“Michael Barone” on The Daily Caller

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has accused “the establishment” of rallying behind his chief rival for the Republican nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (more)

Like a compass in a snowstorm, Michael Barone’s fact-grounded political commentary has a habit of pointing the way to familiar truths. Now writing twice a week for the Washington Examiner and making frequent appearances on Fox News, the American Enterprise Institute scholar uses history, demographics and election data to inform his analysis of America’s constantly changing political identity. (more)

Michael Barone is undeniably one of Washington’s most astute political historians. And his unique insights into today’s political era often include the kinds of statements that make policymakers and the media sit up and listen. (more)

Calling Obamacare a government takeover of health care is the “lie of the year,” according to the self-proclaimed oracle of all things true and untrue in the political debate. That outrageous proclamation from PolitiFact shows that its editors need a Truth-O-Meter of their own. (more)

Big Labor is desperately trying to save besieged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Over 150,000 union members and their affiliates are working for Reid’s reelection throughout Nevada, a massive coordinated effort between the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees Union (SEIU), and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), among others. (more)

Could it have been the new Gallup poll that drove stocks up almost 200 points on Tuesday? That blockbuster survey, regarded by many as the blue-chip gold standard for election forecasting, pointed to an unprecedented Republican landslide tsunami in the generic congressional race. That blowout could include a GOP House gain of 65 to 70 seats, and a bare-majority 10-seat pickup in the Senate. (more)

“Democrats choose Death Panels…” announces Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart with mock horror, “…for themselves!” It’s a very funny bit. The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty plays it straight as she reports: “Ultimately, some candidates, including incumbents, will have to be left for dead so that the parties can spend where it might still make a difference.” (more)

Nov. 3: (more)

There is an “emerging consensus” that we are headed for a value-added tax (VAT) in the United States. But the more optimistic among the experts and pundits believe it won’t come until after the 2012 election and then only if President Obama is reelected. There is no doubt that something will have to be done about the financial crisis and the federal debt—even if ObamaCare is repealed—and many believe the “hidden” VAT is the politically viable solution. Many openly say that the VAT, with its costs hidden in the price of commercial products, is the only way to get the money to pay for ObamaCare. (more)

President Obama’s tax-cheat treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, is trumpeting the fact that General Motors has paid back a small fraction of what taxpayers gave the company, noting that “GM had repaid in full the $4.7 billion balance it owed under the government’s Trouble Asset Relief Program.” “But this so-called ‘repayment’ was just an accounting trick. GM used government bailout money to make the ‘repayment,’ as the New York Times has noted.” (more)

A lot has been made on the left of the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and participate in federal elections. (more)

Abstract: What do conservatives want? To be free, to live virtuous and productive lives, to be secure from threats beyond and within our borders, and to live in a society that sustains and encourages these aspirations: freedom, virtue, safety–goals reflected in the libertarian, traditionalist, and national security dimensions of the conservative movement and coalition. But to achieve these perennial goals, conservatives must communicate in language that connects with the great majority of the American people in all stations of life. Virtually all conservatives hold in common the conviction that there is indeed an "eternal meaning." The recent past has been unsettling to American conservatives, but in the words of William F. Buckley Jr. nearly 50 years ago, "the wells of regeneration are infinitely deep." (more)