Some time ago someone wrote this elegy for the last eight years (I'm paraphrasing): "Do you remember how you felt that first time you ever encountered George W. Bush, early in the 2000 campaign? Remember that feeling?"

I do. First, stunned. Then, my head cocked to one side, one...

While you were probably out doing some Saturday-ish thing, some weekendy thing, I was watching the Springfield speeches. I came away fired up -- I'll explain why below -- but was also intrigued by the many goofs and gaffes! I'll call them GOOFFES.

Barack takes the stage right...

It's a truism by now: "The personal is political." The political is personal, too. Very personal.

During the uproar in March over the incendiary remarks of Barack Obama's longtime preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama supporters implored people to be empathetic, saying "Don't we all have someone like that in our...

Because I live in D.C. and am the Ultimate Washington Insider, I had the privilege of witnessing history today. It was a day that I never thought I'd see: A woman candidate for president, who received the most primary votes of any candidate in history, graciously conceding the nomination to,...

In 1999, outside the renowned annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, my friend Kristyne and I watched Rob Lowe, Janet Reno, Geraldine Ferraro, and a bunch of other famous people get out of their limos... and then... Miss Morgan Fairchild walked by. Kristyne yelled, in genuine admiration, "Nice rack,...

Not just because she did us bloggers proud by presenting the unexpected scoop of the campaign, but because she is that rare Barack Obama admirer who can admit he's not perfect.

Obama himself is very good about admitting when he's wrong or when he's made a mistake. Quickly and...

Why have we seen Chelsea Clinton but not Bill in the audience at the recent one-on-one debates, and why don't Michelle Obama and her daughters ever appear at them?

Isn't it strangely prophetic that Barack Obama, in his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope, after admitting his own "unusually...

It was doubly fitting that Hillary Clinton should grab a much-needed ball of flame from Ellen "Yep, I'm Gay" DeGeneres, who made a surprise big-screen appearance onstage yesterday evening during Hillary's fundraiser rally at George Washington University here in D.C. ($200,000 raised, mostly at $25 a pop).

I used to go to Lauriol Plaza in the 1990s when I would visit D.C., when Bill Clinton was president. During the time that my best friend was (briefly) dating Jake Tapper, who had previously (briefly) dated Monica Lewinsky. That's what the '90s were like on 18th Street...

Hi, Happy New Year. So, last night I was walking to Marvin, the recently opened Marvin Gaye-themed Belgian/Soulfood restaurant and bar here in D.C., with my friend Dana (not Dana Milbank, Dana Bash or Dana Priest). We were talking about the utterly fascinating contest that's shaping up on both sides...

Last night I attended "Adopt-a-Candidate" at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre here in the D. of C., only eight blocks from the White House.

This fifth performance by the eXtreme eXchange theatre troupe (founded 2004) explored electoral politics through discussion-provoking mini-plays. Six playwrights were given a choice of...

Last time I told you I am a one-issue voter. Now I will reveal that issue. It is the candidate's astrological sign.

What, do you have some "better" issue you base your votes on? I'd like to hear it, then.

Face it, the zodiac issue is much more important...

Part of the point of Off The Bus is to offer an alternative to the lazy horse-race mentality of the media establishment covering the '08 presidential election.

It is my goal here to OUT-LAZY them. I am offering up a high-tech, low-effort, totally unscientific snapshot of how the...

I don't know much about art, so I can't always speak very intelligently about it, but I know what I like.

I've always loved "Truisms" by pioneering word artist Jenny Holzer. It's a series of declarations, some of which are mildly disturbing although (because?) part of you...

Hi! I'm still working on becoming not just a Washington insider (I live and work inside the Beltway, so by some geographical standard, I am already an "insider") but the ultimate Washington insider. It started as a joke, but now that I'm starting to realize what a negative connotation the...

You won't have old Karl to kick around anymore! When he and Bush boarded Air Force One together this morning, all that was missing was the dramatic Nixonian "I'm outta here" two-armed wave.

Rove was the ugliest man in "Hollywood for Ugly People" (D.C.). I wonder if he would be...

This story about John McCain is full of cringeworthy details about a man drenched in flop sweat, reduced to hitching rides with his supporters and missing events because the lowly commercial flights he takes were cancelled. Very "ghetto," Senator! But it says in the article, "He disputes that anything...

"Today we stand amidst the ashes of our hopes." -- Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh, July 1967

My grandmother worked at the (now demolished) landmark Hudson's department store in downtown Detroit, and was waiting for a bus when she left work on a July evening in 1967. The bus to...

The day after Scooter Libby was convicted in March, I was at my gym in the morning, and there were a couple of middle-aged white guys in the locker room, and one said loudly, "Man, Scooter got hosed!" I got the feeling, maybe because this is Washington, that the guy...

Last night the USA Network had a banner onscreen announcing that a "Fred Thompson Marathon" was going on, and they were showing only episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that feature the former Senator from Tennessee who fancies himself an actor and presidential material. Why?

Here's my slim...