The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

Blog Posts

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON TUESDAY NIGHT

By Peter Schwartz on Wed, 05/10/2017 - 9:55am |
This is my high-level take on the Tuesday Night Massacre, boiled down to the "big beats," as we screenwriters like to say...
 
• GOP uses Trump to knock off most qualified candidate ever (Hillary).
 
• Trump sputters, so GOP uses Comey to run Clinton through and simultaneously set up Trump for impeachment.
 
• GOP uses this boorish "yokel" to get back into power, but they're embarrassed by his crude mouth and behavior..so they use Come

The Way Forward

By Peter Schwartz on Fri, 02/24/2017 - 5:14pm |

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/can-the-democrats-get-organized

This strikes me as the smartest, most clear-eyed analysis of the direction progressives/liberals should take now. Well worth reading it all.

Summary - The Role of Money in Elections, 2016 in Particular

By Peter Schwartz on Tue, 01/03/2017 - 10:13am |

When people talk about money in politics, they are usually referring to money expended on elections, but you [Peracles] show that that's just the tip of an iceberg of communications infrastructure the goes much deeper and wider below the surface. It's this infrastructure that creates the, how to put it? the group state of mind that drives many elections. Focusing on elections is focusing too late. By the time the election comes along, the battle is half over because the mental ground has long ago been prepared.

As a fellow copywriter, I feel your pain...whoever you are.

By Peter Schwartz on Thu, 12/19/2013 - 6:26pm |

So I just got this piece of junk mail from AMEX touting their "high yield" savings account. They go further and ask me to compare it to the average of the rates offered by the top 50 banks.

AMEX: 0.85%

Top 50: 0.07%

Naturally, they exaggerate this difference in a bar chart that shows the AMEX rate towering over the Top 50 rate. And in truth, it is 12 times more. Which means that, for every $1 your earn with the Top 50, you'll earn $12 with AMEX.

This is an important blog post to read...

By Peter Schwartz on Wed, 08/10/2011 - 2:53pm |

I won't spoil it for you because it's well-written and short enough. I think it's clear how it relates to many of the discussions we've having here for some time...

http://marccooper.com/beyond-wisconsin/

 

How Does Grover Norquist...Do It?

By Peter Schwartz on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 12:47pm |

This isn't about sex.

It won't be a lot to read, either. I don't have many answers or constructive thoughts, but I do have a lot of questions. Questions are a lot shorter to write down.

(Plus, I write all day for a living, so it isn't exactly a release for me.)

There are a lot of facts about our politics that I've come to take for granted. They form the background of my awareness, so I seldom think about or question them.

A: Winston, James, Harold & Parkin

By Peter Schwartz on Fri, 05/20/2011 - 3:46pm |

Q: How much difference does a name make in the way your life turns out?

History

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