John Dickerson

John Dickerson is a CBS senior national correspondent and Chief Political Analyst. He is also a Contributing Writer to The Atlantic and is co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest.

  • 01/08/2024: How he drinks his coffee

    A small pleasure: one of my children and I are working together at the dining room table. We’re both writing. It’s hard for both of us, but we’re typing, so we’re both on the right road. I realize after a bit that I am witness to his writing tics. I have them. Lots of them. He takes a sip of coffee when he pauses to consider if what he’s just written makes sense. I know that move exactly. The flurry of typing. The deletions that come when you’re typing fast. The abrupt stop when you’ve captured the thought. Pause for coffee and to evaluate whether what you’ve just put down is as good as you thought it was when the blur of typing started.

    After a certain age it feels like most of the windows into their lives are closed. This is a tiny opening but a delightful one.

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  • 11/03/2023: Ray Bradbury punk rock graduation.

    Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that in order to dress up for his graduation he had to wear his uncle’s suit. His uncle had died recently. The suite was the one he wore when he died. His uncle was shot. The suit still had the bullet hole in it. I learned that from […]
  • 06/07/2023: Presidential Restraint

    Matt Yglesias has a piece in the New York Times under the headline: “It’s Great to Have a President Who Knows When to Shut Up.” My favorite topic: presidential restraint. I spent a lot of time on the topic in my book, and why it’s necessary for the job. (Chapter 23: Restraint). There is no greater […]
  • 05/10/2023: How would Christ campaign for president?

      UPDATE: I tried the opposite:  
  • 05/02/2023: AI really gets to the point

  • 04/30/2023: Selling Candidates Like Soap

     

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  • 04/29/2023: The Magic of Music

    My cocktail chatter from the recent Gabfest: My chatter is on the magical properties of music. To me, musicians are the closest we have to actual Wizards. They can conjure a feeling and then make another human soul have that feeling or launch another feeling. Writing does this too, of course, but it’s rare when […]
  • 04/22/2023: Long Tail Interviews on Prime Time

    We cover the latest on Prime Time every day, but we also conduct a number of interviews that last beyond the move to fish wrap(*). Here are some interviews from the first four days of this week: 1. Why the fighting in Sudan matters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ffhTXOsAQ 2. Evan Gershkovich’s friend explains his condition in a Russian […]