State of the Union
A surprisingly Presidential address from a President
“These people are crazy!” Trump said at another moment, pointing at Democrats.
Political Moderation
NYTimes preaches moderation to Democrats
American politics today can seem to be dominated by extremes. President Trump is carrying out far-right policies, while some of the country’s highest-profile Democrats identify as democratic socialists. Moderation sometimes feels outdated. It is not.
Politics
Why Biden decided to take a Supreme gamble
Joe Biden decides this is the right time to float the idea of Supreme Court “Reform”? As recently as last year, he opposed trying to reform the court, including by expanding the court’s membership. Now, he’s contemplating establishing term limits, an enforceable ethics code, plus some other changes,
Uncategorized
Cutting student debt rewards irresponsibility
This probably will make my former colleague Helen Ubinas mad at me. But the Inquirer columnist has been mad at me, or my opinions, before. Two things we share — our Bronx birthplace and our love of dogs. That’s about it. We disagree that she is a liberal. I once
Joe Biden
And Biden’s choice for VP will be . . .
8/11/20 UPDATE: Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris. Let the attack commercials begin. A year ago, long before Basement Brigadier Biden emerged as The Candidate, I asked fellow Democrats if it were possible the top of the 2020 slate would be two white men. A very large majority answered,
Politics
Biden is Lazarus, but it ain’t over yet
This has been an unusual presidential race, unusual as in “what the F just happened”? Two months ago, Barack Obama’s pretend stepbrother Joe Biden became an instant leader when he announced his candidacy, like an heir, or in his case, an heirloom. Two weeks ago, he was roadkill flattened
Politics
Bernie booed, Biden breathes
Wow, they booed Bernie Sanders. Hadn’t heard that before, but the Dems hadn’t debated anyplace as conservative as South Carolina. The majority in the hall were supporters of Joe Biden, feisty and breathing, but claiming 150 million Americans had been killed by guns since 2007. He meant 150,
Uncategorized
Bloomberg: Upon further review...
When I posted my analysis of the Democratic debate from Las Vegas, I suspected my evaluation would be a minority opinion. In fact, I even reported the talking heads on CNN were kicking hell out of the New York billionaire, yet I wrote Michael Bloomberg’s performance was more than
Politics
Bloomberg holds his own
The coming attractions promised a feature something like Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” but titled “Kill Mike,” as in the billionaire former mayor of New York, Bloomberg, who has bought his way into second place in the Democrat race for president. The pundits predicted the other five candidates would gang
Uncategorized
The Times whiffs on a choice
Talk about two-faced! In what it called a “break with convention,” the New York Times editorial board offered a kind-of BOGO — two Democratic presidential nominees for the price of one. It was also a break with courage. When you are called on to make a choice, you must to make
Politics
Dems: Cheaper by the dozen?
Before delving into the Tuesday night debate among a dozen Democratic hopefuls, here’s a pop quiz: Name the Starbucks multimillionaire who was going to run as an independent because too many of the Dems were too far left. Time’s up. It was Howard Schultz. He removed himself for
Politics
How to make college ‘free’ for all
I went to college for “free” (meaning free to me) decades before Bernie Sanders put it on the national kitchen table for discussion. I was educated at Brooklyn College, where Bernie was enrolled for a year before he transferred to the University of Chicago. I believe we were there at