Texas Public Policy Foundation
Vice President for Communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market think-tank based in Austin, dealing with state and national policy; writer at large for the Texas Monthly and co-founder of RedState.com, an influential conservative Republican web blog
The Fiscal Cliff, Susan Rice and Political Gamesmanship As promised, President Obama had lunch with Mitt Romney today — no press coverage, no details of their discussion. But just weeks after the election, partisanship is still the word in Washington. After days of optimism about avoiding the fiscal cliffs, hard lines are now being drawn. The President and House Speaker John Boehner spoke by telephone last night, and it appears the President is still insisting that priority number one is the bill to maintain tax breaks for the Middle Class while raising rates on the wealthy. At a news conference this morning, Boehner threw cold water on the President's much advertised return to the campaign trail to win public support.
The Missing Issues in the Presidential Campaign If you're frustrated by the limited number of issues in this year's presidential campaign, you are not alone. For the first time since the election of 1988, the issue of climate change was not raised in any of this year's presidential or vice presidential debates. Do voters know what either candidate wants to do about climate change, Mexico's drug wars, the Eurozone or gun control? Are increasingly polarized voters making their choices on party lines, without knowing where their own candidates really stand? Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 You can see all of our national campaign coverage at KCRW.com/election2012 .
The Missing Issues in the Presidential Campaign No campaign has ever touched on all the important issues, but who decides what's worth discussing and when? For the first time since the election of 1988, the issue of climate change – a subject even the Pentagon says could be crucial to America's future -- was not raised in any of this year's presidential or vice presidential debates Both presidential candidates are being accused of "climate silence." Drug wars, just across the Mexican border, have killed 60,000 people, twice the number in Syria's civil war. What about the Eurozone and gun control? Do the media provide all the ideas? Are the candidates trapped by partisan polarization? We hear a range of opinions.
Why Don't the National Candidates Campaign in the Cities? Tonight's vice presidential debate will dramatize a political pattern that doesn't get much attention: the parties have not contested the cities for years. Paul Ryan epitomizes the ideal of “small-town conservatism,” while Joe Biden comes from hard-scrabble, blue-collar Scranton, Pennsylvania. Has the national GOP given up on the cities? Is there good reason, since the suburbs are where populations are growing? What about those few big-city Republican Mayors? Does their success indicate that their party is missing what could be a decisive contingent of voters? Are you watching tonight's debate? Join To the Point's live chat on our election page. Read along as TtP and special guests Rachel Hastings, W. Kamau Bell, Ted Johnson, Joshua Trevino and others weigh in with their opinions Follow along at KCRW.com/election/2012 . Have something to add? Tweet your own thoughts with the #KCRW hashtag.
After Days of Speeches, It's Time for the Main Event Tonight it's Mitt Romney 's turn at last after a convention that's pushed increasingly toward a Tea-Party version of limited government. Republican delegates and the voters at large will learn if their nominee will still present himself as the pragmatic Mr. Fixit or more of a conservative ideologue. Last night, Romney's chosen running mate, Paul Ryan, debuted on the national stage with a speech that the delegates wanted to hear, including red-meat attacks on four years of Barack Obama 's presidency, at the expense of being called "factually challenged." We compare the rhetoric with the reality, and hear how Condoleezza Rice wowed a convention with a talk about foreign policy. To the Point is broadcasting live from the Republican convention all week. You can find all our coverage at KCRW.org/election2012 .
Paul Ryan and the Race to the White House In less than a week since Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan , it's been called a triumph of Reaganesque proportions -- and a political disaster. In fact, few potential voters know much about the 42-year-old from Wisconsin, a staff member on Capitol Hill until his election to Congress in 1999. But it's already clear that the focus of the presidential campaign has shifted from jobs and the economy to the size and power of the federal government. How radical are Ryan's budget proposals? How much does he want to change Medicare? Will his presence on the Republican ticket clarify the differences between the parties or produce more confusion than ever?
Obama, Romney and Latino Voters President Obama and challenger Romney talk to Latinos. Moody's is bearish on the big banks. The push and pull over Fast and Furious. And all eyes on SCOTUS.
Greek Drama Greece to vote on ditching the Euro. Egypt’s fledgling democracy faces a test. Obama by-passes Congress on immigration reforms. The GAO scorches Fed directors.
Bureaucrats Gone Wild The squeaky clean Secret Service and General Services Administration are ensnared in scandals involving behavior befitting the bad guys they usually investigate.
Obama, Candidate in Chief President Obama took direct aim at presumptive GOP challenger Mitt Romney, and fended off criticisms over a weak jobs report and accusations that he stuck it to SCOTUS.
State Politics and the Gender Wars The National Organization for Women calls it "wonderfully humorous," but Ohio's Democratic State Senator Nina Turner says she's "as serious as a heart attack." She's one of the female legislators in several states who say they're giving the men a taste of their own medicine when it comes to restrictions on abortion and contraception. One proposal requires that a doctor confirm that a man has a medical reason for taking Viagra and knows the side effects before he can get a prescription. Another declares it an act against children for men to "waste" sperm . Supporters ask why anti-abortion laws don't make fathers equally accountable. We hear from them and from counterparts calling themselves "pro-life."
Is Mitt Romney a Winner or a Survivor? Mitt Romney won Arizona big time in yesterday's voting, but he took his home state by only three points — and the final count may show that Rick Santorum won an equal number of delegates. Now it's on to caucuses in Washington State on Sunday -- and 10 states on Super Tuesday next week — with more delegates at stake than the total number in contests so far.
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
