After saying everyone is sick of politics I can’t resist speaking about it anyway given the results of the November election. The main reason people are angry is the economy. We are a long ways from the thrill of electing the first black president and who was thoughtful, dignified and a decent man. The slow pace of job replacement and the housing crisis fuel the discontent. While his efforts at the health bill were appropriate he should have waited until…
It sounds like such a good deal – the proverbial free lunch regarding Initiative 1098. My friend Bill Gates Sr looks so sincere in those ads and what he says is compelling. You vote for a state income tax on the rich and your property taxes go down and schools benefit plus the only ones that get taxed are the few wealthy. Everyone else gets off "scot free" so let's stick it to the wealthy – right? Well, you remember the classic …
Edward Gonalez, a emeritus professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times about the position of the Democrats today. He says that the administration and the Congressional Democrats are in deep trouble because they did not concentrate on the economy and loss of jobs, but rather spent a year fighting over a health care plan that only served to further divide politically. He believes it was…
A well written commentary entitled Strange Bedfellows by Chris Grygiel was published at the Seattle PI Blogs http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/199041.asp March 22nd. It dealt with the ill-advised political decision of the Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna to join a lawsuit to block the comprehensive health care bill passed by the House. The governor responded to his attempt to try to sabotage the law by saying: "I completely disagree with the Attorney General's decision and he does not represent me," the governor said. "This…
Clearly, across the country, there is one primary concern among people and that's the economy: Jobs and taxes. Until that is the main focus and dealt with in a way that is seen as forceful leadership, it's political death for incumbents. George H.W. Bush was seen as unbeatable in 1992, when James Carville coined the phrase "It’s the economy, stupid." Carville posted a sign at campaign headquarters in Little Rock that said: "The economy, stupid" along with other slogans. That…
The truth is the title is not really accurate. I read a quote from former president Bill Clinton where he was actually talking about the bad decisions of president Bush, but which is exactly the advice I would like to give to president Barack Obama, so here it is: "People think it is better to be strong and wrong rather then weak and right"
The 1948 presidential election is considered by most historians as one of the greatest upsets in American presidential history. Harry Truman defeated the highly favored Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey. The surprise victory happened after Harry started a 31,000 mile train trip across the country in an effort to defeat the clear front runner Dewey. Truman delivered hundreds of "off the cuff" talks to crowds along the trip. He was often greeted with cries of "Give ‘em hell, Harry" after…
Jason Linkins has a great post in the Huffington Report "Comic Strip Artfully Dissects The Media's Obsession with Polls" posted January 26th. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/comic-strip-artfully-diss_n_437345.html . The comic strip which clearly illustrates what is wrong with almost all of media political "polls" can be found at this link. Thanks to PhDcomics.com for creating it. Volume 44 Number 2 International Society of Barristers Quarterly has reproduced a talk given by Will Durst, political humorist. Here are just a few of his comments: "We have to remember William Henry…
Permit me one more comment about the Massachusetts election. Drew Westen has artfully expressed exactly how I feel right now about President Obama's refusal to put on the political gloves. Here's part of what he writes in the Huffington Report http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ and I think he says it so well: "The President's steadfast refusal to acknowledge that we have a two-party system, his insistence on making destructive concessions to the same party voters he had sent packing twice in a row in…
I have written almost nothing about national politics since Barack Obama was elected president, but the election in Massachusetts is just too much to stomach. A Seattle Times article contained a quote that I thought accurately described what happened in that vote: "Scott Brown caught the wave," Massachusetts Democratic consultant Dan Payne said. "People are worried about jobs, angry about Wall Street bonuses, upset about the deals being made for health-care legislation, afraid of nuts like the underwear bomber. Nothing…
