One Republican critic of Gingrich concedes that he has an "unlimited" energy flow and a constant stream of ideas, an important commodity in a party that appears to have run short of ideas during the Bush years. But there is widespread concern about what is described in the party as Gingrich's deep "character flaws" that would be...]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 This central Pennsylvania community is heavily Democratic, represented in the House by the powerful Rep. John Murtha, but tends to be socially conservative. Obama signaled that he was going to take a risk in trying to chart a course that would please both sides on abortion, something that no one has accomplished yet, and Obama certainly failed. He was cruising along in the question-and-answer format, when a woman asked his view on abortion, but what he said surely did not please his pro-life supporters:

"Look, I've got two daughters -- 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want...]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 My office asked the Obama campaign for the details, and it responded with a 19-page single-spaced paper on the candidate's "tax plans."

In fact, there was precious little about tax policy in the paper, which amounted to a repeat of Democratic campaign oratory that can be heard in 30-second speeches before both houses of Congress daily on C-SPAN.

Obama has made clear that he would try to roll back President Bush's tax cuts, but that does not come under the definition of a "loophole." A loophole consists of a conniving tax attorney discovering a weakness in the Internal Revenue Code or such a weakness intentionally legislated by Congress under the instigation of crafty...]]> Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 I did not realize I had hit anyone until a shirt-sleeved young man on a bicycle, whom I incorrectly thought to be a bicycle messenger, jumped in front of my car to block the way. In fact, he was David A. Bono, a partner in the high-end law firm Harkins Cunningham. The bicyclist was shouting at me that I could not just hit people and then drive away. That was the first I knew about the accident. Mr. Bono called the police, and a patrolman soon arrived.

After I said I had no idea I had hit anyone until they flagged me down and informed me, Mr. Bono told The Washington Post, "I would not believe that." Fortunately, the investigating officer, P. Garcia, was a policeman who listened and...]]> Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500 That is not only because Palin appears to be an outstanding candidate but also because McCain in his first test as party leader came through with a unique and responsible decision.

The party faithful had feared the worst, in view of McCain's long record as a maverick who enjoyed violating Republican dogma.

As recently as two weeks before Palin's selection, McCain's closest aides feared, in the words of one of them, "McCain would be McCain," by choosing liberal independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman, which would have deflated the convention and indeed the party on the eve of an uphill battle for the presidency.

But on this occasion, McCain made a politically ingenious...]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Actually, Lieberman is a heroic figure among Republicans for having risked his Senate seat to support President George W. Bush's war policy. But aside from the war, he votes the straight liberal line, including pro-choice on abortion. Lieberman's Republican friend told him that the Republicans would leave Minnesota in a state of disarray with a McCain-Lieberman ticket, alienating social conservatives who now make up the core of Republican voters.

At the heart of the desire for Lieberman as running mate is a basic strategic disagreement between the Bush and McCain high commands.

McCain's top strategists argue that the Bush coalition that won the last two presidential elections...]]> Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Overnight surveys by Gallup and Rasmussen for the past two weeks have shown Obama hovering around 46 percent, while McCain has declined from 45 percent to 41 percent after the wild acclaim for Obama in Berlin, for a 6-point deficit that is by no means insurmountable. These numbers have prompted speculation among Republican political practitioners that McCain can back into the presidency, just as he backed into his party's nomination.

Not even Bob Dole's dismal candidacy in 1996 generated less enthusiasm in GOP ranks than McCain's current effort. However, in winning the nomination this year, when he had been counted out after the disintegration of his campaign...]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Jindal Survives

Reports of a decline in the popularity at home of Louisiana's first-year Gov. Bobby Jindal over his mishandling of more pay for state legislators have been greatly exaggerated. His long-shot chances for the Republican vice presidential nomination remain.

A private Louisiana survey of 800 registered voters taken July 6-8 by The Polling Company shows 60 percent favorable (with 39 percent strongly favorable) and 18 percent unfavorable for Jindal. Those numbers contradict Jindal's reported precipitous decline after the 37-year-old governor reversed himself twice on the legislative pay issue but ended up opposing it....]]> Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: "While virtually everyone involved ... seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain."

Henry, now an independent broadcast journalist, has personal experience with this enduring scandal. While serving as a Marine at sea off Iran, he received his 1980 presidential ballot too late to...]]> Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Obama is a far more interesting personality and an incomparably more appealing candidate than Kerry. But why then, in a year where the nation clearly has rejected the GOP as a party, does McCain have a real chance to be elected? Why does Obama have trouble breaking the 50 percent barrier, nationally and in battleground states?

The answer, as seen by McCain's closest associates, is the issue they hope to ride to victory: leadership. They believe voters are hesitant to fully accept this charismatic newcomer because of doubt as to whether he can lead the nation. Now, in visiting Iraq for the first time in two and a half years, Obama tests that issue. In what...]]> Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 McCain and Gramm

After Sen. John McCain publicly repudiated his close friend and adviser Phil Gramm's comments about a "nation of whiners" and a "mental recession," the two old political comrades patched up their relationship.

Gramm apologized to McCain for his remarks that gave Democrats an opening against the Republican presidential candidate and provided several days of ammunition for blogs, cable television and radio talk shows. McCain told Gramm not to worry about the expected pitfalls of a campaign surrogate. Gramm will continue as an adviser and surrogate.

Gramm remained a steadfast supporter last year when it appeared...]]> Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 That connection clearly was not enough for Paulson to consider recusing himself from dealing with the crisis threatening Fannie, Freddie and the whole American economy. He structured the bailout and was on the phone last weekend encouraging leading investment bankers to buy Freddie Mac bonds. Financial consultant Lawrence Lindsey, President George W. Bush's former national economic director, told clients Sunday, "Surely things are somewhat amiss when a country's finance minister plays bond salesman for a supposedly privately owned company."

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Paulson stressed there would be a federal purchase of assets only if...]]> Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 After consulting a wide variety of experts on both energy and markets, I could find nobody who sees speculation as a major contributor to the oil spike. The problem is massive global demand overpowering a finite supply, aggravated by uncertainty about oil supplies in the Middle East, Nigeria and Venezuela. But the image of evil men on Wall Street manipulating oil prices fits, to borrow the trenchant phrase of the late historian Richard Hofstadter, "the paranoid style" in dealing with the current crisis.

In a fortuitous coincidence, Hofstadter's 1965 book, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," was reissued as a paperback last month. He described the paranoid...]]> Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Obama Outside

Old Democratic hands believe Sen. Barack Obama's decision to deliver his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the 75,000-seat Denver Broncos football stadium Aug. 28 ignores a lesson from 48 years ago.

The last presidential nominee to deliver an outdoor acceptance speech was John F. Kennedy in 1960 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That diminished the impact of one of his best campaign speeches, in which he unveiled the "New Frontier." The then-100,000-seat Coliseum was only half filled, and the sound was imperfect.

Technical advances in sound projection have been made in the last...]]> Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The Clintonites do not feel alienated, as supporters of Edward M. Kennedy did in 1980, when they never resigned themselves to Jimmy Carter's renomination. None of these loyal Democrats talked about sitting out the 2008 presidential election against John McCain or locking up their bank accounts. Since a donation does not indicate the benefactor's degree of enthusiasm, what difference does it make? Only that it signals a lack of confidence by important Democrats for a candidate whose charisma is supposed to cancel out his inexperience.

Only one person of the Mayflower group whom I contacted (the one least critical of Obama) was willing to let his name be used. Gus is a...]]> Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 The Lincoln Club estimates that its nearly 300 members will individually contribute $1.5 million to federal causes and candidates in the 2008 election cycle. The club is spreading its message to angry Republicans throughout California and around the nation. The ultimatum finds responsive members of the House (if not the Senate), who even now are preparing a housecleaning after the additional loss of seats in this year's election.

House GOP leaders were triumphant June 27 as Congress recessed for a week. They had passed war funding and telephone surveillance bills with solid Republican backing and minority Democratic support. Chairman David Obey had just shut down the...]]> Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 A footnote: Clark had been considered the leading former military officer to compensate for Obama's lack of national security experience because his performance steadily improved during an unsuccessful campaign for the 2004 presidential nomination. Two retired Marine generals also mentioned for vice president, Anthony Zinni and James Jones, lack any political experience.

Romney Rising

Mitt Romney's surge toward the Republican vice presidential nomination was boosted at last month's Texas state party convention in Houston.

Romney, the predominant conservative choice to be Sen. John McCain's running mate, was pleasantly surprised to encounter a paid audience of about...]]> Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Clinging to a rejected strongman typifies a persistent practice in U.S. foreign policy. Bush has stuck to Musharraf despite the military's failure under his command to vigorously combat Islamist terrorists on the Afghanistan frontier. However reluctantly, Bush is turning to a new government, which last week launched a military attack in the Khyber tribal region, to be followed by more such thrusts in coordination with U.S.-Afghan forces on the other side of the border.

This was the military plan sketched for me in New York a year ago by Benazir Bhutto as she prepared to return to Pakistan after eight years in exile following her second ouster as prime minister in a...]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 31 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 24 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500 Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500