I have a new book that came out a few weeks ago on presidential leadership, aptly titled “Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions that Changed the Nation.  I’m claiming that as my excuse for not blogging much on this site since the 2008 election. I mention it because the final two chapters of the book are Reagan [...]

Looks like Christmas is coming early this year! From The AP: Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham says the former Alaska governor invested herself deeply and passionately in the project. He says the book contains fascinating detail. The 400-page book is the first for Palin, who has been an object of fascination since Republican Sen. John McCain [...]

General Tony Zinna was on The Leonard Lopate Show Tuesday promoting his new book Leading the Charge. Now, there’s a haircut you can set your watch to. The man is thoughtful and well-spoken. He says what he means and means what he says – Orwell would be proud. Listening to him was a pleasure. Particularly [...]

At the center of President Obama’s overhaul strategy for Wall Street are the “stress tests” which will be applied to all financial institutions. But how accurate will the test results be? That will depend on whether the treasury takes off-balance-sheet assets into account, experts say. This is Danielle Ivory, reporting from the American News Project [...]

More free press for Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book that Obama is claiming will be his guide to building a robust, bi-partisan cabinet. Here she is with David Gregory explaining Lincoln’s leadership and Obama’s intentions to stock his cabinet with campaign rivals… First Biden. Then Hillary. And now we get word of Bill Richardson. But who [...]

Sure, it’s just a book tour, but we all know what it’s really about. From NY Times: Mr. Huckabee’s new book could offer him a fresh platform to weigh in on the emerging debate over the Republican Party’s future. His Web site describes it as: “Huckabee’s amazing story, in his own words s — from [...]

Check out this delightfully nonsensical bit of jealousy… There has been speculation about this which I’ve ignored, no doubt because there are enough policy reasons to oppose Barack Obama and I don’t want to feed into what sounds, at first blush, like Vince Fosteresque paranoia. But I’ve finally read Jack Cashill’s lengthy analysis in The [...]

In their acceptance speeches both candidates endeavored to define and promote the “change” they represent. Obama offered an unremarkable litany of liberal Democratic policy positions. McCain offered an unremarkable litany of conservative Republican policy positions. So each candidate, acutely aware of a “palpable public mood for change“, wrapped themselves in the rhetoric of change, then explicitly pitched the proposition that the same partisan bromides that Republicans and Democrats have been flogging for decades represent the change that the public seeks. Tough sell.

“Everything is f**king spin.” – John McCain talking about the Bush White House in Bob Woodward’s new book. Now that is the type of stuff I wish I heard publicly from McCain. Because if he spoke out like this more often (maybe not as harshly) he’d probably lose some of the base, but how many [...]

In American politics, polarization and participation are not just linked, they are one and the same. When you argue against “bad” political polarization, you argue for decreased political participation – you argue, in effect, for political apathy.

Here we go… The same publisher that distributed the 2004 best-seller that took aim at John Kerry’s Vietnam service is planning a summer release of what’s scheduled to be the first critical book on Barack Obama. Conservative journalist David Freddoso’s “The Case Against Barack Obama” will offer “a comprehensive, factual look at Obama,” according to [...]

And not only does it promise to be fairly flattering portrayal, but the author is detailing why evangelicals (especially young ones) may swing for Obama this election. From Politico: The forthcoming volume from Stephen Mansfield, whose sympathetic “The Faith of George W. Bush” spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in 2004, [...]

On the President’s tendency to lie to himself… On misleading the American people… On being part of the propaganda campaign to sell the war… On knowing that the book would have an impact… Frankly, this doesn’t sound like a guy who’s afraid of speaking his mind. I wonder if he will indeed testify, especially about [...]

The full 15 minute interview. I’m watching it now, and I’ll post thoughts when I’m done. Part 1: Part 2 (after Dan Bartlett): I don’t know about you, but this seems like the same Scott McClellan I saw for years behind that podium. So apparently, two things set him off. First, when he found out [...]

That’s been the consistent message out of the White House loyalists, and none were more revealing than Ari Fleischer’s appearance on CNN this evening with a panel of reporters. He basically suggested that McClellan had not really written many of the strongly worded accusations, and even talked of a phone conversation he had with him [...]

That’s what one Dem congressman wants… Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding the devastating revelations made in his new book on the Bush Administration’s deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War. [...]

Now it’s turning into a he said/he said scenario, and Rove is clever enough to know that he can muddy the waters enough simply by throwing a few big rocks into this pond…like when he says McClellan sounds like a left-wing blogger. From Hannity and Colmes last night… Folks, how out of the loop does [...]

After the administration threw Scott McClellan under the bus in the Plame affair, you knew this had to be coming. But most revealing is his inside info about the Iraq war. Politico details some of his assertions: • McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war. • He says the White House [...]

Ron Paul supporters are nothing if not passionate, and they’ve pushed his book to the top spot on the biggest online retail site in the world. From CNN: “The Revolution: A Manifesto”, released earlier this month, is currently No. 1 on the Web site’s list of top sellers, besting even Oprah’s latest Book Club selection. [...]