Is there a Do Not Save Me Registry for the Jehova’s Witnesses? I feel awful saying that.  They are so nice.  But so am I, and I cannot figure out a polite way to make them stop coming to my door every weekend. I have pled Catholicism. I have thanked them for their generosity of […]

Did I miss something or is the American political establishment and news industry overtly digging through hundreds of thousands of Sarah Palin’s emails in an openly stated effort to find something to embarrass her?  Just Sarah Palin’s?  And is it me, or this being reported in the news as a veritable gotcha game where the American public can play along? Please tell me […]

Another good story out of Politico this morning; this one on Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) disappearing act in the face of the Weiner controversy. Schumer is, indeed, as media savvy as he is a media hooker. What I found most striking was Schumer’s extended vanishing act during the credit-default-swap crash and subsequent bank and insurance […]

Great story in Politico today by Glenn Thrush detailing what I touched on this morning. President Obama, who famously targeted “Red” states in 2008, now looks like he will have to defend formerly reliable  “Blue” states in 2012, plus those in which he made inroads in the last election. Team Obama is, according to Thrush’s […]

http://youtu.be/e07vlQNz88c This 1984 Mondale-Ferraro ad hints at the beginning of outright “negative” — or “comparative” — political television advertising.   (That really began in 1964 with Tony Schwartz’s “Daisy Ad” for Lyndon Johnson. But here the opponent, Ronald Reagan is named outright, which was rare for the time.) The ad fell short — way short.  Mondale-Ferrer lost […]

Great piece in The New York Times today by Matt Bai on President Obama’s re-election strategy.  Bai nails the point that Americans have become increasingly impatient with their politicians in recent years — with everything — and that the President’s essential re-election theme of don’t change horse in midstream is a loser. Sounds like a loser […]

There’s a gag that’s gone around Albany for awhile. Widows no longer look for millionaires to marry; they look for single retirees with “Tier I” pension plans. Who could blame them if it were true? New York’s pension benefits are solid gold.  The only problem is that they are printed on paper — they are IOUs that […]

http://youtu.be/4RZ4G251WR4 Here is an ad for Alabama Governor George Wallace’s 1968 independent bid for President. It was Wallace’s fourth run for President. The first three times he ran for the Democratic nomination, but in 1968 he ran as the candidate of the American Independent Party. The anti-integration, populist governor won five states — all southern […]

To say “keep an eye out for Corey Booker” is like saying keep an eye out for the Yankees in the playoffs this year.  An idiot could tell you that. But keep an eye out for Corey Booker (D). The Newark Star Ledger today reports that the dynamic Newark reform-oriented mayor may be eying a […]

http://youtu.be/_borufk9RTc It’s amazing how quickly a PR crisis can strike today. Here soldiers returning from Afghanistan are charged $200 for having an extra bag — carrying their weapons — on a Delta Airlines plane.  One would think there would be some flexibility at the gate.  But evidently there was not. Too bad for Delta. That […]