The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    The Romney Meltdown

    I was writing a post earlier this week, arguing that Romney was increasingly likely to panic as the election approached, trying to find a "game changer" to help him catch up with Obama, and that these gambles would put him further and further behind. But I held off, because I didn't want to post that kind of political horserace stuff on September 11. Then, before midnight on September 11, Romney had done it.

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    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Breaking: Obama donates $1 million to Mitt Romney campaign

    WASHINGTON – The re-election campaign for President Barack Obama has made a $1 million donation to the Mitt Romney campaign. The donation comes on the heels of Romney’s recent foray into foreign affairs, accusing Obama of sympathizing with Islamic extremists, despite the fact that it never happened.

    Sources close to the Obama campaign said they wanted to make the donation to give Romney more chances to appear on television so voters could see more of him.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    But, Log Cabin Republicans Are Uncle Toms!

    The Internet is great, in part, because it reminds you that some of the old arguing rules from high school are useful in real life.  If I call you Hitler for disagreeing with me, I am wrong.  Because you are really Pol Pot.

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    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Sept. 11: There is no comparison

    Today is the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. It is a day for remembrance of those who lost their lives and loved ones.  And it’s a day to remember those who have used 9/11 to advance their own political agendas:

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    Ramona's picture

    Connie Schultz on What it Means for Women to Vote

     

    Connie Schultz is one of my favorite writers and it pains me that so few women know who she is or have read her masterful, often poignant columns.

    In 2004, in her Cleveland Plain Dealer column, she wrote a piece for women called,"And You Think It's a Pain to Vote".  It went viral, but Connie didn't always get the credit for it.  It traveled far and wide via emails and blogs and comments, credited to "Anonymous", if at all. 

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    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Vote for me for the office I deserve to win

    It has been several months since I, William K. Wolfrum, formally declared my intention to run for the office that I deserve to win. Since then, I have had multiple donors who have helped me spread my message across this great land.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    Obama is Magic!

    Last night, I was underwhelmed by Obama's speech but in the light of morning I think I was perhaps expecting a little too much, given the context of an extremely effective and well put together convention.  He is the president, not a cheerleader and he's trying to defend his program while showing how it will play out if he's given more time.

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    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Student Loans: Dems vs. GOP Made Easy

    One thing that Barack Obama has done absolutely right for education is change the student loan program. Romney and Ryan have made it clear that if elected they will switch things back to the old way. This small policy difference demonstrates the larger difference between today's Democrats and Republicans.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    Clinton's Real Lesson For Obama

    Tonight, the most recent two-term Democratic president will address the party’s convention to make the case for Barack Obama’s re-election.  If everything works out, Obama will face a second term that will resemble Bill Clinton’s, where the President faced a powerful opposition party determined to undermine him.

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    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    God signs new 4-year deal with Democrats: “I can finally get my Mom a new house”

    HEAVEN – God, the controversial creator of everything everywhere, has signed a new deal with the Democratic Party that will keep him in their fold for the next four years.

    “This is just a thrill,” said God, 42. “There so much uncertainty in this game, but now I feel as though I’ve finally made it.”

    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Obama did not kill bin Laden – He’s running for office in Brazil

    Yes, Bin Laden is alive and well in Brazil, where he’s running for office in the mid-term elections. His political aims? Apparently disillusioned by Jihad following his Pakistan bullet adventure, he is running to rid the nation of corruption and child labor. It’s a big move for Osama, who once made a living in Brazil in the bug extermination business.

    Brazilians aren’t at all fearful of Bin Laden, and for good reason. They have Batman and Robin to protect them.

    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Labor Day Link: The Bread and Roses Strike, 100 Years Later

    Labor Day is a great day to remember some of the history of the American labor movement. Of course, our leading American newspaper is using the day to lionize Henry Ford without mentioning how fiercely Ford hated the labor movement. So, a little counter-programming:

     

    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Your Twitter choir won’t be winning this election

    One of the first soccer games I attended in Brazil was a battle between Minas Gerais interstate rivals Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro. The crowd of more than 50,000 was evenly split between fans of each team, with each side separated from one another in the stadium.

    During intermission, I wandered around the stadium, coming to the area where police had cordoned off the sides. On one side were fans of Cruzeiro, the other side fans of Atlético, both sides taunting one another. Then, the taunting got too intense. And the police tear gassed the lot of us.

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    Michael Maiello's picture

    Labor Day and the Myth of Henry Ford

    Every so often, somebody tells the story of Henry Ford, friend of the working man.  You see, he paid his workers a higher wage, helping to transform a population of Detroit immigrants into part of a mass affluent American middle class that supported America's economic growth for the better part of the 20th century.

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    Ramona's picture

    The Problem with Unions? They're not Corporations

     

    WARNING: It's Labor Day and I'm feeling the love for labor, so what follows will be totally biased and in no way fair or balanced.  (If you've been wondering what fair and balanced really means, go ask your two-year-old.  It'll make as much sense as any other definition you've ever heard, but it'll sound so much better coming from the mouths of babes.)

    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Old Men Talking to Chairs Is Romney's Platform

    I've been trying to lay off Clint Eastwood's surreal conversation with furniture, even as facebook friends urged me to blog about it. (King Lear also talks angrily to an empty stool, and my friends have suggested I blog about that.) But I do want to talk about what that incident reveals about Mitt Romney. It was the most revealing moment of the Republican convention. That Romney turned the mike over to Eastwood in prime time, with no script, tells us who Romney really is.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Swing Voter Analysis

    I went to see my shrink today.

    "Doc," I said to him after I'd sprawled myself on the couch, "I'm thinking about breaking up with my guy Barry."

    "Is that so?" he replied. I like Doc. He's got this way of saying things without saying anything.

    "Yeah, I mean, we've been together for what four years now? I'm just not sure it's going anywhere. It's like a...a rut. I was depressed when we started. I'm still depressed."

    Ramona's picture

    Why You Gotta Lie? A compendium of the Worst from the GOP Revels

     

    The media is abuzz about the speeches at the 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa, critiquing them on style, effectiveness, the number of laughs, the number of attacks on Barack Obama--especially the attacks on Obama.  Clint Eastwood even got an invisible Obama to sit in an empty chair and become the foil for some raucously out-there jokes.

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    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    What Did You Do in the Crisis, Mitt?

    All that talk about how many years of tax returns Mitt Romney will release obscures the real question. It's not how many years he won't give us. It's which years.

    What Romney doesn't want to give us, most of all, are his taxes from 2008 and 2009, the years of the crash and the bailout. Those returns tell us how Romney's personal fortune weathered those years, how much he might have lost, and how much he might have profited.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Best Republican Platform Ever Adopted

    The Republican National Platform of 2012 "may be the best one ever adopted" according to Phyllis Schlafly.

    That's high praise for a party that once demanded the "utter and complete extirpation" of slavery from America's soil.

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