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A Get-Rich Plan for 2009: Serve Up the Schmaltz
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 CommentBy John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
As I am busy at work on another project, I now offer a guaranteed get-rich plan for 2009 to all my grumpy, fretful, financially hard-pressed fellow Americans.
Schmaltz.
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Caroline Kennedy Would Be a Good Senator, Jeb Bush Wouldn't
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 Comment (20)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Caroline Kennedy has not exhibited any of the partisan hackery so widely promoted by the extreme right Bush brothers. Yes, she shares with the Bush brothers that she is a "legacy" who became famous via the accomplishments of her family rather than earning political rank on her own.
But I'll trade the quiet, nonpartisan style of Caroline Kennedy for the nasty partisanship of the Bush clan any day.
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Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao Shows Republicans Need Out-of-the-Box Candidates in 2010
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 Comment (2)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Perhaps the most astonishing result in this year's many elections was the victory in Saturday's Louisiana runoff of Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao in the Second Congressional District of Louisiana. Results here; background on Cao here; more analysis here. Obviously, there were special circumstances operating here that enabled a Republican to win in a 64 percent black congressional district: Incumbent William Jefferson is under indictment; the election was postponed, because of Hurricane Gustav, to December 7 when Barack Obama was not on the ballot, so turnout was very low; Cao, a Vietnamese immigrant, had an interesting story to tell. Nevertheless, it underlines for me a lesson for Republicans for the 2010 elections: The way to make major gains is to run out-of-the-box candidates in districts where by standard metrics your party has little or no chance to win. It may not work, but nothing else will.
- Read more by Michael Barone.
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Jeb Bush in the Senate? Why That’s a Bad Idea
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 Comment (11)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Two members of high-profile political dynasties have made known their interest in gaining entree to that most exclusive of clubs: the U.S. Senate. One of the two is thoughtful, has a keen intellect, and has been a quiet but effective advocate for her hometown and home state. The other has blunderbussed his way onto the national stage by injecting religious morality into government policy, championing rampant development in a fragile environment, and profiteering from his political contacts. Let's see, which one would serve the American people best as a member of the U.S. Senate?
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Did the Polls Converge in the Last Week of the Campaign or Are Pollsters More Careful?
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 CommentBy Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
That's the interesting question raised by polling expert David Moore in Mark Blumenthal's pollster.com blog. Moore's finding: The polls on average were pretty steady throughout October. But there was wide variation between polls during any given week. Then, in November, the average results stayed the same, but there was much less variation between polls. Blumenthal advances one theory as to why not: He argues that pollsters take special care to weight the results correctly on their last poll before the election, because they know they will be judged on how close it comes to the actual election results. That's certainly plausible. But I do not dismiss, as much as Blumenthal does, an alternative theory, which is that opinion congealed during the last week. As the AP-Yahoo series of 10 polls in the 12 months before the election show, there was a lot of movement back and forth between candidates that wasn't registered in the overall standings very much because movements to and fro tended to cancel each other out. Maybe that movement stopped in the last week.
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Afghanistan Problems Build With Supply Truck Destruction
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2008 Comment (2)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
More than 100 trucks laden with NATO supplies for troops in Afghanistan were destroyed by militant attacks over the weekend, another sign not only of the deteriorating security situation there but also of how tenuous our supply lines over there are. The attacks took place in Pakistan, by the way. The supply lines point was made very well Friday by Robert Bryce over in the op-ed section.
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Recession Hurts Women’s Health
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (6)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
With the stock market at record lows and unemployment soaring ever skyward, the economy is also having a negative impact on women's health. This, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Forty percent of women surveyed say their health worsened in the past year, with many disregarding follow-up doctor visits and all manner of healthcare in order to save money. Since women are usually in charge of healthcare for the whole household, this neglect could impact the entire family.
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Obama’s Inaugural: What He Should Say
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (2)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
If you're in Philadelphia on Monday, December 8, the National Constitution Center is hosting what promises to be a fascinating discussion about what Barack Obama should say to the nation on January 20. The panelists will include former speechwriters Mary Kate Cary (Bush 41) and Terry Edmonds (Clinton). Oh yeah, and I'm moderating (having written White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters and all).
The program is part of the center's "Address America" initiative, which invites people to suggest six words Obama should use in his inaugural address.
I'll check back in Tuesday with insights the panelists impart.
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Jeb Bush, the Outstanding Governor of This Decade, Should Run for Senate
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (19)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Florida Sen. Mel Martinez's surprising decision not to run for re-election in 2010 has led former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to seriously consider running for the seat. This is very good news for Republicans: Martinez's poll numbers have been lousy, while Bush's are very high. Bush, in my judgment, was the outstanding state governor of this decade, for reasons that Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution sets out. (His leading competitor for that title, in my judgment, is Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.) Operating in a state where liberal newspapers, teachers' unions, and trial lawyers maintained a continual barrage of criticism, Bush and the Republican legislature produced the nation's best education reform and major changes in healthcare, while Bush himself proved masterful in handling hurricane relief. One reason for the federal government's poor response to Hurricane Katrina was that the feds were used to dealing with Jeb Bush and Florida's competent local officials; dealing with the hapless New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was quite a different thing.
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Barack Obama Should Keep Troops in Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (9)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
In 1993, Bill Clinton took office and raised taxes. He had promised Americans a middle-class tax cut, but by the time of his inauguration it was clear that the smart route to prosperity was to reduce the federal government's debt and deficits, not grow them with a tax cut.
So Clinton did the right thing, drew down his political capital, spent a time in political hell—then sailed to re-election on the wings of a strong American economy.
There is an analogy here for Barack Obama. Not on the economic side—the new president will find supportive majorities in favor of his campaign promise to cut taxes and boost federal investment in this recession.
I'm talking about Iraq.
