ChrisWeigant.com

Archive of Articles in the "Name-dropping" Category

Onward To 2016!

[ Posted Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 – 17:12 UTC ]

With one week to go until the 2014 midterm elections, almost all of the punditocracy world is absolutely chomping at the bit for this cycle to already be over, so they can concentrate on the much-more-fun 2016 presidential election season. This is pretty obvious, with some media now swooning over Jeb Bush's possible candidacy and the Clintons out stumping for other Democrats (and being covered more in the news than the actual candidates).

Read Complete Article »

Gregory Out, Todd In At Meet The Press

[ Posted Thursday, August 14th, 2014 – 17:21 UTC ]

Well, it looks like this time around, the rumors turned out to be true. David Gregory is leaving his hosting gig on Meet The Press, and will be replaced by Chuck Todd. Perhaps NBC has some sort of "only people with two first names can host" rule, or something. By this rule, it seems like Andrea Mitchell might have qualified, but Rachel Maddow would have had to have been named something like "Rachel Margaret" to really have had a shot at it.

Read Complete Article »

Friday Talking Points [315] -- Past, Present, And Future

[ Posted Friday, August 8th, 2014 – 17:28 UTC ]

We've got a lot to cover today (as that headline should evince), but before we begin examining the anniversaries, elections, and politics of the week, I'd like to begin instead by promoting a video.

Read Complete Article »

Friday Talking Points [311] -- First Marijuana TV Ad Created

[ Posted Friday, July 11th, 2014 – 18:10 UTC ]

Plenty of stuff happened in the past two weeks in the political world, but we'll get to all of that in a minute, because first we'd like to highlight (pun intended, of course) what is being billed as "the first marijuana television commercial." It's not on the air yet, but Canadian company Crop King Seeds has released this first look at their ad (they do admit that they'll likely have to edit out one bit of profanity before the ad airs). Without further ado, here is their ad (used with full permission, as they would really like the ad to go viral):

Read Complete Article »

Friday Talking Points [310] -- Courtin' Season

[ Posted Friday, June 27th, 2014 – 16:52 UTC ]

'Tis the season when the political press all goes a-courtin'. So to speak.

Read Complete Article »

The Really Bizarre Thing Gary Oldman Said

[ Posted Thursday, June 26th, 2014 – 17:14 UTC ]

This column is somewhat of a departure for me, since I rarely take much note of what actors say, even on the subject of politics. Well, I should qualify that, I suppose, to read "actors who are not currently governors, senators, or presidents." But even with all the attention being focused on Gary Oldman's recent interview with Playboy, I feel the need to point out the fact that while everyone else is focusing on some bizarre and offensive things Oldman said, nobody seems to have mentioned his segue into the subject -- which is even more bizarre (to me, at least) than the rest of what he had to say.

Read Complete Article »

Friday Talking Points [308] -- Selenofriggatriskaidekaphobics Unite!

[ Posted Friday, June 13th, 2014 – 17:39 UTC ]

I have to begin this week by apologizing for the irreverent nature of that title, but then how often do you get a chance to coin a cool word like "selenofriggatriskaidekaphobia"? The proper answer is that the chance won't come again until 2049, which explains why we couldn't resist. The word is a mashup of two phobias, the fear of a full moon (selenophobia) and the fear of Friday the 13th (friggatriskaidekaphobia, not to be confused with fear of the number 13, which is just triskaidekaphobia, of course). The rare occurrence of a full moon on a Friday the 13th won't happen again for another 35 years, so today's pretty much it for this generation of selenofriggatriskaidekaphobics, at least. But enough of this looney etymological fun, let's get on with a week chock-full of political happenings, shall we?

Read Complete Article »

The Race Is On To Replace Cantor

[ Posted Thursday, June 12th, 2014 – 16:56 UTC ]

In one week, House Republicans will vote on a replacement for Eric Cantor, who will be stepping down from his Majority Leader position (due to his loss in this week's primary). This vote will provide a test of strength for both the Tea Party faction and for the Establishment Republicans. Who wins this power struggle may eventually determine the direction of the Republicans in the House for years to come, meaning it'll be a fairly important vote.

Read Complete Article »

An Inconsequential Question: What To Call Hillary

[ Posted Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 – 18:51 UTC ]

When we look back at this particular week much later on, it seems we'll remember it as the week the 2016 presidential race truly began in earnest. Measured by the sheer volume of headlines generated and punditry produced, now will be seen as the moment when Hillary Clinton reintroduced herself to America. With the kickoff of her book tour, Clinton has already started tongues wagging (in a major way) about what her chances will be in 2016.

Read Complete Article »

Friday Talking Points [307] -- An Alternate Reality To Consider

[ Posted Friday, June 6th, 2014 – 16:43 UTC ]

This week was notable in many respects in the political world, but one subject overwhelmed almost everything else. We're going to address the prisoner swap and Bowe Bergdahl in an unusual way this week, in lieu of our regular talking points at the end of the column. But first, we're going to take a very quick look at what else happened this week, and then hand out the weekly awards.

Read Complete Article »