View image | gettyimages.com We spend an awful lot of time in campaigns talking about a set of personal qualities candidates may or may not possess that revolve around honesty. Is the candidate truthful, honest, sincere, candid, authentic? The New York Times asked yesterday whether Hillary Clinton’s focus on inequality was sincere: “the former secretary […]
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman is a weekly columnist and senior writer for The American Prospect. He also writes for the Plum Line blog at The Washington Post and The Week and is the author of Being Right Is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Only Connect, Says Rick Perry, Only Connect
It’s a little strange that Rick Perry has gotten so little attention so far in the presidential race. OK, so his 2012 run was kind of a disaster, but the guy was the governor of the country’s second-biggest state for 14 years, and he’s as conservative as they come. Why should he get less notice […]
Posted inPaul Waldman
Photo of the Day, You Are Very Small Edition
This photo was taken from the International Space Station by astronaut Barry Wilmore. You can see Lake Michigan in the upper left hand corner; those lights at its edge are Chicago. Courtesy of nasa.gov.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The GOP, On the Road to Coolsville
View image | gettyimages.com Assuming Hillary Clinton is the Democratic presidential nominee next year, we already know that the Republican candidate will be younger than the Democrat, maybe by just a few years (if it’s Jeb Bush or Rick Perry, both in their 60s), but maybe by quite a bit. Marco Rubio is not only […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Scott Walker Just Won the Koch Sweepstakes
View image | gettyimages.com For some time now, the smart money in political circles has been on Scott Walker becoming the Republican nominee for president-even though primary voters hadn’t yet thought much about him. If you look at primary polls, up until October of last year, Walker was at around 5 percent support, which is […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Republican Candidates Pretending to Be More Conservative On Immigration Than They Actually Are
In 2008, John McCain, straight-talking principled maverick that he was, got into a Republican primary and saw that a position in favor of comprehensive immigration reform was causing him problems, so he disavowed the reform bill he had co-authored not long before, going so far as to say that if it came up again in […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Media Coverage of Campaign 2016 Will Be as Bad as Ever
The return of horse-race coverage.Â
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Media Coverage of Campaign 2016 Will Be As Bad As Ever
View image | gettyimages.com Let’s spare a bit of sympathy for the reporters who found themselves running after Hillary Clinton’s van last week in the hopes that they might get a few seconds of video of her stepping out of it and into whatever momentous event she was arriving at. I’m sure that as they […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Photo of the Day, Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far Away Edition
Flickr/Betsy Weber I’m not even going to bother linking to the new trailer for the new Star Wars movie, because it’s been out since yesterday, and if you haven’t watched it already there’s obviously something wrong with you. I’ll just give you this picture of cookies.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Two More Candidates to Begin Doomed Runs for Presidency
What leads a man to look in the mirror and say, “I could be president of the United States”? Anybody can say they should be president, of course-after all, aren’t all your ideas the right ones?-but it takes a remarkably optimistic spirit to think that you can do what it takes to make it to […]
