by Charley James
Alright, so it’s been an unpredictable election year. When the primaries began, Hillary Clinton was the heavy favorite and John McCain was all but dead in the water with Fred Thompson’s entry in the race being eagerly awaited by conservative and moderate Republicans alike. And something may yet happen – the oft-cited, much [...]

by Sharon Kyle
Shortly after the Katie Couric-Sarah Palin interview, a slew of reports hit the Internet assessing the VP candidate’s performance. Try as I might, I was hard pressed to find a single report that looked favorably on Palin’s delivery. Slate’s Christopher Beam said that Palin resembled, “a high-schooler trying to BS her way through [...]

 
by Charley James
Living in the Eastern Time zone, it was well after midnight before I got to bed after watching the debate and flipping the dial to see what the Commentariat would pronounce as post-debate truth, wisdom, justice and The American Way. 
As usual, all of the pundits got it all wrong: Most called it a [...]

by Charley James
I’ve finally found a positive quality Sarah Palin might bring to the vice presidency: She would be the first veep guaranteed to be witchcraft-free, thanks to Rev. Thomas Muthee.
This would be a refreshing change from Dick Cheney who clearly is a warlock; it’s one of the few things that can explain adequately his [...]

 
- by Charley James
On Today in 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the “Checkers” speech. Appearing on flickering, black-and-white sets across America, his wife seated next to him like the stage prop she’d play for the rest of Nixon’s life, he denied allegations of [...]

by Charley James
I don’t understand.
Republicans came to Washington in 2000 with a solid majority in both houses of Congress and on the Supreme Court, allowing them to steal the presidency. If you ever wanted to know what a pure Republican Party government unhindered by Democrats or anyone else might look like, this was the moment.
After [...]

As a journalist the story intrigued, as a citizen it outraged. 
For seven years Michael Duniho, a quiet, determined and dignified man had been sending quarterly or so e-mails, quietly seething about the conduct of elections in his new home of Tucson (Pima County), Arizona. Though I never have, Michael, (we all call him Mickey) has [...]

Finally, an intelligent, fight-back e-mail against the hundreds of smears…
-If you’re a conservative and you’re selected for a job over more qualified candidates, you’re a ‘game changer.’ 
-Black teen pregnancies? A ‘crisis’ in black America.
-White teen pregnancies? A ‘blessed event.’ 
-If you grow up in Hawaii you’re ‘exotic.’ 
-Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential ‘American [...]

(Ed. The M.O. for Republicans is if you cannot definitively answer the charges, attack the one making the charge. Charley has been getting both barrels from the right including Mary Malkin, Hennessy and others. This is his thoughtful reply.)
By Charley James
Anonymous sources are the bane of a reporter’s existence, and have been at least since [...]

John McCain has abandoned any premise of controlling his campaign, his party or even his own destiny. As Charley James writes today, he has chosen an obscure, mean-spirited and vindictive running mate who, as more and more reporters scrape back the patina and veneer of, seems frighteningly similar to the current resident of Navy Observatory [...]