Politics
Picking A Jury
The ink was still wet on the verdict form in the Rod Blagojevich trial when the TV news reporters gathered in the lobby of the Dirksen Federal Building to go live with their coverage.
In the absence of lawyers, defendants, and jurors (or even the full verdict), there was plenty of airtime to fill and plenty of jury consultants around to fill it. Every station seemed to have one, all going on about what the government prosecutors should have done – or do next time. The irony, of course, is that while all the TV stations had consultants, the prosecution and defense teams in this case did not. Nor are they likely to hire one for the next go-round. So I asked myself: what does a jury consultant do? MORE...
If You Were Born in 1961 . . .
If you were born in 1961, you missed The Great Depression, World War II and The Fifties. You were 3 years old when Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution (“What’s that?” you ask. The act of war that sent America troops into Vietnam.) and 13 when they left.
When you turned 21, Ronald Reagan was president. Interest rates were 17 percent, unemployment was 10.8 percent and personal income was $11,731 a year––compared with $38,611 today. If you were born in 1961, you are also the same age as President Obama. MORE...
The Facebook Pol
John Fritchey thinks the white girls from Zeta Tau Alpha rocked the hall at the Sprite step off contest. He doesn’t understand why on Casimir Pulaski Day in Chicago (the first Monday of every March) we close the courts, the schools, the libraries and city hall, but let Goldman Sachs keep collecting money from the parking meters. His musical tastes run to Cake and Public Enemy. And just because Tigger is a big animal doesn’t mean he doesn’t want as much kindness as Roo.
I know all this because I am one of Fritchey’s Facebook friends. MORE...
Here Lies Scott Lee Cohen
The departure of Scott Lee Cohen from the lieutenant governor race has dealt a real blow to the political punditry profession. For all the unsavory facts that have emerged since the primary, I can’t help but feel he was snatched away from us too soon, just when we were getting to know him. So now we must content ourselves looking into the secret life of his Republican counterpart Jason Plummer, the 27-year-old son of an Edwardsville lumber baron who spent $1.45 million of his own money winning their nomination. MORE...
The Limits of Goodness
Sure, there are always things a president can do on his own. . . . But major changes in public policy invariably must pass through Congress, and, as the last eight months has demonstrated, Congress is the lowland swamp of politics, placid on the surface, murky below, infested by disease-carrying lobbyists and dominated by snakes and crocodiles with no other interest than their own self-preservation. MORE...
A Football Coach Who Hates Football
Let’s get a football coach who hates football. That’s right, let’s get a football coach who doesn’t think much of football. Couldn’t be worse. Or maybe it could. Well then, maybe your church would like a minister who thinks we need less religion? Does that work for you? Sound crazy? Well it is. You’re starting to understand why today’s Republican Party is in a bit of a quandary. MORE...
Reading Sarah Palin
I may be one of the few in my circle of friends who actually liked Sarah Palin’s autobiography. I may, in fact, be the only one who has read it. And that’s a shame because the story is so gol darned Mary Poppinsish, you have to ask yourself: What’s not to like? MORE...
The Gaggle: Health Care, Iraq and Beer
Just to give you an idea of what life is like on the political fast track, here’s the transcript of yesterday’s press gaggle on Air Force One with presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs – somewhere over the Blue Ridge Mountains:
Lowered Expectations
The stock market cheered the other day when the government announced only 345,000 jobs had been lost in May––cheer being measured as a 12-point up tick in the Dow Jones average. MORE...
Should The Republican Party Disband?
When the loyal opposition gathers in Washington these days, it becomes ever more clear what they are most opposed to is each other. Senator Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats last week only highlights the fact the Republican Party has split in two –– Let’s call them The Limbaughs and The Snowes –– and there’s not a tent big enough in America to let them co-exist in the same party. MORE...
PY (to video client): Does the carcass move at all?
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