At the Daily Beast, Isabel Wilkinson writes of Ron Paul’s clothes that In lopsided jackets many sizes too big, trousers so baggy they could pass as harem pants, and black orthopedic “referee” sneakers, Paul has distinguished himself during election season as the least sartorial of the bunch. He greeted Iowans last summer in a lime-green…
Presidential race 2012
Politics, Presidential race 2012
Gingrich on Reagan, 1992
by JOHN ADAMS •
One finds all one would ever need to know about candidate Newt Gingrich in his remarks on Reagan from a 1992 speech to the ‘National Academy of Public Administration’: ….he didn’t think government mattered…. The Reagan failure was to grossly undervalue the centrality of government as the organizing mechanism for reinforcing societal behavior.” There’s Gingrich:…
Politics, Presidential race 2012
Wisconsin: Obama, Catholic vote, and contraception mandate
by JOHN ADAMS •
Craig Gilbert crunches the numbers. This is bad and overreaching policy, and it’s surely bad politics. It’s is an unforced error, and never should have happened this year. Many who support a contraception requirement were already going to vote for Pres. Obama; it’s some of those who don’t support a requirement who were in play, and…
Presidential race 2012
Is there a libertarian case for Rick Santorum?
by JOHN ADAMS •
No. John Samples (writing in the Daily Caller) doesn’t really think so, either. He thinks if Santorum won the nomination and then lost to Pres. Obama, that would be good for libertarians: ….Rick Santorum could be the George McGovern of his party. Such a disaster might open the door for a different kind of GOP…
Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012
The Tea Party’s Tepid Support for Ron Paul
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Tea Party’s not even warm for Ron Paul, and CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield asks Dick Armey why that’s so. Armey doesn’t speak for every Tea Party group (Banfield’s introduction actually inflates his role within that movement). Still, why? Although I don’t think Paul’s libertarian enough, that shouldn’t stop the Tea Parties from favoring him…
Gov. Walker, Politics, Poll, Presidential race 2012, Recall
Marquette Political Poll: Walker, Obama up slightly in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
The first of Charles Franklin’s polls while visiting at Marquette is now available online : Walker and Obama have single digit leads in Marquette Law School Poll. I’ll review the poll tonight, and post more tomorrow. The results are — at first glance — more disparate (and almost conflicting) than one might have expected, but…
Federal Government, Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012
Libertarian Live Blog of the 2012 State of the Union Address and GOP Response
by JOHN ADAMS •
Presidential race 2012
Romney & Gingrich, Drudge Report & Huffington Post
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embedded below are screenshots of the Drudge Report and Huffington Post, and from them one can see different views on Mitt Romney. Matt Drudge is a Romney supporter, and on his site, the highlight is Newt Gingrich’s failure to excite a Florida debate audience. Down below, in the lower left, Drudge links to news of…
Campaign Ads, Politics, Presidential race 2012, Review
Reviewing Pres. Obama’s First 2012 Campaign Ad
by JOHN ADAMS •
Pres. Obama’s released his first campaign commercial of the 2012 election. Here are impressions of the commercial (playing in Wisconsin), embedded below. They address the politics, and not the merits, of Obama’s message. Video quality. As one might expect at this level, the video looks great — sharp, with brisk pacing, and a good mix…
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
The LP’s Monday Message: Mitt Romney = Big Government
by JOHN ADAMS •
Indeed he does. Quite the mess: Gov. Romney pushed big-government solutions while he was in public office, and his GOP rivals have pushed anti-market rhetoric as criticism of his private-sector career. Hard to find, other than Paul, a consistently free-market man in the lot. Via Libertarian Party press release.
Free Markets, Presidential race 2012
Desperate GOP Also-Rans Turn on Free Markets
by JOHN ADAMS •
How predictable, really, that struggling GOP candidates are attacking Gov. Romney’s time at Bain. Many of those candidates have talked about economic opportunity, but they’re truly more comfortable with favored businesses than free markets. Denying the truth about capitalism — and trying to make Romney’s success into evidence that he’s Ebeneezer Scrooge — must seem…
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
Brian Doherty on a Night at the Caucus, and a Ron Paul Victory that Wasn’t
by JOHN ADAMS •
Brian Doherty, an historian of libertarian politics, surveys the scene in Iowa. Libertarian-leaning Ron Paul came in a respectable third, as all America now knows. Is there any doubt that he would have done even better without the newsletter controversy (something Doherty has assured couldn’t matter, and about which he does not write in his…
Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012
Rick Santorum’s nephew supports Ron Paul
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve had some doubts about whether Ron Paul is libertarian enough, but I’ve no doubt that he’s better on issues of market and political freedom than Rick Santorum. Santorum’s nephew feels the same way about his uncle, and so is supporting Paul: It is not the government’s job to dictate to individuals how they must…
Libertarians, Presidential race 2012
The Libertarian Party’s New Executive Director
by JOHN ADAMS •
The national LP picked Carla Howell, of the Center for Small Government, to be its next executive director. (For more about the Center, see Center for Small Government: “Small Government is Beautiful”.) Her longstanding commitment to small government (advocated from her home state of Massachusetts) will leave her in good shape as the party’s ED.…