Taking the pulse of the GOP race this morning we find: Michelle Bachmann is now her party's frontrunner in the race to be the next President of the United States. And while you let that thought marinade in your brain juices for a moment, consider that barring her total implosion, she will remain the...
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This post was written for the Des Moines Register Political Opinion Page. Yeah, so three months and no posts. I don’t have much to offer in the way of an excuse really. Work has certainly been a factor. But more than anything it has been a combination of a numb depression at the direction...
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Originally Posted at The Des Moines Register At least at an intellectual level I understand the GOP fixation with “reducing the regulatory burden on businesses,” and how that leads to wanting to slash environmental regulations. But that doesn’t explain some of what’s going on here. Under the category of actual good policy, Governor Branstad...
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Certainly the first three months of 2011 make it seem like all the subtle changes in our economies and societies that have been slowly happening underfoot have suddenly let go, just like the pressure along a fault line can release decades of pressure in a few minutes. But despite all of this, I'm...
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President Obama did what president’s are asked to do in these kinds of situations; to transcend politics and speak to the larger spiritual and community issues that while not political per se, inform our politics. He exceeded all expecations tonight. This was a speech on a subject that has been begging to be given...
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The plea will go up among many of those guilty of these incitements that, "No reasonable person would ever have taken our rhetoric seriously." And they are right. Reasonable people don't take anything most of these people say seriously. They are fundamentally unserious (pun intentional). But reasonable people don't...
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Back in October, I railed against sore-looserism as well as the fabulously misinformed conception of how our democracy works from “conservatives” in their bid to reject three Iowa Supreme Court judges for retention. It is a truism that you will rarely lose money betting on the American voter to be simpleminded and selfish. True...
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From the Des Moines Register Politics Blog: Well, it took me a couple of days to climb out of the bottle that I crawled into on the night of the 2nd. Then I had to get caught back up at work. Now that I’ve had a week or so to get my head around...
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New post at the Des Moines Register Politics Blog. The upcoming Feb. 25 bipartisan health care reform summit looks like showdown time. Will the Democratic House and Senate conferees get their shit together and offer a compromise bill? What, if anything will the Republican leadership offer and how will they defend it? The Democratic...
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I’ve got a busy week scheduled at work. Most of my writing efforts will be focused this week on live-chatting/blogging the State of the Union Address Wednesday over at the Des Moines Register. I also have a 9:30 p.m. deadline for analysis of the speech to be published in Thursday’s paper. So, this is...
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