The emergence of a debate about colonizing the moon might be the goofiest-sounding idea in Republican primaries since Herman Cain proposed an electrified fence along the southern border. The difference is that returning to the moon is an idea that reasonable people take seriously.
2012 Election
Below Low
I wonder if all those neoconservatives and assorted heroes who also style themselves as American patriots will tolerate this sort of rhetoric from Newt Gingrich, who is clearly groveling for Sheldon Adelson’s continued support. It seems to me that accusing the President of the United States of clearing the way for a “second holocaust” is …
Obama, Elizabeth Warren and Dr. Phil
On Friday, the President added a new line to his regular “fair share” repertoire on tax burdens and wealth distribution. “We do not begrudge wealth in this country. We aspire to financial success,” he said in a Michigan speech on college tuition, as he has countless times before. “But we also understand that we’re not successful just …
Q&A: George Romney Biographer Dan Angel
In 1964, Dan Angel became a participant observer of Michigan Governor George Romney’s re-election campaign. He served as Lenore Romney’s escort and drove the governor’s press vehicle in order to gather research for a Ph.D …
Armageddon for Newt
One of the wonderful things about our bloated, endless, tedious, miraculous presidential campaigns is that sooner or later you find out just exactly who these pretenders are. Thursday night in Jacksonville, after 18 debates in which his bluster camouflaged a myriad of flaws, Newt Gingrich’s deficits–the sloppiness, the hyperbole, the …
What You Missed While Not Watching the Last Florida GOP Debate
0 minutes. “Only one thing is certain,” CNN’s opening montage declares. “Expect the unexpected.” That hits the spot. We need false hope at a time like this. It’s the 19th Republican debate. Everything that can happen …
On Crazy People, the Cayman Islands and Why Democrats Are Taking Notes
The heavyweight tussle in Florida is quickly devolving into a very expensive slap fight. On one side is Mitt Romney, whose aides, having spent days tagging Newt Gingrich with labels like “erratic” and unreliable,” are now upping the ante by recasting Gingrich as a full-on crazy person. “UNHINGED!” read a Romney press release Thursday …
What Sheldon Adelson’s Gingrich Gifts Say About Money in Politics
Thursday’s Boston Globe explains how the pro-Newt Gingrich forces have suddenly leveled the advertising playing field in Florida, where Mitt Romney’s camp has been spending big for weeks. That of course is largely thanks to Gingrich’s patron saint, the billionaire Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has just written his second $5 …
Graphic: How Shy Are the Presidential Candidates?
This week’s TIME cover story looks at the power of shyness, including a sidebar on who among the 2012 GOP presidential candidates are introverts or extroverts.
The Versatile Newt Gingrich
In the new issue of TIME, David Von Drehle writes about the current state of the Republican race, collecting wisdom from Jeb Bush, among others, and capturing the oddities of the two-man top-tier that’s emerged in Florida. It’s a fun and smart piece, especially so in describing Mitt Romney’s unlikely foil:
Another Great Press Release
The Romney campaign has another very effective press release, excerpting an article that Elliott Abrams, the former Reagan Assistant Secretary of State For Trading Arms for Hostages, has written about Newt Gingrich’s criticisms of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy. It will come as no great surprise that Gingrich was impatient with Reagan …
Major League Primary: Why Florida Is the Big Show of the GOP Race
The Numbers and Politics of Barack Obama’s New Buffett Rule
The moral case President Obama has made to explain his “Buffet Rule” proposal is pretty simple. “Let me tell you something,” Obama told a crowd in Iowa on Wednesday, “asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his …