Amy Sullivan

Two Can Play That Game….Before the Democratic Convention, you may recall, Republicans played a little game they like to call “Inflating Expectations for Other People,” telling any reporter who would listen that they fully expected John Kerry to come out of Boston with a 15-point poll bounce. What’s been clear over the past six months […]

You Can Take Off the “Free Matt” T-Shirts Now ….Well, that’s a relief. Time magazine White House correspondent (and Washington Monthly contributing editor) Matt Cooper is no longer being held in contempt in the investigation into who leaked former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s name. Cooper, who had faced 18 months in prison, gave a deposition […]

I Hate You and I Hate Your $24 Million….Matt Yglesias makes a good point: Why does Bush keep trying to pretend that 527s are all evil liberal fronts for the Kerry campaign? He and his wife support any number of conservative 527s, including the National Federation for Republican Women, whose magazine cover they currently grace. […]

What Was That About Trial Lawyers?….Remember the good ol’ days, when Bush tossed off blatant applause lines in his State of the Union address, skewering trial lawyers while the networks immediately cut away to a shot of John Edwards sitting patiently? When the GOP came out swinging, calling Edwards “a disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal and friend […]

Beware Of DINOS?….I’m usually of the opinion that Democrats should take all the help they can get on their way to reclaiming majority party status in the U.S. Senate. That means supporting anyone to the left of Zell Miller. Sure, sometimes you get self-financed millionaires who have never rubbed together two policy thoughts. And sometimes […]

SOUNDS LIKE A WINNER….Over the past few months, I’ve heard from a number of people inside and outside the Kerry campaign who have suggested phrases and/or entire speeches for the candidate and were told, “That just doesn’t sound like Kerry.” Which was, usually, the point. I personally don’t have any problem with Kerry’s rather long-winded […]

CLOSING CONVENTION COMMENTS….Apologies for the late de-briefing on the final night of the Convention. When I finally got to a computer in the wee hours of Friday morning, our server was down, and it was still down when I got up to drive back to D.C. Now, after a fun drive through weekend traffic down […]

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON EDWARDS SPEECH….It’s quite possible that Convention fatigue set in a bit early and I just wasn’t primed to enjoy Edwards’ speech on Wednesday night. Or maybe the fact that the woman next to me spent the speech listening (not watching, mind you) to her portable tv (with an irritating two-second delay), EVEN […]

CLELAND CURIOSITY….I agree with Michael Crowley — when I first heard that former Georgia Senator Max Cleland was going to introduce John Kerry on this last night of the convention, I didn’t think it was such a good idea. The man’s incredible personal sacrifice and public service aside, he’s not a terribly good speaker. He […]

STRIKE UP THE BAND….Any guesses and/or suggestions for the official John Kerry theme song? My informal survey of folks in the media section reveals that a large number of them are hoping for a Bruce Springsteen tune. (This may have something to do with the fact that approximately 80 percent of the media types are […]