Walter Shapiro

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@fordm It's complicated but Nixon also probably won the popular vote in 1960. Kennedy got credit for the all of the votes for segregationist electors in Alabama who cast their votes for Harry Byrd of Virginia. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Maybe the horse would not have been disqualified if it had been called Minimum Security or Realistic Security or Security Theater. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@fordm I would prefer picking the president by popular vote. But I am also realistic that this system will not be changed for decades -- and, in the age of Trump, I place my energies elsewhere. Here's a piece I wrote on the topic: https://t.co/sI3AQvU0El — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @JillDLawrence: .@MrWalterShapiro imagines an alternative universe in which Trump is a master builder instead of a malevolent tweeter ht… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

That may be the unofficial slogan of the Trump Administration: "Despite Ethics Questions." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@DickPolman1 You win the award for the best "In Cold Blood" tweet of 2019. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Maybe 20 years of quietly doing good works and then (and only then) should he think about a comeback. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It must be so galling to de Blasio that the mayor of a city 1/80th the size of Nee York is running strong for the nomination and he’s lumped with Tulsi Gabbard. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@johnastoehr The Philadelphia Story. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@zengerle I'll take any red line I can get in these troubled times. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

There's a Less is Moore joke in there trying to get out. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It's Infrastructure Week at my @rollcall column. And, yes, it will be followed by Can't Pay for It Week, despite low interest rates. But the larger question is should the Democrats take a good deal from Trump on roads and bridges. I say "yes." https://t.co/mEyrOJI9O8 — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

It's Infrastructure Week at my @rollcall column. And, yes, it will be follow by Can't Pay for It Week, despite such low interest rates. But the larger question is should be the Democrats take a good deal from Trump on roads and bridges. I say "yes." https://t.co/mEyrOJI9O8 — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@johnastoehr @Graniteprof I haven't seen Bernie Sanders on the stump this time around, but I haven't read any complaints about a dramatic age-related decline in his speechmaking skills. People age very differently, which is why I worry about generalizations. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@johnastoehr @Graniteprof Relevant question: Can Biden rediscover a sense of self-discipline with a microphone in his hand now that he has the best shot of his life to become president in 2021? I don't have an answer. But "What It Takes" does gush over Biden's Kennedy-esque speeches. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Graniteprof Not my year for making predictions. But Biden's image of being genuine and spontaneous may give him far more latitude with rambling speeches. That said, Biden's sense of rhetorical self-discipline has not been his strong suit for decades. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@Graniteprof A bit more relevant politically will be how compelling a speaker Biden will become in three or six months. It is worth recalling that a major motif of "What It Takes" was the power of Biden's oratory in 1987, even when he was lifting his lines from Neil Kinnock. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@billscher @tomwatson By that definition ("charting new territory for their parties"), wasn't Bill Clinton, the New Democrat, an Ideas Candidate in 1992? — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@david_darmofal @daveweigel With that embarrassment, I have decided that this is my last campaign music 2020 tweet. Thanks for the correction. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@daveweigel You mean that finally there is campaign where I can recognize the play list? I haven't had that thrill since "Don't Stop Worrying About Tomorrow" with Clinton in 1992. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

Once Law Day was ridiculed as a pathetic attempt to create a U.S. holiday to compete Soviet May Day. Now Law Day should be a subject of ridicule over the gap between its idealistic precepts and the reality of Trump the Lawless. Why not just make it Roy Cohn Day? — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@JohnAnzo @StuPolitics Or the purported genius of recruiting Ted Strickland and Evan Bayh for comeback tours. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@mpdillon I remember Kerry speaking in frozen NH fire houses in December 2003 because the firefighters were about his only supporters who hadn't bailed on him. I don't know why smart people, who should know better, get sucked into premature certainty. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

C'mon. Many of them are the same folks who declared McCain dead in mid-2007 after he ran through his early money. The truth is....you never know and humility should be the watchword. Especially nine months before Iowa and NH. Just ask Hillary Clinton circa 2007. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

RT @newrepublic: “Taking it all in with a quarter-century’s hindsight, I mostly felt a burst of melancholy over the 1990s as the decade of… — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@powellnyt @SethAMandel Despite minimal vote totals, Sharpton's 2004 presidential campaign played a major role in solidifying his political legitimacy. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@ClydeHaberman @mviser I put Oscar Wilde's last words at the top of my list of "Too Good to Check." — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

The refrain on all Trump appointments -- it only takes four GOP senators to block someone. — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

In my first big piece for @newrepublic, I grapple with the Clinton years: "The 1990s were the best years of our lives—and Clinton, still locked in a fetal crouch as he faced the outsize legacies of Reaganism, lacked a vision to take advantage of them. " https://t.co/pQ3YUdWy6y — PolitiTweet.org

Walter Shapiro @MrWalterShapiro

@HelenKennedy It was wonderful. Up there with "The Ferryman" as the best play on Broadway. — PolitiTweet.org