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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Buckley Endorses Obama; Leaves NR ...

As you might have heard, Christopher Buckley -- the son of William F. Buckley -- has endorsed Barack Obama (yuck!). Over at CNN's Political Ticker, Alexander Mooney quotes me on this unfortunate development ...
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Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Importance of Debate Furniture...

According to today's NYT, "in debates, the furniture is the message":
"When candidates stand behind lecterns, a physical barrier is created that makes it more acceptable for the debaters to clash ... By contrast, when the candidates sit at a table, the close proximity tends to discourage either participant from going on the attack."
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Friday, October 10, 2008

On MSNBC Today

Conservative Backlash Over McCain's Mortgage Plan

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Dick Morris on Going Negative

Monday, October 06, 2008

Uncle Rico Catches the "Zorngeist" ...

Harry Truman once famously quipped: "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." With just thirty days until Election Day -- and with the political tension increasing -- that quote rings especially true. Needing a good friend in Washington, I trekked down to Roanoke, VA to pick up my new pug, "Uncle Rico," from a pug rescue, this weekend. Here's a picture:

Photobucket

(Stay tuned -- a "Pugs for Palin" picture is coming, soon!)

... Yesterday, Uncle Rico and I watched the Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles (or rather, I watched the game while he napped).

This is a great time of year for anyone who loves politics and sports! I mean, you've got the presidential debates, baseball playoffs, and football season is just hitting its stride. Of course, this means that if your candidate is struggling, your sports team takes on a special importance.

As you probably know, prior to today, McCain has been struggling in the polls for the last several weeks. As such, I took solace in the fact that at least my Redskins have been winning. You know, it sounds ridiculous, but I think sports affects us more than we may realize. It must be hard right now for Cubs fans. My friend Andy Roth, who works at the Club for Growth, must be miserable. In one week he had to endure the bailout -- as well as having his beloved Cubs tank. Not a good week ...

And while sports may, indeed, be trivial, it serves as a very good diversion for those of us who spend most days thinking about politics.

A side benefit to being a Redskins fan is that they sometimes help unite conservatives and liberals living in the DC area. For example, liberal blogger Matthew Yglesias and I are both big Skins fans...

Those of us who are Redskins fans can also take comfort in the fact that we have another top-notch coach. Joe Gibbs is a great man, so I am happy that his successor is also a good man -- Jim Zorn.

I suppose you could say I'm caught up in the "Zorngeist." Everything Zorn!
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Artful Dodging Beats Open Evasion

Today's Washington Post featured a fascinating column regarding how voters view candidates who change the subject on a questioner. As you'll recall, during the recent vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin was up-front about the fact that she might not answer the moderator's questions. According to the experts interviewed for this column, Palin would have been wiser to not telegraph her strategy.

The article points out that style still matters more than substance:
... The psychologists found that irrelevant answers delivered fluently and with poise scored higher with audiences than answers that were accurate, on-topic, but halting. And when they had actors deliver the same answers to audiences -- once fluently and once with "ums" and "ahs" -- audiences judged the hesitant responses as intellectually inferior to the fluent ones.


It also pointed out that most viewers don't notice when a politician doesn't answer a question:
Norton, at Harvard Business School, conducted an informal experiment during one debate: After the candidates gave their answers, Norton asked a group of friends to recall the question.


"They got a little bit better over the course of the evening, but by the time the politicians finished these two-minute all-over-the-place-answers, even people trying to focus forgot what question they were asked," he said.


Lastly, the column pointed out that voters reward candidates for slyly avoiding questions, as opposed to admitting to it:

Voters say they prefer candid politicians, but the experiments suggest politicians may pay a higher price for intellectual honesty than dishonesty.

"When [Palin] acknowledged the question and said, 'I don't want to talk about it,' it was intellectually honest, but it alerted people that she was not going to answer the question," said Rogers, a political psychologist and executive director of the Analyst Institute, a Washington-based group that studies voting behavior with an eye to helping liberals.
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Saturday, October 04, 2008

A Break From Politics ...

Please forgive me for this personal post. I'm in Roanoke, VA, to pick up my new pug. To see just how cute he is, click here.

Now back to politics ...
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Friday, October 03, 2008

Answer Your Questions

During the vice presidential debate last night, Sarah Palin said the following to moderator Gwen Ifill and debate opponent Joe Biden:

"And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also."

While few candidates actually openly admit to following this strategy -- this is precisely what every smart candidate does when giving an interview or during a debate ...
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Monday, September 29, 2008

No BS Political Lessons ...