The Political Whore

By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

The notorious Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara spent his entire life fighting the evils of capitalism and murdered anyone who did not agree with his socialist agenda. Yet here we are today, in 21st century America, where any hipster can walk into a Target super-store and buy a Che T-shirt and a “Yes We Can” poster. Apparently the college students wearing the shirts missed the chapter on irony in English 101; they must have been attending a “hope & change” rally. Politics, it seems, has become just as much of a battle of commercialism as PC vs. Mac or Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi.

There is no doubt that this is a distinctly 21st century phenomenon. Mass media and explosion of the internet into every household has only fueled America’s consumer culture, to the point where even our political candidates must be marketed and sold. If Billy Mays were still around, and the Sham-Wow guy didn’t beat up a hooker, odds are good we’d see them recruited for campaign ads in 2012.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo Contributor

Actually, I could’ve titled this post “Are Republicans afraid of homosexuals?” But I’m going to pick on the conservatives for now.  Read the rest of this entry »

The first 100 days of the president’s administration is usually used as a report card to judge its success or gauge where it might be for the rest of its term. However, the closing of President Obama’s honeymoon may not even be the news headline as reports of Arlen Specter switching parties overshadows the president. This completely arbitrary 100th-day-mark might underscore more the status of the Republican Party than anything else.

Watch Arlen Specter’s statement after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout modern political history, just about every time there has been an epic dirty trick played, Roger Stone was nearby. Who tipped the cops about Eliot Spitzer frequenting hookers? Stone. Who got a hand in Nixon’s dirty tricks? Stone. Close to Lee Atwater? Stone. The Michelle Obama “whitey” tape rumors? Stone. Bumrushing the Miami-Dade County 2000 presidential recount, halting it and catapulting George W. Bush to the White House? Stone. The alleged Charlie Crist sex tape? Stone again.

Here’s my favorite all-time description of Stone, from Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker earlier this year:

While the Republican Party usually claims Ronald Reagan as its inspiration, Stone represents the less discussed but still vigorous legacy of Richard Nixon, whose politics reflected a curious admixture of anti-Communism, social moderation, and tactical thuggery. Stone believes that Nixonian hardball, more than sunny Reaganism, is John McCain’s only hope for the Presidency.

Now, The Daily Beast’s Bejamin Sarlin has an interview with Stone in which the GOP operative says he is sorry for his role in pushing FLA over to the W column:

“There have been many times I’ve regretted it,” Stone told me over pizza at Grand Central Station. “When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got to think, ‘Maybe there wouldn’t have been a war if I hadn’t gone to Miami-Dade. Maybe there hadn’t have been, in my view, an unjustified war if Bush hadn’t become president.’ It’s very disturbing to me.”

Stone voted for Bush in 2004 as well (“John Kerry was an elitist buffoon”) but he pulled no punches in his assessment of the last eight years. Stone’s own political philosophy is libertarian, and he says it conflicts with Bush’s penchant for expanded executive power.

“I think across the board he’s led the party to its current position, which means losing both houses of congress and now the White House,” Stone said. “How can you be conservative and justify wiretapping people without a warrant? We’re supposed to be the party of personal freedom and civil liberties. Big brother listening in on your phone calls—I got a problem with that.”

Ya think, Roger?