Fox News and GOP Are Not in the Same Business
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 15th, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Fox News and GOP Are Not in the Same Business
Froma Harrop, RealClearPolitics
The curtain has dropped on the tale of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher famous for refusing to pay grazing fees for use of public land. He became a hero to anti-government zealots who oddly failed to see this second helping of taxpayer largesse (the modest fees he didn’t pay already reflected a government subsidy) as the action of a taker, not a maker. But Bundy provided an especially picturesque story custom-made for conservative Fox News. Here was a rancher on a horse, mad at the government and surrounded by a band of do-not-tread-on-me-or-my-Medicare-benefits supporters. All this and…
The Two GOP Establishments
E.J. Dionne, RealClearPolitics
WASHINGTON — The language commonly used to describe the battle going on inside the Republican Party is wrong and misleading. The fights this spring are not between “the grass roots” and “the establishment,” but between two establishment factions spending vast sums to gain the upper hand. Their confrontation has little to do with the long-term philosophical direction of the GOP. Very rich ideological donors, along with tea party groups, have been moving the party steadily rightward. Political correctness of an extremely conservative kind now rules. This explains the indigestion some…
Pryor Turns to Seniors in Ark. Senate Resurgence
Caitlin Huey-Burns, RealClearPolitics
At the start of the 2014 election cycle, Mark Pryor’s future in the Senate was widely considered as dead as the raccoons at the Gillett Coon Supper, an annual fundraiser and gathering spot for Arkansas pols. The two-term Democrat’s seat is viewed as a top pickup prospect for Republicans, who hope to control the Senate next year. Given President Obama’s low approval rating and the state’s red hue, Pryor seemed doomed. But recent national polls that show him leading once-formidable GOP challenger Tom Cotton have given hope to Democrats — and have observers wondering how this…
Newt vs. Tip: Partisanship at Its Apogee?
Carl M. Cannon, RealClearPolitics
Thirty years ago today, a heated argument between Democrats and Republicans raged on the House floor. The two primary antagonists were Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. and Newt Gingrich — and when it was over the latter was nearly as well-known in this country as the former. The donnybrook, which lasted over several days, was ostensibly about U.S. foreign policy. But what was really at stake was which political party controlled the microphone in the House of Representatives — and in this country. And a look back at the extraordinary discussion reminds us that…
