Republicans

Last Night’s GOP Debate

Featured image I watched last night’s GOP presidential debate in its entirety, mostly because I commented on it on television as soon as it was over. I have no idea what the ratings were, or whether the event will move the political needle at all, but here are my observations: * It was a good night for the GOP. The debate format works much better now that we are down to five »

Who’s He?

Featured image The embarrassing impasse in the House of Representatives has finally ended, as Louisiana’s Mike Johnson has been elected Speaker. So, who is Mike Johnson, and why was he finally able to succeed where several more notable House members failed? I suspect that the answer has more to do with desperation than anything else. The Republican Party was made to look ridiculous, not so much by the party’s divisions as by »

Do Republicans Want to Lose?

Featured image Several decades ago, a Washington Democrat said, “Republicans hate the government, so they let us run it for them.” I think there was some truth to that, in the bad old pre-Reagan days. And maybe it is still true now. Byron York, one of the capital’s most astute observers, writes: Watching House Republicans it's hard to avoid the conclusion that, as a whole, they don't really *want* to run the »

Record Number of Voters Prefer GOP On Economy

Featured image This is from Stephen Moore’s excellent Unleash Prosperity Hotline, a daily email that you can subscribe to here. I recommend it: Yesterday’s other big news was this survey result from GALLUP, with a question they have been asking since 1951 with Republicans never scoring higher than right now: “Looking ahead for the next few years, which political party do you think will do a better job of keeping the country »

Gaetz of Eden

Featured image I turn to the oracular Bob Dylan writing in William Blake’s prophetic mode for commentary on the deposition of Speaker Kevin McCarthy by Matt Gaetz and a few Republican colleagues joined by every House Democrat: All and all can only fall With a crashing but meaningless blow No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden Well, we hear the sound coming from the Gaetz of Eden. There’s no avoiding »

Suicide of the House

Featured image Who was it who said of the Palestinians that they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity? You could say the same of the Republican Party. Then there is the adage, attributed to Napoleon, that you should never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake. The Republicans violated that one today, too. By rights, the Democrats should be in disarray. The Biden administration has been a disaster, »

Republicans Gaining With Voters

Featured image This Morning Consult poll is a week old, but still worth noting. It finds that Democrats’ standing with voters has declined significantly since 2020, while Republicans have gained. Of course, this is what one would expect with the disastrous Biden administration, but it is good to see it reflected here: I suppose Matt Gaetz is undermining the Republicans’ edge on the “capable of governing” metric. This is the key chart. »

A Comment on Last Night’s Debate

Featured image I didn’t watch last night’s GOP debate, which, based on the accounts I have read, including Scott’s, was a good decision. Many morning-after accounts have focused on the fact that Fox included a liberal Hispanic reporter as one of the moderators, and, in addition, the nominally Republican moderators asked many challenging if not outright hostile questions. See, for example, Ed Morrissey, who quotes some of the questions. I will reproduce »

After last night

Featured image The Republican candidates for president assembled minus President Trump for an event televised on the Fox Business channel last night. The event was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. The debate was moderated by Dana Perino, Stuart Varney and Ilia Calderón. Who is Ilia Calderón and what was she doing there? She posed hostile questions in heavily accented English. “Why have you fleeped?” she »

No Politico, DeSantis’ Internal Poll Data Is Not Scrambling GOP Primary

Featured image Two days after the Aug. 23 Republican primary debate, a poll showed that support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had jumped by 7 points in the state of Iowa. The headline at Fox News screamed, “Iowa poll shows Florida gov closing the gap on Trump after first Republican debate.” Excited about his post-debate bounce, I was all set to write about it until I saw that the poll had been »

After last night

Featured image I concur with almost all the comments John and Elizabeth have made about last night’s Republican candidates’ jamboree on Fox News. I drove to Milwaukee to attend the event at the Fiserv Forum and was seated in one of the suites on an upper level at the back of the arena. The hosts obviously performed no sound check for those in attendance. Every statement echoed with a slight delay. If »

Debate performance changed my mind on Ramaswamy

Featured image I was delighted to see biotech entrepreneur and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy break into the double-digits in an early July poll. I’d been impressed with the anti-woke candidate from the moment I first heard him speak. Ramaswamy, 38, who was largely unknown in political circles before declaring his candidacy in late February, is an impressive person whose name recognition is growing. He is smart, driven, and uncommonly articulate. »

What Was Brewing In Milwaukee

Featured image I caught three-fourths of last nights GOP debate. Here are my observations: * It was a good night for the Republican Party. The candidates generally did well, there were enough sharp exchanges to make it interesting, and the candidates collectively were saying what most Americans want to hear. * The person who stood out the most, for better or worse, was Vivek Ramaswamy. Quite a few young people think he »

What’s made Milwaukee famous

Featured image …won’t make a loser out of me, but probably won’t be of much use to me today either. Following the heat wave that has hit the Twin Cities, I’m heading off to Milwaukee this morning to attend the GOP presidential candidates debate tonight. The elite eight who made the cut include Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson. President Trump »

The Great Realignment

Featured image Matt Taibbi offers a bracing assessment of the current political landscape at Racket News and YouTube. “Campaign 2024: Not Left Versus Right, But Affluent Versus Everyone Else.” It is the sort of thing that ten years ago, I wouldn’t have taken seriously. But now… The realignment of major parties away from blue against red and toward a rich versus poor dynamic is America’s most undercovered political story. *** There are »

GOP senators peeved over number of constituents who believe 2020 election was stolen

Featured image Several Republican senators told The Hill this week that more and more frequently, they are being “confronted by constituents who buy into discredited conspiracy theories such as the claim that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election or that federal agents incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.” The Hill spoke to at least three GOP senators, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and two others who requested anonymity.  »

New Poll: 39% of Democrats Say It’s Likely Biden Took Foreign Bribes

Featured image A new Issues&Insights/TIPP poll found that 56% of those surveyed think it’s either very likely or somewhat likely that President Joe Biden took bribes from foreign nationals during his vice presidency. Just 27% said it was not very likely and 18% were not sure. Participants were asked, “How likely is it that the claims made by government whistleblowers alleging that President Biden, his son Hunter, and other members of his »