Walter Shapiro

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I will confess that I did not recognize the name Baghdadi when the initial story broke last night. And I think I am a bit above average in my news consumption. So it seems a stretch to equate this with bin Laden in terms of political bragging rights. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Mine has me going to the slammer: "So let's assume 12:30. No worries." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@david_darmofal @BrennanCenter No, I don't. But, even as an ardent campaign reformer, I fear the numbers are low. Possible exception: Mega-wealthy candidates like Bloomberg funding their own campaigns. As I recall, Bloomberg's polling numbers dropped close to both his elections because of recoil over spending. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Joe Biden's campaign gave wink-and-nod approval to the first Super PAC ever for the Democratic presidential primaries. Moral: "Candidates may support campaign reform in the theory, but self-interest is what prevails in practice." My @BrennanCenter column: https://t.co/hJ2LqTamXa — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @jazayerli: And I was in bed before the final out, and I don't even live in the Eastern Time Zone. Good job, baseball. Forget casual fa… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@linda_feldmann @csmonitor @andrewkirtzman @LeeMiringoff There is always a Richard Nixon connection somewhere. It is an eternal verity of politics. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Especially since nobody in he Astros organization has ever referred to it as a way to taunt women sportswriters. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @beckytallent: My dad taught me that we don’t boo opposing teams or players. We respect everyone’s ability. I have abided by that my who… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ElizabethDrewOH @davidfrum And watch them grossly overpay. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @RyanLizza: I spent some time in Montana and Iowa with Steve Bullock, the 2-term governor who won in a Trump landslide state and passed… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Baseball questions: 1). Is cricket a faster sport? 2). What does Fox have against showing regular season statistics… https://t.co/vG6kLZKecx — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@AlexCSinger16 Can't convince you and it's almost time for the World Series. But repeated trips to Iowa and NH have underscored for me how undecided most likely Democratic voters are. Which is why I think the polls measure very shallow sentiments. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@AlexCSinger16 I envy you your certainty. If cable TV changed everything in politics, we have only four contested Democratic races to consider (2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016). If it's social media, it's only the last two. So I am a little dubious about the Iron Laws of History. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@AlexCSinger16 An awful lot can happen in the seven weeks between the debate cutoff and the Iowa caucuses. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DKarol @ktumulty @TheDocSportello I asked Santorum two weeks before he won the 2012 caucuses when he seemed mired in the single digits, "Don't you ever get discouraged?" Truth is that since the rise of social media, we have only had two contested Democratic races (2008 and 2016) so, of course, we lack precedents. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

I stand with @Peggynoonannyc: "I am for whatever will hold America together, full stop. I see it breaking in a million pieces and my every political impulse has to do with wanting it to hold together, to endure, to go forward in history and the world." https://t.co/YjamXXdNhs — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@TheDocSportello @DKarol @ktumulty You may well be right. But don't underestimate the torrent of free media coverage a candidate who defies expectations will get in the week after Iowa. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@TheDocSportello @DKarol @ktumulty A small point: For the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party is going to release the raw vote totals on entry as well as the arcane delegate equivalents. That opens up the chance for more tickets out of Iowa for candidates that get, say, 10 percent. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DKarol @ktumulty @TheDocSportello Let me try a few more examples: Hart in IA and NH in 1984, Rick Santorum in IA in 2012, Kerry hitting rock bottom in December 2003. Yes, they were smaller fields, which creates higher poll numbers. But the pool of relevant campaigns seasons is also small. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ktumulty @TheDocSportello In the Newsweek that came out the week of the 1984 NH primary, I wrote, "Mondale's lead in New Hampshire appears unassailable." So I too am an expert on journalistic PTSD. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Alex_Roarty Problem is that Tom Steyer would be likely to be one of the five or six candidates. And another problem is that candidates on the cusp (Booker, Klobuchar, Beto) will be forced to spend money too early in a desperate effort to move the polls. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Love the sentence in your column: "There is no magic number one can divine that would ensure an obviously serious candidate such as Klobuchar gets in and Steyer is kept out." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Memo to Tom Perez: Will you please let the voters in Iowa and NH winnow the field? Stop raising the debate requirements every month. It will keep worthy candidates offstage and allow Tom Steyer to find new ways to game the system. https://t.co/GTusbjBkiI — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@jpitney @PaulBegala Thanks. This was the first thing I thought of. But you brought the exact quote to light. It all comes back to Karl Marx: "History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

A 20-year-old comic strip that has proven more prophetic than most newspaper editorials: https://t.co/JBCuv7D89Q — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ProfCiara @WSJ I have always been moved by the Trump family’s concern with ethics. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@HelenKennedy @RadioFreeTom And isn't it great that the DNC put her on stage for the last debate and kept Steve Bullock and Michael Bennet in Unperson Land. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Rarely am I awed by an essay on our era. I felt that way in the mid-1970s when Tom Wolfe wrote "The Me Decade." While I don't want to put anything in that class, I am awed by @katherinemiller and her effort to explain this weird timeless Trumpian decade: https://t.co/Qzpt5Qybfm — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

If anyone wants to protest Trump's appearance by boycotting Game 5 (if it's necessary), I think I can find a worthy recipient of their Nats' tickets. https://t.co/51eyDYH63M — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JRubinBlogger Please understand that I too believe that Biden has trouble in Iowa, that Buttigieg is moving up and even a true long-shot like Klobuchar has a chance. My poll point was to stress how volatile Iowa and NH are. — PolitiTweet.org