Campaign Grammar—The dirty wars waged by right-wing despots in South and Central America turned the word “disappeared” into both a noun and a transitive verb. Here in the U.S. it appears that former Senator Phil Gramm is a desaparecido and that John McCain has disappeared him. One of the sponsors of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which […]

Read more

THE DAY AFTER SARAH PALIN passed her campaign midterm exam, the Congress passed a Wall Street bailout bill. In reacting to the news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average did worse than Palin did in her excruciatingly manneristic ninety minutes on stage with Joe Biden, falling 157 points on the news of a 263-171 House vote […]

Read more

The Real McCain—“What does he plan for America?” John McCain asked a crowd at a rally in Albuquerque. “In short, who is, who is the real Obama?” Someone in the crowd shouted: “Terrorist!” McCain paused and smiled. It was a smile that recalled McCain’s response at a political rally during the primaries, when it appeared he would […]

Read more

Wasilla, Alaska SPENDING A WEEK IN THE TOWN where Sarah Palin began her political career helped me understand why Palin is a near perfect candidate for the vice presidency—even if her two terms as mayor of Wasilla and twenty months as governor of Alaska are disgracefully inadequate preparation for the office itself. The Palin nomination speaks to the […]

Read more

THE P.O.W. CELEBRITY—Longtime McCain friend and consultant John Weaver has said that John McCain was a media celebrity when he first got off the transport from Vietnam in 1973. After a couple of years in physical rehab, McCain parlayed his celebrity status into a position as a Navy liaison officer to the U.S. Senate in […]

Read more