As Bill Clinton recently pointed out, the media tends to glom on to a narrative and never let go, which often means promoting The Dangerous Allure of the Shiny New Toy in politics to the detriment of those more capable. As I wrote in my linked article above, Often, voter disappointment with current leadership and big media’s boredom with the experienced pols waiting in the wings...
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Jon Stewart’s brilliant takedown of the preposterous double standards leveled at Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein and, for that matter, all women in politics is almost enough to make me forgive him for not sharing this in 2008… I’ll take it now. Thanks, Jon. Honestly, this ought to be required viewing for all talking heads. Watch and enjoy! (here is the link, just in case) ******************************* Anita Finlay...
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Media outlets are abuzz with Chelsea Clinton’s announcement that she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are expecting their first child this fall. Sharing the joyful news at a “No Ceilings” event for young women in New York, Chelsea said, “I just hope I will be as good a mom to my child and hopefully children as my mom was to me” while Mama Hillary looked on,...
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In an interview on CNN’s Crossfire, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who last week intimated he’d make a better president than Hillary Clinton, avoided attacking her despite host S.E. Cupp’s efforts to get him to brand Hillary as an “old guard” candidate and the pawn of corporations. Refusing to take the bait, Sanders instead discussed the need for solutions to bolster the middle and working classes, badly damaged but...
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In his latest column, Washington Post’s Dana Milbank lamented that the youth vote, 15 million strong, who swept Obama into office have “abandoned him in his hour of need.” With ‘his presidency on the line,’ Millennials seem to be turning their collective backs on the President’s health care plan: “The administration announced last week that only 1.08 million people ages 18 to 34 had signed...
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Women represent 53% of the voting electorate. Vital as it is for Republicans to gain female votes in 2014, their need will reach critical mass in the 2016 Presidential election. Despite a 100-page RNC post-mortem prescribing greater outreach, rather than heed that advice, today’s Republican Party continues to shoot itself in the foot with offensive remarks and legislative actions that flout their aims. Continued male...
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Chris Christie’s political hopes took a hit last week as the burgeoning “Bridge-Gate” scandal painted him and those in his inner circle as bullies who will exact ugly retribution from a political foe. Prior to that, big media, in their unending polling parlor game, had already decided Christie was the Republican best positioned to beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. No sooner did he apologize his...
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Mega-successful political focus group and messaging guru Frank Luntz once helped Newt Gingrich craft the successful “Contract With America.” Today, he feels lost, lamenting to The Atlantic’s Molly Ball that the American people now scare him: “They were contentious and argumentative. They didn’t listen to each other as they once had. They weren’t interested in hearing other points of view. They were divided one against...
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Soon to begin the 6th year of his presidency, President Obama has just entered the 5th year of selling the Affordable Care Act, having been forced to apologize for its disastrous rollout. Launching into yet another promotion tour, Mr. Obama claimed to have learned “the hard way” that wildly overpromising while under-delivering was a bad idea. I can’t decide if it is more shocking that...
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In the Boston Globe, Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball waxed poetic on the “civilized” politics of yesteryear, particularly praising the relationship between President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O’Neill. “We’re all friends after six” Reagan would say, and the two worked together in a civilized fashion. Matthews is correct that our current debate is grotesque, catering to the most aggressive in each party, and...
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