Word: republicanized
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Four years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Gustav and Ike have once again brought disaster relief closer to the fore of our national political consciousness. While the delay of the Republican National Convention unveiled a new level of care for the disaster victims, more attention still needs to be paid to these devastating natural events—not only here in the United States, but amongst our Caribbean neighbors as well. In Haiti, 800,000 people require immediate aid, while infrastructure has suffered an estimated $4 billion worth of damage from Hurricane Ike alone. In light of the magnitude...
Surprisingly, the most compelling performance at the Republican National Convention two weeks ago came not from the presidential nominee, but rather from his running mate, the bright new star of the Republican party: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. As most of the international media has either enthusiastically or begrudgingly remarked, Palin did remarkably well that Wednesday night. Demonstrating her dexterity both on stage and on the attack, Madame Barracuda’s speech catapulted her onto the national conservative stage with great gusto, ensuring her place on it for years to come...
...jingoism on the side, peppered with arguments that appeal to visceral reactions at the expense of a nuanced stance on the most important issues facing Americans. This is nothing new. Though simple, this recipe has proven highly seductive—indeed, it has served to make the recent Republican party one of the most effective electoral agents in American history...
...from slipping pet projects into law, although some legislators argue that earmarking is a useful check on executive power, and that earmarks are just a tiny sliver of the federal budget. As a moral matter, McCain's heresy on pork has made him all the right enemies, including shameless Republican porkers like Ted Stevens of Alaska; I was especially sympathetic to McCain's unpopular stand blaming the Minnesota bridge collapse on highway pork, because I took the same position. But as a political matter, McCain is on the wrong side of tens of thousands of popular goodies...
This wasn't a problem when McCain was just an Arizona Senator, burnishing his maverick credentials by blasting the explosion of earmarks under the GOP Congress and highlighting the role of earmarks in GOP scandals. But when he became the Republican nominee, his across-the-board opposition suddenly became inconvenient. Aid to Israel and military housing is funded through earmarks, so McCain had to make it clear he'd protect those programs from cuts. He made a similar exception during his anti-poverty tour in April, when he visited an African-American community in Alabama that got ferry service through...