When President George Bush launched his War on Terrorism, as a response to the 9/11 attacks, most Americans not only went along with it, they applauded. Since most Americans wanted to see the perpetrators and their backers identified and punished, goin…

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At RVANews, Pete Humes writes:…In contrast, the Richmond mayoral race is not interesting at all. Not in the least. And that’s why I suggest that if the candidates really want to electrify this process they need to get people excited. Like the young…

Continue reading " Humes: Richmond mayoral race a ’snoozefest’ "

In the second presidential debate the fading McCain needed a game-changer. He didn’t get it.Obama was more presidential; his unflappable steadiness looked good.McCain didn’t have answers that fit the reality of today; he seemed like a time refugee.Obam…

Continue reading " Obama coasts to debate win "

The Richmond Democratic Committee endorsement of Del. Dwight C. Jones for mayor is looking shaky, according to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Eric Payne told a five-member Democratic party appeals panel tonight that he was not aware when th…

Continue reading " Payne: RDC endorsement of Jones violated by-laws "

The new Bopst Show, Episode No. 25, is here.From Chris Bopst’s MySpace Page, here is this week’s play list:The Bopst Show: “Hustler of Culture” Podcast 25Posted 10/06/08Track Listing: Sarah Palin on Katie CouricPublic Enemy: “Welcome to the Terro…

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Yesterday, the five guys who will be on the ballot in Richmond, running for mayor, appeared at St. Catherine’s School to answer questions from students. My coverage of the forum staged in Richmond’s tony Near West End is at Richmond.com.Asked about reg…

Continue reading " Mayoral candidates smile and talk points "

“A House Divided”by Travis CharbeneauNever mind the issues, recent presidential elections have all degenerated around the “Culture Wars.” Even now the McCain campaign has finally resorted to exploiting once again a looming threat of “the Other.” Why do…

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The Republican ticket of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin can be seen through various prisms, depending on the point. For this little exercise I’m saying that Max Fleischer, creator of some of the best animated short subjects ever, anticipated bot…

Continue reading " McCain and Palin 75 years ago "

The vice presidential debate went smoothly enough. No big gaffes. No big scores.While Gov. Sarah Palin didn’t worry about what the question was, she did a pretty good job of ducking them.While Sen. Joe Biden didn’t say much that was memorable, neither …

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Gov. Sarah Palin has got quite a job on her hands tonight. She must prove to America that she is not a ditsy fluke who should be dropped from the ticket. Still, given the withering coverage of her clueless interview with Katie Couric, yes, in a way, ex…

Continue reading " Sarah thinks twice … uh, oh! "

In the midst of the Cold War, left-right labels — liberal and conservative — made some sense. In the 1960s liberals were generally seen as being for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam. Conservatives stood for states rights and fought against…

Continue reading " Manipulative labels = propaganda "

STYLE Weekly’s cover story — “5 Men. 35 Days” — profiles the five mayoral candidates in Richmond.Click here to read the five-part story.

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Of the political cartoonists out there today, Pat Oliphant is at the top of the heap. In his ‘toon above (click on it to enlarge) he totally captures the essence of the three characters — Bush, Palin and McCain — who appear in the frame, and he does it with so little detail.

Pat Oliphant, the closest thing to Honoré Daumier today, deserves to be considered among the best ever.

Continue reading " Oliphant on Palin’s prepping "

Of the political cartoonists out there today, Pat Oliphant is at the top of the heap. In his ‘toon above (click on it to enlarge) he totally captures the essence of the three characters — Bush, Palin and McCain — who appear in the frame, and he does …

Continue reading " Oliphant on Palin’s prepping "

Thought to be dead and buried, the crazy idea of building a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom walked like a zombie though news stories during the past week.In a squirrelly move that should surprise no one, Mayor Doug Wilder reversed himself, once agai…

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Here’s the link to Chris Bopst’s weekly radio/podcast hour.I just read his intro (see excerpt below) to the Bopst Show Episode 24. It did a good job of making me want to click “Listen.”Everything that I feel about the world is based on my love of music…

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From Jessica Smith in Sen. Webb’s office:At 11 a.m. today, Sen. Jim Webb and eight additional Democratic Senators — Harkin, (Bill) Nelson, (Ben) Nelson, Lincoln, Boxer, Feinstein, Salazar, and Klobuchar — sent the attached letter to Senate Majority L…

Continue reading " Webb’s criteria for bailout plan "

Yesterday afternoon, the story broke that Sen. John McCain had suddenly decided to “suspend” his campaign, so he could rush to DeeCee to work on bailout legislation negotiations. On top of that McCain threatened to drop out of the presidential debate, …

Continue reading " McCain coming unglued? "

The first time I was asked if SLANTblog was endorsing a candidate I laughed. That was three or for years ago. I don’t remember which race it was. But it struck me as funny that someone — a partisan blogger — was gathering a list of blogs that had end…

Continue reading " Calling all blogger endorsements for mayor "

My take on the mayoral forum/debate staged on Tuesday night is up at Richmond.com.The five hopefuls stood behind podiums in a second floor ballroom that comfortably swallowed up the 300 to 350 people who came to see what the men running for mayor looke…

Continue reading " Mayoral Debate Report "