Words matter. These are the best Chuck Todd Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I’m an avid University of Miami Hurricanes fan. I hope to come to the day where I can still do some stuff for NBC and somehow integrate it with an RV tour of the South for college football. Luckily, my wife, she’s a Florida State alum, so I wouldn’t have to talk her into it. I think our kids would think we’re weird.
The most successful politicians are the ones who embrace their best traits while turning their liabilities into loveable attributes. And yet, many a candidate tries to run as something they aren’t simply because the strategy dictates it.
Dick Cheney and Al Gore have redefined the role of the vice president in the minds of the public. It should be a big job, beyond simply checking the health status of the president.
The big post-election story if Obama wins the presidency will be in the hands of the ethically embattled Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He’s not very popular, and has a chance to use his power to appoint an Obama replacement as a step in the direction of political rehabilitation.
With the likely nominations of Barack Obama by the Democrats and John McCain by the Republicans, one of these two parties is headed for a 2009 crack-up that could prove as messy as any party civil war in recent history.
One of the more bizarre games I played as a kid was something called ‘kill the man.’ It was a cross between football and rugby, which found the person carrying the ball a target of some hungry tacklers. I still don’t know why we enjoyed the game because it was impossible to win.
Obama’s ability to use his personality to push folks, whether on Capitol Hill or in Europe, means that he has to stay popular. What happens if he loses that popular mandate?
America has a love-hate relationship with celebrity. We love to follow celebrities, but we also love to mock them. And secretly, we believe we’re better than they are.
The hardest thing to do in politics is campaign as someone you aren’t. People can spot an imposter from a mile away.
From the Medicare prescription drug plan to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of No Child Left Behind, President Bush presided over a major expansion of the reach of government.
One could argue the GOP made no progress on limiting government in their four years of total control from 2002 to 2006. If anything, government expanded like never before.
Arlen Specter left the GOP because it is a lot easier to win in Pennsylvania as a Democrat than as a Republican. It is that simple. For folks on the Right to brush this off as some sort of ‘good purge’ is extremely naive.
Acceptance speeches can make or break presidential candidacies. It was Al Gore’s 2000 acceptance speech that relaunched his candidacy and nearly saved him. John Kerry’s speech and overall ineffective convention nearly sank him in 2004 (though he was almost saved by the debates).
Voters definitely believe Washington is corrupt – but most think it’s bipartisan.
It is the ’94 race which in many ways allowed Ted Kennedy to become his own man rather than the ‘third brother.’ He had to reach down and win it on his own.
Forget the historic nature of his election having to do with skin color – Obama has an opportunity offered to few presidents: the chance to set the course of the nation for decades, if not generations, to come. Who knows: perhaps in the near future, our grandchildren will spend money with Obama’s face on it.
McCain needs Hillary to run because that’s what keeps the Republican coalition together. She helps unite the Republican base.
The unknown has undone many a president, and no matter the popularity of an Oval Office occupant, any and all presidents are vulnerable. Of course, one thing that seems to set Obama part from his recent predecessors is his ability to keep an inner calm about tough issues.
Every election matters. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn’t understand politics. That said, not every election sends sweeping messages that are easy to discern, but every election provides lessons worth learning.
Some day, the public might actually revolt against the undemocratic system of seniority that allows Congress to keep the old ways of Washington ingrained into the culture of Congress.
We may like to think politics is a battle of ideas and that the best idea wins out. But that’s not true in most elections. Most elections are about the worst ideas losing, not the best ideas winning.
Presidents seem to fall into two positive categories: they’re one of us, or they’re heroes. Both McCain and Obama probably see themselves as potential heroes – presidents who will be looked up to, not presidents everyday people will remark are ‘just like me.’
