Debra Saunders from Creators Syndicate

The Middle Convention and the Under Convention for 08/27/2008

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — There are two Democratic National Conventions here in Denver.

The first one is the official convention, which has a sole purpose: to sell Barack Obama, not as a different kind of Democrat, but as a red-white-and blue everyman. Mr. Middle America.

The speakers Monday night downplayed the accomplishments and uniqueness of Barack and Michelle Obama by highlighting what ...

Updated: Wed Aug 27, 2008

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Democrats Talkin' Like the GOP for 08/28/2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — In some ways, the Dems confab sounds a bit like a Republican convention. For example: Nuclear energy? It's big here. The daily convention edition of the National Journal has been running pro-nuclear energy ads on Page Two every day — and touting the support of Democratic Party biggies.

"Under any scenario, we're going to see more nuclear power, because it's just ...

Updated: Thu Aug 28, 2008

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It's All Good in Obama's "Cathedral" for 08/29/2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

DENVER — Can he win in November? Yes, Barack Obama was the best Democrat in the field. Start with his charismatic yet cool demeanor. Add his compelling personal story — and the inviting possibility that Obama's ascension to the White House could heal racial wounds in America — and you understand why Democrats at Invesco Field would answer the above question with the familiar c ...

Updated: Fri Aug 29, 2008

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Sarah Palin -- Dream Girl for 08/31/2008

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL — Bingo.

For weeks, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been the Republican whom conservatives barely dared to hope could become John McCain's pick as his running mate.

For Republicans angry at Washington's big-spending bonanza when Republicans controlled the White House and Congress, Palin, like McCain, is an antidote. She is the Alaskan who pulled state suppor ...

Updated: Sun Aug 31, 2008

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The RNC's Unconvention for 09/02/2008

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "This plan makes no sense. It's the height of political correctness," railed John Ziegler, a California alternate delegate, Sunday after he heard the news that John McCain was suspending the political part of the first night of the Republican National Convention. Ziegler was angry that presidential nominee McCain has chosen to cede airtime that could be used "to ...

Updated: Tue Sep 02, 2008

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The Palin Pile-On for 09/03/2008

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — Sarah Palin is different. Too different. Few Beltway insiders thought Republican nominee John McCain would pick her as his running mate. She is not a Washington staple, like the Democratic veep pick, Joe Biden, whose mistakes are established facts that are as worn as a pair of old shoes.

She is a runner — which is standard among modern politicians. She is a hunter ...

Updated: Wed Sep 03, 2008

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Sarah Palin Strikes Back for 09/04/2008

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "The Republican Party will not stand by while Gov. (Sarah) Palin is subjected to sexist attacks," Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard and constant McCain booster, told a press conference at the Republican National Convention Wednesday. "I don't believe American women are going to stand for it either."

Flanked by a cadre of GOP women, Fio ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

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The Old John McCain for 09/05/2008

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — "I miss the old John McCain." It's a refrain I hear on a regular basis, most often from people who are Barack Obama voters no matter what. They yearn for the man who hated the same people that they hate — or so they believed, when in 2000 he called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance."

That is, they yearn for a man who could n ...

Updated: Fri Sep 05, 2008

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Romancing the Vote for 09/07/2008

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ST. PAUL — The 2008 Republican National Convention had too much in common with the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. That's where presidential candidate John Kerry talked endlessly about his military service — to the point where people would joke, "Hey, did you know that John Kerry served in Vietnam?" Nor did Teresa Heinz Kerry — the Massachusetts senato ...

Updated: Sun Sep 07, 2008

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Lipstick, Dipstick for 09/11/2008

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday — thereby spawning one of those vacuous debates that will consume at least two days of air time on cable news talk shows.

Thank Sen. John McCain's campaign for holding a press call afterward asking Obama to apologize for comparing running mate Sarah Palin to a pig. And then you get insta ...

Updated: Thu Sep 11, 2008

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Old Enough To Fight, Old Enough To Drink for 09/14/2008

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

At age 18, an American can enlist in the military, vote, sign a contract, get married, have an operation — hey, in California, a 14-year-old can have an abortion without telling her parents — but he cannot buy a beer. Not legally, anyway.

It makes absolutely no sense, and it is shameful that my generation, which won the right to vote at age 18, continues to infantilize people ...

Updated: Sun Sep 14, 2008

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The Hyperbole Market -- It's the Worst for 09/18/2008

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain was right when he said Monday that despite the bad news about Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy and AIG trolling for help from Uncle Sam, "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." As politicians running for the White House learn, honesty is a commodity best used sparingly on the campaign trail. Voters apparently believe that America is in a terrible recession &mdas ...

Updated: Thu Sep 18, 2008

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Have Degree, Can't Work for 09/21/2008

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A California appellate court last week issued a ruling that supports a lawsuit challenging a state law that grants illegal immigrants heavily subsidized in-state tuition at California public universities and colleges. The court found that the 2001 law conflicts with federal law.

As I read the ruling, I asked the question the judges cannot answer — as it is a policy issue best left ...

Updated: Sun Sep 21, 2008

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Trillion Dollar Baby for 09/23/2008

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I understood the Bush administration's decision to promise up to $30 billion to facilitate the fire sale of Bear Stearns. I got the administration's decision to spend as much as $200 billion to stabilize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are worth about $5 trillion. Ditto the $85 billion federal bailout of AIG.

As for this Bush administration "troubled asset relief p ...

Updated: Tue Sep 23, 2008

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Bailing Out the Bailout for 09/25/2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Until Wednesday afternoon, when GOP presidential nominee John McCain announced that he was heading to Washington to work with congressional leaders and the Bushies to craft a better bailout bill, both McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama clearly had believed that the last place they wanted to be seen was in Washington.

More specifically, the last place McCain and Obama wanted to ...

Updated: Thu Sep 25, 2008

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The Sheriff and the Professor for 09/28/2008

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Before getting to Friday night's debate, let us look at what happened before the debate.

Yes, John McCain's suspension of his campaign earlier in the week and call for a delay of Friday's debate were campaign stunts. But his decision to go to Washington to prod political leaders to pass a sensible bailout measure, while political, showed America a candidate who will risk his electoral fo ...

Updated: Sun Sep 28, 2008

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Supreme Parody: Biden versus Palin for 09/30/2008

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Want a preview of Thursday's veepstakes debate between running mates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin? Pick up a copy of Christopher Buckley's latest satirical novel, "Supreme Courtship," that begins when a very unpopular American president decides to tweak Senate solons by nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court America's most popular TV judge, the "sassy, flippant, sexy," no-nonsens ...

Updated: Tue Sep 30, 2008

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Bonanza. Bailout. Bonanza. for 10/02/2008

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Who do I blame for this financial disaster? Let me count the villains.

Start with President Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. By their own actions, they have shown that they believe markets have become too vulnerable under their watch.

The Bushies have mishandled the $700 billion bailout at every juncture. They pulled a too-large number out of the hat, then asked Congress ...

Updated: Thu Oct 02, 2008

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The Palin-Biden Verdict for 10/03/2008

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

She passed.

He passed.

Palin fared better going against Joe Biden than Katie Couric.

Sure, she had moments when she seemed to be working too hard trying to remember what she was supposed to say so she awkwardly regurgitated a string of campaign buzzwords. Who cares? She didn't crash. And she showed Americans a candidate who does not speak Beltway-speak.

Democrats use ...

Updated: Fri Oct 03, 2008

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Return to Redistricting Sanity for 10/05/2008

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As reform measures go, Proposition 11 — the redistricting reform measure — is hardly a transformational law likely to supercharge activists (of any political stripe) eager to make Sacramento more effective and more accountable to the public. Proposition 11 is too complicated and too tame. Alas, it is the only measure on the November ballot that can improve the political climate in C ...

Updated: Sun Oct 05, 2008

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