From the Left
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Why ‘Stolen Valor’ Political Fights Are So Intense -- and Misplaced in the Cases of Walz and Vance
While the saying may be true that candidates for vice president usually don’t make much of a difference in the ultimate success of presidential candidates, they do give us plenty to argue about.
That’s particularly true of the current contenders.
Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to barely have gotten the name of her chosen running mate,...Read more
The Trump Crack-Up
As the Harris-Walz team soars (polls are already showing Kamala taking the lead), Trump is cracking up.
His ego can’t take it. He is freaking out that his opponent — a Black woman — has more energy and momentum behind her than he has.
Last Thursday, after 10 days of Kamala in the limelight, Trump was so desperate for attention that he ...Read more
Crazy
Donald Trump is clearly flailing. He has reportedly taken to complaining about his campaign, which candidates tend to do when they are looking for someone to blame. He is, in the words of The Washington Post, "steaming" at what has happened to him. This is what he posted on Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon:
"What are the chances that Crooked ...Read more
Don't Get Obama'd Again
Then-Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 run, a classic identity play, emphasized the history-making potential of electing the nation's first Black president. No one knew or cared much about Obama's policy positions, and he didn't bother to share them. Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 bids were policy arguments focused around a succinct set of issues: ...Read more
Military Service, Partisan Smears and the Parody of Patriotism
The Trump campaign's attack on the military record of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz -- who served honorably as a volunteer in the National Guard for 24 years -- invites us to remember the military service of former President Donald J. Trump.
Except there isn't anything to remember concerning Trump's military service since he never served. Neither ...Read more
The Olympics Teach Us To Practice Good Sportsmanship in Our Everyday Lives
I don't have a favorite Olympic sport. I'm not an athlete. High school marching band was my team sport. But I do love the Olympic Games, and for me, it's all about the stories -- stories of perseverance, camaraderie and sportsmanship. I love watching athletes show us what they're made of and who they really are by how they rise to the ...Read more
J.D. Vance and Poverty Snobbery
Q: What's a "hillbilly marriage counselor"?
A: A 2 x 4
Hoo hoo! That shore is funny, Zeke! Pass me the jug!
Used to be, if you had embarrassing relatives, you kept 'em out of town until the race for county commissioner was over.
If you had an Italian last name and you were running for office in Connecticut in 1960, and your Uncle Joey the ...Read more
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz: The Perfect Fit!
Pinch me. The political skies have been cloudy for so long, it’s hard to believe we’re now bathed in sunlight. But are we ever! So real and so sudden. As Gilbert and Sullivan once rhapsodized, “Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen.”
Indeed, the world’s turned upside down in just the last two weeks. All for the better. Joe Biden stepped aside...Read more
Usha Can't Neuter J.D.'s Cat Lady Musings
Republicans handed Usha Vance the unenviable task of cleaning up her husband's history of hostile comments regarding women. Alas, she tried.
Specifically, Usha attempted to dismiss J.D. Vance's trashing of "childless cat ladies" as a "quip." A "quip" is a witty or clever remark, often characterized by its brevity. Had Donald Trump's running ...Read more
A Safe and Smart Choice
From my point of view, it was the best night of the 1988 general election campaign. It was the night of the vice presidential debate. With a single comment, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic nominee for vice president, skewered Sen. Dan Quayle, his Republican counterpart. "I knew Jack Kennedy," he said. "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. And...Read more
If Kamala Harris is a DEI Vice President, is Usha Vance a DEI Bride?
The Indian-American duo of Usha Vance and Kamala Harris will challenge stereotypes. Welcome to the new, improved 2024 presidential campaign.
No matter how this plays out, a woman of Indian-American descent will be moving her influence into the White House.
She’ll either be the President of the United States Kamala Harris, or the wife of the ...Read more
Virtual Fences: Are We All 'Phono Sapiens' Now?
Free things are now being colonized across social spaces and public squares. Since 2020, for example, togetherness at work retreated to the private virtual sphere.
There's no better time to beware the social price we pay for privatizing time, water, air, news, and human attention and conversation.
America is enmeshed in a loneliness epidemic...Read more
'Laffin' Kamala' vs. 'Grumpin' Trump'
You know that American politics is turning into a sad joke when a supposedly serious presidential campaign tries to demonize laughter.
Yet, bizarrely, Donald Trump's humorless gaggle of strategists decided that their first point of attack on Kamala Harris would be: her laugh. No, seriously! Donald himself launched the offensive -- "I call her...Read more
Trump's Attacks on DEI Reveal Administration's Agenda for Second Term
This piece was written before Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. No significant facts have been changed.
When Donald Trump's administration ended in 2020, two-thirds of Americans believed that Trump had increased racial tensions in the U.S. The Trump administration's sustained assault on political, civic and ...Read more
Batting Order: First Defeat Trump, Then Begin Our National Reconciliation
"When you come to a fork in the road," legendary political scientist Yogi Berra famously observed, "take it." There is no mistaking that this November's presidential election will mark as consequential a fork in the road as America has confronted since the election of 1860, and we will have no choice but to take it.
Practically speaking, the ...Read more
Why We Need Nauseous Optimism
For the first time in years, I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face. Maybe you have, too.
The positive energy unleashed by Kamala Harris over the last two weeks is in such stark contrast to the negative energy unleashed by Trump for the last nine years that it feels as if America has had a new beginning.
Complete strangers come up ...Read more
Why We Need Nauseous Optimism
For the first time in years, I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face. Maybe you have, too.
The positive energy unleashed by Kamala Harris over the last two weeks is in such stark contrast to the negative energy unleashed by Trump for the last nine years that it feels as if America has had a new beginning.
Complete strangers come up ...Read more
'Donald Being Donald'
In her 2019 memoir, Kamala Harris wrote, "My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women."
As she did, when she dismissed Donald Trump's unbelievable attack on her ...Read more
Make Kamala Earn Our Votes
Democrats were relieved when President Joe Biden finally pulled out of the presidential race. That was understandable. It was easy to see why they quickly coalesced behind Vice President Kamala Harris as Biden's replacement: Time was short, there's no standard party process for putting on a snap second round of primaries, and passing over a ...Read more
What a Kamala Harris Presidency Would Mean
When Kamala Harris was elected vice president, I cried happy tears. Now, our country has the prospect of watching Harris become our first female president, and I'm trying to pinpoint and articulate exactly what this means to me.
President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump once, but I wasn't excited about a Biden ticket this ...Read more