Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz - Tom Bevan

Tom Bevan, Co-Founder and Executive Editor of www.Real Clear Politics.com ("RCP") debates and discusses national public policy issues and politics with show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz. RCP states on its website that it "culls and publishes the best commentary, news, polling data, and links to important resources from all points of the political compass and covering all the important issues of the day."

Topics discussed include John McIntyre's (the other co-founder of RCP) idea to develop and promote averages of a diverse set of polls to summarize, fairly and objectively, the results of a large number of political polls; the top two or three issues that distinguish Obama from McCain, and vice versa; Bevan thinks of himself as a "registered Republican," but he "votes for the person," and he is not "a straight ticket person"; why McCain "is not paying the price," for supporting an unpopular war in Iraq; was McCain's comment that he doesn't know much about the economy an "inane one," that might cost him the election.

Additional topics include Presidential candidates balancing benefits and costs when making decisions, which means they will change positions sometimes to reflect changes in circumstances and facts; does McCain often look for a fight with the Republican national base? Has McCain gone the "wrong way," on too many issues important to his base to narrow the "enthusiasm gap," with Obama? Is campaign finance reform an "abomination of the 1st Amendment." Did Obama recently diss the DLC by skipping its event in Chicago. Is Obama "just another pol," as exemplified by his shift on the Telecom bill.

Additional topics include "left media bias by most of the broadcast and cable outlets," as exemplified by the Chicago media's and Obama's traveling media's softball treatment of Obama in a recent Chicago Presser, as well as their relatively "hands off, approach to Obama during




Both Bevan and McIntyre attended and graduated from Princeton at the same time, but they did not meet until they returned to the Chicago Metro area, and they started RCP in 2000. The rest is history, as they say.




RT/29:10

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• commentary
• analysis
• political
• commercial
• news