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Commentary by Susan Estrich

Most Recent Releases

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September 3, 2010

"Ladies Slug it Out" by Susan Estrich

That was the headline on Thursday's Drudge Report. And it is as good a summary as any of what happened Wednesday night when incumbent California Sen. Barbara Boxer met her challenger, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, in their first debate.

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September 1, 2010

The Generic Race by Susan Estrich

Gallup is out this week with a new poll showing the generic Republican beating the generic Democrat in House contests by 10 points.

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August 27, 2010

Ready, Fire, Aim by Susan Estrich

House Minority Leader John Boehner has a brilliant idea.

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August 25, 2010

Leaving Home by Susan Estrich

For the past two weeks, I've been traveling across the country interviewing law students who have applied for jobs at my law firm.

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August 18, 2010

Watch Out for Haley Barbour by Susan Estrich

The Drudge Report headline declaring that "Murdoch Gives $1 Million to Haley Barbour" is not technically accurate.

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August 13, 2010

Birth Days, Death Days By Susan Estrich

My friend Kath would have turned 60 this week.

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August 11, 2010

Coffee, Tea or Me By Susan Estrich

That's what the ads used to say, back in the day when air travel was considered glamorous, stewardesses were required to be young, slim and beautiful, and people actually "dressed" to take a plane. As for me, I thought it was glamorous just to go to the airport, much less get on a plane.

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August 6, 2010

Real Democrats By Susan Estrich

"Are you really a Democrat?" someone wrote to me recently, after I wrote a column criticizing the president's decision to go on vacation in Martha's Vineyard while so many people -- especially in the tourist-challenged Gulf -- are suffering.

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August 4, 2010

Does He Get It? By Susan Estrich

The conventional wisdom these days is that the best shot for Democrats heading into the November elections in marginal districts is for the president to raise money and lower his profile. Just send checks. Events after 7 p.m. Closed to the press. This is not an election Democrats want to "nationalize." Better to keep it local. Better to run as your own man or woman, not as the president's best friend.

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July 30, 2010

Chelsea's Wedding By Susan Estrich

No, I wasn't invited. I shouldn't be. I'm a friend of her parents. They aren't getting married. She is. The rule that invited guests should have a personal relationship with the bride or the groom is only the latest example of how good the Clintons (and the Mezvinskys) have been at the most important job in the world: being parents.

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July 28, 2010

Her First Demonstration By Susan Estrich

It's hard to imagine anyone graduating from high school today, much less college, without being computer literate. One way or another, kids learn how to get online, how to navigate the Internet, how to live in a wired world.

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July 21, 2010

The Obama Paradox By Susan Estrich

You don't need to be a political pollster, much less a worried Democrat, to know that the president's approval ratings have plummeted. "Down to the immediate family," we used to say mockingly, when President Bush was at about the same point. Of course, it's a little bit better than that -- down to the hardcore, the yellow dog Democrats (as in, I'd rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican), but there's no denying that the bloom is off the rose, and any other cliche you can think of.

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July 14, 2010

Women on Top By Susan Estrich

The likely (and much deserved) confirmation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court creates an opening for one of the "Top 4" positions in the Justice Department. While there are many qualified candidates, the fact is that Kagan was the only woman in the top ranks at Justice. Even below that, men substantially outnumber women.

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July 7, 2010

Stunt Season By Susan Estrich

Trying to make news over the holiday weekend and trying to avoid the attention being paid to the latest gaffe from Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele (who is "the gift that keeps on giving," according to former Democratic National Committee Chair and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell), Republican leaders put out the story that the president needs to take a trip to the border to see just how dangerous it is.

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June 30, 2010

The Supreme Charade By Susan Estrich

Supreme Court confirmation hearings are nothing but a charade. "Balls and strikes" is what John Roberts said he'd call. Sonia Sotomayor, no fool she, said the same. Elena Kagan, ditto, is going to be a neutral arbiter. She isn't a "progressive." She will be fair and open.

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June 26, 2010

The Doctor Is Not In By Susan Estrich

Not long ago, a close friend called me with an unusual request. She
and her husband were looking for a new doctor to take care of them. What
made it unusual was that they'd had the same doctor for years -- decades,
actually.

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June 23, 2010

The Opportunity in Afghanistan by Susan Estrich

During the most difficult days of the Mondale-Ferraro campaign in 1984, someone printed up a button that said: "There are no problems. Only opportunities."

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June 19, 2010

The Politics of Disaster By Susan Estrich

When BP CEO Tony Hayward went to Capitol Hill this week, he got beat up on by all sides.

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June 16, 2010

The Second Time Around By Susan Estrich

"I'm definitely going to sail around the world again, or at least give it another try," teen sailor Abby Sunderland told the Australian press after her rescue last week.

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June 11, 2010

The Value of Experience By Susan Estrich

Some years ago, the late New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist William Safire wrote a great column comparing politicians to plumbers. It was during one of those periods when (like now) experience had become a dirty word in politics and incumbency was a veritable curse. There was nothing worse you could say about someone than to call him a "career politician" -- just what California Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman called her rival for the office only yesterday.