Chris Weigant is a political commentator.

He has been a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington’s The Huffington Post since June of 2006, and also writes on his own website, ChrisWeigant.com.

As “Tom Paine” Chris wrote the book How Democrats Can Take Back Congress in 2006, which (while obviously dated now) still has a lot of good advice for Democratic candidates today.

You can email Chris from this page.

Chris lives in sunny Northern California with his lovely wife and (mostly) well-behaved cat.

Blog Entries by Chris Weigant

Friday Talking Points [104] -- Washington Frenzy

18 Comments | Posted December 11, 2009 | 08:11 PM (EST)


Before we begin, I'd like to offer up an apology to Tiger Woods. Last week, I pointed out the hilarity of Woods being a paid spokesman for Gatorade (since their slogan is: "Is It In You?"). This week, Gatorade announced it will be dropping its Tiger Woods sports drink,...

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Assessing Reid's Healthcare Compromise

44 Comments | Posted December 9, 2009 | 07:19 PM (EST)


News broke last night that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has what he thinks is a viable compromise piece of healthcare reform legislation, which he thinks could garner the 60 votes he needs to pass the Senate. Unfortunately, details of this compromise have not been officially announced, and Harry is...

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Random 2010 Thoughts

17 Comments | Posted December 7, 2009 | 08:45 PM (EST)


As 2009 draws to a close, the politically wonky among us begin to turn our eyes towards the 2010 election landscape. Congressional midterm elections will be taking place less than a year from now, meaning (while some might consider it laughably premature) it is time to pay some attention to...

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Friday Talking Points [103] -- Just Do It!

22 Comments | Posted December 4, 2009 | 08:21 PM (EST)


Before we get to all of that boring political stuff, we tune in to what the mainstream media has decided is the official Thing Everyone Should Be Talking About This Week. I refer, of course, to Tiger Woods. Woods, as we all know by now, had an altercation recently involving,...

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Obama Poll Watch -- Scraping Fifty Percent

21 Comments | Posted December 2, 2009 | 07:00 PM (EST)


November wasn't a particularly good month for President Obama in the polls. Not disastrous by any means, but not very cheerful either. Obama laid relatively low in the public eye last month, wanting to be seen (one assumes) as conferring seriously with his advisors over his new Afghanistan strategy. Which,...

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White House Gate Crashing, From Andrew Jackson To Grace Slick

4 Comments | Posted November 30, 2009 | 08:04 PM (EST)


The White House has always been a magnet for all kinds of lunatics, so it's not surprising that a pair of wannabe reality show stars attempted to crash a party last week. What surprised everyone, of course, is that they got in. This shocked the media and politicians alike, because...

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On Whores

11 Comments | Posted November 25, 2009 | 08:15 PM (EST)


I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to address this subject, but an etymological battle in Washington seems to have just been stirred up further, meaning I just have to jump on top (so to speak) of the semantic debate.

I speak of whores. That's right, whores. Prostitutes. Hookers.

...
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Democrats Now "All In" On Healthcare Reform

89 Comments | Posted November 23, 2009 | 06:58 PM (EST)


President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are now, to use a poker term, "all in" on healthcare reform. Some may immediately respond to hearing this by saying: "Hey, Chris, you're just on an endless quest for fresh, new metaphors to describe the healthcare reform effort, after writing about it...

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Friday Talking Points [102] -- Harry Reid's Glacial Progress Grinds On

38 Comments | Posted November 20, 2009 | 08:31 PM (EST)


Our illustrious (cough, cough) White House press corps showed it could get to the bottom of a story with impressively journalistic and probative skills this week. The story that so obviously required multiple questions to President Obama on his trip to Asia? Whether he's eating enough, and whether he's losing...

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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed And An Independent Department Of Justice

38 Comments | Posted November 18, 2009 | 07:59 PM (EST)


This column is really a second installment to yesterday's ("How To Not Give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed What He Wants"), where I took a look at two of the criticism's against Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in federal...

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Health Care Reform Struggle Will Not End This Year

40 Comments | Posted November 16, 2009 | 06:47 PM (EST)


The struggle for healthcare reform is not going to end this year. By saying that, I am not breaking any news about Harry Reid or the Senate, or even about the chances for passage of any particular bill or healthcare reform scheme before New Year's Eve -- rather, I am...

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Friday Talking Points [101] -- Count Me With The Misfits

20 Comments | Posted November 13, 2009 | 07:42 PM (EST)


[Update: Well, it looks like Friday the 13th bit me on the hind end. I wrote the entire beginning to today's column without closely checking my facts. Therefore, it is totally and utterly wrong. Since this is the first time I've made an error of this monumental proportion, I will...

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President Obama At Fort Hood Memorial

Posted November 11, 2009 | 03:40 PM (EST)


[Program Note: I am honoring Veterans Day this year by taking the day off. Instead of a column, today I present the transcript of President Obama's remarks at yesterday's memorial service for those killed in the tragedy at Fort Hood in Texas. I thought it fitting to reflect that any...

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Cold War's End -- The Wall Comes Down

10 Comments | Posted November 9, 2009 | 08:17 PM (EST)


It must be a little hard to understand, for anyone reading this under the age of about 30 or so, the significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. Because one event has become historical shorthand for an immense change in the dynamics of not just our...

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Friday Talking Points [100] -- Whigging Out

26 Comments | Posted November 6, 2009 | 07:34 PM (EST)


I will explain that silly subtitle in a moment, but first we've got to delve even deeper into rampant silliness. If such silliness and unseriousness does not appeal to you, then I strongly suggest you skip down and begin reading with this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award....

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One Year After Obama's Election: Still Smarter...Than The Alternative

22 Comments | Posted November 4, 2009 | 06:57 PM (EST)


The day before I cast my vote for Barack Obama, I wrote a column titled "Barack Obama Is Smarter Than Us." By "us," I meant the legions of us lefty bloggers out here, who second-guessed his campaign on a daily basis for nigh on two years. I included myself...

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Obama Poll Watch [October 2009] -- Flattening Trends

1 Comments | Posted November 2, 2009 | 06:30 PM (EST)


Is the absence of a trend a trend?

Much like Sherlock Holmes' non-barking nocturnal canine, the remarkable thing about President Barack Obama's poll numbers last month was that nothing remarkable happened. Both trendlines were pretty flat for the month, which was the second month in a row of little movement....

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Heart-Stopping Hallowe'en Horror, Left And Right

7 Comments | Posted October 30, 2009 | 06:37 PM (EST)


Happy Samhain, everyone, if that isn't an inherent oxymoron.

For those of you who expected (and were, of course, waiting for with bated breath... what the Hell is bated breath, by the way?) Volume 100 of my weekly Friday Talking Points column, I will begin your Hallowe'en weekend by dashing...

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From The Pentagon To Monty Python: The Internet Turns 40

18 Comments | Posted October 28, 2009 | 07:58 PM (EST)


Tomorrow is the internet's fortieth birthday. Its creators are even throwing it a birthday party at the University of California, Los Angeles, the origin of the first message ever transmitted over what we know today as "the internet," on October 29, 1969. If you're wondering what the first message...

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Media's Credibility (Not Public Option) Is What Is Dead

109 Comments | Posted October 27, 2009 | 10:22 AM (EST)


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today announced that the public option (Charles Schumer's "opt out" plan, in particular) will be contained in the bill he moves to the Senate floor. This is an absolute shock to the media, since they have been obsessing over only one bill out of a...

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