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The Peter Principles: Rumsfeld unfelled By Peter Roff, UPI Senior Political Analyst Published 12/21/2004 4:23 PM WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- There is a growing chorus of mostly Republican legislators and pundits calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's head. They won't get it, and for two reasons. First, their complaints are falling on deaf ears.Rumsfeld has a constituency of one, the president of the United States, and he made it quite clear at Monday's news conference that he is squarely behind Rumsfeld -- and not to give him a shove. Second and, as things go in Washington, more importantly,...

A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth laid waste to John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. The Swifties, as they have become known, used a single television ad -- which initially aired in less than 2 percent of U.S. households -- to undercut the Democratic nominee's principal virtue: his record in Vietnam. The group's activities brought attention to a period in Kerry's life that, well-known and apparently well-documented, had never really be subject to intense scrutiny; certainly not the level of scrutiny given to either President George W. Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard or former Vice...

Peter Principles: A fraud, not a mistake By PETER ROFF WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Though it is not a certainty, the documents produced by CBS News to support the assertions of former Texas House Speaker and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes that George W. Bush was the beneficiary of special treatment throughout his service in the Texas Air National Guard are likely fraudulent. This is no small issue. It is unusual for a contemporary U.S. presidential campaign to give as much attention to the military service of the candidates. The Kerry campaign, as many have said, has been based almost...

The Democratic National Convention in Boston drew to a close Thursday night when Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts spoke to the delegates to accept the party's presidential nomination. It has been a long road for the senator to this point, near the pinnacle of U.S. political power. And, if the previous days speeches and activities are any guide, Kerry's speech will top off the convention like vanilla sauce tops of a bowl of vanilla ice cream. For a party that purports to be as angry as the Democrats are at George W. Bush, the convention has been masterfully free...

The Bush-Cheney re-election campaign fired a shot across Sen. John F. Kerry's bow with the release of the list of some 100 people making up the core of what the campaign calls "Democrats for Bush." The group will be led by retiring Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who committed to support President George W. Bush's re-election bid even before the Democrats had a sense of who their nominee would be. "I was born a Democrat and I expect I'll be a Democrat until the day I leave this earth," Miller said, "but right now this president is the guy I...

That's Politics! By Peter Roff United Press International Senior Political Analyst Publication Date -- March 4, 2004 I received this as an Email Alert item will not be found on Upi.com's site! - TS WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina, Republican Rep. Jim DeMint Tuesday called for radical changes in the structure of the U.S. tax system. He wants the current tax code scrapped in favor of a system that "simple, fair, and promotes savings and investment." "The complexity of our 45,000-page tax code is an enormous drain on our economy, costing...

Finding the truth "The investigation into just how memos written for Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee ended up in the hands of Senate Republicans and the media is not likely to be resolved once the official investigation into how they were leaked is completed," Peter Roff writes. "The matter has helped further inflame the already heated passions on both sides of the aisle. Those allied with the Democrats want blood, implying that the memos were stolen or obtained through computer hacking. Many of those normally allied with the Republicans argue that how they were obtained is less important than...

The Peter Principles: Hitler Democrats? By PETER ROFF, UPI Senior Political Analyst WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Almost every recent national campaign has included discussions of a targeted voter bloc that allegedly represented the key to victory. One year it was soccer moms -- middle- to upper-income suburban women concerned about values issues such as education and abortion rather than pocketbook matters. In another election it was waitress moms -- single, working mothers living from paycheck to paycheck. It was the so-called "angry white males" in 1994. These voters, lately renamed "NASCAR Dads," are auto-race loving, beer-guzzling, cigarette-smoking Midwestern and...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The Tuesday election brought a lot of good news to the Republicans and a lot of bad news for the Democrats. Kentucky Gov.-elect Ernie Fletcher is the first Republican in 32 years to win the governor's mansion. The GOP also captured the lieutenant governorship, the office of secretary of the commonwealth and the post of state agriculture commissioner. The GOP already held the majority in the state Senate going into Tuesday's elections, which did not feature state legislative seats on the ballot. In addition, both U.S. senators and five out of the six members of...

An old political adage advises, "You can't beat somebody with nobody." Actually, it's more of a truism. In every election year there are races that are won or lost well before the contest begins. Candidate recruitment is often a prickly process. When the proverbial blood of an incumbent is in the water, political pets, party favorites and pretenders to a particular office dance around each other for weeks or even months, waiting for someone to make the first move. When an incumbent is strong it is often difficult to find someone credible who is willing to put their name on...

NewsMax.com WiresWednesday, Aug. 27, 2003WASHINGTON – Two events occurring over the last three days have altered the perception and the reality of California's gubernatorial recall. One, former GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon's decision to quit the race, is real. The other, a Los Angeles Time poll showing Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante at 35 percent, leading the pack of potential replacements, may not be. Yet, and it comes as no surprise, the Times' poll has been the focus of attention. In a sidebar published with the poll, Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus explained how the poll was conducted. "The Times...

Peter Principles: Ronald Schwarzenegger By PETER ROFF, United Press International WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- While not quite a tour de force, Arnold Schwarzenegger's appearance in front of the political press corps Wednesday has received rave reviews. NBC called the millionaire movie star "long on charm" while The Washington Post dubbed him "forceful and animated." Cox News Service said he "smoothly fielded tough questions like an old political hand," handling reporters with "aplomb, appearing as much at ease before news cameras as he is before televisions cameras." The veteran actor appears to be growing on California voters as well. An...

UPI National Political Analyst WASHINGTON (UPI) – In 1964 a man named John Stormer wrote a book the central thesis of which was that the American political and cultural elites had betrayed U.S. interests for the benefit of international Communism. The book was not brought out by a big-name New York publisher nor was the author feted on television chat shows. Nevertheless, "None Dare Call It Treason" sold close to 7 million copies – a remarkable feat in the days before Internet bookstores – and was embraced by the same kinds of people who believed that Eisenhower, as John Birch...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich, whose familiar shock of white hair has lately resurfaced on TV screens, knows he's supposed to keep quiet now. Bush administration officials and his own advisers are telling him to stop peddling his inconvenient opinions.</p> <p>But just days after his attack on the State Department prompted a White House rebuke, Gingrich answers his phone and can't resist offering a new blast, this time comparing a deputy secretary of state to a ''squid blowing out ink to hide from predators.''</p>