“processing it through their stunted, trivial prism of partisan loyalty…”

At the Guardian, Glenn Greenwald makes a number of important points about the reaction to US Senator Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster against John Brennan’s nomination as head of the CIA.  From Glenn Greenwald at Comment is Free Last week’s 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA director by GOP Sen. Rand Paul was one of the first – and, from the perspective of media attention, easily among the most effective -Congressional efforts to dramatize and oppose just how radical …

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Republican Party’s challenge: become “a trustworthy governing party again”

For a country that is much derided for the way it exercises its hard power overseas, the US can be commended for one thing above all others: it’s huge devotion to the exercise of democracy. Kevin Anderson of our US panel: Last year, I worked with Tunisian journalists as they prepared to cover their elections. I was touched by their honesty when they said at the beginning of the training that they had never covered an election in which they …

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US Presidential Election: “I believe we can acknowledge the real truth here.”

In The Onion’s version of an op-ed, the Republican candidate for vice-president, Paul Ryan, has a message for Democratic Party attack dogs everywhere – “if we’re able to put aside the talking points for a few minutes and say what we’re all actually thinking and feeling”. I’m young, I’m handsome, I’m smart, and I’m articulate. And that scares the ever-loving shit out of you. You can pretend like you have this thing in the bag, but you know good goddamn …

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Romney,,,,yet another comeback.

It hasn’t been an entirely convincing process but Mitt Romney’s wins in home state Michigan and in Arizona have certainly dented the momentum of the the latest upstart, Rick Santorum. The New York Times has the numbers and observes: His victory over Mr. Santorum here in Michigan was far from commanding, but it was most likely sufficient to dampen the rising clamor from across the Republican Party about his ability to win over conservatives and connect with voters. The tussle …

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Romney newtered in South Carolina…

A comfortable win for Gingrich in South Carolina as the BBC reports. The scale of the win (40-28) must be of particular concern to Romney. RealClearPolitics is particularly damning with it’s three takeaways from SC. 1) There is no good news buried in here for Mitt Romney …2) This is worse than George W. Bush’s loss to John McCain in New Hampshire. John McCain caught Bush off-guard in 2000, but Bush was given an opportunity to regroup. He hadn’t fired any major …

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New Hampshire – a cakewalk for Romney?

Famous last words I suppose but things are looking comfortable for Mitt Romney in today’s New Hampshire GOP primary – the most boring NH primary ever? (from the New Republic.) Here’s the Washington Post on Romney’s achievments: It is commonly argued that Mitt Romney has benefited from a weak Republican field, which is true. And that the attacks of his opponents have been late and diffuse. True, and true.But the political accomplishment of Willard Mitt Romney should not be underestimated. …

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Hello Iowa..

So today is the Republican Iowa caucus. The master of US Psephology is Nate Silver (from Wiki) of the wonderful FiveThirtyEight.com. He think’s it’s tight between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, with Rick Santorum slightly behind but with a bit of momentum. It’s worth a look at the caucus process. From the IOWA GOP site we get: First, the Presidential Poll is taken. At the beginning of your precinct caucus meeting, the Caucus Chairman will call for the Presidential Preference Poll. …

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