President Obama is under fire today for ignoring the advice of his generals in Afghanistan in announcing a 30,000 troop withdrawal from that country within the next 18 months. The President is accused of doing it for political reasons — the last of those surge troops should be back home right around Election Day 2012. […]

http://youtu.be/ExjDzDsgbww Here, arguably, is the most famous campaign ad in U.S. political history, the so-called “Daisy Ad” produced in 1964 by media guru Tony Schwartz. The ad famously ran only once, but it was effective in frightening Americans against supporting Sen. Barry Goldwater (R) for president.  (Before the days of You Tube.) One one of my favorite political stories also […]

Reports Reuters today: “U.S. state and local governments will need to raise taxes by $1,398 per household every year for the next 30 years if they are to fully fund their pension systems, a study released on Wednesday said. JGI | Getty Images “The study, co-authored by Joshua Rauh of Northwestern University and Robert Novy-Marx […]

Here is Public Employees Federation (PEF) boss Ken Brynien not so subtly threatening Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) political future should Cuomo not give his and other unions the contracts they want. No wonder Governor Chris Christie (R) calls these leaders “political thugs.” “His [Andrew Cuomo’s] father tried to run for president, or at least made noise about […]

New York Republicans have been handed a rhetorical gift for the 2012 elections. With so many issues presumably off the table by close of session in Albany this week — rent regulations, property tax cap, gay marriage (we’ll see), state vegetable — one big Kahuna is left over for next year’s election-year fight: public employee […]

Newt Gingrich is averaging seven percent in national GOP Primary polls. It’s time to begin speculating where that support will go when he leaves the race.  This morning it was reported that the former House speaker’s finance team has now left him, on the heels of his entire senior political team. Gingrich says he’s staying in the race. […]

Note to self: Buy stock in cigarette case companies… (Story here.)

What a difference a year makes. Things are actually getting done in Albany, like them or not. This legislative session is an extraordinary departure from the one we saw last year, which could be summed up in five letters, C-H-A-O-S. One could safely toss the adjective “absolute” in front of the word without being accused […]

http://youtu.be/X0qAYEVOS8c The days of the 90-second television ad are long gone, but here’s one even longer than that from Eisenhower-Nixon ’56. At 4:23, this may be the longest campaign spot I’ve ever seen. It is shot in the film noir style of the day.  I almost expected a shot to ring out during parts of it. My […]

The difference between poverty in New York State — having so little money that one is eligible for a rent regulated apartment — and wealth — making enough money to pay a “millionaires tax” * — is being newly quantified in Albany today, according to news reports. That number will now be  $50,000, pre-tax. A […]