-
SEQUESTER: The Horror!
March 1, 2013 | 4 comments
-
SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
February 12, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Hello, I Must Be Going
August 14, 2012 | 18 comments
-
Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
August 12, 2012 | 16 comments
-
Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
August 11, 2012 | 13 comments
The Spectacle Blog
1. At a D.C. memorial service/celebration for Andrew Breitbart last night, the conservative media entrepreneur’s associates said they planned to release a video that will make President Obama’s team very unhappy. No word on the details yet, but even in death Breitbart can vex the left.
2. Conservative insurgents have tended to beat establishment favorites in Washington state’s Republican caucuses. It was the only state Pat Robertson won on Super Tuesday in 1988, for example. So Mitt Romney’s convincing win there — the straw poll is technically nonbinding, but the caucus process does have some influence on how delegates will ultimately be allocated — is a testament to his organizational acumen. It also reminds us that Romney isn’t going to cede the caucuses to Ron Paul the way Hillary Clinton largely left them to Barack Obama in 2008.
3. According to at least one count, Paul has surpassed Newt Gingrich in total delegates. (Some estimates project fewer delegates for Paul from places like Minnesota; the Paul campaign’s own unofficial delegate tally runs much higher.) Gingrich enters Super Tuesday needing to do something to justify even staying in the race. Georgia appears likely to be his first win since South Carolina, and the former House speaker has had some bad showings. Most recently, he finished last in both Michigan and Washington state.
4. Ohio and Tennessee are must-win states for Rick Santorum, at least if the former Pennsylvania senator is going to seriously contend for the nomination rather than just be a safety valve for conservative discontent with Romney. Santorum still leads in both states, but by shrinking margins. If the states get too close, you have to wonder if Romney’s superior ground game could be the tie-breaker.
5. Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) reelection campaign is looking up. Two recent polls have him decisively ahead of likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, with particularly strong numbers among independents. Brown knows that electorate and could get another assist if Romney wins the nomination, because he will lose Massachusetts less badly than the other Republican presidential candidates. I wonder if Warren will regret her agreement with Brown on super PACs. Since Brown has disappointed many of the national Tea Party groups who supported him in 2010, Warren was likely to get a lot more outside support.
6. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) is about as good a candidate as Nebraska Democrats could hope for in the race to replace retiring Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). But let’s face it: he’s to Nelson’s left, he hasn’t run for office there since the 1990s, he’s spent recent years living in New York, and it’s a presidential election year. Republicans are still very likely to pick up that seat.
View all comments (7) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/03/04/weekend-political-wrap-up
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
C Bowen | 3.4.12 @ 6:01PM
Mr. Antle;
On the Brown-Warren fight, Warren just came out as explicitly pro-war to insure the Tabin-Goldstein wing. Any chance Brown might go a little more Paulian?
Point 6--Bob Kerrey just provided a sworn statement that blows holes in the official '9-11' story as part of a lawsuit. If he doesn't walk that one back, something very interesting is afoot.
Clint| 3.5.12 @ 5:15AM
Uh Oh !
" Former Senator and compulsive diarist Bob Graham along with former Senator Bob Kerrey (who has just announced his plans to run in Nebraska for the Senate again) have said that they think that the Saudi government may have been involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
From a report in the New York Times that ran last week:
Now, in sworn statements that seem likely to reignite the debate, two former senators who were privy to top secret information on the Saudis' activities say they believe that the Saudi government might have played a direct role in the terrorist attacks.
"I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia," former Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, said in an affidavit filed as part of a lawsuit brought against the Saudi government and dozens of institutions in the country by families of Sept. 11 victims and others. Mr. Graham led a joint 2002 Congressional inquiry into the attacks.
I'd love to see what evidence or key questions they think are unresolved or which lead to Saudi government sponsorship of this terror attack.
But strategically, their assertions about Saudi behavior make zero sense. The attacks precipitated a direct military intervention in the region that brought down Saddam Hussein -- which unleashed the constraints on arch-Saudi rival, Iran. These attacks created massive tensions between the Arab world and the US -- and have made the generally pro-US foreign policy role played behind the scenes by the Saudis much more complicated.
Fantastic conspiracy theories are part of the currency of the Middle East, but perhaps the trend is spreading to America. Will be watching to hear more detail on this. "
RJ| 3.4.12 @ 6:29PM
Nebraska has always surprised me. It is thought of as a conservative state, but its Senators usually are not. They seem somewhat to the right of Iowa's Senators and perhaps the states have common regional and agricultural interests. Are there are commentators who can provide insight on this topic?
Dennis | 3.4.12 @ 6:53PM
Kerry used to have a pretty good resturant in Lincoln.
mjs_pa| 3.4.12 @ 8:07PM
2009: Romney begs Obama: Embrace the Individual Mandate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsX0JB6jsBg
Romney: "I am big believer in getting money where the money is. The money is in Washington."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYLBk_0t6w
Dan Phillips| 3.4.12 @ 9:30PM
Rumor has it that the Obama video, already the subject of much conspiracy theorizing, shows Obama with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. You know, that guy Obama barely knew.
Clint| 3.5.12 @ 5:07AM
" In a stunning coincidence, It appears Andrew Breitbart suffered his untimely death just hours before he was set to release damning video footage that could have sunk Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Around three weeks ago on February 9 during the ‘Blog Bash’ event in Washington DC, Breitbart made a prophetic comment that takes on a somewhat chilling nature given the fact that he died in the early hours of March 1st.
Speaking to Lawrence Sinclair of Sinclair News, Breitbart stated, “Wait til they see what happens March 1st.”
It’s almost certain that Breitbart was referring to his plan to release damning footage of President Obama that he had been promising to reveal throughout the month of February.
As we reported yesterday, Breitbart spoke of his intention to release the tape during his CPAC speech last month. The footage shows Obama in his college days appearing alongside former Weather Underground terrorists Bill and Bernardine Dohrn. Observers had speculated that the footage could have derailed Obama’s hopes for a second term.
“I’ve got video from his college days that show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008 – the videos are going to come out,” said Breitbart, adding that Obama would be vetted."