Diary

Bill versus Mitt

No Comments 7 September 2012

The conservative commentator put the finger on Mitt’s problem.

Given the state of the economy, by any historical standard, Barack Obama should be 15 points behind Mitt Romney. Why is he tied? The empathy gap. On “caring about average people,” Obama wins by 22 points. Maintaining that gap was a principal goal of the Democratic convention. It’s the party’s only hope of winning in November.

Given the state of the economy, by any historical standard, Barack Obama should be 15 points behind Mitt Romney. Why is he tied? The empathy gap. On “caring about average people,” Obama wins by 22 points. Maintaining that gap was a principal goal of the Democratic convention. It’s the party’s only hope of winning in November.

George H. W. Bush, Romney-like in aloofness, was once famously handed a staff cue card that read: “Message: I care.” That was supposed to be speech guidance. Bush read the card. Out loud.

Not surprisingly, he lost to Bill Clinton, a man who lives to care, who feels your pain better than you do — or at least makes you think so. In politics, that’s a trivial distinction.

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Diary

Bill Clinton Makes the Case for Obama’s reelection

No Comments 6 September 2012

Last night I was never a big fan of Clinton the person but last night’s speech to win over people who have not made up their mind on how to vote was masterful.

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Diary

Michelle Obama gives a great speech at DNC

No Comments 5 September 2012

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Diary

The Clint Eastwood show at the RNC

No Comments 1 September 2012

Two minutes after ten Thursday night, I turned on my TV to watch Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. But there was Client Eastwood, giving an improvised speech that struck me as bizarre. During the past two days, the Client Eastwood show is the talked about event. If you have missed what Eastwood said, here is a transcript of it or the video.  MICHAEL BARBARO and MICHAEL D. SHEAR in the NY Times report how Clint Eastwood was allowed to speak unscripted in an otherwise fully scripted convention.

Before Eastwood’s Talk With a Chair, Clearance From the Top

TAMPA, Fla.—For all the finger-pointing about Clint Eastwood’s rambling conversation with an empty chair on Thursday night, the most bizarre, head-scratching 12 minutes in recent political convention history were set in motion by Mitt Romney himself and made possible by his aides, who had shrouded the actor’s appearance in secrecy.

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Diary

Pussy Riots is punished to two year of forced labor

No Comments 17 August 2012

I am too far away from Russia to have a sense whether Putin was clever or stupid to put a rock band behind bars for two years. Pussy Riots will become infinitely more famous after this judgement.

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Diary

America’s Aversion to Taxes

No Comments 16 August 2012

Eduardo Porter in the NY Times gives a good overview of the relative taxation level in different countries. What he is leaving out is that the US at least twice as much on military expenditures than the other industrialized countries.

There is something to be said for universal health care systems.

When my son developed a rash on an Italian vacation in Liguria last month, the pharmacist showed me to the doctor downstairs, who diagnosed the problem at no charge and sent me off with a handshake and a joke about a daughter in med school at the University of California, San Diego.Italy may be in a funk, with a shrinking economy and a high unemployment rate, but the United States can learn a lot from it, and not just about the benefits of public health care. Italians live longer. Their poverty rate is much lower than ours. If they lose their jobs or suffer some other misfortune, they can turn to a more generous social safety net.

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Diary

The Olympic Puzzle: Why does India only have 6 medals?

No Comments 13 August 2012

There is a correlation between population size and medals won. But India is the puzzle. Britain did well, which seems to suggest that having the games at homes leads to better performance.

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