Republicans
January 3, 2023 — Steven Hayward
As of this writing, Kevin McCarthy has lost two rounds of voting to be the next Speaker of the House, something that hasn’t occurred in a century. Nineteen Republicans voted for someone else in both votes (McCarthy could only lose five votes). One interesting wrinkle though is that in the first round, the renegade GOP votes were split between Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs, but in the second round all
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December 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I detect Seth Lipsky’s characteristic prose and train of thought in the New York Sun editorial “Yes, Virginia–There Is a Santos Clause.” Seth’s hand in the editorial makes sense: he is the editor of the Sun. The subject of the editorial is the post-election discovery that Rep.-elect George Santos is not who he said he was. The subhead summarizes the gist of the editorial: “All the falsehoods George Santos is
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November 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
John Sexton updates five House races that were called yesterday for the GOP here at Hot Air. The AP story here includes quick takes on a few close California House races that hang in the balance. By the end of the day the GOP total stood at 217, one away from a majority. Democrats stand at 205. Two of the five GOP wins (David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani) reflected close
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November 9, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Just kidding. Out of the range of possible outcomes, what we saw last night was about as bad as it could be. The GOP’s failure to make progress stunned everyone, not least the Democrats. What happened? * Fantasy vs. Reality. It turns out that there are a great many voters who don’t care much about what traditionally have been considered decisive issues: inflation, crime, illegal immigration, lousy schools, etc. Many
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October 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dan Conston is the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy with the singular mission of flipping the House. They appear to be on the verge of success. In an illuminating hour-long interview with Politico Playbook’s Ryan Lizza, Conston talked through the nuts and bolts of CLF’s involvement in 50-plus districts around the country. They also took up the issues and
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October 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I noted and commented on Tulsi Gabbard’s announcement that she had exited the Democratic Party here (“Tulsi Gabbard quits Dems”) and here (“The compleat Tulsi”). I wondered what comes next and expressed the hope that John Hinderaker might be able to figure it out when he hosts her at the Center of the American Experiment‘s Fall Briefing tomorrow night. I hope that she joins the Republican Party. She is a
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September 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
New Hampshire held its late party primaries yesterday. The only interesting races were on the Republican side and Democrats had a hand in two of them. In the Senate contest to pick a challenger to vulnerable incumbent Maggie Hassan, Don Bolduc faced off against Chuck Morse. Democrats supported Bolduc because he is the less viable candidate. With 87 percent of the vote tabulated, Bolduc leads Morse by about 1300 votes
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August 25, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Dr. Scott Jensen is the Republican gubernatorial candidate running against Governor Tim Walz. He is a former state senator and leader of the opposition to the authoritarian Walz Covid regime that did so much damage to Minnesota. I support his candidacy without reservation. Jensen appeared with the rest of the slate of Republican candidates for Minnesota’s constitutional offices before our local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition this past Tuesday
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August 18, 2022 — Scott Johnson
In the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (revised 1980 edition), Janet Maslin wrote the chapter on Bob Dylan. She included the photo of the folkie Dylan posing with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a guitar in his lap. Maslin supplied the caption: “The conscience of a generation, trying to smoke and sing simultaneously.” (The photo is accessible here.) Liz Cheney followed in Dylan’s footsteps with
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August 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Former Minnesota Senator Al Franken waited until the last minute to bestow his coveted endorsement on Rep. Liz Cheney via Twitter (below). Cheney is of course contending for the Republican nomination to stand for reelection to Wyoming’s single seat in the House. I’m sure Rep. Cheney appreciates Franken’s confidence as she seeks to persuade Wyoming conservatives that she is deserving of their continued support to represent them in Congress. It’s
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August 10, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The Elephant In the Room, subtitled “Donald Trump and the Future of the Republican Party,” is a collection of essays on that subject edited by Andrew Busch and William Mayer, professors at Claremont McKenna and Northeastern University, respectively. There are nine essays in total. In addition to Busch and Mayer, contributors include Glenn Reynolds and Charles Kesler, among others. I contributed the least substantial essay to the collection, titled by
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August 3, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Scott wrote a little while ago about the debate between Minnesota governor candidates that took place earlier today, at FarmFest in southern Minnesota. FarmFest is like a State Fair for farmers and the ag industries. My wife and I spent the day at FarmFest helping to man the American Experiment booth there, and we attended the debate. This is our booth. We had a wheel you could spin to win
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July 31, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota Sixth District Rep. Tom Emmer is chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. He appears weekly for a segment on Jon Justice’s morning news/talk show in the Twin Cities. Jon let me ask Emmer a question about the passage of the CHIPS bill spenderama with the support of 17 Senate Republicans and 24 House Republicans while the Democrat tax-and-spend Bummer Beyond Belief was still in play. Tom referred to
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July 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Kim Strassel observes in her weekly Wall Street Journal column that the $270 billion so-called CHIPS and Science Act served as the predicate of the Schumer/Manchin $750 billion Bummer Beyond Belief light that is now to be moved via the reconciliation process. CNBC drily observes that Senator McConnell had “previously warned that Republicans would not back the China competition bill [i.e., the CHIPS bill] if Democrats continued to pursue an
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June 19, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Let us pause on this holiday weekend (Father’s Day today, Juneteenth tomorrow) to bask in the glory that is our supremely eloquent president: How can anyone think this can go on much longer? If you look around very closely, you can find a few perceptive Democrats who are worried that Democrats aren’t just looking at a bad election this year, but also in 2024, when the Senate map is much
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June 2, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I have always bristled at descriptions of the Republicans as the “stupid party” (as opposed to Democrats who are the “evil party”). But, to be fair, there have been plenty of times when the stereotype fit. These days, however, the Republicans are fighting a spirited and often creative battle against the worst administration since James Buchanan’s–coincidentally, another Democrat. I have no idea who Tommy Pigott is–it might even be a
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May 16, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I have been wondering about the marketing genius behind Joe Biden’s slurs of “Ultra MAGA Republicans” and the “Ultra MAGA agenda” along with the slur of Donald Trump himself as “MAGA King.” I have accordingly dug out the choices presented to the focus groups “helmed” by Anita Dunn, the Krupskaya of a leftist DC power couple of many talents. In its story on the origins of “Ultra MAGA Republicans,” the
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