Category Archives: Political Commentary: Campaign 2008

What Now? | HughHewitt.com | 11.10.08

For those tuning in late, I was no supporter of Barack Obama’s candidacy.  But the election is over.  Senator Obama is now President-elect Obama.  Here are some thoughts on what now: * Yes, I remain (as I was during the campaign) worried that President Obama and the Democratic Congress will raise taxes on entrepreneurs and […]
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Obama’s Defensive Rhetoric – Bad Sign for His Closing Campaign | HughHewitt.com | 11.03.08

Perhaps it’s my imagination, but as we enter the last 48 hours of the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s rhetoric on the stump is sounding increasingly defensive. That is a bad sign for his prospects.  Here’s why. I wrote speeches – in three cases many, many speeches — for Republican candidates or key surrogates (for […]
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The Economics of 2008: A Choice of Middle Classes | HughHewitt.com | 10.27.08

When it comes to visions of the middle class, the 2008 presidential campaign is not between Barack Obama and John McCain so much as between Andy Stern and Joe the Plumber. What does that means for our country and its future? Andy Stern is head of the Service Employees International Union.  By Senator Obama’s standard […]
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John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe the Plumber | HughHewitt.com | 10.20.08

From the aftermath of former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to George Stephanopoulos’ repeated dismissals of Newt Gingrich on ABC’s “This Week”, yesterday the Sunday talk shows all but declared the election over.  Can John McCain still win even so?  Yes.  Joe the Plumber is part […]
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Obama’s Cluelessness in Our Time of Surprises | HughHewitt.com | 10.13.08

With the MSM turning a blind eye to his every policy gaffe, Barack Obama has made more than his share of commitments that – if he acts on them – could shatter a fragile economy and undermine US security. From raising taxes on entrepreneurs (in an economy in which entrepreneurship is among the few remaining […]
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Everything Old is New Again | HughHewitt.com | 10.01.08

This is the week the new-style campaign turns old. Early Monday morning the Obama campaign released a TV spot slamming John McCain for his involvement in the Keating Five scandal.  The attack itself is a scandal.  McCain was totally exonerated by the special counsel appointed for the case. But that hasn’t stopped Obama, who, of […]
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Palin v. Obama: Who’s Better Suited for National Security Leadership? | HughHewitt.com | 09.15.08

In the Category 100 hurricane of mainstream media sarcasm, dismissals and denunciations that has blown over the number two spot on the GOP ticket this week, one simple fact remains standing amidst the debris: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is better suited to take responsibility for the national security of the United States than is Illinois […]
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McCain’s Successful Convention: How So and Why | HughHewitt.com | 09.08.08

By last night (Sunday) it had become clear:  Despite almost exactly opposite reporting in the mainstream media, the Democrats two weeks ago had their second failed convention in a row.  It was the Republican convention that proved a huge success.  How so and why? First the “how so.” Politicians live and die by polls. A […]
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Where Does the GOP Go From Here? | Wall Street Journal | 09.04.08

When John McCain accepts the Republican nomination tonight, he will address a party that doubts itself. In the hall and around the nation Republicans are asking, why does every generic ballot show the GOP losing to the Democrats? Is it just the normal public fatigue after eight years in control of the White House and, […]
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McCain’s Challenge: Redefine the Campaign as Inside Change Blame Versus Outsider Reform | U.S. News & World Report | 09.02.08

U.S. News asked speechwriters from past Republican administrations to weigh in with their thoughts on John McCain’s acceptance speech. Clark S. Judge wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan. Republican nominee-to-be John McCain has a chance to redefine the 2008 presidential race on Thursday—if his convention acceptance speech lives up to the standard set so far by […]
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Thursday v. Friday: Set Piece Battle v. War of Maneuver | HughHewitt.com | 09.01.08

Last week the nation witnessed two top-of-their-game presidential campaigns at work, campaigns as stunningly different as they were impressive — different in ways that told a great deal about each candidate. On Thursday night the Obama campaign mounted a show unlike any ever seen in a presidential election: a massive stadium filled to the top […]
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Barack Gatsby | HughHewitt.com | 08.25.08

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Denver, the media is full of profiles of the party’s soon-to-be nominee.  Who is Barack Obama? they ask, an odd question.  After 19 months of campaigning shouldn’t they know?  But reading the stories, it is clear that those covering him – despite the worshipful reporting — are […]
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Let the Contest Begin | HughHewitt.com | 08.18.08

By Monday next week, all eyes will be turned to Denver and the Russian roulette convention that the Clintons have now forced on Team Obama.  The GOP presidential nominating meeting starts the following Monday.  So this is the last week of the long primary and post-primary season before the traditional campaign begins.  How does the […]
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New Face for the Veepstakes | HughHewitt.com | 08.11.08

Following a Thursday Wall Street Journal editorial sizing up the field, the GOP veepstakes is now officially in full swing.  According to the Journal, no obvious candidate is to be found.  Maybe that’s because the editors weren’t looking in the right place. In the Journal’s assessment, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Alaska governor Sarah Palin […]
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Obama’s Bad Trip | HughHewitt.com | 08.05.08

In the Reagan speechwriting shop, we had a rule about what today is called the mainstream media: The media does not just get things wrong; they get it EXACTLY wrong.  Barack Obama’s recent overseas trip is an example. Widely reported as a triumph, the tour in fact marked the worst week in the Democratic candidate’s […]
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Dealing with the D-Word | National Review Online | 04.04.08

Two days after the 1988 Democratic National Convention, President Reagan tagged the GOP’s opponents with the “L-word” — the unutterable, to the Democrats, name “liberal” — and more or less ended Michael Dukakis’s race for the presidency as it began. This year the Democrats are on their way to attaching to themselves a new fatal […]
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World Without Walls | National Review Online | 01.28.08

As the president prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address and the candidates work Florida and the Super Tuesday states, the 2008 election is — perhaps without any major player noticing it — shaping up to be about one central question: How does America deal in a world without walls? All the […]
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