The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Hard Times Spreading Just Like the Flu …

. . . Watch out, homeboy, don’t let it catch you: In the occasionally prickly world of media reporting, it’s hard to find anyone who does not love, respect and, yes, slightly fear Jack Shafer. So widespread is the love that American Journalism Review published a valentine to him earlier today, devoting 2,500 words to figuring […]

He Only Steals From the Best

NEWTON, Iowa When I showed up at the state capitol Tuesday for the Tim Pawlenty event, T-Paw had already split the scene and I found myself talking to Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle, who explained that Pawlenty had avoided reporters’ questions while making his early exit. Joe and I started talking about the […]

Mitt-Mania In Des Moines

Gwen Ifill and Charlie Cook talk to each other while David Weigel talks to Iowa Republicans at Wednesday’s Polk County GOP fundraiser. NEWTON, Iowa One of the things that gets lost in all the horse-race coverage of a political campaign — who’s up? who’s down? — is the sense of what a campaign actually looks […]

The Cain Train Keeps Rolling

Herman Cain speaks at Monday’s rally in Council Bluffs. Last night there was no time to blog about the late-afternoon Herman Cain rally at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs. Dave Weigel, who had been there for Michele Bachmann’s earlier event, said Cain actually drew a slightly larger crowd than Bachmann. But I didn’t have time […]

Santorum’s Hope

From my American Spectator column today: SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Perhaps 50 voters showed up Saturday for a campaign event held in a barn on a dirt road amid cornfields near Roland, about 20 miles north of Ames. While a few dozen voters isn’t much of a crowd by Republican presidential campaign standards, the audience […]

Cain, Corn and … the Phantom Menace

My American Spectator column: DES MOINES, Iowa — Highway 193 runs nearly flat and straight some 60 miles southeast from the state capital in Des Moines to the Mahaska County seat of Oskaloosa, where the monument in the town square honors the tribal chieftain for whom the county was named. Chief Mahaska? “lived at peace […]

Porn: How to Make Sex Boring

Susannah Breslin: Nowadays, I get emails from young journalists asking for leads in the adult business. They want to write a porn story, they say, but they can’t find a way in. Can I help? Increasingly, these inquiries come from young women. Curious, they want to see what it’s like inside the sausage factory. To […]

Gingrich Advises GOP on ‘Bully’ Obama: Stop Negotiating and Start Legislating

Say what you will about Newt, he’s a brilliant legislative tactician: President Obama is a “bully” who is “clearly failing” on economic policy, according to Newt Gingrich , and House Republicans should stop negotiating with the White House and move forward with passing their own solutions to the debt-ceiling and budget deficit. “Obama has put […]

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