Jamelle Bouie

Of the many crazy things said this summer, one of the craziest came from Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who defended her anti-immigrant policies with a healthy dose of shameless demagoguery, including the claim that undocumented immigrants were beheading people across Arizona. Brewer received a lot of push back, but as we’ve seen since, that hasn’t […]

Former Republican Sen. George Allen — last seen, as in the above video, exercising his casual racism — has returned as a voice for the Virginia GOP’s current crop of congressional candidates: Allen said he believes it is a combination of massive federal spending and other issues such as health care reform and cap and […]

Yesterday, The New York Times reported on Republican gubernatorial candidates who have come out against projects to create or expand rail lines in their states. So far, conservative candidates in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and California pledged to end the government’s nefarious plan to expand intercity rail, and create economic opportunity. Of course, this won’t happen […]

The New York Times looks into President Obama’s increasingly vocal efforts to energize the Democratic base for November’s elections: But Mr. Obama has aimed much of his prodding — and not a small amount of personal pique — at the liberals most deflated by the first two years of his presidency. Assuming that many independents […]

Bob Woodward looks at the 2012 presidential election, and sees Barack Obama running with his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton: “It’s on the table,” veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN’s John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA. “Some of Hillary Clinton’s advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012.” […]

Jeffrey Goldberg wants to know two things: First, do Republicans actually believe they can win African American voters while supporting politicians who endorse Confederacy-worship, and second, how can African Americans in the South live surrounded by a culture that regularly and unapologetically venerates the Confederacy: The true, spin-free, answer, obviously, is that the Republican Party […]

John Sides uses Meg Whitman’s recent slide in the California gubernatorial race to make a good point about the reality of being a self-financed candidate: First, it is important to remember that many candidates spend their own money because they are forced to, not because they necessarily want to. That is, they invest their money […]

Joe Scarborough’s debut column for Politico isn’t very good: My opponent’s misstep in 1994 may, in part, explain the biggest mystery surrounding Barack Obama: How did a president sitting at 70 percent in the polls manage to squander so much political capital and personal goodwill in just two years? In 2008, Obama won with a […]

I’m inclined to agree with Joe Klein‘s take on the choice of Pete Rouse to serve as Rahm Emanuel’s replacement: I don’t know Rouse very well. I don’t know what his priorities will be. Early reports emphasized his “calming” effect and his long career as a Congressional insider. But if this no-drama White House gets […]