The Other McCain

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

How Badly Did Tim Walz Lose?

My first reaction to Tuesday night’s “debate” (scare-quotes necessary because this televised event in no way resembled an actual debate) was focused mainly on how bad Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan were as “moderators” (scare-quotes necessary, etc.), However much you hate the media, you don’t hate them as much as they deserve to be hated. […]

Debate: J.D. Vance Defeats Tim Walz, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan

America wanted the answers to two crucial questions: Is there any politician in America less qualified for high public office than Kamala Harris? and Is it possible for debate moderators to be worse than ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis? The answer to both questions is a surprising “yes.” Tim Walz is less qualified than […]

Notes on Partisanship: ‘At Some Point You Have to Join the Team That You’re On’

Professor Reynolds quotes me as having once said the above quote, and I’m sure I did, but I couldn’t find it via Google search, and that’s OK. As I recall, it was during Barack Obama’s first term in the White House, when some Republicans were reluctant to embrace the Tea Party movement while, at the […]

‘Republican’ ‘Presidential’ ‘Debate’

Let’s face it — none of the four candidates on the stage Wednesday night are going to be the Republican presidential nominee. Donald Trump beats all of them by at least 30 points. What was the point of that televised exercise? Cui bono? Chris Christie’s poll numbers are microscopically small, but he feeds the media’s […]

NBC ‘News’ Hosts ‘Republican’ ‘Debate’

Excuse me for overloading on the scare-quotes in the headline, but let’s not kid ourselves: None of the five “candidates” (there I go again) on the stage in Miami is likely to be the 2024 Republican nominee. According to the Real Clear Politics average, Donald Trump has 58.3%, more than 40 points ahead of his […]

Debate Aftermath: The Media React

When I asked Thursday if anybody had watched Wednesday’s Trump-less Republican debate, I didn’t realize my blog buddy John Hoge had subjected himself to that ordeal, his account of which concludes with the question: “Is it 2025 yet?” Meanwhile, in the corporte media . . . Chris Christie hit with ‘lots of boos’ after GOP […]

What Happened to Charlie Sykes?

Jeff Goldstein has a long essay slamming #NeverTrump pundit Charlie Sykes, a well-deserved slam, in reaction to a very bad Bulwark column Sykes wrote about Republican critics of Biden’s Ukraine policy. Although it’s not my main point, let me briefly address that subject: One of the basic principles of success in politics was distilled to […]

The Shame of Adam Kinzinger

Last week, Tucker Carlson bid a mocking farewell to Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger who, like Liz Cheney and many others, wrecked his career by succumbing to Trump Derangement Syndrome. As much as I enjoyed Carlson’s mockery — and as much as Kinzinger deserved to be mocked as a “male menopause” sufferer — it does not […]

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