Since the Vietnam War, the Republican Party has burnished its image as the party of national security. In Nixon's 1972 campaign against anti-war McGovern, in Reagan's threat of war against Iran in 1980 and call for major defense buildups in the early 1980s, in Bush Sr.'s stunning victory in Gulf War I, and in Bush Jr.'s invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq following the attacks of … [Read more...] about The Party of National Security

What? It can't be! And yet...yes. … [Read more...] about Gay Marriage Helps Straight Marriages?

In one of the more bizarre stories this fall, one of the nation's most prominent evangelicals, Ted Haggard, just resigned as President of the 14,000 member Colorado Springs-based New Life Church and the National Association of Evangelicals. He was a weekly participant in conference calls with George W. Bush and a key player in the push to ban same-sex marriage. Why did he … [Read more...] about Immoral Haggard (UPDATED)

Fox News? CNN? Nope. It's this one. … [Read more...] about Guess Which Cable Network Is Seeing Its Numbers Zoom?

George Allen won't condemn his supporters committing assault on a Democratic heckler. If he loses, it'll be crap like this that explains it. … [Read more...] about Wrestled To The Ground

Does anyone know how well early voting returns predict election outcomes? … [Read more...] about The Meaning of an Early Vote

He now insists the White House didn't raise the Kerry "botched joke" issue. Two thoughts: (1) Then it must have been a look-alike. (2) TONY: There is an invention called "videotape" which has been around for 50 years. Look into it... … [Read more...] about More Credibility Problems For White House Spokesman Tony Snow

Dallas Morning News columnist Frank Schaeffer finally had enough after getting a call from supporters of Senator George Allen of Virginia suggesting Allen's Democratic foe Jim Webb is a "perverted pedophile." Schaeffer describes himself as "a Christian, a writer, a military parent and a registered Republican. And he feels his party has left him.My wife and I have reached the … [Read more...] about A Republican Leaves His Party In Disgust

At The Reaction today, guest blogger Edward Copeland has an appeal to the voters of Connecticut: "While it seems clear that Censorin' Joe Lieberman will get re-elected as an independent, thanks in no small part to Ned Lamont's post-primary bungling, you all need to think about what message sending Lieberman back to D.C. will give." See here. … [Read more...] about An appeal to the voters of Connecticut

This photo is currently on the front page of the Jerusalem Post's website: Iran tests missiles in maneuvers Thursday … [Read more...] about Meanwhile, Iran Tests Missiles

Alright, Kerry has apologized both at his own website and on Imus. So enough already. It was a stupid joke, a "poorly stated joke," a "botched joke," and he should have been far less ambiguous in telling it. And he should have known better. But... no. What was there to know better? All that happened was that he missed one word of the joke. The botch was a single word: "us". He … [Read more...] about Kerry’s apology (in context)

Larry Sabato and his staff predict a major defeat for Republicans at all levels of government. Campaigns Clamor for Last-Minute Midterm "Mo" Just how Democratic a year is 2006? Five days out, let's rephrase the question this way: when's the last time a major political party has failed to capture a single House seat, Senate seat, or governorship of the opposing party in a … [Read more...] about Sabato’s Crystal Ball 2006: THE PREDICTIONS

Has the New York Times been reading posts by an independent voter named TMV whose main thread for several years has been George Bush's unprecedented role as a president who uses political polarization as a strategical and tactical tool? This editorial titled "The Great Divider" sounds like it:As President Bush throws himself into the final days of a particularly nasty campaign … [Read more...] about New York Times: George Bush Is The Great Divider

Hariri's widow White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the White House believes that Hizbullah, Iran and Syria are trying to 'topple' the democratically elected government of Lebanon. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States is "increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian governments, Hezbollah and their Lebanese allies are … [Read more...] about Snow Warns Syria and Iran

What many people are asking themselves is: will Kerry's remarks have an impact on the coming elections in the US for Congress. I think that Joe and commenters here at TMV made some good points: it will - most likely - not have a great impact on independents but one of the other problems for the GOP is / was that it was not able to rally its base. John Kerry's remarks, however, … [Read more...] about Impact

My first and hopefully last word on the John Kerry malapropism. … [Read more...] about First and Last

The final New York Times/CBS News poll before next week's mid-term elections has some extremely bad news for President George Bush and the Republican party:A substantial majority of Americans expect Democrats to reduce or end American military involvement in Iraq if they win control of Congress next Tuesday, and say Republicans would maintain or increase troop levels to try to … [Read more...] about Poll: 70 Percent Of Americans Don’t Believe Bush Has Plan To End War

Is it "liberal?" Is it "conservative?" It's this. … [Read more...] about What’s The Most Common Political Leaning Among Web Users?

20 of 22 "devices" got past security in New Jersey? Find out more here. … [Read more...] about Airport Security Still Piss Poor

The quantity of violence in Iraq today is staggering. But the nature of that violence - the audacity and grotesqueness of it - is even more appalling. Two stories from today underscore just how brazen the insurgents and militias are Baghdad. First is the seizure of a US soldier, establishment of checkpoints in Sadr City to hunt down the captors, and eventual abandonment of the … [Read more...] about Ethnic Cleansing and the Abandonment of a US Soldier