Articles by Matthew Gagnon
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Maine’s taxing tax problem
on Jan. 10, 2013, at 3:24 p.m.
I received my first paycheck of the new year this week. Did you? Notice anything? My wife certainly did. Roughly $100 that had previously been in my paycheck was now missing. That money was probably going to buy groceries but had mysteriously vanished. I say mysteriously because we were told ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Cliff notes: The ugly but necessary path to governing
on Jan. 03, 2013, at 1:11 p.m.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: The “deal” to avert the so-called fiscal cliff is an embarrassingly bad piece of legislation. Historically awful, really. Just horrendous. But I would have voted for it. Governing is not about voting only for things you support and voting against things ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
13 bold predictions for 2013
on Dec. 27, 2012, at 2:28 p.m.
Last December, I took a look at what was then the future and made a series of predictions about the next 12 months. I have to say I didn’t do half bad. Things I got right: President Barack Obama defeating Mitt Romney in Maine, same-sex marriage passing, the world not ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The pendulum swings for the powerful
on Dec. 20, 2012, at 2:32 p.m.
For the past month I’ve been telling you what is wrong with my party, what Republicans can do to fix it and what I think we can all expect from the future of the GOP. But if I could distill the message of the 3,000 or so words I devoted ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The future of the Republican Party: Phoenix rises
on Dec. 13, 2012, at 12:09 p.m.
Editor’s note: This is the final piece in a four-part series about the future of the Republican Party. I’ve spent three weeks now being somewhat hard on my own party. In so doing, I have attempted to diagnose the fundamental problems that are holding back the Republicans from forging a ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The future of the Republican Party: Stone weapons in the Bronze Age
on Dec. 06, 2012, at 3:49 a.m.
Editor’s note: This is the third piece in a four-part series about the future of the Republican Party. Never bring a knife to a gun fight, they say. Yet for the past few election cycles, that has been exactly what the Republican Party has been doing. All things being equal, ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The future of the Republican Party: Identity crisis
on Nov. 29, 2012, at 4:27 a.m.
Editor’s note: This is the second piece in a four-part series about the future of the Republican Party. There is not a Democrat in the country, or in Maine, who isn’t smirking just a little bit right now. On the heels of an election they believe vindicated not only their ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The future of the GOP: Republicans must embrace the media, and the facts
on Nov. 22, 2012, at 4:39 a.m.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series about the future of the Republican Party. The Republican Party has lost five of the last six national popular votes for president, and the nature of their single win was unique and not likely to ever be repeated again. In ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
King of the Democrats
on Nov. 15, 2012, at 3:07 p.m.
Let’s start with the obvious: Sen.-elect Angus King lied to you, and you shouldn’t be OK with it. All throughout the campaign, despite the contrary being obvious to every human being on the planet, King insisted that he didn’t know what party he would align himself with. Maybe he would ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The Promise of Barack Obama
on Nov. 08, 2012, at 1:41 p.m.
It is funny how quickly things change in politics. I remember very clearly sitting in the Tap Room of Pat’s Pizza in Orono on election night in 2004, watching the returns come in which showed the re-election of President Bush, the increase of the GOP Senate majority, and the increase ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The Maine Legislature you deserve
on Nov. 01, 2012, at 12:29 p.m.
Just after Christmas last year, I made a rather classic mistake for a political pundit. I made predictions. These predictions were my thoughts about what would happen in the coming year in Maine politics, many of which were tied to Tuesday’s election. We won’t know just how good I was ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Romney makes a play for Maine
on Oct. 25, 2012, at 2:37 p.m.
One of the most fascinating “what if” scenarios dreamed up by political scientists about the 2012 election is the possibility that it could end in a 269-269 tie in the electoral college. The most likely situation would be one where President Barack Obama won New Hampshire, Virginia, Michigan, Colorado and ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Romney’s Closing Argument
on Oct. 18, 2012, at 1:40 p.m.
The president told a real whopper on Tuesday night at the second presidential debate. When responding to one of the supposedly undecided voters who asked him a question, Obama said, ”The commitments I have made, I have kept.” As those words left his mouth, I nearly self-immolated in my living room. It ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Ex-South Portland Mayor James Soule Likes To Zumba
on Oct. 17, 2012, at 9:15 p.m.
I’ll admit, I’ve been a little too busy in the past couple days to continue the unquenchable obsession over the evolving Zumba-brothel fever that has consumed the entire state of Maine, so I actually missed the most recent release of the names of Johns who frequented the now notorious prostitution ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Crossroads GPS Up With Big New Ad Buy In Maine
on Oct. 17, 2012, at 4:46 p.m.
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Out Of Bounds: When Attacking King Goes Too Far
on Oct. 12, 2012, at 3:15 p.m.
I don’t think it is any secret that I am opposed to Angus King’s candidacy for the United States Senate. I have, admittedly, been on a rather aggressive push lately to shine a light on his record, question his judgement, and argue that he would be an ineffective, hypocritical and ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Throw Out The Old Rules
on Oct. 11, 2012, at 1:53 p.m.
Do yourself a favor. If you ever hear the phrase, “no president has ever been re-elected when…” or “no challenger has ever defeated an incumbent when…”, politely walk away, and never listen to another thing that person says about politics. It is tough to get away from, for sure. In ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Angus King: Energy Profiteer
on Oct. 10, 2012, at 11:56 a.m.
UPDATE: I’ve found some video of the debate referenced below. I’m going to try to cut it up and post it online so you can hear him drone on endlessly about natural gas yourself. — It is no secret by now that critics of Angus King on both the left ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
The “split-the-vote” fallacy
on Oct. 04, 2012, at 12:22 p.m.
Now that the race to replace Sen. Olympia Snowe actually looks like, well, a race, we are already starting to hear the hand-wringing from the left. It goes a little like this: “It is happening again. The Republicans can’t get elected on their own, so their only hope is splitting ...
PINE TREE POLITICS (blog)
Pine Tree Politics: Romney won big
on Oct. 03, 2012, at 8:52 p.m.
Welcome to Pine Tree Politics’ coverage of the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney. We typically try to cover Maine politics, or how national politics impacts the state of Maine, but obviously with the gravity of a presidential race and the importance of the ...
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