.
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Democrats Should Toss Joe Lieberman
Tweet Share on Facebook July 21, 2008 Comment (35)In quashing speculation that he would be Sen. John McCain's running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman told a home-state newspaper in Connecticut: "I'm where I want to be."
Of course, the Democrat, who was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, means the United States Senate. But he really belongs on the other side of the aisle with the Republicans.
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The GOP Should Recall the Tradition of Moderate Republican Governors Like Linwood Holton
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2008 Comment (6)Present day conservative Republicans would be wise if they listened to the more moderate—even progressive—view of former Gov. Linwood Holton of Virginia. Of course, it is not about to happen, given the stances of the GOP in Congress and with most of its governors.
Holton, elected in 1969, was governor when the Old Dominion was ordered by the court to integrate its public schools. Previous governors had circled the wagons behind segregationist positions of Republicans and Democrats, including the once potent machine of Democratic Sen. Harry F. Byrd.
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The Failed Legacy of George W. Bush
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2008 Comment (33)The Bush White House should be humiliated by the stack of problems it is leaving to the next administration to handle. But it doesn't seem to trouble the president or his inner circle.
The handoffs are significant at home and abroad:
1. The economy. No, the sagging numbers are not all Bush's fault, but he is in charge. He would be boasting if the numbers were stronger.
The housing industry is a shambles. The government may have to significantly aid the two lending giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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Jesse Jackson's Barack Obama Lesson: His Time Has Passed
Tweet Share on Facebook July 10, 2008 Comment (17)Jesse Jackson has finally hit a wall in a long political career based primarily on his own ego.
Jackson has always enjoyed the limelight as the top African-American in the Democratic Party. He has been a force since his own runs for president in 1984 and 1988.
When TV cameras are around, Jackson has never been far away. Any skirmish with a racially tinged nature brought him to the scene.
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Douglas Feith Keeps Spinning Fairy Tales About Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook July 7, 2008 Comment (13)The revisionists in the Bush administration are still trying to cover their tracks on the war in Iraq. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, these officials are engaged in pure storytelling.
Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense to Donald Rumsfeld, is a prime offender. Leave it to the Wall Street Journal opinion page to give him a forum for false claims, most recently on Independence Day.
A Capital View
John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.
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