Gregory Koger

On Tuesday, I wrote about how parties promote a coordinated message to get their talking points across. In response, leading Republicans offered four responses, and then there was this reminder of the importance of staying on message. But at least the two official responses by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen* were coordinated,… Read more »

This evening will display American political parties in full sway. After (or during!) the State of the Union speech and the Republican rebuttal, legislators and party spokespersons will rush to the media and provide their reaction to the speeches. In theory, this could be a fascinating night: hundreds of smart people talking about the direction… Read more »

First, some prelude music: One aspect of last week’s Senate showdown still puzzles me: why did the Senate Republicans filibuster judges when they knew that their behavior could lead to the Democrats exercising the “nuclear option”? In hindsight, that is, the GOP blockade against Obama’s executive and judicial nominees seems a bad fight: now they… Read more »

As the second week of the shutdown grinds on, I thought some data collected by DePaul professor Wayne Steger for a project on hypocrisy in ideological appeals might be informative. Wayne scanned the database of the National Review, an iconic conservative magazine/website, for terms indicating interest in fiscal restraint: “balanced budget,” “cut spending,” and “cut… Read more »

On Wednesday Ezra Klein posted a really smart take on the GOP’s budget strategy: they face a collective-action problem in that the position that is politically beneficial to most House Republicans as individuals (no budget without Obamacare repeal!) is a politically disastrous bargaining position for the party as a whole. This is not an anomaly. As… Read more »