Merrie Spaeth This morning, Salon, like every one else, is offering Joe Biden and Sarah Palin advice about how to conduct themselves during tonight’s vice-presidential candidate debate. Only, Salon’s quoting a local with substantial experience: longtime Republican operative Merrie Spaeth. As Salon notes today, the Dallas-based GOP strategist helped prep…
A mustache-loving Friend of Unfair Park sends along this note upon his return from lunch: I just sat near Karl Malone at Houlihan’s in Addison for lunch. Trying to figure out why he’s here, I came across this article about a possible comeback in Boston. With training camp ramping up,…
You say this is not Sarah Palin? Hunh, coulda sworn. This time around, the Canadians have asked SMU political science prof Cal Jillson — the print journalist’s go-to guy for all things political — for his preview of Thursday night’s veep debate, wherein Joe Biden will try not to say…
Rep. Jeb Hensarling By now, you’re no doubt aware that the House voted against the $700-billion bailout, with several prominent Texas Republicans voting against the president. Among those leading the charge: Dallas’ Jeb Hensarling, who, as the debate began on the House floor, called the plan one that would put…
State Rep. Tony Goolsby, former Unfair Park-er Matt Pulle just called you a chicken, because you refuse to debate Democratic challenger Carol Kent. And because you and your people won’t call Matt back — which, when you think about it, “makes sense,” Matt writes. “If you’re afraid to be seen…
Two days before Washington Mutual became the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, board member Tom Leppert received more than 2,000 shares of WaMu stock, increasing his holdings to more than 21,000 shares. The price listed on the SEC filing — from yesterday — of $3.20 per share valued his…
But, seriously, who’ll be his running mate? Randy Galloway? The BBC News blog Talking America today has an interview with James Meredith, the first black student ever to enroll in the University of Mississippi back in 1962. The reason for the interview is that Ole Miss is located in Oxford,…
Today, Penguin Press will publish Pulitzer Prize-winner Barton Gellman’s Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, which, according to the Washington Post writer’s Web site, “describes a man of deep conviction and remorseless will who reshaped his office and his times.” Last night, Gellman was on The Daily Show, and he recounted…
Kimberlee Hewitt The Washington Post said it would happen, and it did: Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued Dick Cheney, insisting that the vice president comply with the Presidential Records Act that demands he release his all records, including his rare collection of klezmer 78s, following the…
Not to get too politicky on you today, but a couple people have breathlessly asked me, “Didja see Palin’s speech?!” In a word, notevenonesecond. But I did watch Venus vs. Serena and Rafael Nadal outlast Mardy Fish at the U.S. Open. Why? Because I’m more than a tad skeptical that…
Kay Bailey Hutchison For those who missed it yesterday, Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy joined MSNBC’s Chuck Todd for a little Sarah Palin bashing they thought was off-mike. During their chat, Noonan, Ronald Reagan’s former speechwriter and a Wall Street Journal columnist, called John McCain’s decision to run with Sarah…
Cal Jillson Cal Jillson, political science prof at SMU, must have a Batphone in his office — that, or a cell-phone implant. Man’s quoted more often than the Bible, Mark Twain and The Big Lebowski combined. Just this week you can find him talking about local law enforcement groups’ endorsement…
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Took a while to find a Dallas connection to John McCain’s freshly announced running mate, first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but, bless The Wall Street Journal, there it is at the very bottom of a lengthy, just-posted profile: Gov. Palin’s judgment was called into question by…
Alex Jones Dallas-born, Austin-based Alex Jones — the gravely voiced conspiracy theorist behind Infowars and this interview with Mark Stepnoski — has turned his attention toward Dallas’ Only Daily, which, he insists, libeled him yesterday in a posting by WBAP-AM (820)’s Mark Davis. Davis, who contributes to the paper’s op-ed…
Harold Simmons Harold Simmons spent about $3 million on that Barack Obama attack ad, and Politico.com’s making sure he’s getting his money’s worth. Because moments ago, Ben Smith posted the second missive Obama’s counsel, Robert Bauer, sent to the Department of Justice in which Bauer demands an investigation into the…
Two notes this a.m. concerning the Texas delegation’s afterthought treatment at the Democratic National Convention. First, from KERA-FM (90.1) via Capital News Connection, this report in which Dallas City Plan Commissioner and Cesar Chavez Tollway fan Neil Emmons explains why the Texans are stuck 45 minutes away from the convention…
Caption-writing contest time, if you don’t mind. Lance doesn’t. He’s tough. Every year, The Washingtonian surveys some 1,700 top aides on Capitol Hill — “the administrative assistants, press secretaries, legislative directors, and chiefs of committee staffs” — for its Best & Worst of Congress issue. And, turns out, U.S. Senator…
On the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Barack Obama’s campaign is busying itself with the handiwork of Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who, as we noted yesterday, financed an ad linking the Democratic presidential candidate with former Weather Underground-er William Ayers. As Time noted late this afternoon,…
Harold Simmons, a vision in white Lots of Harold Simmons mentions in the news today; it started last night, actually and one can’t imagine why, judging from the ad after the jump, which links Barack Obama with former Weather Underground-er William Ayers, a subject discussed and more or less dismissed…
Central Texas’s own Chet Edwards So, yeah, everyone’s suddenly thinking that maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama’s going to announce Congressman Chet Edwards as his running mate, maybe as early as this afternoon — and if it’s on Fox, it must be true! To which Gawker notes this very funny hypothetical…
Jonathan Neerman At the end of the day yesterday, Jonathan Neerman, the recently installed chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, called Unfair Park to talk about that Lupe Valdez-is-a-chicken video. Neerman said, sure, Dallas County GOP absolutely made it — because, see, they were pretty sure the Dallas County…
Around 7:30 this morning, I hopped on the YouTubes to see if someone had posted a video of local interest — do it every day. Maybe a page or two into the search this a.m., I came across the video in which someone dressed in a chicken outfit taunts Dallas…
