David Schrag examines his navel and the world around it
It was a beautiful morning in Boston and I had no appointments, so I decided to venture down to Boston Common to see first-hand what all this Tea Party fuss is about. I had visions of doing some Daily-Show-esque interviews … putting some of these folks on the spot to see how well they could [...]
Of all the things President Obama said last night, the one that would have made me stand up and applaud was this: [W]hat frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. We cannot wage a perpetual campaign where the only goal is to see who can get the most embarrassing [...]
OK, now I’m a little (??) obsessed with this viral video thing, even to the point of creating a new video in response to my first one. The “other version” of the Hitler-Coakley-Brown video has now received well over a million views. But not only on DrRonPaul2012’s page. The same video has been uploaded to [...]
I had a brilliant idea last night as the gloom of the Martha Coakley debacle set in. I was trying to imagine how President Obama must have been feeling as the returns were announced, and I thought of that scene from Downfall that has been endlessly parodied on YouTube. (Quick side note: I had to [...]
Just a wee bit of historical perspective on the election results from the “overwhelmingly Democratic state of Massachusetts” – some gubernatorial election results: 2002: Mitt Romney (R), 50%; Shannon O’Brien (D), 45% 1998: Paul Celluci (R), 51%; Scott Harshbarger (D), 47% 1994: Bill Weld (R), 71%; Mark Roosevelt (D), 28% 1990: Bill Weld (R), 50%; [...]
A friend-of-a-Facebook-friend said today that he’d voted for “real change” in the form of Scott Brown, the Republican senatorial candidate in Massachusetts. I asked, “real change from what to what?” He hasn’t yet responded. A vote for Scott Brown is not a vote for real change. It’s a vote for no change. And somehow that [...]
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 Subject: Mayoral term limits To: Mark.Ciommo@cityofboston.gov, John.R.Connolly@cityofboston.gov, Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov, Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov, Sam.Yoon@cityofboston.gov Cc: Maureen.Feeney@cityofboston.gov Today I received an e-mail from the Committee to Elect Sam Yoon suggesting that I contact you regarding term limits for the Mayor of Boston. While I am a fan and supporter of Mr. Yoon, I believe he [...]
Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA) is running for the Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy. One of his campaign strategies – a very cool one, if you ask me – is to hold teleconferences with potential voters. They’re like town hall meetings but without the signs and screaming. I’ve been in on two calls and [...]
In his confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts famously remarked that nobody ever went to a ballgame to see an umpire. It was and still is a horrible analogy – being a Supreme Court Justice is NOTHING LIKE being an umpire – but I could not help recalling those words today. What people really don’t [...]
A year ago I speculated about how one could commit voting fraud. This scheme would have worked at my polling station today, too. Not good.