Lanny Davis

The attacks on Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker (D) by the more vitriolic liberal commentators for what he said about Bain Capital on this past Sunday’s “Meet the Press” are just as indefensible as the Republican Party’s cynical and dishonest attempt to exploit and distort what the mayor actually said during the program. (more)

I believe President Obama got it right last week when he told ABC’s Robin Roberts, “For me personally … I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” (more)

Virtually every poll in the last two weeks — Gallup, Democracy Corps, USA Today, Rasmussen, New York Times/CBS — shows that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are in a dead heat nationally as well as in the nine battleground states. (more)

Attorney General Eric Holder has been the subject of vicious partisan personal attacks on his integrity over the failed “gun walking” operation, “Fast and Furious.” The hypocrisy of the double standard by congressional Republicans is obvious. (more)

Sometime in 1973, I first heard the name Charles Colson from my father at the dinner table. My dad, who always told me he “hated” President Nixon, told me that night that he also “hated” a man named Charles Colson, who had the title “special counsel to the president.” He told me about a sign on Colson’s wall in the White House: “When you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.” (more)

One of my favorite scenes from the classic musical comedy “Fiddler on the Roof” is when the lovable lead character in the Russian Jewish village of Anatevka, Tevye, is trying to referee an argument between two men. (more)

For anyone interested in understanding why one of the world's great institutions of democratic government — the United States Senate — has become so dysfunctional and paralyzed by partisanship, Ira Shapiro’s recently published book “The Last Great Senate: Courage and Statesmanship in Times of Crisis” (Public Affairs, New York 2012) should be mandatory reading — not only by pundits and political science classes, but by every member of today’s Senate. (more)

Among the most hypocritical aspects of certain purist Democrats who call themselves liberals is their willingness to attack any Democrat who veers even slightly from liberal orthodoxy. (more)

As someone who has been personally attacked by Rush Limbaugh many times, I yield to no one in my strong disagreement with Limbaugh on virtually everything. I consider his opinions too often hateful, inaccurate and despicable. That is my opinion. (more)

The definition of tax reform, in today’s polarized politics, goes something like this: (more)

Watching four hours of the so-called documentary on the eight years of the Clinton presidency gave me the sensation of a report about a glass of water that is 75 percent full and 25 percent empty. The PBS presentation, I am guessing, spent 75 percent of the four hours reporting on 25 percent of the story, i.e., the issue of “scandal” in the Clinton presidency, omitting the substance and policy achievements of the Clinton presidency, i.e., issues that affected the lives of most Americans and that they care about most. (more)

“So now we have a problem, Governor,” said Gov. Romney’s mythical Spinmeister. (more)

The Republicans are making a big mistake by assuming they can successfully depict Barack Obama as an out-of-the-mainstream leftist. They are making it easier for him to move to the center, where he actually has been for most of his years in politics. (more)

President Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night framed the issues in a way that polls show commands a majority of the American people’s support. Unless Republicans find a way to reframe the debate — and I don’t see how they can — or change their position on the rich contributing more in tax revenues — and I don’t see how they will — Barack Obama holds a big advantage on the issues heading into the general election. (more)

It might be unseemly to bring this up just as Mitt Romney celebrates his win in New Hampshire on Tuesday night and seems to be a strong front-runner for the GOP nomination. But the story of his putting his dog in a carrier on his car roof for a 12-hour family trip is spreading again on the Internet and disturbs me the more I learn about it. (more)

It doesn’t matter if Mitt Romney wins the Iowa caucuses tonight. He is about to experience a severe political hemorrhage over his refusal to disclose his tax returns. (more)

The “Renewed Nationalism” speech that President Obama delivered on Tuesday set important themes for his 2012 campaign and offered the president a chance to win back the vital center of American politics. His focus on fairness, income inequality and the plight of the middle class is his best chance to overcome what is, at best, a disappointing record on the key issues of the economy and the hemorrhaging national debt. (more)

Barack Obama’s odds of being re-elected are better today than any Republican could have possibly imagined six months ago. Recent polling shows he is ahead of all the Republican candidates in the pivotal swing state of Ohio, and he leads or is in a dead heat in the national polls against every Republican candidate, including Mitt Romney — this despite his low grades on handling the economy and the 9 percent unemployment rate. (more)

Below is a hypothetical conversation between myself and Herman Cain: (more)

Since before the first Republican debate, I have consistently stated in TV and print interviews that Mitt Romney would be the strongest Republican candidate against President Obama. (more)