She’s starting slow, … If she’s not able to raise sizable chunks of money to come within one-half or one-third of what George W. Bush has raised, people might start raising questions about her viability.

Bush could go with somebody unexpected, like a politician, that could throw the opposition a little off balance.

Honesty is a huge issue because even people who disagreed with his policies respected his integrity.

Instead he remains in the same loop. It takes a certain kind of self-confidence to shake up your comfort level and bring in new people who might challenge you. Bush has his inner compass and...

Bush has had ample opportunity to allow Rumsfeld to make a graceful exit and has chosen not to do it. He perceives that there is no alternative at this point to sticking with Rumsfeld without...

There is a tendency for current news to supplant old news, but the hit he took on Katrina, coupled with the hits he’s taken on other areas — the war, Social Security — is a...

This goes right to the core of his strength and right to the core of the thing that has enabled him to stay plausible despite the political partisan divide in the country. Now he’s in...

Their biggest problem is developing some bipartisan way to deal with Iraq. They’re still alternating between bipartisan rhetoric and impugning the patriotism of those who disagree with Bush. The daily bad news from Iraq doesn’t...

Bush likes people who keep low profiles. He likes to be the star. He doesn’t like competition from within.

A lot of these moves seem to me to be pretty much in keeping with moving chairs around the deck. The title kind of ratified what he was already doing, and that was making a...

Today’s events put him in a position of having to defend the ethical status of [the Bush] administration, to the extent that he is implicated in the activities of Rove and Libby, … It raises...

It’s an opportunity to claim these guys don’t have a case, and it allows the defense to allege that it’s purely political.

It kind of lances the boil.

If majority control of either chamber is lost, it makes him a lame duck overnight. He loses control over, potentially, funding for the war effort, control over ethics investigations, and over the ability to move...

A lot of people are going to conclude if this thing passes, Perry is going to be hard to stop.

The only way she can establish a beach hold of credibility is to try and play into what’s likely to be a kind of anti-incumbent, anti-politician campaign season.

Well, he is more careful, more cautious. He’s protecting a lead. He’s very sensitive to the fact that any misstep is going to be magnified a thousand fold,

She wanted no part of any of this from the get-go when they got married. She’s gotten comfortable to the point that she seems engaged.

I really didn’t expect him to come off sounding like FDR, even though he mixed in some standard Republican proposals like enterprise zones and school vouchers.

The president will try to reassure his base by telling them to watch what she does, to watch what she says, and that she will turn out to be a conservative.

The fight for the soul of the party has not been concluded yet. The centrist Democrats are still alive, they want fiscal prudence, no big social spending programs. The Howard Dean wing of the Democratic...

There’s a financial advantage for every Republican (running for statewide office) at this point. It’s hard to imagine another scenario unless there is some type of Democratic tsunami in the fall.

He’s up against it. The immediate priority is to keep either house from turning to the other side.

It does supplant the memories (of Katrina), assuming he does well.

It’s Libby now, pretty soon it could be Rove, and eventually there will be a danger for the White House that people are going to start asking if it is conceivable that they were acting...

Since her husband is down in the polls, she’s picking up the slack. There’s no one remotely associated with the administration who is at the popularity level that she’s at now.

It is quite revealing of things that had been suspected about which there had been little clear evidence, about his clout inside the White House.

[The rebuilding efforts ahead will take place in the White House as well as along the Gulf Coast, says Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas.] This goes right to the core...

She’s starting slow. If she’s not able to raise sizable chunks of money to come within one-half or one-third of what George W. Bush has raised, people might start raising questions about her viability.

He’s got a position on immigration that puts him at loggerheads with the conservative wing of his party. They’ve been suspicious of him for years, and his position on this issue only adds to that...

It seems what McCain is doing is the classic move that Richard Nixon patented – run right during the primaries, then run center for the general. He’s doing what he has to do. To a...

He was never a leader on controversial social issues, … He has always been more concerned with centrist business positions.

The longer a party holds power, it’s harder to make sure everyone marches to the same tune.

It’s not inevitable that he will stand in gloom forever.

I do see this as a response to a weakened political situation, a willingness to do what it takes to maximize his influence.

Bush is in trouble. One would tend to think the dip is the Dubai ports issue, which has meant a spate of bad news. But there’s been a collection of bad news.

[Rove] has been instrumental in Bush’s rise from the very beginning, because of his connection to politics and his fascination with policy and the close personal relationship that exists between them, … It puts Bush...

My guess is they (the president and first lady) are discussing tradeoffs between SMU and Baylor but that they remain open, officially and personally, if there’s something striking enough to catch their fancy.

The reason that trust is so important has to do with the long-standing belief that you could trust him, even if you don’t always agree with him and don’t understand what he’s doing. The honesty...

Texas comes out smelling like a rose so far.

It’s hard for me to see how he gets back up into a positive rating in the opinion polls. Congress has got no stomach for much of the agenda that he has.

What makes this different from past mistakes is that there are some very long-term consequences here: higher energy costs, and the dislocation of thousands of people for months to come, and the rebuilding of a...

Bush’s standing with the public is a factor in his ongoing effort to influence legislation and to sustain support for his Iraq policy. The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in...

He’s a bold-stroke artist, but he’s always been someone who adjusts his approach to fit the circumstances. His political capital is diminished, and his opponents are emboldened. I think he’s reading the circumstances he finds...

Otherwise, she’s dead right after the Republican primary. Now she lives on to fight another day. This is the only way she can stay alive, and she’s putting the best face on it.

Reading the tea leaves of what they have been saying, there are more changes coming.

What you have is someone with a fundamental distrust of government rolling the dice, cutting taxes and programs, and having it come back to bite him. It shines a spotlight on the fact that many...

He admonished reporters to refrain from long questions and — amid concern that he is overreaching on his own powers — joked that he had signed an executive order to ban them. I sensed kind...

You nail down Texas and you have a growth engine for your political party.

The base in Congress is eroding as members worry about their own electorates, start to back away from him on immigration, start to back away on Iraq and start to consider the president as an...