Back in November, I noted that former Secretary of State John Kerry has been promoted as a potential candidate to challenge Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker, and that Setti Warren, a former aide to Kerry who is now the mayor of Newton, Massachusetts, is also contemplating a challenge to Baker. Warren is regarded as having […]
CNN
Posted inPolitical Animal
At CNN, Donna Brazile is Out, but Corey Lewandowski Stays
“CNN is basically granting a microphone to the Trump campaign in the guise of political commentary.”
Posted inPolitical Animal
Deplorable Behavior
It’s not going to happen Wednesday, either. Joe Romm of Climate Progress noted last week that if Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz failed to introduce a specific question about climate change at the Clinton-Trump II debate, the question would never be brought up in Clinton-Trump III: We’ve had two debates where the moderators ignored the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
The GOP Death Spiral
Deval Patrick saw this coming. Back in August 2006, the former Clinton Administration official, then running to become the first African-American governor of Massachusetts, denounced the right wing’s delegitimization of public service, and the need for the Democratic Party to forcefully call out and push back against this sort of delegitimization: I thought about Patrick’s […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Tantrums Won’t Stop Terror
Good on CNN’s Jake Tapper for pressing Donald Trump bum-kisser Chris Christie on the Republican presidential nominee’s hair-on-fire reaction to last night’s explosion in New York: In times of crisis, we don’t need “leaders” who melt down or freak out. When the Boston Marathon bombing occurred in April 2013, then-Boston Mayor Tom Menino and then-Massachusetts […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
In the Court of Public Opinion
Sometimes you can just tell when an effort is doomed. Such is the case with a peculiar proceeding in Oregon this past week, where an effort to get the federal courts to do with the Obama administration allegedly will not is guaranteed to down in flames–the height of irony, as the court case in question […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
Crimes and Misdemeanors: Part III
Back in April, I suggested that Rep. Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) harassment of climate scientists should become a focus of discussion in the 2016 presidential election. Smith’s abuse of his position as head of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and his attempts to destroy the lives of those who have tried to raise […]
Posted inPolitical Animal
A Taxing Effort
Will Congress actually pass carbon-pricing legislation by December 31, 2017? This ambitious goal is not as far-fetched as it may seem—especially if Donald Trump damages the Republican Party so severely that the GOP actually loses both houses of Congress (also not a far-fetched prospect). Having said that, the final version of a carbon-pricing bill may […]
Posted inJune 1992
How Phil Donahue Came to Manage the ’92 Campaign
A loss of control: You could say it’s the thread running through the events of our time, but then the metaphor would be backwards. Rather, it’s the thread that’s unraveling through the events of our time. At the international level, the loss of control is generally good news. At the national level, the loss of […]
