Politics 2.0

Does this make the Internet’s influence on politics official?  Today it was announced that Yahoo and Slate will be joining The Huffington Post to host the first two online-only debates for the 2008 presidential candidates.  Both will be in the fall and there will be one for each party.  Charlie Rose will moderate.
Candidates will participate [...]

Honest Abe

Apparently, George Bush does not see his unwillingness to change course in Iraq as being stubborn.  Rather, he’s sticking to his principles, just like Abe Lincoln did during the Civil War.  Needless to say, this statement confounds me—from the preposterous comparison to Lincoln, to the non-existent parallel drawn between the Civil War and Iraq.
Bush made [...]

As a Mule

Bush’s stubbornness continues to surprise me.  Today, he reiterated his confidence in Gonzales and continued to speak out against calls for Gonzales’ resignation.   He was happy with his testimony last week and felt it showed that Gonzales had done nothing wrong (I guess wreaking havoc on the foundations of our government isn’t technically a [...]

Crow’s Nest

Maybe I am naïve.  Maybe once you reach a certain level of power or notoriety, you just don’t care anymore.   However, I find it hard to believe that Bush, Rove and Cheney have not surrounded themselves with the best consultants money can buy.  Too bad they don’t take their advice.
You don’t get to [...]

Springtime for Politicos

I’ve decided to chalk up all the political verbal hijinks of late to a mass outbreak of Spring Fever.   Nothing else can explain politicians’ recent reluctance to stay on message. 
There’s additional fall-out from McCain’s little tune—MoveOn.org has created a commercial about the incident to run in New Hampshire and Iowa.  The ad characterizes [...]

Dude, Where’s My Flak?

I feel the need to preface this post by saying that I don’t care for canned speeches and I detest the fact that interviews have been reduced to a succession of short sound bites.   That being said, I do believe that PR and communications are the backbone of any political campaign.  Even though most [...]

The Importance of Being Earnest

I will be the first to say that I am a cynic—which is why I have mixed feelings about John Edwards’ participation in the Service Employee International Union’s (SEIU) “Walk a Day in My Shoes” program last week.   Unfortunately, with all the hoopla around the Imus controversy (and perhaps some campaign fatigue as well), [...]