Author: michael o. allen

  • Debate Reaction

    This was by far the worst debate performance for each candidate. Senator Obama was flat and professorial for most of the night. He was clearly in run-out-the-clock mode, wanting to stay cool and avoid any game-changing mistakes. That’s fine as a strategy, but he faltered on execution. Defense does not mean giving long-winded, professorial answers.…

  • Joe the plumber is . . . racist

    His tone dripping with condescension, the man that Sen. John McCain brought up in the final presidential debate could barely contain his dislike for Sen. Barack Obama, finally, calling him Sammy Davis Jr at the end of the interview. Love0 Share Tweet Share Pin

  • It would be Nice if the Final Debate was a True Debate

    The Central Virginia Progressive-The DAVISReport sent us this message: As someone who had the pleasure of coaching and judging competitive debate and forensics, let me begin by saying the previous forums for both presidential and vice presidential debates have been very loose on the rules. It would be so nice if the debate format for…

  • Point about . . . what?

    A snippet from the middle of the Coen brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou” Pappy O’Daniel sits smoking a cigar, nursing a glass of whiskey, and soliciting the counsel of his overweight retinue. PAPPY Languishing! Goddamn campaign is languishing! We need a shot inna arm! Hear me, boys? Inna goddamn ARM! Election held tomorra, that…

  • Update: Trumka’s transcript

      This is a transcript of my post a week ago on AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka speech on Racism and Obama. “You see brothers and sisters, there’s not a single good reason for any worker — especially any union member — to vote against Barack Obama. There’s only one really bad reason to vote against him: because…

  • The Cubs win the penant!

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  • That tool, Tavis Smiley

    Okay. I  went to the 92nd Street Y two Saturday evenings ago to see Tavis Smiley interview Cornel West. I don’t care for Smiley, but I went because I was entertaining a friend’s guest from London (a sister) who wanted to go — real bad. About halfway through the evening, I noticed she was leaning…

  • . . . as maverick does

    Rolling Stone magazine writer Tim Dickinson takes the cudgel to John McCain carefully (and fraudulently) crafted image as a maverick, straight-talking outsider in Washington. In “Make-Believe Maverick,” Dickinson dug deep and excavated many things the public either does not know about Sen. John McCain, or knows it but venerates the man anyway despite all available…

  • A call to Change

    I don’t know this writer, Marc Ginsberg, but he had this post calling on Sen. Barack Obama to propose something big to tackle our nation’s economic malaise. I could not agree more. My friend, Todd Drew, and I have talked ourselves hoarse over just this topic. I believe now is the time for Obama to…

  • A step back in time

    Prior to the debate in Tennessee, C-Span re-broadcast the Oct. 15, 1992 debate between incumbent President George H. W. Bush, then Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, and crackpot businessman H. Ross Perot. Some of you will recall that debate as the town hall style debate where Pres. Bush doomed his re-election by impatiently looking at his…