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May 7, 2007, 11:29 am
By
John Feehery
I have never been one to bash the French. I like their wine, I like their cheese, and these days, I am starting to like their politics.
With the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French are starting to drop all the Socialist baggage that has bedeviled their economy for decades. And if you consider the victory of German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year and the likely strong showing for the Tories in the next election in Great Britain, it seems that the center-right in Europe is on a roll.
Sarkozy ran as a tax cutter, a spending cutter and a hard-liner on illegal immigration. If those ideas are popular in France, surely they should be popular here in the United States.
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May 7, 2007, 9:55 am
By
Hugo Gurdon
More than half (57%) of voters in our latest Quick Poll! thought Rudy Giuliani, of all the leading GOP candidates, had done most damage to his presidential chances in last week's debate. John McCain was the choice of 34% and Mitt Romney scored just 9%.
Some commentators disliked the question, seeing it as biased because of its assumption that damage had been done, and also because there was no similar poll after the Democrats' debate. The question arose, however, because of widespread dissatisfaction among Republicans with the candidates' performances. Some said McCain was too scripted, others said Giuliani gradually came to pieces. There was no similar dispute after the Democrats' debate; it was widely agreed that the worst flub that night was Barack Obama's answer to a question about what he would do in the event of 911-type terrorist attack on the US.
The choice of Giuliani as the most undermined by the debate accords the view of our pundit, Dick Morris, that the debate organizers robber the former New York Mayor of significant air time.
Archived under:
Presidential Campaign
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May 7, 2007, 7:58 am
By
A.B. Stoddard
As of last Friday morning, the day after the first GOP presidential debate, the breathlessness over the potential candidacy of former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) continued, full steam. Would he announce in Orange County, home to the birth of the Reagan Revolution?
But Thompson reportedly didn't wow them at the Lincoln Club, as expected, according to the mixed reviews. Thompson hit the right notes, talking about bipartisanship and strong leadership, but Bob Novak weighed in with what at this critical juncture is the Kiss of Death, calling Thompson's performance there "ordinary."
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May 7, 2007, 7:52 am
By
Armstrong Williams
A recent study by police departments about racial profiling is fueling heated debates across America. While Hispanics, African-Americans and Caucasians are pulled over at the same rate, the former two are arrested over twice as often as their fairer-skinned counterparts.
However, in my opinion, racial profiling is not limited to any one race. Racial profiling is a crime-based classification of phenotypes or characteristics that evidence suggests have a higher likelihood of revealing a criminal. Think back to Virginia Tech. The reason Cho Seung-Hui wasn’t caught early on was because of the racial profile of a school serial killer: a white male. This profiling is no different for inner-city crimes, mafia-related crimes, arson or any other serious crime.
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May 4, 2007, 2:15 pm
By
Dick Morris
Thursday's Republican debate, hosted by MSNBC and politico.com was biased against Republican front runner Rudy Giuliani. A count of the words each candidate spoke indicates that Romney was given 50% more air time and McCain 25% more than Giuliani was permitted.
Romney spoke 2300 words to McCain's 2030 and Giuliani's 1603. When the airtime is as heavily skewed in favor of the 2nd and 3rd place candidates against the front runner, one is entitled to ask why. With more than a third of Republicans backing Giuliani and interested in what he has to say, what journalistic justification is there for giving him less face time than his two leading rivals?
The Democratic Party has been concentrating its fire on Rudy for months now and this effort by two Democratic news organs to short change Giuliani is part of the process of trying to defeat the only Republican who can win in November.
Archived under:
Presidential Campaign
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May 4, 2007, 11:18 am
By
John Feehery
I admit that I didn’t watch the Republican debate live last night. I had an important engagement that was far more interesting than the series of sound bites elicited by Chris Matthews. But I did catch the rerun. And I promptly fell asleep.
It is too early for these debates. There are too many people in them. And they don’t really illuminate real issues for the American people.
Matthews loves to ask about abortion and evolution. How ’bout a coherent discussion of trade and our nation’s slipping competitiveness? How ’bout a really good discussion about tax policy? How ’bout if each candidate gives us five minutes on how he would get us out of Iraq?
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May 4, 2007, 9:26 am
By
Hugo Gurdon
Scroll down to the latest Quick Poll! to cast your vote. We have included only the top three candidates, Giuliani, McCain and Romney. Future polls will probably included other candidates; it depends who falls by the wayside and who else enters the race.
Archived under:
Presidential Campaign
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May 4, 2007, 6:37 am
By
Armstrong Williams
A state visit, especially by a reigning British monarch, is always meticulously planned far in advance. The royal itinerary reflects the character of the visit as well as the character of the visitors. Given the occasion, a trip to Jamestown was natural. The queen's interest in horses is well known. The visit to the World War II memorial is likely to be particularly poignant, with the queen scheduled to greet GI war brides. All this is appropriate. While meeting GI war brides from six decades ago is powerful and touching, especially considering the queen's own World War II experience, it is worth remembering that America is again involved in another bloody fight far from its shores. New GI brides are being minted on a regular basis. Some of our men and women in uniform are not returning home. As a result, allow me to suggest a minor deviation from the official itinerary: The queen should go to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
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May 3, 2007, 6:31 pm
By
Karen Hanretty
Tonight’s “debate” was an utter bore. I found myself longing for the good old days (approximately a week ago) when Mike Gravel took the stage and showed us what crazy can do to enliven a political event. (Stay tuned for Budowsky’s retort to my use of the word “crazy.”)
Look, I know Chris Matthews and the mainstream media and the Democratic Party are obsessed with the Iraq war. But Republican primary voters are kinda, sorta obsessed with taxes and smaller government. Maybe I missed it as I was rushing off to a TV studio this evening, but why wasn’t McCain forced to explain his opposition to Bush’s tax cuts? Republican stalwarts like Rick Santorum have stated publicly their opposition to McCain as the GOP nominee because he’s not a true fiscal conservative. So how ‘bout it, Matthews?
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May 3, 2007, 6:27 pm
By
Peter Fenn
The Republican debate is over and Saturday Night Live can’t wait. Ten candidates, all of whom can be parodied, plus Chris Matthews, is just too much to ask for. They were all the 30-second wonders.
Talk about hyper, serious attention deficit disorder, not exactly grace under pressure, this is one sad start for the Republicans. But OK, you ask, who won, who lost, how much does it all matter, anyway.
But, before I answer that, what a shame that no one gets to actually explain or truly explore an answer or an issue. Lincoln-Douglas this wasn’t. Kennedy-Nixon this wasn’t. Gladiator TV is what this was, rapid fire answers that didn’t answer, superficial when superficial must prevail. After all, ten candidates, half of whom are flakes, doesn’t exactly leave much room for analysis. But let’s look at the candidates. I write this before I see the post-spin. Romney was like a weather vane in a nor’easter hurricane, spinning like crazy. On the social issues like stem cells and abortion, who knows what is going on in his head. On his health care legislation which he has been ducking for weeks, he embraced. Go figure. He reminded me of Eddie Haskel in Leave it to Beaver, slick and ingratiating, but totally phony. Maybe a televangelist from a bygone era.
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