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Hope, Not More Laws, Is the Antidote to the Colorado Shootings
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2012 CommentThe Aurora, Colo. movie massacre is still an open wound.
Nevertheless, some people are behaving like vultures, hovering over the carnage and using it as an excuse to push for a particular policy outcome while most people are still asking "Why?" and trying to figure out how such a thing could happen.
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In Wake of Colorado Shooting, Cool It With the 'War' Talk
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2012 CommentIf the terrible tragedy in Colorado teaches us something, perhaps it's to ratchet down the rhetoric, and to be more careful in employing war- and violence-related terminology to describe political disagreements or consequences.
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The Muddled Politics of The Dark Knight Rises
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2012 CommentI wrote last week about Rush Limbaugh's silly comments about the homonymous coincidence of the name of the villain from the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, Bane, and the name of presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney's most touted resume item, Bain Capital. But given some of the political overtones of the films trailers—"You think all this can last? You and your friends better batten down the hatches. There's a storm coming," Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle asks Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne, sounding every bit the Occupy Wall Street radical. "You're going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."—I was curious about the film's politics. Having seen the movie on Friday night, I can say they're mixed, at best, and ultimately incidental to the film's larger themes, like the relationship between truth and justice. Be warned: There are MAJOR SPOILERS ahead—don't read on if you haven't seen the film but plan to.
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Obama's Anti-Romney Ad Barrage Only Buys Him a Dead Heat
Tweet Share on Facebook July 21, 2012 CommentThe Obama campaign team hasn't hit the panic button but they almost certainly have to be thinking about it. After spending, according to some estimates, nearly $30 million on television ads designed to drive up Republican Mitt Romney's negatives, the best they can manage is a tie.
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Tapping Condi Rice for VP Would Be a Game Changer for Mitt Romney
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2012 Comment"Of course we don't want you Republicans to pick Condoleezza Rice as vice president," my female Democratic friend said to me. "Condi Rice is the Democrats' worst nightmare. We want Romney to put boring old Rob Portman on the ticket." I disagree with her that Ohio Sen. Rob Portman is boring, but let's leave that aside ... my friend is right about the fact that former Secretary of State Condi Rice is the Democrats' "worst nightmare."
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Colorado Shooting Reminds Us 2nd Amendment Isn't a License to Kill
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2012 CommentAs all of you know, there was a tragic shooting early Friday in Colorado that claimed the lives of at least a dozen people and injured nearly 60. Of course, Colorado was also the site of the Columbine High School tragedy.
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What Joe Arpaio’s Birther Charge Tells Us About America
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2012 CommentSeeing clues that elude most of the world, Arizona's Joe Arpaio—Sheriff of Maricopa County and full-time gadfly—held a press conference this week to announce that President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate looks like a digital forgery.
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George Zimmerman and God’s ‘Plan’ To Kill Trayvon Martin
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2012 CommentSo George Zimmerman has no regrets about the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin. "I feel it was all God's plan," he told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity in an interview Wednesday night. "For me to second-guess it or judge it" would, presumably (he trailed off at this point), be inappropriate. And which god would that be? The god of self-indulgent bulls**t?
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Mitt Romney Should Stick to His Guns on His Tax Returns
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2012 CommentWe campaign gurus all agree: It's about forcing the other campaign to "educate the voter."
That's why President Barack Obama's re-election campaign continues to call for presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns—to shift the burden of "educating the voter" to the Romney camp.
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Michele Bachmann's Vicious Smear Campaign
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2012 CommentWas the birther conspiracy just not working anymore?
That would be one explanation as to why a cadre of House Republicans, led by former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, has smeared a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The group of congressmen has written letters to various inspectors general asking for an investigation—including the bizarre accusation that State Department Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin has some connection to the Muslim Brotherhood.
