Monthly Archives: March 2017

Everybody Lost

BY RICH GALEN
MAR 27, 2017 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Ok. Enough.

Enough pointing, and jumping up and down, and sneering.

“Repeal and Replace” failed. Ignominiously.

Everybody gets some of the blame. Some of the blame goes to President Donald Trump. Less, though, than most people are assigning. His blame comes largely from the hubris borne of ignorance during the campaign when, according to the Liberal group “Think Progress” Trump promised 68 times to “Repeal and Replace.” The first time was on the first day his campaign.

But, when it came down to it, President Trump did everything he could with the limited knowledge of the way things work. And a limited knowledge of what was in the bill. Continue reading

A Week in the Arts

BY RICH GALEN
MAR 20, 2017 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Tough week for the arts.

One the one hand, President Donald Trump served up a budget which would starve them of the funds they need to help people find their artistic voices; to be able to teach children there is more to life than a new video game; that a song can move you to tears or to blessed laughter.

A writer who was an artist died this weekend. Jimmy Breslin.

Jimmy Breslin was a newspaper columnist. But, that is like saying H.L. Mencken was a newspaperman. Continue reading

Route 81: High Road to Civility

BY BETSY WRIGHT HAWKINGS
MAR 16, 2017 | Reprinted from the blog at DemocracyFund.org

Congressmen Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) and Will Hurd (R-TX) might not agree on every aspect of education or trade policy. But they have experienced life on the highway – together.

Faced with travel delays caused by a winter storm, Reps. O’Rourke and Hurd made the practical decision to rent a car and head north, a choice anyone who knows the two men could understand. Rep. O’Rourke, who started his own small business, and Rep. Hurd, who served in the CIA during the War on Terror, are “get the job done” kinds of guys.

Their shared work ethic and commitment to serve their Texan constituents helped them connect during their long ride back to Washington. As they cruised along Route 81, these bipartisan road trippers drank coffee, stopped for snacks, and took questions from Facebook Live viewers tuned into their trip. Continue reading

Legacies Are Honored More with Deeds Than Words

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  MAR 8, 2017

The Chamber of the US House of Representatives was practically empty. It was Monday.

The House was in session, however, for “special orders,” a time when Members are recognized to talk about anything on their mind and invite other members to join them. It was this procedure rebellious Republicans used a quarter century ago to turn deadly boredom into live political theater in their campaign to take control of the Congress from Democrats.

On this Monday, Congressman Darin LaHood of Illinois was hosting a special order to memorialize a predecessor, Bob Michel, who represented Central Illinois for 38 years before retiring in 1994.

Bob died on February 17, 2017. He was 93.

LaHood put a nice photo of Bob on an easel and recalled the Leader’s extraordinary life and career, from a wounded and decorated infantryman in World War II, to more than 40 years in Congress as a staffer, Member and leader; a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. It was all there. Continue reading

Civility

BY BETSY WRIGHT HAWKINGS
MAR 6, 2017 | Reprinted from the blog at DemocracyFund.org

The Freshman members of the 115th Congress know something we all know; the 2016 election was marked by some of the coarser political rhetoric of modern history, and not surprisingly left our country feeling more divided than ever.

More uniquely, they have taken an important first step toward doing something about it.

Recently, 28 Republican and 18 Democratic Freshman Members — representing red and blue states from coast to coast — signed a Commitment to Civility and spoke on the House floor about why they made this commitment, what their constituents had sent them to Washington to accomplish, and how civility is essential to working together across the aisle to achieve those goals. In all, 46 of the 52 new members signed the commitment, which urges productive dialogue and rejects the idea that political rivals are enemies. Continue reading

Trump’s First Presidential Speech

BY RICH GALEN
MAR 1, 2017 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

At 9:39 (about halfway into the speech) I Tweeted this:
I know it’s part of the deal to find fault with every syllable of this speech, but so far it’s very well written and very well delivered.

My Twitter feed, which is mostly national political reporters, was soggy with the tears of disappointment that President Donald Trump hadn’t put on a clown suit and gone completely off script.

While not officially the Constitutionally mandated “State of the Union” address, it had all the trappings and all of the elements. Continue reading