Politics
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...
Taking the 5th
There’s been a lot of snickering in Washington about The Chicago Way. And not a lot of attention paid to how it played out in the Illinois special election this spring for the 5th district House seat in Congress. MORE...
Blago! The Contents of His Hard Drive
Now that the charm offensive is over, what are we to make of Gov. Rod Blagojevich? MORE...
Start the New Administration Without Me
People have asked why––after all the good advice I gave Barack Obama during the campaign––I did not go to Washington this week for his presidential inauguration MORE...
GM: Ouch! Shit! I’ve just stuck my spectacles up my nostril. And it hurt! Extraordinarily.
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