Paul Luvera Journal

Clearly, across the country, there is one primary concern among people and that's the economy: Jobs and taxes. Until that is the main focus and dealt with in a way that is seen as forceful leadership, it's political death for incumbents. George H.W. Bush was seen as unbeatable in 1992, when James Carville coined the phrase "It’s the economy, stupid." Carville posted a sign at campaign headquarters in Little Rock that said: "The economy, stupid" along with other slogans. That…

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The truth is the title is not really accurate. I read a quote from former president Bill Clinton where he was actually talking about the bad decisions of president Bush, but which is exactly the advice I would like to give to president Barack Obama, so here it is: "People think it is better to be strong and wrong rather then weak and right"

The 1948 presidential election is considered by most historians as one of the greatest upsets in American presidential history. Harry Truman defeated the highly favored Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey. The surprise victory happened after Harry started a 31,000 mile train trip across the country in an effort to defeat the clear front runner Dewey. Truman delivered hundreds of "off the cuff" talks to crowds along the trip. He was often greeted with cries of "Give ‘em hell, Harry" after…

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Jason Linkins has a great post in the Huffington Report "Comic Strip Artfully Dissects The Media's Obsession with Polls" posted January 26th. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/comic-strip-artfully-diss_n_437345.html . The comic strip which clearly illustrates what is wrong with almost all of media political "polls" can be found at this link. Thanks to PhDcomics.com for creating it. Volume  44 Number 2 International Society of Barristers Quarterly has reproduced a talk given by Will Durst, political humorist. Here are just a few of his comments: "We have to remember William Henry…

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Permit me one more comment about the Massachusetts election. Drew Westen has artfully expressed exactly how I feel right now about President Obama's refusal to put on the political gloves. Here's part of what he writes in the Huffington Report http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ and I think he says it so well: "The President's steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we have a two-party system, his insistence on making destructive concessions to the same party voters he had sent packing twice in a row in…

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I have written almost nothing about national politics since Barack Obama was elected president, but the election in Massachusetts is just too much to stomach. A Seattle Times article contained a quote that I thought accurately described what happened in that vote: "Scott Brown caught the wave," Massachusetts Democratic consultant Dan Payne said. "People are worried about jobs, angry about Wall Street bonuses, upset about the deals being made for health-care legislation, afraid of nuts like the underwear bomber. Nothing…

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Benjamin Tillman was governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894. He was responsible for doing everything possible to prevent blacks from voting. He proudly said that he "had done his level best [to prevent blacks from voting]…We have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them…" He served in the Senate and was censured after assaulting another Senator. He was also barred from the white house. He became known as "Pitchfork Ben" after…

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 Much of what has happened to America since the Bush administration reminds me of an old movie. In the 1976 movie Network the main character, Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch explains his "calling" to the TV audience during the newscast. He says:  "The voice said to me, ‘I want you to tell the people the truth, not an easy thing to do, because the people don’t want to know the truth’ And I said "You’re kidding. What the hell…

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Well, another one of those self righteous hypocrites got caught doing what they preached against. South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford has admitted having an affair. This was the poster boy for the Christian right. As state senator John Land said about Sanford's disclosure that he had a mistress even though married with four sons: "The position (Sanford) has taken the whole time he's been in office is: 'I'm smarter than the rest. I'm more religious than the rest. I'm more godly than the…

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I’ve been following the bizarre behavior of South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford who disappeared for five days and then suddenly reappeared. Republican Sanford is chairman of the Republican Governors Association and considered a leading Republican presidential candidate, or at least he was until this fiasco. This is the man who rejected millions in federal stimulus money for education and has been outspoken in trying to demonstrate his conservative Republican values. First, his staff put out the story that he was…

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