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| Clinton offers solid plans for change Sun, 18 May 2008 02:05 EDT Campaigning in Kentucky and across this country has been an honor and a privilege. Day after day, I've been inspired by the people I've met -- people who embrace opportunity, never waver in the face of adversity, meet hard times with hard work and never stop believing in the promise of America. I'm in this race to stand for you, for everyone who's struggling to pay grocery bills and doctor's bills, credit-card and mortgage payments and the ridiculous price of gas at the pump. With two wars abroad and an economic crisis here at home, we need a president who knows how to turn our economy around and who is ready on day one to be commander in chief, end the war in Iraq and keep our families safe. We need a president who will get this country back in the solutions business. That is exactly what I'm offering. Because the real test is not the speeches you deliver, but whether you deliver on the speeches. You have to get the job done, and that is exactly what I will do as president. I'm the only candidate with a plan to provide universal health care. More than 576,000 Kentuckians are uninsured, and many more have insurance that doesn't cover the care you need. |
| Courthouse plan wastes taxes, trust Sun, 18 May 2008 02:05 EDT If the story of the new Pike County Courthouse was fiction, you would think the author was throwing in everything he had to make Kentucky look bad. Fiction it's not. For those who still scratch their heads about our persistent lame ratings in almost everything, this true story is a cautionary tale about how we got here and why we're not going anywhere. It's a tale of cozy relationships, questionable planning, wacky property assessments and throwing good money after bad. Wasteful spending |
| Endorsements Sun, 18 May 2008 12:51 EDT URBAN COUNTY COUNCIL (Best candidates to compete in non-partisan fall election) District 3: Diane Lawless Eric Thomason District 5: Cheryl Feigel |
| Beshear in doghouse Sun, 18 May 2008 02:05 EDT Gov. Steve Beshear can find a few bits of solace in the results of a recent Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll. An overwhelming majority of the poll's respondents (81 percent) agree with him that a constitutional amendment on gambling should be submitted to voters. And a solid majority (55 percent) support raising the cigarette tax by 70 cents a pack, a proposal he backed during this year's General Assembly session. Beshear also can take some comfort from knowing his approval rating is 17 percentage points higher than the General Assembly's. Of course, there is a troublesome aspect to this comparison. Just 22 percent of poll respondents approve of the General Assembly's job performance, which means Beshear's 39 percent favorable rating takes him into the territory former Gov. Ernie Fletcher inhabited for the last half of his term. |
| Marriage made in heaven Sun, 18 May 2008 12:49 EDT |
| Playground teaches lessons There were no organized youth leagues for basketball where I grew up. You learned the game on the park playground and the parking lots of churches.I suppose there were churches that had indoor courts, but we did not belong to one that did. |
| State’s primary remains exciting In the end, Kentucky’s primary Tuesday isn’t likely to affect the Democratic presidential primary all that much but there’s an excitement — and anxiety — in the air anyway. |
| What’s going on? Mon, 19 May 2008 11:03:38 -0500 In 2006, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel had an inspiration: run culturally conservative Democrats in culturally conservative congressional districts. This doesn’t sound like the stuff of strategic brilliance, but it meant overcoming the cultural condescension of most national Democrats. In his 2006 book “The Plan,” Emanuel knocked “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” author Thomas Frank for declaring cultural issues less important than economic ones: “It’s insulting to suggest that blue-collar workers are wrong to make faith or conscience, not money, their bottom line.” Emanuel’s relatively conservative candidates carried districts in 2006 that Democrats had little business winning, and his approach is still working now. In Mississippi, Republicans just lost a special election in a congressional district they thought would be a showcase for the drag Barack Obama will have on his party. They ran ads linking Democrat Travis Childers with Obama and featuring a raving Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But Childers is pro-gun and pro-life. A local businessman, he has deep roots in the community. No one was going to mistake him for Obama. Nor were they going to hold the fulminations of the Rev. Wright against him, unless the pastor were to come out of retirement to lead the East Booneville Baptist Church, where Childers is a member. He won by eight points. In post-mortems, Republicans had a plaintive air, as if it’s no fair that Democrats won’t run down-the-line liberals anymore. Republicans have become adept at explaining special-election defeats in formerly Republican districts, after losing three in a row: in Illinois, in the seat that had been held by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert; in Louisiana, in a district they had held for the past 33 years; now in Mississippi, where Bush won with 62 percent of the vote in 2004. The typical excuse has been poor candidates. But Republicans used to win these kinds of districts even with lackluster candidates, and what does it say about the party that it can’t recruit better candidates? For Republicans, Mississippi should be a “fire bell in the night,” as Thomas Jefferson said of a sectional flare-up prior to the Civil War. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent $3 million on the special elections, about 40 percent of its cash-on-hand as of March. Fundraising will be hurt by the losses, with business donors scrambling to curry favor with the ascendant Democrats. As the Politico reports, freshman Democrats in traditional Republican districts who were thought ripe for the picking during a presumed Republican rebound in 2008 aren’t facing serious challenge. And all this before Republicans face a financial onslaught in the fall from Democratic independent expenditures, left-wing 527s, the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. If Republicans lose another 20 seats in the House, they’ll be down roughly 70 overall, and if Obama wins the presidency on top of it, as the NBC political tipsheet “First Read” has noted, “it will be the biggest mandate any Democrat has had for governing since LBJ in ’64.” The chairman of the NRCC, Tom Cole, hasn’t tried to minimize the implications of the Mississippi loss. In a conference call with reporters the next day, he said so often that the public has lost confidence in Republicans that it could have been a Democratic call. Republicans readily admit that they have work to do reformulating their agenda, but are at a loss as to how exactly to go about it. For now, they’ll have to hope that John McCain finds a way to distance himself from his party and pick up independents while not losing his own base. Philippe Petit, who famously did a high-wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center, had a less treacherous course. Over the longer run, they have to become identified with a domestic-reform agenda on health care, energy and family income that addresses middle-class concerns. But renovating a party’s public standing isn’t the work of a few months. At least time in the minority provides opportunity for reflection. |
| A lot of independents are split on choice Mon, 19 May 2008 11:03:38 -0500 CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Polls indicate Barack Obama has a good chance to become the next president, but an evening with a group of independent voters suggests he has a considerable ways to go. Members of a focus group May 12 in a county that voted Republican in 2000 and Democratic in 2004 were evenly split between Sen. John McCain, the all-but-certain GOP nominee, and Obama, his likely November foe. Most probable Obama voters cited his theme of change. But many seemed ambivalent about him personally and expressed concern about his experience and background. Some agreed with Obama critics that it was hard to know his values because of his friendship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. “Obama’s catch-phrase is change, but he also changed his mind about Rev. Wright,” said Bob James, 51, a restaurant manager. “After he saw public opinion was changing about Wright, he turned against him.” But James said he favors Obama because he would bring “change from the same old, same old. He represents the closest thing to change that I can see.” Less certain about her vote in a McCain-Obama race was Susan Shaible, 49, a UPS truck loader and the group’s strongest supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama’s Democratic rival. During the two-hour discussion that Democratic pollster Peter Hart moderated for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, Shaible vacillated between undecided and Obama. A self-styled liberal who leans Democratic, she expressed concern about Obama’s limited experience. “If he waited a little longer, I’d feel better about him,” she said. But she added, “I’m tired of white men. I think it’s time for a change. It’s time to put a Democrat in there.” By contrast, probable McCain voters seemed more certain of their choice and the reasons, primarily his national security background. “The president’s first and biggest responsibility is national security,” said Josh Williams, 24, a college student enrolled in Air Force ROTC. “That’s the most important thing to me.” Dolores Tingley, 53, a law firm marketing director, cited McCain’s “military experience” but said she would favor Clinton over him because of her position on health care. Participants were independents who had not voted in primaries. Many were more aware of controversies swirling around Obama than some facts about him. Six of the 12 said they thought Obama was Muslim, even after an extensive discussion about the flap over Wright’s controversial views. Obama, for the record, is a Christian. Several questioned his Americanism, citing his refusal to wear a U.S. flag lapel pin. A majority agreed that his comment that residents of small-town American are bitter and cling to religion and guns showed he was out of touch with their values. Asked what Obama needed to prove in the campaign, law firm receptionist Melinda Denisenko, 39, said, “He needs to prove that he’s for America, that he’ll stick with us and not try to appease others beyond our borders.” The discussion went beyond the presidential race. The politician who drew the most positive comments was former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat now running for a Senate seat. Most expressed a negative view of President Bush and the current state of the country. Only two said they would vote him a third term, if they could. About half expressed concern McCain would be too closely aligned with the Bush agenda. But the two main concerns were his vow to stay in Iraq and possibly increase U.S. troop presence there and his opposition to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. The session was a vivid reminder that, for all the attention accorded the primaries; most Americans do not vote in them and may not have focused yet on the race. |
| Wearing a helmet sets example for kids Sun, 18 May 2008 23:55:00 EST As I drove home from my daughter's spring chorus concert at Noe Middle on a recent evening, I was of course a very proud (and healthy) parent. |
| KCHIP is an issue in primary Sun, 18 May 2008 23:55:00 EST Tomorrow, the race to the White House comes to the commonwealth of Kentucky. From diners to truck stops, schools to coffee shops, our presidential hopefuls will be making their way across the Bluegrass, detailing to Kentuckians and the nation their plans for the future. |
| Supreme conflicts Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The Supreme Court found itself paralyzed last week, unable to decide whether to take up an important class-action case against companies that allegedly aided and abetted South Africa's apartheid regime. The result is unfortunate, leaving in place a flawed lower-court decision that allows the misguided litigation to proceed. |
| Obama needs to win Sun, 18 May 2008 23:56:00 EST Barack Obama needs to win this election. He strikes the country's issues with great force and without mercy. He battles the main topics, in my opinion: affordable education for Americans, energy use and the solutions for it, and finally the protection of the people and homeland security. |
| Of mothers, women, girls and boys Sun, 18 May 2008 23:56:00 EST The last thing my mother gave me for safekeeping before she slipped further away in her struggle with cancer was her Social Security card. I pull it out from time to time and think about why it meant so much to her and now to me. |
| And a child shall lead them… Sun, 18 May 2008 23:57:00 EST Tiny tots with pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars in their baggies, piggy banks or hands poured out of the building. Eyes widened at the sight of the fire truck, the firefighters in uniform and the television camera. |
| A Bluegrass blowout? Sun, 18 May 2008 23:57:00 EST Tomorrow's primary could produce a decisive victory for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Kentucky, but many Democrats may view such a win as another reason for ending her candidacy and delivering the nomination to Barack Obama. |
| Bush killed off Reagan era Sun, 18 May 2008 23:58:00 EST The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise. In this respect, it doesn't matter who wins the Democratic nomination or even who wins the general election in the fall. |
| Transparency and democracy Sun, 18 May 2008 23:59:00 EST On what issue does The Courier-Journal agree with a free-market think tank, the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions? About what issue could Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the strongest fiscal conservative in the U.S. Senate, and Barack Obama of Illinois, perhaps its most liberal, feel so strongly that they would co-sponsor legislation to address it? |
| Your Copyright... Sun, 18 May 2008 23:52:00 EST |
| Give liberal arts research credit, too Mon, 19 May 2008 02:03 EDT A good bit of attention is being focused on undergraduate research these days. This is a very good thing, both for students and the country in terms of development of America's future thinkers, problem-solvers and leaders. Much of this discussion involves undergraduate experience at research universities, but it should be noted that undergraduate research and creative endeavors are defining features of many liberal arts colleges. At Centre College in Danville, we believe that students who have an opportunity to engage in undergraduate research are transformed by their undergraduate experience. Those students who have an opportunity to really engage in their study both in and out of the classroom are poised to do great things. And these kinds of experiences are the bedrock at national liberal arts colleges. Centre's record for seeing its students win awards associated with undergraduate scholarship is remarkable. During the past 50 years, two-thirds of Kentucky's Rhodes Scholars have come from Centre, and the college has had 28 Fulbright winners in the last 10 years, one of the highest per capita rates in the nation. In the last two months at Centre, two biochemistry and molecular biology majors, Chase Palisch and Benjamin Gowen, won prestigious Goldwater Scholarships. In addition, we ended the year with an unprecedented six students winning Fulbright awards for the study of fish parasites in France (Lillian Tuttle) and for the teaching of English in Venezuela (Elizabeth Schildkret), Germany (Talia Harris and Katie Pfohl), Austria (Caitlin Harper) and France (Audrey Rogers). Two Centre students have just received preliminary notification that they will receive Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships for a year's graduate study abroad. |
| Ethics code, panel working well Mon, 19 May 2008 02:03 EDT The Herald-Leader's article about potential conflicts of interest by state legislators in their work on various issues left many people misinformed about an important question of public policy. When a legislator abstains from voting or participating on a legislative matter, his or her constituents lose their voice on that matter. The question is: What type of conflict should require legislators to abstain, thereby depriving their constituents of the right to be heard? Section 57 of Kentucky's Constitution says that a legislator may not vote on any measure in which the legislator "has a personal or private interest." Does that mean a legislator who is a farmer cannot vote on issues affecting agriculture, or that a legislator with children in the public schools is barred from sponsoring bills relating to education? Common sense, as well as the history of Section 57 and its interpretation by our highest court, say these instances would not constitute a "personal or private interest." The framers of our Constitution were well aware that the General Assembly would be made up of part-time legislators who would be farmers, business people, lawyers and others who would enact laws affecting many aspects of life in Kentucky, including laws that could affect their families and occupations. It was not intended that they be barred generally from participating in enacting such legislation. |
| Invictus Maneo: What’s wrong with Obama? Why does Sen. Barack Obama perform worst in Appalachian areas? |
| Transit plan would help area students Wed, 21 May 2008 10:58:15 -0500 With gas prices continuing to soar, it makes a lot of sense to initiate a program that would give area students the chance to ride a city bus to get to destinations after school. Warren County schools and GO bg transit are working on this joint option that would allow students, with written permission from their parents and school’s approval, to get off the school bus at GO bg transit stops along the school bus route. The students will then board a GO bg bus to get to their destination. So, if a student has a after-school job or if he/she needs to go to events after school, the bus would take them to these places. The program is open to all students. Planners say the program will mainly benefit middle and high school students, who are involved in the most activities. This program has a lot to recommend it. Instead of paying high prices at the pump, students can choose to save money by riding the transit system. It would be especially beneficial to younger students who don’t have their driver’s licenses and students whose parents work and aren’t available to pick them up after school. It would also help parents who do work from having to take off work to take their kids to appointments outside of school. Warren Central has riders who can use GO bg transit buses to get to doctor’s appointments or jobs. In fact, a new bus shelter will be put up at the school in case of inclement weather. We believe comprehensive groundwork has been laid and we would urge that planners consider adding the Bowling Green Junior High and Bowling Green High schools to the list. |
| Are you serious? Wed, 21 May 2008 10:57:43 -0500 In their litany of American presidents who met with hostile dictators, supporters of Barack Obama cite John F. Kennedy and his meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961. They leave out how it went. The earnest, young American president wanted to forestall any possibility of misunderstanding and to win Khrushchev’s commitment to the international status quo. The blustery, risk-taking Soviet premier wanted to bludgeon Kennedy into making concessions that would further the Soviet goal of global revolution. With such clashing objectives, the two leaders didn’t exactly hit it off. When Kennedy thought he was being accommodating, Khrushchev thought he was being weak. He pocketed rhetorical concessions by Kennedy and demanded more. Afterward, Kennedy called it “the roughest thing in my life.” Kennedy adviser George Ball later said that Khrushchev had perceived Kennedy as “young and weak,” and Kennedy confidant Gen. Maxwell Taylor thought Khrushchev concluded he could “shove this young man around.” Vienna was the backdrop for Soviet assertion in the Cold War flash points to come. Not all talking is created equal. Which is why it’s folly for a presidential candidate to make a blanket promise to negotiate personally with adversaries. Asked last year at the YouTube debate if he’d be willing to meet “without precondition, during the first year of your administration ... with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea,” Obama said “yes.” Since then, he’s tried to elevate his ill-considered improvisation into foreign-policy gospel. So when, in a speech in Israel, President Bush characterized trying to talk adversaries out of their hatreds as appeasement, Obama and his supporters reacted as if he had been skewered to the core. The Obama Doctrine had been attacked! On foreign soil! They countered that the act of talking is, in itself, not appeasement. True enough. But neither is talking a substitute for strategy. Consider President Reagan, another president invoked by Obama supporters. Reagan believed in personal diplomacy, but concluded upon taking office that it was pointless to talk to Soviet hard-liner Leonid Brezhnev. In stiffening U.S. defenses and pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative, his administration sought to convince Moscow, in the words of Secretary of State George Shultz, that restraint “was its most attractive, or only, option,” while pressuring the tottering Soviet economic system. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, the administration thought it had the strategic upper hand, and a man it could work with. Reagan met with his counterpart in Geneva and Reykjavik. Keenly aware of his inability to keep pace in a high-tech arms race, Gorbachev wanted any deal contingent on prohibiting SDI. Reagan said “no.” Out of his weakness, Gorbachev eventually gave the Reagan administration the kinds of arms cuts it wanted and openings in the Soviet system. The Cold War was about to end. If a President Obama handles relations with Iran as deftly, maneuvering the clerical regime to its doom, he’s worthy of his hype. Nothing suggests that he even conceives of his desire to talk in these terms. To do so, he’d have to develop some appreciation for the concept of leverage. Has the Bush administration been too diplomatically inflexible? Maybe, but it has allowed the EU-3 (Great Britain, France and Germany) to take the lead with Iran, and the Europeans have offered incentives for the suspension of its nuclear program. It has engaged in prolonged negotiations with North Korea, winning the (dubious) promise of the suspension of its nuclear program. It has relentlessly promoted Israel-Palestinian negotiations. We have a recent example of even more active Middle East diplomacy. President Clinton had Yasser Arafat to the White House more than any other foreign leader, and his secretary of state, Warren Christopher, spent long, bootless hours with then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. When Clinton tried to pressure Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak into a deal that wasn’t there near the end of his second term, the second intifada erupted. It wasn’t appeasement; it was just foolish. Obama beware. |
| Save the Vogt mansion Tue, 20 May 2008 22:18:00 EST Although Louisville has done a good job in historic preservation efforts, especially several decades ago when the movement really got its start, there are some parts of town that have precious little of their architectural heritage intact. |
| Dialing for Hitler Tue, 20 May 2008 22:18:00 EST President Bush, reflecting the intellectual exhaustion of his failed administration, played the appeasement card again the other day. |
| New radiation center Tue, 20 May 2008 22:19:00 EST I have practiced medicine in Louisville for 20 years and know how devastating cancer can be for patients and their families. |
| Clinton, misogyny and an editor's warning Tue, 20 May 2008 22:20:00 EST I was surprised to see Marie Cocco's column about misogynist behavior toward Sen. Hillary Clinton by some of the supposedly most respected names in journalism. It's a long overdue piece. |
| The debate over marriage America ought to have Wed, 21 May 2008 04:13:00 EST The new California court decision advancing gay marriage will reignite "the debate," the headlines read. What impact will the issue have on the presidential campaigns? |
| What Clinton has achieved Tue, 20 May 2008 22:23:00 EST Hillary Clinton isn't going to be elected the first woman president -- not this year, anyway. The reasons for this outcome have gratifyingly little to do with her gender. |
| Obama: lay off Michelle Tue, 20 May 2008 22:23:00 EST Chivalry is still charming, as Barack Obama proved when he recently warned Tennessee Republicans to leave his wife alone. |
| King WAS confrontational Tue, 20 May 2008 22:24:00 EST We should all be able to agree that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was "confrontational." He was also wise, measured, visionary, good-natured and generous of heart -- like most great figures in history, he was complicated. |
| More woes for veterans Tue, 20 May 2008 22:26:00 EST The comment was outrageous, but it was not the least bit surprising. A psychologist responsible for assessing returning war veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder. |
| Onward, green soldiers Tue, 20 May 2008 22:27:00 EST A preventive war worked out so well in Iraq that Washington last week launched another. The new preventive war -- the government responding forcefully against a postulated future threat. |
| Think about small business before you cast ballot Tue, 20 May 2008 02:03 EDT Listen to the news coverage of this year's presidential race, and you'll hear a lot about the importance of different voting blocs, about how groups of people, clustered by age, gender or some other demographic are going to tilt the election in favor of one candidate or another. But there's one bloc of voters that politicians and pundits tend to overlook: people who own or work for small businesses. That's a mistake. Small business is the soul of Kentucky's economy. Small businesses account for 97 percent of the state's employer firms and 51 percent of the state's non-farm work force, according to the latest numbers from the Small Business Administration. By any measure, small-business owners and employees are a significant voting bloc. But according to a recent National Federation of Independent Business survey, it's a voting bloc that thinks it's being ignored. |
| State can't afford coal propaganda Wed, 21 May 2008 02:05 EDT The coal industry is booming. State government is busted. So why is state government picking up the coal industry's public-relations tab? Even in years when the state isn't cutting education and raiding consumer-protection funds to balance the budget, you could question the wisdom of diverting $400,000 from tax coffers into public education efforts by Kentucky coal industry groups. This year it makes no sense at all. The price of coal has tripled in recent years to $100 a ton. The industry can afford to put out its message without any help. And that's exactly what it did during former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's tenure. Fletcher and the legislature channeled the $400,000 for "coal education" into more urgent needs. |
| More addicts than treatment Tue, 20 May 2008 02:03 EDT We humans are programmed to crave a happy ending. The story in Monday's paper about the expansion of the Men's Hope Center in Lexington tempts us into the satisfied feeling of a job accomplished. Don't go there. The Hope Center's growth -- adding about 50 spots for people in treatment -- is a huge and worthy accomplishment, one that will allow the successful program to reach more men trying to recover their lives from addiction. But standing in line behind them are tens of thousands of Kentuckians. Last year, an estimated 375,000 Kentuckians needed substance treatment, but only one in 12 would get it. The other 11 aren't just personal tragedies. |
| Mitch's presidential support Wed, 21 May 2008 08:49 EDT |
| Plan would help cell phone users Thu, 22 May 2008 10:46:22 -0500 People who enter into contracts with cell phone companies shouldn’t have to pay hefty penalty fees if they cancel their services. The federal government is quietly negotiating to help cell phone customers avoid these fees. Under a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission, the wireless industry would give consumers the opportunity to cancel services without penalty for up to 30 days after they sign contracts or until 10 days after they receive their first bills. The proposal would also cap such fees and reduce them month by month over the course of a contract. It would prohibit a wireless company from imposing termination fees on customers who change terms of their contracts or end one contract period and begin another. Although the plan wouldn’t abolish cancellation fees entirely, it would give people who are not satisfied with their service the option of canceling without having to pay huge fees. Currently, some people pay up to $200 to cancel contracts before they expire. This is a lot of money for some customers, which is why we are happy that the FCC is trying to do something to help consumers. Cell phone companies may see these fees as profit centers, but they can also result in lawsuits by disgruntled customers. We believe the cell phone companies offer a pretty weak argument when they say these stiff fees are necessary to recover the cost of cell phones. Even if customers obtain cell phones below cost as an incentive to sign a contract, we doubt that the reduction amounts to $200. It is possible these fees are in place in part to discourage a customer who is dissatisfied with their service from switching to a competitor. There are also benefits to the cell phone companies in the proposal. The government would let cell phone companies off the hook in these court cases where they are being sued for billions of dollars in many states. It would also take away the authority of the states to regulate the charges, known as early termination fees. This is a balanced proposal and for consumers’ sake the FCC and wireless providers should come together and find some common ground. |
| A boost from Bush Thu, 22 May 2008 10:46:27 -0500 Sometimes the tit-for-tat exchanges of outrage between political candidates make me wonder: Are they for real? Or, like the trash talking between professional wrestlers matches on television, are they just meant to build up the box office take? Consider, for example, how President Bush in a speech to the Israeli Knesset compared those who seek talks with Iran and radical Islamic groups to those who thought they could buy peace from the Nazis before World War II. “We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement,” Bush said. Those were heard as fighting words by Sen. Barack Obama. Even though the Democratic presidential front-runner was not mentioned by name, he’s been saying since last July that he’s willing to talk to Iran’s leaders without preconditions during his first year in office. Appeasement? There’s a huge difference between simply holding talks and appeasement. Obama has said he would tell Iran to stop threatening Israel, stop developing nuclear weapons, stop funding terrorist groups like Hamas and stop stirring up deadly mischief inside Iraq. If Iran didn’t agree, Obama says, he would proceed with sanctions. Obama had never advocated talks with terrorist groups like Hamas or called for any giveaways in the way the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany in the 1930s. Still, Bush’s own spokespeople say the president wasn’t talking about Obama. In fact, as some of Bush’s allies insist, he could have been talking about former President Jimmy Carter, who has been quite outspoken in his insistence that Israel negotiate with Hamas. Nevertheless the speed with which Obama responded to Bush’s Knesset comments speaks volumes. After his prolonged primary campaigns, Obama is itching to lock horns with President Bush, especially if it makes the point that electing Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, will be a “third Bush term.” “It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack,” Obama said in a statement released by the campaign. And McCain could not help but lash back Monday at Obama, saying the Illinois senator’s willingness to talk with Iran reveals “inexperience and reckless judgment.” “It is likely such a meeting would fail to persuade (Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) to abandon Iran’s nuclear ambition, its support of terrorists and commitment to Israel’s extinction,” McCain said. That gave Obama the perfect opportunity to fire back that McCain was mimicking the policies of the Bush administration in which “anything but their failed cowboy diplomacy is called appeasement.” “For all their tough talk, one thing you have to ask yourself is ’What are McCain and Bush afraid of?’ “ Obama said in Billings, Mont. “I’m not afraid we’ll lose some propaganda fight with a dictator. It’s time to win those battles, because we’ve watched George Bush lose them year after year after year.” Welcome to the beginnings of the general election campaign. There’s a genuine policy debate going on in this back-and-forth. There’s some high-stakes politicking going on, too. With his Arab-Israeli peace process looking for all appearances as though it is dead in the water, Bush relishes an opportunity to retake the center of the world stage, especially with a controversial speech to a very friendly audience at the Knesset. But, at a time when polls show Bush’s disapproval ratings dragging down the ticket and leading congressional Republicans fretting about their tarnished “brand,” McCain’s chances in the general election may hinge on how well he can distance himself from the sitting president. Bush could be more of a burden to McCain in this election year than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s retired and very controversial pastor, has been to Obama. Bush has a hard of a time staying out of this fray as Bill Clinton has in staying out of the way of his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s candidacy: This election will be viewed as a referendum on the Bush presidency as much as Sen. Clinton’s campaign is viewed as a referendum on how much “Clinton fatigue” the public is suffering. But this back-and-forth over foreign policy is a risky game for Obama, too. It puts him in the arena of national security debates, where Republicans traditionally have an advantage over Democrats - especially if they happen to be war heroes like McCain, a former Vietnam POW. Yet the campaign must deal with foreign policy sooner or later. For Obama, it’s best to do it now, with months to go before the election, especially when President Bush so willingly offers up the opportunity. |
| A real choice Wed, 21 May 2008 22:29:00 EST Tuesday's results in the Democratic Senate primary won't make everyone happy (they never do), but they do set up a clear choice for November. |
| Equestrian dangers Wed, 21 May 2008 22:30:00 EST Racetrack breakdowns are not the only safety issue in need of attention to protect horses and riders. |
| Passing the torch from Ted Kennedy Wed, 21 May 2008 22:31:00 EST I fell asleep Tuesday night listening to the news about the Kentucky and Oregon primary results -- and with Sen. Ted Kennedy on my mind. |
| 'Pathetic rag' … Wed, 21 May 2008 22:31:00 EST I've had enough! I've had it with this sorry excuse for a newspaper. I'm tired of reading every story, written as though it should be on the opinion page. I'm tired of this paper's rubber stamp for anything the Democrats come up with. … I'm tired of your race-baiting columnist. |
| 'A personal tragedy and a political cataclysm' Wed, 21 May 2008 22:32:00 EST Not since the day almost 45 years ago, when word reached Washington that his brother John had been cut down in Dallas, has there been news about an individual that struck so deep a blow to so many in this capital. |
| God bless Ted Kennedy Wed, 21 May 2008 22:33:00 EST These days, people on "one side" of the political spectrum are not supposed to cooperate, much less have a personal relationship with anyone on the "other side." Siding with "the enemy" can get you branded a compromiser, a sellout or a fool. |
| 'A good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it' Wed, 21 May 2008 22:33:00 EST The following are excerpts from the eulogy delivered by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at the funeral Mass for his brother Sen. Robert M. Kennedy. The remarks were made on June 8, 1968, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. |
| Landed Another... Wed, 21 May 2008 22:24:00 EST |
| Obama shouldn't write off Ky. Thu, 22 May 2008 02:04 EDT On the heels of his drubbings in Kentucky and West Virginia, we have two words for Sen. Barack Obama: road trip. Once he has sealed the Democratic nomination, he should enlist one or both of the Clintons to show him around the states he lost so decisively. Former President Bill Clinton has traveled enough Kentucky backroads this spring that he probably wouldn't need a guide. And if actor George Clooney joined in, they'd have a native along. What the presumptive nominee and his media entourage would find is that despite the region's heartbreaking poverty, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's stronghold in the foothills and highlands of central Appalachia is not the exclusive domain of white racists desperate for their next meal of squirrel brains. The region has been home to anti-slavery abolitionists, some of the American labor movement's most courageous acts and a strain of Democratic politics that produced such stalwart progressives as the late Rep. Carl D. Perkins. |
| Stay out of the mud Thu, 22 May 2008 02:04 EDT Bruce Lunsford did not get a full day to bask in winning the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate before Sen. Mitch McConnell came out swinging. McConnell demanded, through reporters, answers about how the Louisville multimillionaire would vote or would have voted on various issues. Fair game. And the longer this campaign stays focused on public-policy issues, the better for Kentucky voters who shudder at the thought of being mired in mudslinging. Also, the better for the candidates. Neither can afford to turn off voters. |
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