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Friday Talking Points -- Foreign Policy Issues Reappear

Chris Weigant | Posted 12.21.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

It has been a big week on the foreign policy front, with the death of Libya's dictator and President Obama's announcement today that all U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of this year.

Friday Talking Points -- I Am A 99 Percenter

Chris Weigant | Posted 12.14.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

The Occupy Wall Street protest continues. So far, its staying power has surprised and enthused a large swath of America, and surprised and bemused mu...

Friday Talking Points -- Long Live Steve Jobs

Chris Weigant | Posted 12.07.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

[Note: Today's column is seriously disjointed. If you're already sick of hearing what a wonderful guy Steve Jobs was, then I strongly advise you to j...

Friday Talking Points -- What I'd Call "Class Warfare"

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.30.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Welcome back, everyone, to this week's edition of So You Think You Can President?!? Just to remind everyone, this year we've got the Republican field of candidates for the party's nomination.

Friday Talking Points -- Class Warfare? Hardly.

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.23.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

As was entirely predictable, once Obama stood up for taxing the rich folk a wee bit more, the Republicans fired back with what they think is the biggest weapon in their arsenal: screaming "Class warfare!"

Friday Talking Points -- Ads Obama Should Run

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.16.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Obama should run a few ads right now which do not even mention the election. Instead of saying "vote for me!" these ads should say "pass my jobs bill" in as many creative ways as possible.

Friday Talking Points -- Give 'Em Hell, Barry!

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.09.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

President Barack Obama opened his re-election campaign last night with a wowzer of a speech to a joint session of Congress.

Friday Talking Points -- Labor Daze

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.02.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

It surpasses all irony and actually enters into the realm of bitter humor that we're about to celebrate Labor Day when the unemployment rate remains at the sky-high level of 9.1 percent.

Friday Talking Points -- Phony Vacation Outrage

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.19.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

President Obama is on vacation. This fact is being subject to ridicule from Republicans, and their enablers in the media. Which has prompted me to -- in the fashion of Bill Maher -- come up with a New Rule.

Friday Talking Points -- Corporations Are People, Mitt?

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.12.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Iowa straw poll is meaningless. The Republican debate last night in Iowa wasn't as meaningless, but will also soon be forgotten.

Friday Talking Points -- More Tea, Anyone?

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.05.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

With the conclusion of the debt ceiling "crisis," the media pivoted swiftly to their standard larger questions (to them, at any rate) about any politi...

Friday Talking Points -- In The Darkest Depths of Mordor

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.28.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

If I were a hobbit, right about now I would be wondering just how the heck I wound up at the center of this Washington intraparty political fight, personally.

Friday Talking Points -- What Would Ronald Reagan Do?

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.21.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Since the Republican Party now worships at the altar of "Saint Ronald of Reagan," it's always fun to point out the hard, cold fact that Reagan would simply not be acceptable to the Republican Party as it stands today.

Friday Talking Points -- Obama 2.0?

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.14.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

In the midst of the debt ceiling frenzy, nobody seems to have noticed that Obama is negotiating in a markedly different way than what we've seen from him in the past. He is at the absolute center of the showdown.

Friday Talking Points -- Obama's Fourteenth Option

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.07.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

The silly season has come early to Washington, it seems. The root cause is a simple fact of American politics these days -- sometimes, there just can't be transparency.

Friday Talking Points -- Excerpting Obama's Press Conference

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.31.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

An important debate flared this week -- one in which sides were chosen, positions staked out, and invective hurled. I will let that sentence stand in...

Friday Talking Points [170] -- Newt Loses Two, Huntsman Gains An "H"

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.24.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

John Huntsman... whoops, took that from their own campaign materials, sorry... let's start over... Jon Huntsman announced he was running for president, to a giant collective yawn outside the Beltway.

Friday Talking Points [169] -- Weiner Roast

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.11.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Having just gotten back from a trip abroad where the news was dominated by the story of a politician facing severe consequences for his sexual misconduct, I opened up the pages of the American news to find... well, pretty much the same thing.

Friday Talking Points [168] -- Zombie Attack!

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.20.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Now all Americans can breathe a huge sigh of relief because the Centers for Disease Control just posted instructions so we can all adequately prepare for "Zombie Armageddon."

Friday Talking Points [167] -- Happy Friday the Thirteenth, Ron!

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.13.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Ron Paul, apparently, is not a superstitious kind of guy. Tempting fate, as it were, he announced today that he's running for president once again -- on Friday the thirteenth.

Friday Talking Points [165] -- Royally Screwed

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.29.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

This is going to be a somewhat surprising column introduction, for I am about to talk about something I've been absolutely ridiculing all week long -- the royal wedding. And how the American media missed a joke (not to mention a kiss).

Friday Talking Points [164] -- Skynet Attacks!

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.22.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

While it's fun to watch Arnold say things like "Hasta la vista, Baby" through clenched teeth on a movie screen, the fictional war between humans and robots has taken on a new dimension these days.

Friday Talking Points [163] -- The Ads Just Write Themselves

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.15.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

Something the media largely missed in the midst of multiple budgetary battles this week was the fact that this is what bipartisanship looks like.

Friday Talking Points [161] -- April Fools

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.01.2011 | Politics

Chris Weigant

To clarify that title: when you pull a prank on this particular day, you're supposed to reveal yourself as the prankster by yelling "April Fools!" (or...

Friday Talking Points [154] -- Egypt Rising

Chris Weigant | Posted 05.25.2011 | World

Chris Weigant

While Egypt's future is uncertain, the feeling of optimism among the people who succeeded in demanding change is palpable today. It wouldn't surprise me if February 11th becomes an Egyptian national holiday in the future.