By any reasonable measure, Marco Rubio struggled, mightily, during parts of the G.O.P. debate on Saturday night. Chris Christie savaged the Florida Senator for his inexperience and his reliance on canned talking points. Rubio responded, to a degree, with canned talking points, thereby demonstrating Christie’s basic critique that Rubio is an empty suit, similar to […]
Archives
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New Hampshire and the Debate Hypothesis
09 Feb 2016
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Iowa Results: Why They Matter and Why They Don’t
02 Feb 2016
Iowa, a slice of the heartland, has spoken, but not in a single, predictable voice. Iowa’s exalted place as America’s first presidential nomination contest is more an accident of history than a badge of merit. But, every four years we gather, at the bottom of the mountain and await our tablets, carved upon by our […]
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Expect a Raucous Caucus in Iowa
01 Feb 2016
The Des Moines Register released its final poll on Saturday. For Republicans, Donald Trump still leads (28%) the horserace, with Ted Cruz close behind (23%). Marco Rubio has moved up to third (15%). The pollster, J. Ann Selzer has some caveats. She argues that while Trump leads, Cruz seems more consistently aligned with the electorate. […]
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Tweets About GOP Debate
29 Jan 2016
#GOPDebate And away we go. Good for Fox not to buckle into Trump's silly demands. Sad a presidential candidate ducks a journalist. — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January 29, 2016 Yes. The ding ding is back and intent. Ding Ding for Republican nomination. #GOPDebate — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January 29, 2016 Clever use of […]
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Republicans on the Brink
22 Jan 2016
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” H.L. Mencken Perhaps the moment will melt in the snows of Iowa and New Hampshire, dissolved for all but those obsessed with electoral trivia. Paul Tsongas, Phil Gramm, and Pat Robertson were major players for […]
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If only all news coverage resembled Wes Anderson films. Here is CNN's take on the #SOTU in Anderson's style. https://t.co/jpatTzm2Oo — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January 13, 2016 #SOTU always strikes me as too monarchical as we practice it. Far too much adulation of the president–any president–in this setting. — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January […]
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens
20 Dec 2015
**SPOILER FREE PORTION** As I walked into Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I resolved to throw popcorn at the screen if: There was no famous word “crawl” at the beginning. Chewbacca died. Either Jar-Jar Binks, “Force Ghost” Anakin, or an Ewok appeared. Beyond that, my expectations were low, but as John Williams’ […]
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Trump’s Gettysburg Address is HUGE!
10 Dec 2015
The following comes from eyewitness accounts from that historic day, November 19, 1863. The occasion, as is well known, was to commemorate the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the turning points of the United States Civil War. President Donald Trump, the Great Emancipator, spoke to a crowd sprinkled in the blood of the battle. Parents of […]
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The Syrian refugee crisis, coupled with the ISIS attacks in Paris, have created a conundrum for political leaders across the Western hemisphere. While some evidence suggests at least one ISIS thug posed as a refugee to get to Greece, and from there traveled to Paris, the links between the refugees who need assistance, and the […]
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What is a Conservative?
09 Nov 2015
Is Donald Trump conservative? What about Paul Ryan? What is the “conservative” position on drug legalization? Immigration? Military intervention? Social Security? Do you have to be religious to be conservative? There is, upon reflection, only one argument winding its way through the right side of the political spectrum this year: what does it mean to […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach