 | Gubernatorial Smackdown Tonight· Krehbiel Commentary · · Monday, Oct 12, 2009, 5:58 PM · 172 words · from atomapi · shorturl There’s a Virginia gubernatorial debate tonight at 8 PM (see Creigh’s writeup and Bob’s writeup). This one will actually be broadcast on local television (I think this is the first one but I’m not sure) so you won’t have to fight with streaming video to see it. |
| Jim Moran’s Town Hall Meeting· Krehbiel Commentary · · Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009, 9:45 PM · 451 words · from mwapi · shorturl I recorded about half of Jim Moran’s town hall meeting from C-SPAN Tuesday night and just finished watching it. Am I missing something, or are these things a total waste of time? Have they always been this animated or is this a recent development? |
| Deeds v. McDonnell: The First Debate· Krehbiel Commentary · · Saturday, Jul 25, 2009, 7:12 PM · 669 words · from mwapi I thought I’d write a little review of the first debate between Bob McDonnell (R) and Creigh Deeds (D), which hopefully will not sound exactly like the hundred other partisan debate wrap-ups out there. |
| Catherine Crabill and the Erosion of Democracy· Krehbiel Commentary · · Sunday, Jul 19, 2009, 9:24 PM · 407 words I feel compelled to write a little bit about Catherine Crabill (R), who is running for delegate in Virginia’s 99th district against incumbent Albert Pollard (D). Normally you don’t hear much about local delegate races unless you happen to live in the area, but in this case she’s caught the attention of the mighty Huffington Post after her ballot box and bullet box remarks were caught on tape by a tracker. |
| Quick Thoughts on Sarah Palin’s Resignation· Krehbiel Commentary · · Saturday, Jul 4, 2009, 2:31 PM · 319 words Blogs on the right are saying Gov. Sarah Palin resigned because the left’s smear tactics finally got to her, blogs on the left are saying Gov. Palin quit because she’s dumb and irrational. Not too many people are saying what I think is at least one of the real reasons: She can make a heck of a lot more money on the public speaking circuit leading “Team Sarah” around the country than she can as governor, where there are too many pesky ethical considerations. |
| On the Climate Bill and the Worthless Congress· Krehbiel Commentary · · Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009, 9:13 PM · 333 words · 2 comments I’m no fan of Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) - in fact, I typically can’t stand the sound of his voice. But I applaud him for taking an hour to try to call attention to the way Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) Climate Bill (H.R.2454) was recently ramrodded through the House without anyone reading it. |
| Virginia Primaries this Tuesday [updated]· Krehbiel Commentary · · Sunday, Jun 7, 2009, 8:30 AM · 176 words · 3 comments This Tuesday is primary day in Virginia. |
| Obama’s First 100 Days· Krehbiel Commentary · · Sunday, May 3, 2009, 6:22 PM · 388 words I don’t really have much to say about Obama’s First 100 Days. There was some good stuff (stem cell research) and some bad stuff (bowing to that Saudi king). All in all, it was pretty ordinary for a presidential administration, as far as I’m concerned. Most of the entertaining moments of The First 100 Days came from The Daily Show, to be perfectly honest. |
| Virginia 2009 Statewide Candidates · Krehbiel Commentary · · Sunday, Mar 1, 2009, 12:16 PM · 201 words · I finally sat down and made a list of the announced candidates for statewide office in Virginia this year. These are all the candidates I could find, which is not to say there aren’t any more out there that I missed (like third party candidates, which I found zero information about). |
| Political Irony Alert · Krehbiel Commentary · · Saturday, Jan 31, 2009, 10:07 PM · 33 words · Given how much Republicans oppose taxes, you'd think they'd be hailing Timothy Geithner and Tom Daschle as heroes for trying to skip out on some tax payments. Not so much, though. |
| NewsBusters' Broken Inauguration Crowd Analysis · Krehbiel Commentary · · Friday, Jan 23, 2009, 10:51 PM · 867 words · It takes literally seconds to find baseless rumor-mongering in the political blogosphere. It's like an updated version of the old saying about how to tell when a lawyer is lying: How can you tell when a political blogger is spreading misinformation? Answer: He's posting on his blog. |
| Bizarro World · Krehbiel Commentary · · Friday, Jan 23, 2009, 5:56 PM · 91 words · Did we slip into a parallel universe? Everything seems backwards. |
| Inauguration Day [updated] · Krehbiel Commentary · · Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009, 5:58 PM · 263 words · I have a little bit of Inauguration Fatigue, so I don't have much interest in talking about the new president. Everything I said before still stands: My expectations are low, and I can only appreciate the racial significance of the event from an academic point of view. There's no doubt it's a historic event, but it doesn't really affect me on a personal level. |
| Blagojevich, the Transition and the Shoe · Krehbiel Commentary · · Monday, Dec 22, 2008, 5:51 PM · 421 words · I haven't written much lately because I don't have a lot of spare time. Well, that's not exactly true. The more accurate statement is that I don't feel like using up my spare time writing. I tend to be a more prolific writer when a) I'm bored, and b) I've run out of other things to entertain myself. (Meaning, I suppose, that writing is one of my least enjoyable hobbies.) Unfortunately, I have an enormous backlog of home projects to work on right now, and circumstances at work don't allow much time for personal reflection. |
| Candidate Ratings [updated]· Krehbiel Commentary · · Friday, Jan 11, 2008, 6:04 PM · 537 words I don't think a president needs too many skills. Delivering a good speech and bartering with foreign leaders is about it. Other than that, I figure the actual work of running the country is delegated far down the chain of command and the president himself is just a figurehead embodying the spirit of America to the rest of the world. So with those cynical standards in mind, here are my ratings of the contending presidential candidates, in alphabetical order. (Contenders being those that the media likes.) |
| Post-Election Musing · Krehbiel Commentary · · Wednesday, Nov 5, 2008, 7:07 PM · 581 words · 2 comments · I have many post-election thoughts. |
| Poll Results from 2000 and 2004 · Krehbiel Commentary · · Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008, 5:25 PM · 212 words · It's popularly believed (at least by the handful of people that I've overheard lately) that polls don't mean anything, and the actual results of today's election will be far different from what the media says it will be. I tend to agree with that theory, up to a point*. But I was curious to see if that viewpoint bears up against the historical evidence from the 2000 and 2004 elections, which as you may remember turned out to be toss-ups. |
| A Minor Reflection upon the Election · Krehbiel Commentary · · Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008, 5:21 PM · 254 words · 1 comment · For some parts of the country, tomorrow will be a day of joy and relief, and for others, it will be a day of anger and despair. Both of those extremist groups will be flailing around a lot on television, radio, and the Internet in the days and weeks ahead while media producers scramble to further dramatize what is supposed to be the (latest) defining news event of our time. |
| The Cynical Election Roundup · Krehbiel Commentary · · Sunday, Oct 19, 2008, 11:00 PM · 142 words · By the way, I'm purposefully avoiding writing and especially reading further about the presidential election. Thankfully I already have all the information I need to make a decision, because if I didn't, I definitely wouldn't be getting anything useful from television, radio or the blogosphere. I feel badly for anyone actually trying to decide how to vote right now. |
| The Conventions Part 2 · Krehbiel Commentary · · Friday, Sep 5, 2008, 6:16 PM · 178 words · 
I'm not going to lie to you: The RNC was nowhere near as entertaining as the DNC. (Except as seen on The Daily Show.) Here are the all-star speakers from CSPAN's YouTube channel: George Bush (introduced by Laura Bush), Fred Thompson, Joe Lieberman, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, Lindsey Graham, Tom Ridge, Cindy McCain, John McCain. (Remember bloggers, embeds are not valid HTML. Think of the children.) I think I can say with some conviction that I don't fit in with the Republican Party. (I do support national security, fiscal responsibility and smaller government, though.) Modern Republicans at all levels seem to be governed by the overriding principle that passive aggressively baiting opponents into angry, emotional responses -- strolling right up to stand on the line of outright lies and libel -- is a healthy form of discourse. By the way, a lot was made of Obama's Greek columns, but did anyone else notice that McCain's rearrangement of the stage for his acceptance speech sort of resembled a giant penis? Message, Spock? |
| Common Ground [updated] · Krehbiel Commentary · · Thursday, Sep 4, 2008, 8:52 PM · 78 words · I'm going to try to find some common ground with Gov. Sarah Palin. |
| Comparison of VP speeches · Krehbiel Commentary · · Thursday, Sep 4, 2008, 9:56 PM · 698 words · I thought it would be instructive to compare the tone of the personal attacks in the vice-presidential candidate speeches at their respective conventions. |
| Liberal Media Bias Again · Krehbiel Commentary · · Thursday, Sep 4, 2008, 9:49 PM · 69 words · Here's some more of that damn liberal media bias again. I'm glad conservatives are finally holding the media accountable for this foolishness. |
| Secure Your Teleprompter Text · Krehbiel Commentary · · Thursday, Sep 4, 2008, 9:49 PM · 67 words · I was scanning over Gov. Palin's speech as it was pasted at Caroline County VA Justice (original source unknown), and stumbled over this part, which plenty of others have also noticed. |
| Prediction · Krehbiel Commentary · · Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008, 10:31 PM · 24 words · I am going to make a bold prediction that Republicans will praise Sarah Palin's speech (probably using baseball metaphors), and Democrats will not. |
