How Will Last Night Help Ted Cruz Become President in 2020?
The question I find interesting, in the wake of Ted Cruz's headline-making refusal to endorse Trump as a major speaker at "Trump's Convention," is just what Cruz's strategy here is. Here are the...
View ArticleTrump's "Be Very Afraid" Versus the Bible's "Be Not Afraid"
This piece will be appearing in newspapers in my conservative congressional district in Virginia.The most striking thing about the excellent article I was reading was that it appeared on a site that...
View ArticleWhy America Must Hand Trumpism a Landslide Defeat
In an article titled, “The Next Trump,” on Slate.com, Isaac Chotiner writes about what he calls, “the really scary thing.” It is worth considering, Chotiner writes,what Trump has unleashed, not just in...
View ArticleThe Line from Obama that Floored Me Last Night - Lumping Donald Trump with...
It is not President Obama's way to deliver a blow in the ring of the sort that puts an opponent down for the count. ("When they go low, we go high.") But last night he said something -delivering so...
View ArticleI Wish “We’re the Greatest!” Weren’t Such Good Politics
Let me first try to make sure I'm not misunderstood.I am not saying that I wish the Democrats had done anything different at the convention. As many observed, the Democrats were smart to occupy the...
View ArticleChallenging the Republicans: I-- Repudiating Trump
Earlier today, President Obama said this: "I think what's been interesting is the repeated denunciations of his statements by leading Republicans," he said in a press conference. "The question I think...
View ArticleWas I Wrong about Conservatives Caring About Character?
This piece will be running in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia (VA-06).I've always been politically liberal, because - like my parents, who came of age during the...
View ArticleWhat We Need People To See: The Same Ugliness in Trump and the GOP
A piece appeared yesterday on the excellent website for Virginia Democrats, Blue Virginia. with the title ""Fruits of this Poison Tree: Republicans Can No Longer Pretend They're Not the Party of White...
View ArticleHere's the Question Hillary Should Be Asked
Madame Secretary, you have said that as president, you'll "break the gridlock in Washington." You have also said that you are good at reaching "across the aisle" to get things done.But although...
View ArticleHow to Think about "Black Lives Matter"
This piece will be running in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia. It was ready to run some weeks ago, but I held off due to events I thought might interfere with my...
View ArticleThe Biggest Bargain Around (on Money & Elections)
This piece will be running as an op/ed in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia.Would it be possible for any American leader to persuade the American people about how much...
View ArticleChallenging the Republicans, Part 2– “Will You Stick with...
Although defeating Donald Trump is essential, that is not the only essential goal that needs to be achieved in the coming election. Long before the rise of Trump, the Republican Party of our times has...
View ArticleTrump’s “If I Lose, Don’t Accept the Results” is a Political Crime
This piece will run in newspapers in my conservative congressional District in Virginia.In terms of the law, and our Constitution's First Amendment rights, a presidential candidate is permitted to say...
View ArticleShould the Democrats Use Trump as a Wedge or a Millstone Against the...
For a year, over the course of at least a dozen articles, I’ve been arguing that Donald Trump has provided Democrats – and indeed the nation -- the opportunity to bring down the whole Republican...
View ArticleThe Worst Danger from the TPP
This piece will run in newspapers in Virginia's conservative 6th District.Most of the criticism of our trade deals has focused on the very real problem of jobs and decent wages for American workers....
View ArticleIn Re-Election Bid, John McCain Has Combined Cowardice with Folly
Many of us who have followed politics for a generation or more have found things to admire in John McCain's role upon the political stage--particularly in his "straight-talking" stage in the 2000 race...
View ArticleFlaws in How We Evaluate Leaders (from Kahneman's THINKING, FAST AND SLOW)
I'm reading a really fascinating book: Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Nobel-Prize-winning "behavioral economist" Daniel Kahneman. In fact, I'm reading it for the second time, which is really testimony of...
View ArticleHow Concerned About the Tightening of the Presidential Race Should We Be?
Over this weekend, I wrote to both of the two people I know who follow politics most closely, and whose opinions I respect. I asked them, "Does it concern you that the presidential race has tightened...
View ArticleReasons for Denying Climate Change
This piece will be running in newspapers in Virginia's conservative 6th congressional district.Everybody has reasons not to want to believe what scientists are saying about climate change.For starters,...
View ArticleElizabeth Warren Should Again Play Picador to Trump's Bull
Two observations:1) America is becoming desensitized to how outrageous Donald Trump is as a major party candidate for president. As Chris Hayes observed the other day, when it is every day that a...
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