I wrote this book because in my view leading American historians have committed the anachronistic fallacy of removing Washington from the context of his life. They have done so out of protest against racial injustice--an understandable motive, but one that casts the Tuskegeean as a foil to African-A...

Greg and I will just have to disagree about whether the economic collapse did more to doom McCain's candidacy than the nomination of Sarah Palin. (Though while we are on the subject of V for Viral I have to personally plead guilty to sending everyone I know of voting age a link to this video which I...

I salute Greg Mitchell both for the clarity of his argument and the boldness of his claim. What were the key moments in the campaign: Bill Clinton's plunge into campaigning for Hilary and John McCain's decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate. Why did Obama win? Because he alone understood t...

I agree with the importance to Obama's election of the "new media" but it seems to me that, however it is delivered, it is the message itself that determines whether or not any media is effective in delivering it. If a candidate knows what it is he wants to do, what he believes is best for the count...

Hello readers, and thanks to all for participating in this weeklong discussion on the 2008 race for the White House - and what it means for the future of politics and political campaigns in America. My new book, Why Obama Won , is my third on historic campaigns. A few years ago I wrote books for Ran...

I've really enjoyed reading all of your terrific posts. I agree that George W. Bush doesn't meet the definition of a demagogue. Just because he undermined America's image in the world, weakened America's commitment to human rights, and failed to be a sound economic steward and a competent wartime co...

Interesting discussion so far, but I must say there's an air of unreality here. And I smell more than just a whiff of collective amnesia that makes me want to shout out to my friends here - "Wake up! Are we forgetting what just transpired in our beloved land of the free and home of the brave during ...

Thanks, Mike, and thanks to Lila and the others at TPMCafe, for inviting me to participate in the discussion of Mike Signer's Demagogue. I want to pick up on some of the points Mike raised in his post, and raise an additional question that's related to Mike's book and the problem of demagoguery in P...

First of all, thanks so much to everyone -- Kyle Longley, Douglas Kmiec, Stephen Knott, and Michael Cohen, so far -- who've posted here and made this what I think was a really interesting debate and discussion of the Reagan myth. My last post is rooted in current events -- and the frustration that m...

Now that we come to the end of the discussion of the myth of Reagan which I have found stimulating (and I genuinely thank the TPMCafe and Will for inviting me to participate), particularly the different viewpoints represented, we now might ask for Will to start writing a new book on the mythology of...