Dan Quayle

The New Republic performed a service for journalists and bloggers the world over by posting Jacob Weisberg's oft-cited March 12th 1990 article "The Veep's Keeper" in which he dubbed then-chief of staff to the vice president William Kristol "Dan Quayle's Brain." (Mr. Weisberg's article comes via a post by Christopher Orr on TNR's blog The Plank.)

The piece is a little dated—references to John Sununu and the invasion of Panama are unlikely to ring bells with younger readers—but it definitely sheds some light on Mr. Kristol, who is now a New York Times columnist who writes spectacularly pro-Sarah Palin columns for the paper and shows his fondness for the Republican vice presidential nominee in his magazine, The Weekly Standard, and during TV appearances.  read more »

When it comes to Barack Obama’s running-mate search, the question of “when?” is now being asked just as often as “who?”

The Politico is reporting that Obama’s decision is expected this week – but that it also might come “as late as this weekend,” or even “the beginning of next week” at the Democratic convention. Which doesn’t really narrow it down at all. Marc Ambinder, meanwhile, notes that Obama is scheduled for a down day in Chicago this Friday and that “Democratic advance folks are being called to Chicago,” suggesting an end-of-week announcement could be in the works. Or maybe not.

It’s worth noting that the last time a VP choice was announced during a convention was in 1988, when George H.  read more »

There’s plenty of of noise coming from the right these days, dire warnings to John McCain about the terrible consequences that will befall him if he fails to appease the Republican Party’s base with his VP selection. These voices come in response to McCain’s apparent openness to choosing a pro-choice running mate – possibly Tom Ridge, but more likely Joe Lieberman.

His dilemma calls to mind the one faced by George H. W. Bush 20 years ago. Bush, much like McCain now, was not particularly liked or trusted by the right (although, unlike McCain, he had spent the previous eight years bending over backward to alter this reputation).  read more »

Theories abound about what qualities Barack Obama and John McCain should be looking for in a running mate. Does Obama need someone who'd bring instant credibility on national security and foreign policy to off-set McCain's charges of inexperience and naïveté? How important is it for McCain, 24 years Obama's senior, to fill out his ticket with someone considerably younger?  read more »

In the much-coveted Dan Quayle primaries, the former Vice President reportedly predicted that the Republican nomination will go not go to front-runner Rudy Giuliani or one-time party favorite John McCain.

The nomination, according to Quayle, will go to Mitt Romney [sixth from bottom].

How can this man be wrong?

-- Azi Paybarah

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Long before the release of An Inconvenient Truth, the new film about climate change starring Al Gore  read more »

Life as a Republican intellectual can be rewarding in many ways-the money is pretty good-but it has  read more »

Wanting to see how the remoralizing of America was going, Iwent to George W.  read more »

When you learned to duck and cover in second grade, when you practiced air-raid drills during the Cu  read more »

Early in John Adams' long retirement, he sat down to write his memoirs, which never got far, but did  read more »