I will never forget the night I sat in a convention hall in Tampa and watched Mitt Romney accept the Republican nomination for president, because that was the night I saw Clint Eastwood say the immortal words: “Do you just—you know—I know—people were wondering—you don’t—handle that OK.”
2012 Election
The Romney Speech
I think Mitt Romney just gave a very smart speech. It wasn’t a particularly stirring one, and it was certainly as insubstantial as any I’ve ever heard. It was rhetorical comfort food, a Father Knows Best speech. And perhaps the …
The RNC in Pictures: The Delegates
Paul Ryan and the Stimulus, Part 2: Make Him Stop!
The blogosphere has done a nice job of exposing the lies and hypocrisies in Paul Ryan’s prime-time convention speech — not that it will have any effect on his unassailable reputation for courageous straight talk. I’ve already banged my spoon on this high chair before, but I do feel a special responsibility to recount the golden …
Rand Paul Speaks: Will the Ron Paul Fans Follow?
Tampa
Senator Rand Paul walked onto the convention stage on Wednesday night knowing he was a rickety bridge between his father’s supporters and the Republican establishment. A contingent of delegates loyal to Ron Paul had …
Watch: Delegate of the Day
Struggling to Sell Change: A Politically Daft Blast from the Obama Past
My new book about the Obama administration and its stimulus package, The New New Deal, has a provocative subtitle: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era. My new story in the magazine, adapted from the book, takes a shot at the question: Why was it hidden? It’s a combination of relentless Republican distortion, awful Democratic …
Interview: Obama on Partisanship and Getting Things Done in Washington
White House correspondent Michael Scherer spoke with President Obama aboard Air Force One on Aug. 21 for the Sept. 10 issue of TIME, now available online to subscribers. (Also in the magazine: David Von Drehle on Joe Biden’s art …
A Different Paul Ryan Takes the Stage in Tampa
Paul Ryan took the national stage earlier this summer as Washington’s most famous wonk. The Wisconsin Congressman was known as a master of budget policy with grand ideas for restructuring entitlement programs and slashing …
The New John McCain, Just Like … Mitt Romney?
There’s no way to know what John McCain really thinks of Mitt Romney, who was enjoying draft deferments in France while McCain was an invited guest at the Hanoi Hilton. They obviously didn’t get along during the 2008 …
What You Missed While Not Watching the Second Night of the Republican Convention
7 p.m. Beneath clusters of celebratory balloons, the second night of the Republican National Convention begins with a color guard of military amputees who are wearing shorts to show off their mechanical legs. It’s a …
The Ryan Speech
After Wednesday night’s speech, I think it might be fair to say that Paul Ryan may have a future in politics. It was a very effective speech; he is a less-than-polished but very effective speaker (indeed, the lack of polish …
Shame on You, John McCain
Listening to John McCain on Wednesday night, you had to wonder if Sheldon Adelson had been giving him some kind of break at the craps tables. His speech was a noxious compendium of the usual neocon blather. He rehearsed the …