Dave Helfert

In 1988, George H. W. Bush called his Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis a liberal. Dukakis turned to liquid like the Wicked Witch of the West. "I'm melting! Oh nooooo!" Since then, people on both sides have run from the "L word" like it was radioactive. The Bush campaign poisoned a...

In 1868, the nation set aside the last Monday in May to remember and honor those who had died in her battles. Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, and people placed wreaths and bouquets on the graves of the fallen from the Civil War.

One hundred forty-four years later...

Corporations have no inherent morals. They're created to make money. Period. Expecting them to change their nature is unrealistic. Expecting corporations to put human rights, employee well-being or even national interest before profit is naïve. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, corporations gotta make money. It's what they do.

It's...

Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu said, "All war is deception." In 2012, Republicans have gone him one better. They're denying the existence of a war while they're actively waging it.

The Republican War on Women. That's what Democrats call an onslaught of legislation in state capitals across the...

In three years of street brawl over America's health care system, there's one thing the country still hasn't had: a serious debate over America's health care system.

We have been subjected to everything from snarky BS to thermonuclear rhetoric. We've heard well-crafted talking points and been told...

Australian songwriter, screenwriter and author Nick Cave wrote, "If you're going to dine with them cannibals, sooner or later, darling, you're going to get eaten."

Is the Republican Party "dining with cannibals" and in danger of eating itself? Clearly, former U.S. Senators Bill Brock (R-TN), Jack Danforth (R-MO), Trent Lott...

The Grand Old Party continues to suffer from acute 'electile' dysfunction. A clear majority of Republican primary voters and caucus-goers just can't seem to get up for any one of their presidential candidates. Rather than hard support for any one of the would-be nominees, the party faithful remain divided into...

Poor Mitt Romney must be as frustrated as a neutered tomcat on a kitten farm. He's appeared to have the Republican nomination pretty well locked up for months, but hasn't been able to take a victory lap and start getting dressed for the November election because his primary opponents won't...

On Dec. 15, 2011, one of the longest wars in our nation's history was officially over. There has been a grand total of one parade to mark the event and welcome our troops home.

Nine years of combat -- more than 4,400 Americans killed, 32,000...

Political campaigns frequently have to maneuver through message minefields to position their candidate precisely where they want them in the voters' minds and try to keep them there as the campaign rolls out. "How can we characterize our candidate so the public perceives him/her as: (Pick one) a. the most...

Now that I'm home in Austin for the remainder of the year, I feel a strong duty to step up and do what someone in Texas should have done months ago: apologize for Governor Rick Perry. It seemed presumptuous to do so from Washington, DC, but it definitely needs doing...

We're in an era of Peter Pan politics. If you just believe hard enough, it will be true. Facts may prove otherwise. History may contradict you. Even logic may work against you. But if you just believe hard enough, it will be true.

This allows political players...

Hello. My name is Dave Helfert and I'm an addict. I am completely repulsed by what I hear and see in the endless Republican presidential debates, but I can't help myself. I am helplessly drawn to watch every one I can find, even if they're not really debates. I'm hooked....

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," wrote Desiderius Erasmus nearly 500 years ago. His proverb has been widely accepted, at least until the campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Today, in the GOP land of the blind, the one-eyed man is clearly "out of...

I'll admit to a bit a guilty pleasure watching the Republican presidential candidate debates. Up until now, they've been fairly harmless -- even sort of entertaining, if you have an appreciation for the absurd. It's been kind of fun to watch the candidates square off each week, trying to outdo...

In politics and life, calamity has a way of sneaking up and messing with even the most carefully-crafted plans. Calamity seems to be particularly on the lookout for hubris; for people who think they have everything pretty well saucered and blowed. Like the Herman Cain campaign: humming along, rising in...

I swear to God -- I sat down to write an analytical, keenly insightful post examining both the overt and more nuanced message elements used by the Republican presidential candidates in their last debate. "Remember," I tell my graduate students in political and policy communication, "we're not here to talk...

Fifty years ago, Etta James recorded a song that became her signature, "At Last." And last week, President Barack Obama outlined for a joint session of Congress the American Jobs Act, which appears to be a realistic government response to the persistent 9%+ unemployment rate. At last. After months of...

Did a body that exerts gravitational pull many times its size in today's national dialog simply appear -- fully formed and royally pissed off? Did millions of Americans awake one August day in 2009 spontaneously irate at the fiscal year deficits and national debt? Were they somehow transported to Washington,...

If you can step back a bit from the play-by-play coverage of the scrum over the debt ceiling, you might ask yourself: how in the hell did we get into such a mess? The debt ceiling 'crisis' was transformed from a rather routine fiscal action into the 10th Holy Crusade...