Mary Kate Cary Yesterday

Palin Hand Notes Are Alarming, Embarrassing

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Take a look at Sarah Palin's hand here, on which she apparently wrote notes on in anticipation of being asked at the Tea Party convention what the priorities of a Republican congress should be. Her hand read: "Energy ... Tax cuts ... Lift American spirit." A few thoughts:

If she had written "bread ... milk ... eggs" on her hand, or even a phone number, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. And if, say, a congressman had written "pay the electric bill," we would have thought it was charming, like Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life tying strings on his fingers to remember to make the bank deposit. We're all forgetful, we all have a million things to do, and sometimes we write reminders on our hands. I understand that.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Palin didn't write down a reminder for an everyday errand. Instead she felt she had to write down basic political priorities, core issues for the GOP. That's the problem. Imagine if President Obama were at a similar Q&A session and the camera caught the words "Hope ... Change" on his hand.

Peter Roff Yesterday

Republicans Should Beware Televised Healthcare Negotiations

It may be that the Republicans are on the verge of showing President Barack Obama a way out of the healthcare mess he has made for himself.

Up until the election of Republican Scott Brown to a seat in the United States Senate, the Democrats on Capitol Hill had largely been negotiating with themselves over what the final version of the healthcare bill would look like. They had the votes to pass it without the GOP but they didn't have the will--so the legislation was left to linger while the president talked tough about not running away from it.

All that changed after Obama, who was back to calling it "health insurance reform"--a phrase which polls better than healthcare reform--turned in a better than expected performance during the question and answer session that followed his remarks to the House Republicans, meeting in Baltimore.

John Aloysius Farrell Yesterday

Best Political Nonfiction Books

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I wrote last week about Chris Cillizza's poll of Washington political junkies, and how their rankings of American political fiction were so way, way wrong.

Now, it's on to the non-fiction category, where the Fix fans did a little better, as one might expect of readers of The Washington Post. Yet there are glaring omissions--most notably the work of Post stars Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and David Maraniss.

How does any list of significant books on contemporary politics not include All the President's Men, or The Final Days or The Brethren and other Woodward books, or Maraniss's biography of Bill Clinton, First in His Class, or his collaboration with Michael Weiskopf on that little classic, Tell Newt to Shut Up!

I call it the Woodward School, though the New Yorker's Elizabeth Drew gave us more high falutin' versions for many years, and probably ranks as a co-founder of the academy.

The latest entry, secure atop the best-selling lists, is Game Change, a guilty pleasure from John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, about the 2008 campaign.

Mary Kate Cary February 05, 2010

Why the Tea Party Convention Hurts the Tea Party Movement

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The tea party movement is not being very well served by the "Tea Party Convention" being held in Nashville this weekend, for a number of reasons. First, the tea partiers I know who gathered last summer barely had enough money to pay for a microphone and a sound system, much less afford tickets to a fancy hotel with a lobster-and-steak dinner. But they cared deeply about where our country is heading, the tax-and-spend massive federal budget, and the growing nanny state, and so they made home-made signs and stood on the steps of their State Capitol. I think the organizers of this expensive convention misjudged the audience.

Bonnie Erbe February 05, 2010

Scott Brown For President? Only If Republicans Don’t Mess It Up

By Bonnie Erbe, ThomasJefferson Street blog 

Scott Brown will have a lot of "'splainin'" to do (in the infamous words of Ricky Ricardo) now that he's been sworn into the U.S. Senate. He's a moderate Republican, an almost-dead wing of the GOP, my hope is party leaders won't crush him, pulverize him and stuff him into the right wing mold. 

He's already announced to the world he's pro-choice, and carefully campaigned as a non-partisan Republican. In that respect, and one or two others, he's kind of like President Obama's GOP twin. The difference is, however, President Obama is the leader of his party and Sen. Brown is a very junior member of his.

John Aloysius Farrell February 05, 2010

Questions for the Self-Righteous, Hypocritical Republicans

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

For all those self-righteous Republicans in gated retirement communities who are killing off healthcare reform because you are just too selfish to care about the problems faced by working moms and their kids--I know most of you are noble, but there are a few of you out there--here are a few questions to take to the bathroom mirror.

If you claim you're irate about the deficit, and outraged because the Democratic senators from Louisiana and Nebraska cut sweet deals for their states during the healthcare debate, what do you think about Alabama's Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who is obstructing government operations until he gets two wasteful porky earmarks for Alabama?

And if you insist that your revolution is to counter the strength of special interests in Washington, explain to me why the newest Republican senator--your new hero, Scott Brown from Massachusetts--had to rush to be sworn in so he could cast a deciding vote to keep the National Labor Relations Board under corporate sway?

Robert Schlesinger February 04, 2010

Palin Denounces Limbaugh Over 'Retard' Cracks, Glenn Beck Next?

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The collateral damage from Sarah Palin's broadside against Rahm Emanuel for his "retard" comments keeps spreading. Her spokeswoman today flamed Rush Limbaugh (even after Limbaugh said Palin would know better) and the former Alaska governor also blasted a top aide to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for whom Palin will soon be campaigning.

Now comes an audio clip of Palin ally Glenn Beck having a laugh about paintings of "retarded children."

Mary Kate Cary February 04, 2010

Racy Super Bowl Ads Show Just How Stupid Ad Men Think We Are

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog 

In the spirit of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook," let me just say, "I am not a prude." And the other women I have talked to about this are not prudes, either. What we're talking about are some of the proposed Superbowl ads: commercials for mancrunch.com, a website for men who want to date other men, and a godaddy.com ad that features a lingerie designer and scantily clad women. According to ABC News, CBS decided to reject the mancrunch.com ad by saying, "Our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot," which shows two men making out for what seems like a very long time. According to an ABC News source, CBS rejected the godaddy.com lingerie-themed ad for its "stereotypical tone." 

Both seem like very vague reasons for rejecting the ads. It seems like they decide to reject or accept ads on a case-by-case, moving-target, I-know-it-when-I-see-it set of rules. Maybe network executives should have a well-publicized set of criteria for accepting ads and stick to it. It would have come in handy with these two ads, which are just the tip of the iceberg.

John Aloysius Farrell February 04, 2010

The List of the Best Political Books Ever

By John A. Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Over at The Fix, ace compiler Chris Cillizza has been soliciting nominations from his readers for the honor of the Best Political Books Ever, and just published his findings. The list has its ups, and plenty of downs. Cillizza starts off strong by recognizing the one volume on American politics--fiction or non-fiction--that has stood, above all others, for more than half a century. That would be All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. Nothing else comes close. Maybe, nothing ever will. It's the American King Lear or Julius Caesar.

(I'm assuming that Mr. Shakespeare's plays, and the Bible, fall into other categories, otherwise they would top all lists of political fictions.)

So I was flabbergasted to discover that Fix readers slighted Warren and chose The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor as the best novel on politics. The choice says something about the decline of higher education and literary standards in the Internet age: What are the colleges teaching these days?