blognetnews.com
» Philadelphia

Dick Polman's American Debate

  • Anthrax! Saddam!....oops, never mind

    Forgive me for sticking with the heavy stuff two days in succession, but the decision seems appropriate, if only as a corrective to the most recent Republican juvenilia. Besides, a substantive news story did surface yesterday in Washington, where the FBI and federal prosecutors unsealed evidence to buttress their [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: August 06, 2008, 10:18pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Purity and political suicide

    As a classic illustration of how liberals so often seem drawn to the rituals of political hari-kari, consider the comments of one Martha Slade, an Oregon artist, who declared in the press yesterday that Barack Obama has flunked her purity test, thus rendering him totally unacceptable: "I'm disgusted with [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: July 14, 2008, 11:22am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama's bid to narrow the God gap

    Many liberal Obama fans surely winced yesterday when their candidate called for a new, improved partnership between the federal government and faith-based organizations. Indeed, many secular Democrats are probably uncomfortable whenever their candidate reiterates his belief that that religion deserves a place in the public square.

    But aside [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: July 01, 2008, 5:04pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama's Clintonian calculations

    Barack Obama's decision to support a sweeping expansion of the government's surveillance capabilities - in defiance of his liberal Democratic base - reminds me of the true story about Bill Clinton and the brain-damaged death row convict.

    Back in 1992, candidate Clinton, the new kid on the block, was [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: June 23, 2008, 8:34am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The Al Franken referendum

    We've lately witnessed the breaking of many barriers: the first major female presidential candidate, the first major Hispanic candidate, the first black presumptive nominee, the first septuagenarian presumptive nominee. Ten years ago, we even saw an ex-wrestler win the job of Minnesota governor, and, five years ago, we saw an [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: June 11, 2008, 10:17pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • I'VE MOVED

    Number of comments: 3
    "American Debate" has moved. All archives between February 2006 and April 2008 will continue to be housed on this site. To access the new site - and to bookmark it - please proceed to [go.philly.com] [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 05, 2008, 10:41am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • John McCain's ball and chain

    Number of comments: 2
    Behold the candidate as he tries to perform pirouettes with a dead weight chained to his ankle.

    Less metaphorically, behold the candidate as he tries in vain to simultaenously defend and distance himself from a highly embarrassing compadre.

    But no, this is not about Barack Obama and his [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: May 02, 2008, 8:24am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Reaping what they sowed

    Number of comments: 1
    The Republicans are steamed about a pair of new TV ads - one from the Democratic National Committee, another from the liberal group moveon.org - that paint John McCain as a warmonger who wants to fight in Iraq for another 100 years. The Republican umbrage is somewhat amusing, for reasons [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 30, 2008, 6:59pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama and the test of leadership

    Number of comments: 3
    With respect to his former pastor, Barack Obama decided yesterday that it was no longer enough to merely reject and denounce. It had become imperative for Obama to nuke and bury.

    He had no choice. Jeremiah Wright had turned into a one-man wrecking crew, and it was starting to [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 29, 2008, 10:47pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Jeremiah Wright, honorary Republican mole

    Number of comments: 6
    While watching the Rev. Jeremiah Wright hold forth yesterday at the National Press Club, I began to entertain the notion that perhaps the guy was a Republican mole - trained in secret and dispatched by Karl Rove, or by one of his proteges, with instructions to inflict maximum damage on [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 28, 2008, 9:53pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Electability and the race factor

    Number of comments: 7
    This is a very sensitive issue, but it needs to be discussed. When the unpledged Democratic superdelegates finally look hard at the electability factor, they will be compelled to judge whether Barack Obama would be a risky nominee because of his race.

    In the end, this may not be [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 28, 2008, 8:10am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The "maverick" and elitism in action

    Number of comments: 1
    I've spent the past few days monitoring the "maverick" - after all, the presumptive Republican nominee deserves some equal time in this race - and it's appropriate to conclude this burst of coverage by noting another example of how career Washington politician John McCain says one thing but does another.
    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 27, 2008, 3:29pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • He was against guilt-by-association before he was for it

    Number of comments: 0
    Career Washington politicians such as John McCain sometimes violate the high standards they have supposedly established for themselves.

    For instance, here was McCain yesterday, waxing indignant about Barack Obama's Chicago neighbor, academic William Ayers, the former '60s Weather Underground bomber. During a phone call with some conservative bloggers, McCain [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 26, 2008, 8:55am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The "maverick" and the art of tut-tut politics

    Number of comments: 0
    Having already logged nearly 27 years as a Washington politician, John McCain is clearly a master of the game. When it comes time to dish the dirt, he keeps his hands clean as he tut-tuts about the incivility of our politics. He looks good doing it – the Washington press [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 25, 2008, 11:52am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • "A little rough in the sandbox"

    Number of comments: 6
    If we all weren't so focused on the slow-motion Democratic death march, we would have already spent some time this week talking about "McNasty" and debating whether reports of his "volcanic temper" would imperil his prospects for the White House.

    I am referring, of course, to John McCain. You' [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 24, 2008, 1:32pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Take these candidates, please!

    Number of comments: 10
    Six weeks of bowling and Bittergate and Pastorgate and nonexistent Bosnian snipers....and for what? The Pennsylvania results have essentially changed nothing. There is seemingly no cure for the chronic Democratic migraine - and the fear, among so many members, that they are tearing themselves asunder.

    Memo to the voters [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 23, 2008, 12:22am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The undecideds versus the newbies

    Number of comments: 4
    "So whattaya think?"

    I'm getting that question a lot, as Pennsylvania Democrats - old and new - head to the polls today in expected record numbers. And I generally respond like this:

    "Beats the heck out of me."

    Naturally that is not viewed as a sufficient response,' [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 22, 2008, 9:21am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The Washington Post wants you

    Number of comments: 0
    I'm doing an online lunch-hour chat for The Washington Post at noon EST Tuesday, as guest chatterer, talking about the Pennsylvania primary and the state of the race. You're invited to visit the site and send in good questions, before or during the gig. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 21, 2008, 6:03pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Always pleased with where they are

    Number of comments: 6
    Whatever happens in the Pennsylvania primary tomorrow night, rest assured that Hillary Clinton’s spinmeisters will have it covered. Here’s a rhetorical tip sheet.


    Scenario: Clinton wins in a landslide, by 10 percentage points or greater, trimming her national popular vote deficit to about 500,000, and cutting slightly [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 21, 2008, 7:10am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Attention all readers!

    Number of comments: 20
    We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special announcement:

    This blog is being moved to a new platform, with a new address. Or, to put it more colloquially, this blog will soon have a new look. The changeover process officially begins on Monday.

    My overseers [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 18, 2008, 8:06am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama shaken, rattled, and rolled

    Number of comments: 77
    Just how bad was Barack Obama's debate performance last night? Not as bad as Britney Spears' song-and-dance routine at the MTV Awards. Not as bad as Bill Buckner's legendary error during the '86 World Series. Not as bad as Bob Dylan's music during his God phase. Not as bad as' [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 17, 2008, 6:46am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Actions speak louder than words

    Number of comments: 60
    Focusing on his real audience - the unpledged Democratic superdelegates, and the independent voters who will ultimately swing the November election - here's what Barack Obama needs to say tonight during the debate in Philadelphia (assuming he hasn't sufficiently damaged himself already):

    "...I'm glad that Senator Clinton has again'" [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 16, 2008, 9:06am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The brave (and brutish) new world

    Number of comments: 28
    There once was a time when presidential candidates could utter an awkward unscripted remark, or a crude joke, or a loaded phrase, and conceivably get away with it - particularly when the press was barred at the door.

    But today, thanks to the democratization of technology, there is no [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 15, 2008, 8:58am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama and the perils of Cling-gate

    Number of comments: 113
    Can Bill and Hillary achieve Restoration by exploiting Cling-gate?

    Perhaps the small-town burghers and downscale workers of Pennsylvania will answer that question when they vote in the primary eight days hence. But, until then, all we can do is speculate - and marvel at the notion that the outcome [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 14, 2008, 7:18am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Condi and Bill in the silly season

    Number of comments: 28
    On the presidential election calendar, April often marks the start of the silly season. April is typically a time for silly stories that come and go within the space a single news cycle (bulletin: a talk-radio loudmouth calls John McCain a "warmonger" - and refuses to apologize!), and silly stories [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 11, 2008, 9:21am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • A politician, not a messiah

    Number of comments: 43
    The flip flop is a staple of politics as usual. Here’s a fresh example, starring Barack Obama:

    A mere five months ago, in Iowa, Obama didn’t like it when outside “special interest” groups sided with his rivals, pumped their own money into the campaign, and ran independent ads against [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 10, 2008, 7:38am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Iraq and rhetorical aspirin

    Number of comments: 26
    George Orwell, best known for his novel 1984 but renowned in some circles (mine, anyway) for his spirited attacks on the bureaucratic debasement of the English language, would have winced at the evasive euphemisms repeatedly employed yesterday by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

    In perhaps his most [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 09, 2008, 9:09am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Ten questions for Petraeus

    Number of comments: 25
    Gen. David Petraeus is back on Capitol Hill, talking about "progress" and pleading for more "patience." We all know the drill by now. Perhaps some lawmaker will ask him questions like these:

    1. General Petraeus, four years ago you were in charge of training the Iraqi troops to stand [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 08, 2008, 9:48am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Blame the Clintons, not Mark Penn

    Number of comments: 46
    The Clintons were reportedly shocked, shocked to learn this weekend that chief strategist Mark Penn had recently donned his other hat - as CEO of a global consulting firm - and sought to lobby on behalf of a client for a trade treaty that Hillary opposes on the campaign trail. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 07, 2008, 9:27am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama and the benefits of time

    Number of comments: 105
    I’m traveling the rest of this week – and not for work reasons – so new postings will be light (today) or non-existent (Friday). The normal regimen resumes on Monday.

    However, with respect to the Pennsylvania primary, a passing thought did occur to me. This six-week interregnum between Democratic [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 03, 2008, 10:32am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Gas prices and pander politics

    Number of comments: 28
    In his bid to bond with blue-collar Pennsylvanians during the runup to the April 22 primary, Barack Obama engaged yesterday in some old-school substance-free politicking. He denounced the price of gasoline.

    "Gas prices are killing folks," he said in hardscrabble Wilkes-Barre. "I got an email from a friend [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 02, 2008, 9:20am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Gargling the neocon Kool-Aid

    Number of comments: 85
    I know this is not a big news story in America anymore, but the question is still worth asking:

    How goes President Bush's Iraq democratization crusade these days - the same crusade that would be waged next year by John McCain?

    Well, last I checked, America's fighting men [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: April 01, 2008, 9:10am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Breaking bread with the vast right-wing conspiracy

    Number of comments: 40
    While scanning the various Sunday commentaries, I stumbled across these laudatory effusions for Hillary Clinton: "...courage and confidence...political courage...impressive command...her answers were thoughtful, well-stated, and often dead-on...a very favorable (impression) indeed..."

    The author of this particular newspaper editorial was Richard Mellon Scaife.

    If that name doesn't ring [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 31, 2008, 8:55am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Let the spin begin!

    Number of comments: 87
    Big story this morning, broken by one of my colleagues: Senator Bob Casey, the ever-cautious Democratic centrist whose surname is golden among white Catholic working-class Pennsylvanians, is endorsing Barack Obama today. It's a surprise, because Casey (also a superdelegate) was expected to hang back during the runup to the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 28, 2008, 9:03am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • More quote marks for McCain

    Number of comments: 14
    As part of my continuing effort to persuade media colleagues to put quote marks around the word maverick when writing about John McCain, here's his latest pit stop on the flip-flop express.

    Ten years ago, while burnishing the "maverick" image that has prompted so much swooning among Washington scribes, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 27, 2008, 12:17pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Under fire, but not from snipers

    Number of comments: 53
    Maybe she was hoping that the toy companies would agree to market a Hillary Clinton Action Figure. More likely, she was probably hoping that she could inflate her meager foreign policy experience by goading the electorate into swallowing a lie.

    Now that Clinton has been exposed as a serial [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 26, 2008, 9:29am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The 4000th death as metaphor

    Number of comments: 41
    The occasion of the 4,000th American military death in Iraq has actually triggered something akin to a miracle on the home front, forcing people to focus anew (albeit briefly) on President Bush's historic misadventure - at the expense of ignoring (albeit briefly) the potential death spiral of the fractious Democrats.
    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 25, 2008, 10:13am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • A Hillary surrogate retrofits his convictions

    Number of comments: 35
    It was excrutiating yesterday to watch Senator Evan Bayh audition on CNN for the job of Hillary Clinton's running mate. One of the requirements, apparently, is that the applicant must be ready and willing to scrap his convictions for the good of the team. By that measure, Bayh probably ensured [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 24, 2008, 9:25am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Good riddance to the rule breakers

    Number of comments: 44
    Scanning the landscape at week's end:

    There has been a paucity of commentary in this space about Florida and Michigan. And now that the Democratic do-over scenarios have evaporated, I can summarize my reaction in just two words.

    Good riddance.

    It's really quite simple. The Democratic National [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 21, 2008, 9:22am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The intellect versus the visceral

    Number of comments: 171
    Millions of Americans, and certainly the media commentariat, were bedazzled by Barack Obama's eloquent and gutsy plea for racial reconciliation. Forty-eight hours later, however, it's time to return to the nuts and bolts world of practical politics - as distasteful as this exercise may be - and ask whether his [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 20, 2008, 9:46am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • John McCain, congregant in the church of Bush

    Number of comments: 49
    I'm just wondering. Which of these affiliations is worse: Barack Obama and his pastor...or John McCain and his president?

    The 24/7 story du jour continues to be Obama-Wright, but let us at least briefly pause to ponder the McCain-Bush connection. Because I would argue that McCain's fealty to the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 19, 2008, 9:35am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Coming soon to this blog

    Number of comments: 81
    Barack Obama delivered a remarkable speech this morning in Philadelphia, directly tackling the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy with daring arguments and nuanced historical context rarely heard on the American campaign stump.

    He challenged white voters to better understand the roots of black anger. He challenged black voters to [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 18, 2008, 12:18pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama plays by the Friday Rule

    Number of comments: 51
    Barack Obama says he's a new kind of politician, but, when necessary, he knows how to play by the old unwritten rules. One such rule decrees: Always release bad news on a Friday, when the news audience is arguably the smallest.

    And so, last Friday, there were two developments. [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 17, 2008, 7:31am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The thread of truth in the web of lies

    Number of comments: 157
    If Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, his longtime church pastor is going to be a big political headache.

    Most voters won't hold Obama responsible for the Rev. Jerimiah Wright's most provocative pulpit pronunciamentos. Most voters won't automatically assume that Obama shares the views expressed at the Trinity United [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 14, 2008, 10:44am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The latest Clinton Keystone spin

    Number of comments: 93
    On a conference call with journalists late this morning, the Clinton spinners basically spelled out their strategy for wresting the nomination away from Barack Obama. The overlapping items:

    1. Market the April 22 Pennsylvania primary as the most important event on the political calendar between now and the August [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 13, 2008, 1:41pm EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Archie Bunker at the kitchen sink

    Number of comments: 101
    As Hillary Clinton falls farther behind the frontrunner - her delegate gains last week have been wiped out, courtesy of Barack Obama's landslide wins in Wyoming on Saturday and Mississippi last night; she has received 700,000 fewer popular votes; in the pledged delegate count, she trails by roughly 160 [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 12, 2008, 9:48am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Rumblings in the hinterlands of Illinois

    Number of comments: 73
    If this was March 2006 - as opposed to March 2008, which is dominated by an historic presidential race, and (fleetingly) by the rise and fall of "Client 9" - we would be fairly transfixed by what occurred last Saturday night in a reliably Republican congressional district that extends [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 11, 2008, 9:59am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • The spin and the math

    Number of comments: 54
    Notwithstanding the Clinton camp's attempts to paint last week's primary victories as evidence of "momentum," and notwithstanding their latest flurry of attacks on Barack Obama (he's not ready to command, he's just like that right-wing blue-noser Ken Starr, he's not a Muslim "as far as I know"), I wish to [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 10, 2008, 9:53am EDT
    by Dick Polman

  • Ken Starr versus the monster

    Number of comments: 88
    I miss the Swedes. When I was a foreign correspondent back in the early '90s, I covered a national election in Sweden, and the experience was memorable for several reasons: (1) The whole campaign lasted four weeks, which is considerably less time than the warring Democrats will spend in the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 07, 2008, 9:28am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The odd couple's latest mating ritual

    Number of comments: 30
    For the sake of sanity, I'm taking a one-day break from the Democratic phantasmagoria, and dwelling instead on the photo op that occurred yesterday at the White House. You probably saw it. There was the newly crowned Republican presidential nominee, John McCain (not wearing a flag pin, by the way), [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 06, 2008, 10:02am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Onward they slog

    Number of comments: 122
    So onward they shall slog across the electoral landscape, like a pair of prison escapees joined at the wrist by handcuffs, each yearning and scheming to be free of the other, and we still don't know how this movie will end. Rumor now has it that they're fixing to hole [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 05, 2008, 5:46am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Sound and fury, signifying nothing?

    Number of comments: 22
    So what's gonna happen, anyway? Beats the heck out of me. There are too many scenarios to contemplate, too many potential plot twists still in the offing, more trash-talking that needs to play out, too many lies that still need to be sorted out, and no way of knowing who [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 04, 2008, 9:51am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Tony Rezko and the Obama image

    Number of comments: 27
    On the eve of yet another round of crucial primaries, Barack Obama will be stumping for votes in Texas - which means he'll be 1000 miles away from Tony Rezko. No doubt he'd like to keep it that way.

    His old friend and fundraiser, a real-estate hustler and political [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 03, 2008, 9:38am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • It's news to the Decider

    Number of comments: 32
    We interrupt your leisure time to bring you the latest chapter in the Lame Duck Chronicles.

    While finally getting the chance to scan the transcript of President Bush's Thursday press conference, I was struck by his response to the question about rising gasoline prices. Economic analysts, as well as [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: March 01, 2008, 11:16am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Memo to Dems: Don't pop those corks

    Number of comments: 47
    Grassroots Democrats who are giddy at the prospect of taking on John McCain might be wise to consult the results of two new national polls.

    The general assumption, on the blue side of the national divide, is that McCain is highly vulnerable because he has so vigorously aided and [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 29, 2008, 8:19am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • William F. Buckley, an appreciation

    Number of comments: 19
    I want to mark the passing of William F. Buckley, intellectual godfather of the modern conservative movement, who died on Tuesday night at the age of 82. But rather than offer the standard celebration of his wit and significance and contentious iconoclasm, I prefer to resurrect a long newspaper [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 28, 2008, 8:06am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Assertive Clinton versus unflappable Obama

    Number of comments: 17
    Hillary Clinton delivered a decent performance last night, as she and Barack Obama shared a debate stage for the 20th time. With the exception of one or two cringeworthy episodes, she was assertive without being strident, and she managed to score a few points at Obama's expense. But I [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 27, 2008, 7:12am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The behavior of unhappy campaigns

    Number of comments: 24
    Tolstoy wrote that "happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In American politics, however, it's the unhappy campaigns that are all alike. In their growing desperation to stave off defeat, they tend to behave in very similar ways. And the Hillary Clinton campaign [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 26, 2008, 10:13am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Ralph Nader, tragedy and farce

    Number of comments: 33
    In the apparent belief that he has not sufficiently damaged his own legacy, Ralph Nader now seems determined to wield the wrecking ball one more time.

    Havng told himself - and the nation yesterday, on Meet the Press - that Americans are clamoring for a third-party candidate in 2008, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 25, 2008, 7:06am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • A sense that the end is near

    Number of comments: 20
    I'll begin at the end, because somehow it seems most pertinent. At the close of last night's Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton conveyed the impression that she is preparing herself for defeat.

    Some of this was communicated in her words: "And, you know, no matter what happens in [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 22, 2008, 7:37am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • McCain to The Times: Thank you very much

    Number of comments: 16
    John McCain should send a dozen roses and a thank-you note to The New York Times.

    There he was, trudging from one primary to the next, racking up underwhelming victories because of his chronic inability to bond with the Republican right...and, lo and behold, The Times comes along today [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 21, 2008, 1:06pm EST
    by Dick Polman

  • It's hard to spin when you don't win

    Number of comments: 37
    Did I mention one week ago, in the wake of landslide losses in Virginia and Maryland, that the Hillary Clinton campaign resembled the Titanic just as the second-class cabins were starting to flood? I did indeed. But here's an update:

    The water is ascending the grand staircase, and threatening [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 20, 2008, 12:13am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The stakes in the cheesehead primary

    Number of comments: 38
    Ah Wisconsin, birthplace of the presidential primary (yes, nearly a century ago) and a state where so many candidacies have come to ruin (Hubert Humphrey in 1960, Mo Udall in 1976, John Edwards and Howard Dean in 2004, among many others). For the 2008 Democratic finalists, Wisconsin might ultimately prove [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 19, 2008, 10:04am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Dean's muted scream, Mac's latest pander

    Number of comments: 27
    As I noted in my Sunday print column, the Democratic presidential race (barring a miracle breakthrough by either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama) is careening toward a potential train wreck. Space did not permit me to explore an important question:

    Are there any party elders, with the requisite [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 18, 2008, 9:35am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Does Obama have the right stuff?

    Number of comments: 34
    Back to the Polman mailbag, where an emailer newly touched by Obamamania shares his deepest fears: "Are we high? Are we intoxicated by love? Are we casting Hillary aside for this dream boat, only to wake up in summer and fall to find a candidate who doesnt hold up?"

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 15, 2008, 9:59am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • McCain's rightward march

    Number of comments: 54
    Since I'm tied up today with other deadlines, I'll confine myself to this little item that surfaced last evening:

    McCain (R-AZ), Nay.

    I found that on the list of senators who voted against passage of an anti-torture provision that seeks to bar the CIA from engaging in [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 14, 2008, 12:51pm EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Poaching on Hillary's turf

    Number of comments: 57
    Picture the Titanic in mid-crisis, just as the second-class cabins are starting to flood. That's how the Hillary Clinton campaign looks this morning.

    Three more Barack Obama landslides have left her in a perilous position. She has coughed up her lead among pledged delegates nationwide (having lost 21 [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 13, 2008, 7:36am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The lame duck chronicles

    Number of comments: 29
    We interrupt the campaign news to bring you the latest quackings of our lame duck.

    Seriously, amidst all the historic doings in the Democratic presidential race, with three more contests on tap for tonight, we do need to remember that President Bush is still on the job and wreaking [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 12, 2008, 9:13am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • So goes Maine in the Democratic drama

    Number of comments: 44
    Once upon a time - actually, it was 168 years ago - the triumphant Whig party came up with the slogan, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation." The slogan somehow endured, despite the fact that, in presidential elections over the next century, Maine and the nation frequently chose differently.
    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 11, 2008, 9:57am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • McCain's embarrassment, Hillary's risk

    Number of comments: 45
    A few thoughts on the Saturday contests:

    Conservative Republicans clearly aren't anxious to march in step for John McCain. Notwithstanding his hard-won status as putative GOP nominee, they're still in a mood to smack him around.

    Republicans generally close ranks once the top guy is essentially chosen, but [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 10, 2008, 10:40am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Conversations with myself

    Number of comments: 51
    What a week. My head hurts. So let's wind down with a Q & A.

    Q: How come Mitt Romney decided to cut and run, hours after he had promised to soldier on?

    A: Because, thinking like a businessman, he came to the conclusion that he was a [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 08, 2008, 10:32am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • John McCain, in the lion's den

    Number of comments: 17
    The putative Republican presidential nominee sought today to mollify all those angry conservatives who have essentially declared that they would rather set fire to their hair than follow his lead. I wonder whether he did enough to hose them down. He did not apologize for any of his past [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 07, 2008, 4:08pm EST
    by Dick Polman

  • John McCain, hat in hand

    Number of comments: 17
    This afternoon, John McCain will deliver a major speech with one purpose in mind: to convince his many conservative critics that a guy with a solid conservative voting record deserves to be viewed as sufficiently conservative.

    The highlight of the conservative calendar, a magnet for 6000 activists and movement [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 07, 2008, 8:15am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The Bill Murray primaries

    Number of comments: 48
    I pore over the myriad tallies of Tsunami Tuesday, and all I can hear, in my imagination, is the comedic actor Bill Murray, delivering one of his droll pronouncements:

    "This is one...nutty...campaign."

    Theres no other way to say it. This date on the political calendar was supposed [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 06, 2008, 8:13am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • My Tsunami Tuesday scorecard

    Number of comments: 35
    Welcome to the most historic primary day in American political history. That's no hyperbole.

    Consequential contests are being staged from coast to coast, two dozen in all, featuring three of the five biggest states (California, New York, Illinois), featuring tossup races in autumn bellwether states (Missouri, Arizona), with [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 05, 2008, 10:32am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Falsehoods and embarrassments

    Number of comments: 21
    Sensitive Sunday issues, a three-act play:

    John McCain may well become the GOP's putative nominee after the smoke clears on Feb. 5, but he's still anathema to many conservative soldiers. I was reminded of this last night, after suggesting in a Sunday print column that the anti-McCain forces, [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 04, 2008, 9:37am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Civility reigns in La-La Land

    Number of comments: 36
    Its fitting that the two Democratic finalists debated last night in the Los Angeles theatre that hosts the Oscars. The envelopes, please...

    Most cringe-worthy imagery: Democratic party leaders were not well served by CNN, which kept training its cameras on the Hollywood celebrities in attendance. Look, theres Diane [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: February 01, 2008, 12:53am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Bile and guile with a smile

    Number of comments: 22
    When the mood strikes him as it did last night, with the GOP brass ring finally in sight John McCain can sure be a duplicitous rascal.

    In the final Republican debate before the Feb. 5 primaries, McCain took Mitt Romney apart. He gleefully tormented his rival [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 31, 2008, 12:49am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Flight of the phoenix

    Number of comments: 45
    John McCain, the phoenix of American politics, is now marching with confidence toward the GOP nomination. Barring an unforeseen reversal during the next seven days, he seems well positioned to cement his top-dog status when 20 more states weigh in, from coast to coast, on Feb. 5.

    The stars [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 30, 2008, 12:19am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Bush, the final annotations

    Number of comments: 34
    The good news is that George W. Bush has finally delivered the last State of the Union speech of his ruinous presidency. The bad news is that I am compelled to annotate it.

    Don't feel obliged to stick around. You know the drill. He offered his usual string [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 29, 2008, 7:28am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Bill's pride and the loss of Camelot

    Number of comments: 40
    Edward Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama is clearly a major blow to the Clintons - and not just because the senior keeper of the Kennedy flame is tight with the kinds of primary voters that Obama needs most (downscale workers, union members, and Hispanics); and not just because Ted [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 28, 2008, 9:48am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Obama's Saturday night massacre

    Number of comments: 27
    The term Saturday night massacre entered the political lexicon during the Watergate scandal, but maybe it now needs to be updated, in the wake of the brutal thrashing that Barack Obama has meted out to the Clintons in South Carolina.

    We shall soon see whether Obama can captalize on [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 27, 2008, 8:51am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Mitt's triumph, and other trophies

    Number of comments: 43
    Compared to the Hillary-Obama schoolyard rumble on Monday night, the Republican debate last night was downright sedate. But potentially consequential, nevertheless.

    The GOP survivors stayed on their best behavior, for several reasons. The stakes in next Tuesday's Florida primary are enormous; anybody who finishes third or lower is [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 25, 2008, 8:56am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Fact-free innuendo, endlessly repeated

    Number of comments: 58
    An anti-Obama radio ad, launched yesterday in South Carolina, is vivid proof - as if we needed it - that the Clintons are master practitioners of fact-free innuendo.

    Granted, the Clintons are hardly the first to spread falsehoods in the pursuit of power (read any history about the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 24, 2008, 9:40am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • John Edwards, headless chicken

    Number of comments: 54
    It was almost poignant, on Monday night, to hear John Edwards make the case for his autumn electability. He was the one who first suggested that John McCain would be the GOP nominee; then he said, "I grew up in the rural south, in small towns all across the rural [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 23, 2008, 9:57am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Down in the weeds with Barack Obama

    Number of comments: 36
    Welcome to the Moe Greene Memorial Debate.

    You might remember Moe Greene. He was a Vegas hot shot in The Godfather, the guy who taunted Michael Corleone by boasting, I made my bones while you were going out with cheerleaders!

    Well, last night, in the latest Democratic [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 22, 2008, 1:09am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The alumnus as alpha dog

    Number of comments: 143
    It's Martin Luther King Day - or, as the Hillary Clinton campaign might prefer to call it, Martin Luther King/Lyndon B. Johnson Day - but this is no time for a holiday break. Not with Barack Obama calling Bill Clinton a liar on national TV.

    Obama didn't literally [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 21, 2008, 10:19am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Nevada, South Carolina, and caveats for all

    Number of comments: 22
    It's morning in America, after another long night of political news. Clarity remains an elusive commodity. Welcome to the Yes, But presidential race:

    Yes, Hillary Clinton scored a popular vote victory yesterday in the Nevada Democratic caucuses (which was really no surprise, since she had topped the Nevada [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 20, 2008, 11:38am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Saturday night fever

    Number of comments: 10
    I'm basically off duty today, but I plan to write Sunday about the Nevada Democratic caucuses and the South Carolina Republican primary, both of which will render their verdicts on Saturday night. So, for now, just these thoughts about the feverish races in both venues:

    Team Clinton's last-ditch attempt [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 18, 2008, 10:30am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • A few strolls down memory lane

    Number of comments: 14
    Pop quiz for Jan. 17: What historic political event occurred on this date? First prize, a pat on the back. Second prize (to quote Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross), a set of steak knives. The answer is at the bottom of today's post.

    Speaking of history, let us [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 17, 2008, 1:55pm EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Yukking it up in the Yucca state

    Number of comments: 45
    Ever watch the old Tonight Show, when everyone on stage was in mirth overload, yukking it up on Johnny's couch, and Johnny was in his chair with his shoulders shaking, and Doc's band was really swinging, and Don Rickles was cutting up, and Sammy Davis Jr. was bent forward in [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 16, 2008, 9:40am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • McCain in Michigan and beyond

    Number of comments: 73
    If John McCain wins the Michigan primary tonight, resist the temptation to confer upon him the title of prohibitive Republican frontrunner. Many grassroots conservatives and Republican establishment leaders remain downright hostile to the guy, and a strong showing in Michigan would do nothing to ease their concerns.

    McCain [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 15, 2008, 10:05am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Hillary's "Florida Republican tactics"

    Number of comments: 64
    One week from today, the Nevada Democratic caucuses will be receding in the rear-view mirror, and the story I'm about to describe may well be relegated to a footnote. But let us live for today. What we have here is a classic demonstration of the disconnect between what a politician [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 14, 2008, 9:43am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Three-dimensional Republican chess

    Number of comments: 60
    The Republican presidential race has morphed into a game of three-dimensional chess. As evidenced by the flow of dialogue in last night's debate - yes, there was another one - the current standoffs look roughly like this:

    Mitt Romney versus John McCain (in the Michigan primary next Tuesday); Fred [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 11, 2008, 10:00am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The crying game

    Number of comments: 23
    From the next Democratic debate, scheduled for Tuesday in Las Vegas:

    "It's truly wonderful to be back in this beautiful state," said Hillary Clinton, "and as I think about the natural splendor of Sunrise Mountain, just to the east of this marvelous city, and how every new morning announces [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 10, 2008, 9:59am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Is this a great country, or what?

    Number of comments: 46
    Harry Truman is probably still safe in the rankings as Americas most renowned comeback kid his brandishing of that Dewey Beats Truman headline is iconic but Hillary Clinton has now surprised just about everybody. Not merely the pollsters and the media (and me, yesterday's parenthetical caveat notwithstanding), but [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 09, 2008, 12:21am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • How to score the New Hampshire primary

    Number of comments: 35
    Tonight, New Hampshire speaks. Here's what I plan to be tracking:

    1. Barack Obama's margin of victory. If he wins narrowly on the Democratic side, the Hillary people can semi-accurately insist that their "girl" (Hillary's recent description of herself) is alive and well and looking forward to wresting the [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 08, 2008, 10:14am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • The Clintons and the good old days

    Number of comments: 55
    The Clintons have always had fond feelings about New Hampshire. Bill was down and out in January of 1992, seemingly destined to be roadkill, besieged at the time by stories about his draft avoidance and extra-curricular behavior. But then he shifted into sixth gear, charming the locals and out-working his [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 07, 2008, 7:25am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • Blood on the stage in New Hampshire

    Number of comments: 20
    The Oscar buzz these days is all about a new film called There Will Be Blood, but there was no need to buy a ticket last night, not with the presidential candidates laying claim to the same title by carving each other up in grisly fashion during a pair of [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 06, 2008, 11:12am EST
    by Dick Polman

  • An historic night of winners and losers

    Number of comments: 77
    Ill assess the stunning results of the Iowa caucuses through the prism of winners and losers some of them obvious, others less so.

    WINNERS:

    Barack Obama. He made history last night, as the first African-American presidential candidate to demonstrate serious crossover appeal in the gatekeeper state. Jesse [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: January 04, 2008, 1:21am EST
    by Dick Polman
← Early Word The Clog →

Blog Info:
Dick Polman's American Debate

» http://dickpolman.blogspot.com/

Categories

BNN Traffic Index

Alexa: 9,620,824
850,803

Compete: No data
0

Quantcast: No data
14

BNN Traffic Index: 850,803

BNN Authority Index

Technorati: 0

Google: 0

BNN Authority Index: No data

» Subscribe to the Dick Polman's American Debate feed