National Republicans
Whacking a Structuralist
The mention of the phrase ‘public schools’ conjures up a vision of nurturing teachers and faithful laboring principals but it turns out ‘Big Education’ is a kingdom teeming with ‘Big Players’ from teachers’ unions to textbook publishers to testing companies all battling for promotions, contracts and a bigger piece of the billions spent on public…
Read MorePeace and Quiet?
After President Obama bombed Libya into submission I wouldn’t have expected to hear anyone calling him an isolationist but according to Dick Cheney that’s exactly what he is. John McCain’s not exactly happy with the President either; he’s upset with Obama for not doing more in the Ukraine. But the isolationist who’s done the most…
Read MoreModern Political Debate
It sure looks, Richard said politely, like John Boehner could have found something else to sue President Obama over. Fifty-four times John Boehner and the Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare so it seemed odd to Richard, a retired businessman, that Boehner was about to sue Obama for not enforcing the Obamacare Employer Mandate.…
Read MoreThe Uber-Villain
No one’s explained why a Malaysian airliner was flying over a war zone but when it was shot down Senator John McCain had no doubt who to blame: Obama. It was, McCain adamantly told Fox News, Obama’s fault because he hadn’t given the Ukrainians more guns. I reckon McCain figures if the Ukrainians had…
Read MoreBorder Children
What on earth do you do when a eight-year-old lands on your doorstep? I heard two spokesmen on the radio today with answers – the first told a story of a lone girl, one of the border children, who after being repeatedly raped by gangs in Honduras, trudged or rode on the tops of…
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Back Room Politics?
The other day while I was having lunch with one of Raleigh’s Democratic wizards he said, You know a lot of people believe the Senate Republican Caucus has captured the Chamber of Commerce and turned it into an appendage of its political committee. I said, How’s that? and he explained the Democrats, rooting through…
Read MoreThe Wrong Cure
Mike, a young down-the-line rock-ribbed Republican partisan who sees eye to eye with Senator Bob Rucho (who once tweeted ‘Obamacare has done more damage than the Nazis’) but is too smart to say anything that foolish within earshot of a reporter, and Jim who would like Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for President because Hilary’s…
Read MoreMississippi Rising
To quote Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles, “What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?” What is politics coming to when a deeply conservative Deep South Senator rallies black Democrats to win a Republican primary? When a GOP bridge-builder beats a fire-eater? When a big spender beats a budget slasher?…
Read MoreSoul Mates Fall Out
For years they’ve been the best of buddies. Soul mates. Like peas and carrots. But, now, they’ve had a falling out…followed by blows being struck. Reaching into the treasury in Washington and pulling out a wad of other people’s money to give to your friends is as old an American tradition as apple pie. …
Read MoreCrocodile Tears?
Each year hospitals pay the state $135 million which, through some mysterious alchemy, morphs into the federal government paying the state a second $135 million (to care for Medicaid patients). Trying to decipher the magic a newspaper described a circular flow of money that seems to work like this: 1) The hospitals pay the state…
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