BY RICH GALEN
JUN 22 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

I don’t want to add to the blathering and hand wringing over what happened when Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

But, we can’t help but wonder how a 21-year-old man – barely a man – could get to a place in his head that not only made his act possible, but apparently made it inevitable.

I don’t want to play politics with this. I am a member of the NRA and will continue to be one, but background checks for all types of firearms are hard to argue with. I have a pistol. It’s locked inside a heavy plastic container with a trigger lock inside of that. I am (or was) a pretty good shot. Continue reading →

BY B. JAY COOPER
JUN 22 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

The killings in South Carolina have produced many human emotions, some expected, some unexpected.

The unexpected are what struck me the most. First, let me say, this was a, premeditated, horrible mass murder for reasons we all know – the racist basis for them, the chilling shooter sitting in the Bible Study group an hour before pulling out his gun and killing everyone there except one he wanted as a witness to his killings, to the cold, empty eyes we’re becoming too accustomed to seeing when photos of these killers are published. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
JUN 17 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I like Jeb Bush and I want him to be President.

But when he says about the Pope’s coming encyclical on climate change, “I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm,” he is being completely disingenuous.

And despite Jesus’s admonition to “Give what belongs to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and that which belongs to God to God,” the idea that the Pope should butt out of issues like climate change is nonsense. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
JUN 11 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

The New York Times, last week, published an article detailing the driving record of Florida Senator Marco Rubio and his wife. According to the article, “A review of records dating back to 1977 shows that the couple had a combined 17 traffic violations: Mr. Rubio with four and his wife with 13.”

As you can imagine, that set off a firestorm in the Twitterverse with numerous examples of combining disparate numbers to arrive at a large total.

If I had joined in, my Tweet might have been: “Boone Pickens and I have about a billion dollars in assets.” Continue reading →

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  JUN 9

“Who were these guys?” I thought. “And what were they doing here?”

It was a cold January day in 1977, the second of January to be exact. The two other guys were sitting in overstuffed leather chairs in Room 2112 in the Rayburn House Office building just across the street from the U.S. Capitol.

The three of us were meeting for the first time. We were brought together as part of the new leadership staff of the freshly minted Republican Whip in the House, Bob Michel of Illinois. We were all recruited by Michel’s chief of staff, Ralph Vinovich, who cut his political teeth on the staff of the venerable Senator from Illinois, Everett Dirksen. At the time, Michel represented the changing of the guard in Republican leadership. It was, yet again, time for new beginnings, for all of us. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
JUN 2 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

You don’t have to be a sociologist or a criminal studies major to figure this out. The headlines are pretty stark.

In the NY Times:

Shootings in New York City have been rising for two straight years, the first time that has happened since the end of the 1990s, when the city was still in the early years of a remarkable downturn in crime. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
MAY 12 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Robin Hayes openly wept on the House Floor after voting to give President Bush fast track authority late in 2001. He thought the vote in favor of TPA would cost him his seat.

He wasn’t the only one.

Many folks cried when Republicans passed TPA at President Bush’s request, but many shed only crocodile tears, hoping upon hope to get political and other help from the White House and the GOP Leadership. Continue reading →

BY B. JAY COOPER
MAY 12 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

Politics ain’t bean bag. Neither is football.

The New England Patriots are having one of their worst weeks, and this after yet another Super Bowl championship. They cheated, or so says the NFL. Therefore, quarterback and all-American perceived nice guy Tom Brady will be suspended for four games, which means a loss of about $2 million in pay, and his team is being fined another million. Why? Because, the league says, they intentionally deflated footballs to make them more easily gripped by one of the best QBs ever to play the pro game. As if he needs such an advantage.  Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
MAY 11 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

The results of the elections in the United Kingdom last week were the latest, not the first, surprise if “surprise” is based upon what the pre-election polls were saying. The Conservative Party had been tipped (as they say in the British papers) to play to a tie with the Labour (as they spell it in Britain) Party at the the six-week campaign.

When the dust settled (as they said in the old West), the Tories (another name for the Conservative Party) romped not just to the most seats in the 650-seat Parliament, but an absolute majority of 331 seats – a feat the Tories had not accomplished since 1992. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
MAY 8 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Jim Wright left a mark.

I came to Washington to work for House Republican Leader Bob Michel in September of 1989, about four months after the Texas Democrat stepped down in disgrace.

Wright had run roughshod over the House Minority, radicalizing Members like Dick Cheney, and empowering bomb-throwers like Newt Gingrich.

The future House Speaker was strangely inspired by the Speaker he successfully deposed. He too would be brought down by a passion to sell books. He too would marry a Congressional Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
APR 30 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Baltimore is only about 40 miles from Washington, DC. For decades Baltimore was where we went to watch Major League Baseball. There was a stadium in the middle of a neighborhood on 33rd Street.

We commiserated with the city when the owners of the Baltimore Colts NFL team snuck out of town, literally, in the dead of night and surfaced in Indianapolis.

The Inner Harbor has been a showplace for the revitalization of a downtown area since it was substantially completed in 1965. The Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens have stadiums that share a parking lot adjacent to the area. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
APR 28 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Last week General David Petraeus, as the result of a plea agreement, was sentenced to two years probation and a $100,000 fine for the crime of, as reported by CNN.com, “sharing classified information with his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell.” He was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

The notebooks he shared with Broadwell “included notes from national security meetings, the identities of covert officers, and more classified documents,” according to CNN.

I have met David Petraeus although he would have to feign knowing me if we ran into one another. He rose to the rank of Four-Star General – the highest rank in the United States Military – on the basis of being smart, being good looking, being an excellent military strategist, and Continue reading →

BY B. JAY COOPER
APR 21 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

Remember when you’d wait anxiously, day to day for the mail to arrive because you were expecting a letter from someone (okay, I’m talking to people over 30 here who remember snail mail), or a delivery of something you bought mail order?

Well, last week I signed up for Medicare. And while I got an email a few days later saying that a decision had been made on my application, of course it didn’t say what the decision was but that I’d be getting a letter telling me soon (because why shouldn’t the federal government, which is rolling in dough, spend a few more shekels on a stamp?).

Well, yesterday it arrived. I’m officially registered for Medicare which starts in a few months when I actually do turn 65 (65? Oy). Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
APR 21 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The first major law passed by the Congress under our current Constitution and signed by President Washington was the Tariff Act of 1789. Declared the Second Declaration of Independence by the local newspapers at the time, the new law put taxes on products made overseas to benefit American manufacturers.

James Madison, as a leader in the newly formed legislative branch, navigated passage of the law, attempting to balance the sectional interests of the country. Southerners largely favored lower tariffs, because they exported the bulk of their products (mostly cotton and tobacco) overseas, while Northern manufacturers favored higher duties, because they didn’t want the competition from Europe and their market was largely domestic. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
APR 20 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

I know you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “Figure that out all by yourself, Einstein?”

Well, no. In fact there were at least two articles over the weekend that present a fascinating look at where we are headed in the American political system.

No fewer than 19 announced, presumed, and possible candidates for the Republican nomination for President made their way to New Hampshire over the weekend for a GOP-sponsored event. Continue reading →

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN  |  APR 17

Senator Marco Rubio’s announcement of his decision to seek his party’s nomination for president was greeted by generally good reviews, and for good reason. He delivers a speech well, he is attractive, he is conservative, and he appears to have that magic quality, charisma.

His personal story, as the son of Cuban immigrants, is inspiring. Despite the obvious difficulties ahead of him in a crowded field, he will no doubt be a formidable candidate in the primaries.

But I wonder if his insistence on the generation gap as the theme of his campaign is a wise one. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
APR 16 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Democratic strategist Ann Lewis and I were on Channel 4 – that’s Channel 4 in London, not WNBC in New York – to talk about the Hillary campaign one day after her YouTube announcement.

I don’t know Ann well enough to like her; I certainly don’t know her well enough to dislike her, but I know her sufficiently well enough to respect her. Continue reading →

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN  |  APR 13

It used to be said about prizefighter Ray Robinson that he was “pound for pound, the greatest fighter in the world.” In recent years I have begun to think that Charles Lane, columnist for the Washington Post, is, column for column, the best political writer in Washington. Opinionated without being dogmatic, prudent but firm in his judgments, and willing to take seriously opinions that do not agree with his. He is a pleasure to read.

On Thursday, April 9, he wrote, thoughtfully as ever, about the controversy over Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s signing of the religious freedom restoration act, and the subsequent all-out attack by gay activists and by some business leaders who wanted to “curry favor with a Continue reading →

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN  |  MAR 30

I once read that Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy of India, said: “It is a curious thing but true that in all important decisions I made in my life, I have never been wrong.”

While my record is not quite as unblemished as that of Lord Mountbatten, I can at least lay claim to one accomplishment: after decades in politics, I have never been argued out of a strongly-held political position or belief and I also have never changed anyone’s mind about politics on the basis of an argument I have made. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
MAR 30 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

The Arab League is a multi-national organization made up of 22 nations ranging from Mauritania on the West coast of Africa to Qatar in the Persian Gulf.

It was reported over the weekend by the BBC that members of the Arab League “have agreed to create a joint Arab military force” on the heels of military action by Egypt and Saudi Arabia against Shiite rebels in Yemen.

This is important here, because so many American voices have questioned why the U.S. is sending more ground forces to Iraq (and keeping forces in Afghanistan) and leading the air war with U.S. warplanes while Iraq’s neighbors have largely sat on the sidelines. Continue reading →