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The Mitt Romney Veepstakes
By Jason Stanford on Monday, May 21st, 2012
There are more kinds of lies in politics than there are Inuit words for snow. And when Mitt Romney said the other day that he didn’t have a short list for VP, he was telling a “Washington lie,” a false statement meant to forestall further questions without actually deceiving anyone: “We really haven’t had a discussion yet of putting together a list or evaluating various candidates,” Romney said. Despite his denial, Romney has a short ...
The Black LBJ
By Jason Stanford on Monday, May 14th, 2012
The black Kennedy has become the black LBJ. In the hyper-political circles I travel in, the release of Robert Caro’s latest Lyndon Johnson biography, “The Passage of Power”, was received with the glee that’s usually reserved for an Obama rally. To paraphrase Joe Biden, the fourth book in Caro’s promised five-volume LBJ biography is a big flipping deal. So when Obama came out for gay marriage, I couldn’t help thinking about a passage early in ...
Americans Elect and the Futile Dream of a Third Party
By Jason Stanford on Monday, May 7th, 2012
It’s not every day a conservative D.C. insider tells the truth so nakedly— “Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.” That was the headline to a Washington Post op-ed written by Norman J. Ornstein, a conservative think tanker, and Thomas E. Mann, a liberal scholar. They wrote the column to drum up publicity for their latest book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics ...
How To Talk To Republicans
By Jason Stanford on Monday, April 30th, 2012
Doesn’t it seem like Republicans are wrong about everything these days? The list of demonstrable malarkey that Republicans hold to be unalienable truths is laughably long: Obama is Kenyan; Obamacare has death panels, increases the deficit, and pays for health care for illegal immigrants; Abortions give you breast cancer and cause pain in fetuses as young as 20 weeks; Iraq had WMDs and Saddam Hussein collaborated with Al Qaeda; Tax cuts increase government revenue; Obama’s ...
Romney’s Dreaming On The DREAM Act
By Jason Stanford on Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Mitt Romney came out with a new idea the other day, and it took his consultants a full day to disavow it. For Romney, that qualifies as a deeply-held belief. Speaking at a fundraiser in Florida, Romney said, “We have to get Hispanics to vote for our party” and warned that Obama’s 40-point lead among Hispanics “spells doom for us.” Then he called for a Republican DREAM Act, a reference to Democratic legislation that offers ...
Romney: Old, Alone and Done For
By Jason Stanford on Monday, April 16th, 2012
Welcome back from Neverland, America. Republicans asked Americans to treat Herman Cain like a serious candidate and to pretend that turning the moon into the 51st state was a serious idea, and all the while Mitt Romney’s handlers acted as if they believed happy thoughts could make their candidate fly. It didn’t work. Mitt Romney had every advantage in the Republican Primary. He had money, a lead, and opposition composed of lost boys such as ...
The GOP’s Problem With Women And Caterpillars
By Jason Stanford on Monday, April 9th, 2012
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about women, it’s that they love it when men belittle their concerns. When angry, they adore being told to “calm down.” When worried, pat them on the head. When they have an issue, say, “Don’t be silly.” Works every time. Don Draper must be giving sensitivity training to the Republican Party these days as they deal with the fallout from the war on women. They’ve tried hiding behind priests’ ...
Republicans Don’t Seem Ready For A Post-Racial America
By Jason Stanford on Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Y’all can go home. Put away your hoodies and cancel the vigils. Pick up the race cards, the game’s over. There is no more racism in America. The Texas Attorney General said so. All this is a result of what’s called by the political cognoscenti as “Voter ID,” a concept pushed by Republicans to force voters to show identification before being allowed to vote. So far eight states have passed some form of this law: ...
Neither Ryan Plan Has Fans Tebowing
By Jason Stanford on Monday, March 26th, 2012
Which Ryan plan is worse, Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget or Jets coach Rex Ryan’s trade for Tim Tebow? “Tough call,” said Democratic strategist Adnaan Muslim, who identified himself as a “long-suffering Jets fan. “Both (Ryan plans) could cause deaths, nausea and vomiting.” Most Jets fans I know howled when their team traded two draft picks for Tebow, the Mile High Messiah who quarterbacked the Denver Broncos to the playoffs last season despite an inexplicable inability ...
Mitt Romney: The Anti-Midas
By Jason Stanford on Monday, March 19th, 2012
It’s possible we’re not being fair to Mitt Romney. Really, would the stuff coming out of your mouth make any more sense if you had to spend a year traveling with Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich? I’m surprised the man’s still speaking English. He must feel like the in-law on a family vacation, dying to go home so he can finally kick his dog in peace. What we learned on our road trip through Alabama ...