Erickson School Professor of Practice Dr. Bill Thomas
Great story from Tanika White in the Sun on age-bashing McCain. As I recently told the BBC, to paint McCain with a brush that says ‘I can look at his age and know everything I need to know about him’ is just as wrong as looking at Obama and saying ‘I can look at his skin color and know everything I need to know about him.’
Political Science Professor Tom Schaller
I hosted an Aug. 11 Salon political roundtable in which two prominent journalists and a Bush-Cheney campaign official discussed why Obama is not faring better in polls against presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain.
The conventional wisdom from left and right, Republicans and Democrats, is that this is going to be, or should be, a Democratic year. The president is unpopular. People are unhappy about the war. They’re nervous about the economy. And yet, at least here in the pre-convention period, we find ourselves with a relatively tight race.
Listen to a podcast of our conversation here.
Erickson School Professor of Practice Judah Ronch
Washington Post reporter Beth Baker takes a critical eye at the bonanza of high-tech brain games being marketed to stave off mental decline. I gave her a healthy dose of skepticism:
“Everybody’s looking for a computer game,” Ronch said. “Is there any evidence that they’re any better [at staving off dementia than exercise or social engagement]? No. But because of the commercial potential, people are beating that horse and hoping it comes in.”
