Matt Towery from Creators Syndicate

Let McCain be McCain for 07/10/2008

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I saw this one coming a mile away. Slowly but surely, the crew that battled and outsmarted the GOP establishment to propel John McCain to the Republican presidential nomination is being shoved aside and replaced by old-hand Bush-Cheney political operatives. Oh, happy days for McCain.

It's all about money. Up until the changes in staff that put longtime Bush folks in charge, the "est ...

Updated: Thu Jul 10, 2008

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Will Bob Barr Fly or Flop As A Factor In The Presidential Race? for 07/17/2008

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Many folks don't even know who Bob Barr is, much less that he is running for president as the Libertarian nominee. The question is whether enough people will come to know the former Republican congressman by November to allow Barr's candidacy to really matter.

In many ways it's in Barr's hands whether he ends up becoming a material factor.

The former Georgia congressman, who led t ...

Updated: Thu Jul 17, 2008

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Obama Needs Steak, McCain Sizzle for 07/24/2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The media already have gone over the top with their coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's international man-of-mystery tour. The endless photo sessions with the troops, foreign leaders, waving crowds — it's just the most contrived pack of junk I've ever seen.

But shame on the folks running the McCain campaign. They knew this week of endless glory for Obama was coming. Their response? The ...

Updated: Thu Jul 24, 2008

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McCain and Obama -- What Were They Thinking? for 07/31/2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I can hardly believe what I am seeing on television and reading in newspapers.

John McCain runs a silly ad using young Hollywood ditzes in an image next to Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Obama's team accuses McCain of running a "mean campaign." Then McCain counters by accusing Obama of "playing the race card."

What planet do these campaigns live on?

States are ...

Updated: Thu Jul 31, 2008

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Newsweek Story on South Paints Untrue Vision for 08/07/2008

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The cover story in this week's Newsweek is entitled "The End of the South." Some of the story's observations ring true enough. Yet the tone of the piece, and its accompanying photos, paint an oversimplified "black and white" portrait of a land that is actually — like most everywhere else — a colorful mix of the flattering and the not-so flattering.

The mai ...

Updated: Thu Aug 07, 2008

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Wasted Days and Wasted Nights: The Coming Presidential Conventions for 08/14/2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Thanks to the timing of this year's Olympic games, the Democrats and the Republicans will be holding their presidential nominating conventions back to back. So by the time their staged, silly goings-on are over, the voters will have less than two months to properly vet John McCain and Barack Obama.

There was a time when the political conventions meant something. Few recall that John Kenn ...

Updated: Thu Aug 14, 2008

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A Word of Thanks for Newt Gingrich for 08/21/2008

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It's ironic that when former aides or colleagues of prominent Democrats opine on the presidential race, for example Donna Brazile, who appears both on ABC and CNN and ran Al Gore's 2000 campaign, they are never asked to do a mea culpa about potential bias or conflicts. They just comment away on Democrats, Republicans, issues or whatever they like.

That's fine, because for once I'm not go ...

Updated: Thu Aug 21, 2008

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Democrats Would Have Been Smart To Skip Convention for 08/28/2008

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

Democrats were scratching their heads and trying to figure how it was that Republican presidential nominee John McCain had inched further up in the polls during this, of all things, the week of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. But the only real mystery is why they were so mystified.

The Democrats' first misstep came on the first night of the proceedings, when they staged a d ...

Updated: Thu Aug 28, 2008

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McCain Refuses To "Quayle" His Running Mate for 09/04/2008

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

Those who say there's no media bias aren't saying anything right now. They're laying low.

First, my own minor mea culpa: A week ago, I wrote that Barack Obama had enjoyed little or no bump in the polls from the first nights of the Democratic National Convention. Then came a bump after all, thanks mainly to his high-flying acceptance speech and ringing endorsements from Bill and Hillary C ...

Updated: Thu Sep 04, 2008

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Obama Losing Traction Among Younger Voters for 09/11/2008

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

The hidden story of the last week has been the shift in many states and nationwide among the youngest of voters, those ages 18-to-29, from a solid entrenchment in the Obama camp to a significant drift toward a newly revived John McCain effort, all courtesy of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Our survey approach keeps young respondents from being interviewed by young interviewers, thus avoiding the inev ...

Updated: Thu Sep 11, 2008

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A Very "UnAmerican" Answer to Solving Our Financial Woes for 09/18/2008

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

More than once I've noted how ironic it is to find folks like the two wealthiest individuals in America, Warren Buffett (worth an estimated $62 billion) and Bill Gates (worth an estimated $58 billion) supporting Barack Obama and his tax plan that would tax "the richest of Americans."

Of course we all know that under the proposal Obama supports, there is very little difference b ...

Updated: Thu Sep 18, 2008

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Timing of Economic "Collapse" Seems to Justify Paranoia for 09/25/2008

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

In politics, timing is everything.

Don't you think that in quiet places where they can't be heard, there aren't some involved in the 2008 political race who aren't whispering aloud questions about whether the almost whirlwind speed at which the entire financial market has melted down seems more than coincidental? Would they be guilty of unjustified paranoia — or would they be justi ...

Updated: Thu Sep 25, 2008

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Everything You Might Not Know About The "Bailout" But Were Afraid To Ask for 10/02/2008

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

Everybody seems to have a boatload of questions about the past week's dizzying series of events surrounding the proposed "bailout" of American financial institutions. To cut through the muddle, let's check off on a short list of vital questions I asked myself, and the answers I discovered, about the Big Mess.

Question: Was there really a "crisis?"

Who ...

Updated: Thu Oct 02, 2008

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I'm as Mad as Hell, and I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore for 10/10/2008

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Does anyone remember the movie "Network"? The protagonist, Howard Beale, is a TV newscaster whose career is falling apart. So during one of his last newscasts, he suddenly blurts out, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then he urges viewers to raise their window ceils and scream out the same thing.

He also told his viewers that they were now st ...

Updated: Fri Oct 10, 2008

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McCain Can't Catch a Break Even When He Deserves One for 10/16/2008

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The last debate between John McCain and Barack Obama was a busy night for me. First I was in charge of my firm's national poll for a major news organization, to determine the winner of the debate. Second, because of my having won a national debate championship and trained political candidates, I was asked to provide my so-called expert opinion about who "won" the debate immediately af ...

Updated: Thu Oct 16, 2008

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GOP Seems Poised for Complete Housecleaning for 10/23/2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I've seen this happen once or twice: a complete meltdown of the Republican Party. It starts as an uphill year looking tougher by the day. It ends like a load of bricks falling on the GOP's head.

There's one word that describes the reason for the rubble that likely will be on the Republicans' heads come Nov. 4 — arrogance.

The fish rots from the head. And I'm not talking abou ...

Updated: Thu Oct 23, 2008

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Just Because I'm Paranoid Doesn't Mean It Isn't True for 10/30/2008

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Everyone gets to shamelessly promote his or her own new book. And I'm everybody right now. But I've got something interesting to say, so read on.

"Paranoid Nation: The Real Story of The 2008 Fight For The Presidency" is already on sale at Amazon.com, and it will be on bookshelves Nov. 5, the day after the election. (And just in time for the holidays!) At one point it was alread ...

Updated: Thu Oct 30, 2008

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Post-mortem on John McCain's Candidacy for 11/06/2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Anyone who doesn't at the very least appreciate the historic nature of Barack Obama's election is either an idiot or a bigot. It is just that simple. So let me take a few sentences to say that as an American, I congratulate our new president, will pray for his success both personally and as our new leader, and will view his presidency with the same objectivity I had with regard to George W. Bus ...

Updated: Thu Nov 06, 2008

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Memo To Employees: It's Time To Share The Pain for 11/13/2008

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Like the heads of so many businesses, I hope that our new U.S. president can somehow turn around this economic disaster we are facing. But because of the policies he is advancing — taxes for families earning $250,000 a year (that's families, not individuals), potential health care mandates, and who knows what else, I, like CEOs of most small-to-medium sized businesses, must take preemptiv ...

Updated: Thu Nov 13, 2008

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Will Obama Play in Georgia? for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

ATLANTA — For president-elect Barack Obama, the time has arrived to make his first big decision. And no, it's not if Hillary will be in the cabinet.

Obama used every possible political trick in the book to both secure his nomination and then trounce John McCain in the general election. Who can blame him? Politics is a contact sport.

And for the last few weeks it appeared tha ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

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