By Kevin Baker 9/11/12 7:05pm

opinion

Photo illo by Scott Dvorin

Evangelicals Hug the Sidelines as Catholics and Mormons Seize the National Stage

Grab any time machine you can find, take it back to any year from the founding of the Republican party until about 1970, and show the bios of this year’s GOP presidential ticket to the party leaders of the past. No doubt, their first response will be, “Weren’t there any Christians available?”

After all, the very first Republican party platform grouped the Mormons in with slaveholders, labeling polygamy and slavery “twin relics of barbarism” and calling for their eradication. President Lincoln later tried to do just that, signing into law the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which specifically outlawed polygamy in the frontier territories. Its sponsor, Congressman Justin Morrill, called the practice “a Mohammedan barbarism revolting to the civilized world,” and likened it to “cannibalism or infanticide.”

And that’s nothing compared with what some Republicans used to say about Catholics. Read More

By Kevin Baker 9/04/12 7:38pm

Shrinking Brain

(Photoillo by Scott Dvorin)

Those Republican Blue-Collar Workin’-Man Backgrounds Are Beginning to Seem Rather Belabored

The blue-collar success stories piled up so fast at the Republican Convention in Tampa that one would have been forgiven for assuming that the party was made up entirely of the sons and daughters of garage mechanics, fruit pickers and removers of rotting animal carcasses from the nation’s highways.

Over and over again, speakers informed us of how they came from families of hard-working strivers, with parents who fought their way up from nothing. Such tales were almost de rigueur, especially if they involved “starting a small business.”

Before telling us how little girls now approach her with reverence and awe, Susana Martinez, the runaway egomaniac who is the governor of New Mexico, informed us that her mother and father started their security guard business by handing her—then an 18-year-old girl—a “Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum,” and posting her in the parking lot of a church during bingo games. There are those who might assume that this accounts for Ms. Martinez’s decision, as a prosecutor, to specialize in child abuse, but never mind. Read More

By Drew Grant 8/29/12 2:05pm

RNC

11 Photos

lunchboxMMmuppetsL

A Guide to Your RNC Emergency Pack

So you’re at the Republican convention in Tampa, and between the oppressive heat, terrible food and lack of indoor smoking areas (What is this, Canada?!) you’re thinking of just ending it all by throwing yourself between Artur Davis and a superlative. Read More

By Drew Grant 8/28/12 4:31pm

Democratic National Convention

Video

Democrat Cat (YouTube)

‘Yes We Cat!’: The DNC Gets Late Start on Terrible Viral Videos

Come on, Democrats! The Republicans are totally kicking your ass right now in terms of absurd viral content. Sure, we know there’s a lot more cringe-inducing material for them to choose from, as the Tampa convention has already started. But for every Karl Rove James Carville impression, or politicians Tweeting pics with Jon Voight, you guys need to be up there with promoting next week’s CarolinaFest … Read More

By Drew Grant 8/27/12 2:24pm

RNC

Video

Karl Rove is great at impressions (Buzzfeed)

Karl Rove Vs. Bill Hader: Who Has the Better James Carville Impression? [Video]

The one thing they don’t tell you about the RNC in the lame-stream media is how much fun all these guys have! It’s basically a week of comedy routines involving pretty transparently racist/sexist/homophobic humor; like a Dane Cook and Daniel Tosh special that just never ends.

Case in point: who knew that Karl Rove, former political strategist to President George W. Bush, was so good* at impressions? During today’s live interview with Politico’s Mike Allen, Mr. Rove did his best Ragin’ Cajun voice, which could give Saturday Night Live‘s Bill Hader’s James Carville routine a run for its money. Read More

By Felix Gillette 9/03/08 10:40pm

R.N.C. Reminds Journalists in St. Paul to Obey the Police

Who’s a professional journalist? Who’s a citizen journalist? Who’s a marauding anarchist posing as a journalist? In this topsy-turvy era of handheld digital cameras and 24-7 Web logs, who really knows?

Today, the RNC’s subcommittee on law enforcement and public safety affairs sent out an advisory to journalists noting that while the police in St. Read More