Rob Portman
On Monday, Will Portman wrote a piece for the Yale Daily News on coming out as gay and how his decision inspired his father Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio, to endorse same-sex marriage. A lovely essay, it nonetheless made for strange circumstances. READ MORE >>
Mitt Romney’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign
During the past two weeks, the dynamic of the 2012 presidential election has shifted, and President Obama has moved out to a modest but significant lead against Mitt Romney. No developments in the economy or the world can explain this shift. That leaves the campaigns themselves. And during the past two weeks, Romney’s campaign has revealed itself to be stunningly incompetent. READ MORE >>
Portman’s Shaker Problem
One of Mitt Romney’s biggest challenges as presidential candidate may be to win public acceptance of a Protestant sect that is poorly understood by a majority of the public. Its practices, historically, have differed dramatically from those of mainline denominations, particularly during the 19th century, when its members engaged in odd sexual behavior and upended the conventional family structure. Even today, other Christians are apt to regard it as a friendly but decidedly alien cult. I refer, of course, to Shakerism. READ MORE >>
Portman’s Shaker Problem
One of Mitt Romney’s biggest challenges as presidential candidate may be to win public acceptance of a Protestant sect that is poorly understood by a majority of the public. Its practices, historically, have differed dramatically from those of mainline denominations, particularly during the 19th century, when its members engaged in odd sexual behavior and upended the conventional family structure. Even today, other Christians are apt to regard it as a friendly but decidedly alien cult. READ MORE >>
The Case For Rob Portman as Romney's V.P.
I have no idea whom Mitt Romney will choose as his running mate. But I’m fairly certain about who he ought to choose: Rob Portman. Here’s why. READ MORE >>
Mitt Romney, Crybaby Capitalist
Rapacious capitalists ain't what they used to be. "Law? What do I care about the law?" the shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt (1794-1877) famously bellowed (in legend, if not in fact). "Hain't I got the power?" His son William (1821-1885) demonstrated a similar indifference to public opinion when he said, "The public be damned.... I don't take any stock in this silly nonsense about working for anybody's good but our own, because we are not." The banking tycoon J.P. Morgan (1837-1913) held the same view, and didn't hesitate to articulate it. READ MORE >>
Mitt Romney, Crybaby Capitalist
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How Ohio Democrats View Rob Portman
When Lyndon Johnson endorsed path-breaking civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, he knew that he was irrevocably changing the Democratic Party. As he was affixing his signature to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he reportedly remarked to an aide that he was “signing away the South for 50 years.” President Obama’s decision to endorse gay marriage may yield a similar outcome by weakening beyond repair his party’s links with less educated, socially conservative white voters. READ MORE >>
