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Dumb tweet of the day: Colin Powell or Simon Cowell?

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:04:00 +0000

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Boehner holds on to speaker post

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:44:00 +0000

John Boehner squeaked by in a vote for speakership this afternoon, getting 220 votes of 426 cast, just a handful of votes over the number needed to hang on to his seat.

There were, however, a total of 14 defections from both Boehner, and Nancy Pelosi, who got 192 votes.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Va., got three votes. Reps. Louie Gohmert, Texas, and Paul Broun, Ga., both cast votes for ousted Rep. Allen West, Fla.

Tim Huelskamp, Kan., one of the four conservatives Boehner ousted from his committee spot, cast a vote for Jim Jordan, Ohio. Dave Schweikert, Ariz., another one of those conservatives, did support Boehner.

Both Michael Grimm and Peter King of New York, who had been at odds with Boehner over Hurricane Sandy relief funding, both voted for the speaker to keep his seat.

Is Obama failing the black community?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Are black elites and intellectuals cutting President Obama slack as the price we pay for having a black president? On Oct. 27, the New York Times ran an Op-Ed by Columbia University political science professor Fredrick C. Harris, author of "The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics," saying that we are. He suggests that we are so grateful for this crumb of progress, we’re willing to sacrifice the greater good of the African-American community. While Harris outlines Obama’s significant accomplishments, he says that African-Americans have stagnated or declined socioeconomically in nearly every measurable way. He takes Obama to task for not explicitly addressing race often or vigorously enough.

I have to say: Harris’ thinking seems not much better than John Sununu suggesting Colin Powell endorsed Obama because they're both black; it’s a strange notion that political support should demand so little. And it's a problematic argument, that the decisions of black intellectuals and voters about whom we support and how, are always grounded in race. This implies that we consider race before we consider anything else. This implies that we think with the color of our skin and the cultures from which we rise and above all else, so desperate must we be for scraps from the political table.

Dumb tweet of the day: “Obummer”

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:44:00 +0000

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Sununu walks back comments about Powell and race

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:29:00 +0000

John Sununu is walking back his comment that Colin Powell only endorsed Barack Obama because they are both black.

Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire and current campaign surrogate for Mitt Romney, told CNN's Piers Morgan last night: "Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder if that's an endorsement based on issues, or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama."

When pressed, he elaborated: "Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him."

After the interview, Sununu put out the following statement, via National Review Online:

Colin Powell endorses Obama

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Bush-era Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that he is endorsing Barack Obama for president again. “I voted for him in 2008, and I plan to stick with him in 2012,” Powell said on CBS’ "This Morning." “I’ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month.”

Of Romney, Powell said that his foreign policy positions are a "moving target."

“The governor who was speaking on Monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier,” he said.

“I’m not quite sure which Governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy,” Powell continued. “I don’t sense he’s thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have. He gets advice from his campaign staff that he then has to modify as he goes along.”