BY RICH GALEN
NOV 02 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Fred Thompson died over the weekend.

You’ve read the obits and know about his rural Tennessee roots, his work as the chief Republican lawyer on the Watergate Committee, his service as a U.S. Senator and, of course, as Arthur Branch, the fictional district attorney of New York on the TV show Law & Order.

I didn’t know Fred for most of his life. Like most of us, I knew of Fred. It was during the brief time of his campaign for President in the 2008 cycle. Continue reading →

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  OCT 15

“We came here to get something done. We always lock horns. We always argue. We never agree. I think it is about time, for once in a long time, we find common ground and agree.

“I want to get something done that is achievable. I don’t want to keep talking grand bargains that never happen. I want to see where we can get something done that is achievable and go for that.”

Those are the words of Congressman Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin whiz who is now the sought-after candidate for Speaker of the House. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
OCT 1  |  Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The Republican Party was founded upon the ashes of the Whig Party, which collapsed over the issue of slavery.

And ever since that time, the Grand Old Party has had a bit of a wild ride.

Two House buildings are named after former GOP Speakers of the House who faced a rambunctious caucus.

Speaker Joe Cannon governed the House with an iron fist until a bloc of progressive Republicans demanded that he give up his Chairmanship of the Rules Committee and otherwise give them more access to power.   Continue reading →

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  SEP 29

House Speaker John Boehner said in his first post-retirement interview on CBS’ Face the Nation that it takes more courage to do what you can do than to try to do what you can’t.

The Speaker could have said that better, but his observation sums up quite well the philosophy of governance that has been both the accelerator and brake of his journey through Congress.  The statement also defined one of the most debilitating divides in politics and government, a divide that not only defined and confined his Speakership but will undoubtedly do the same for the next, regardless of whose it is.

The King is dead, long live the King.   Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
SEP 23  |  Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

On the eve of the Pope’s visit to Washington, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan announced that he would moderate a panel of Presidential candidates in South Carolina with Senator Tim Scott on the issue of poverty.

As a former Budget Chairman and as a practicing Catholic, Ryan has two deep interests in the issue of poverty. First, when people are stuck in an endless cycle of poverty, it costs the Treasury a bunch of money. And as Francis reminds us, helping the poor is the duty of all Catholics. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
SEP 14  |  Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Originally published in The Hill

First it was ObamaCare. Then it was immigration. And now, it’s Planned Parenthood.

So many who constitute the Tea Party wing of the Republican conference want to see their leaders wage war against President Obama.

They want to see a good fight. They want to see Congress use the power of the purse to defund and destroy key liberal initiatives, mostly those initiated by the former senator from Illinois.

The leaders want to wage a good fight, too. They don’t want to be seen as kowtowing to Obama. They use heated rhetoric to register their disgust with the president’s priorities. They sympathize with their political base. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
SEP 14 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

It has been an axiom of politics since 2010 that you can’t be a legitimate candidate for your party’s nomination for President if you don’t have a Super PAC associated – but not coordinating – with you.

The basic rule of Super PACs, according to OpenSecrets.org:

Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates.

Super PACs must, however, report their donors to the Federal Election Commission. Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
SEP 10 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

First, some definitions from Merriam-Webster:
Migrant: A person who goes from one place to another especially to find work
Refugee: A person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution
Immigrant: A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

With all the projectile sweat over illegal immigrants generated by Donald Trump and parroted by other GOP candidates for President, it is useful to take a deep breath to compare and contrast the problems at our southern border with Central and South Americans to the problems in Europe with (largely) Syrians and Iraqis. Continue reading →

BY B. JAY COOPER
SEP 8 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

The Republican Party asked all its presidential candidates to sign a loyalty oath pledging them to support whoever the eventual candidate is, and not to lead a third party against that candidate. This idea was spurred by Donald Trump’s candidacy and his threat to run as a third-party candidate if he fails to win the GOP nomination, a move that likely would tank a GOP win. Trump, and his 16 competitors, all signed. And, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus traveled to the mountain, I mean Trump Towers, in New York City to get Trump’s signature.

Oy. A few thoughts: Continue reading →

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  SEP 1

Eleven-year-old-Bushra says she is forgetting how to read.

Bushra is in a refugee camp in Al-Minya, Lebanon, with her father, mother and sister, light years away from her school and life as a pre-teen. She told a reporter she struggled with the words in a pamphlet she found. She and her family are among roughly 4 million others, 750,000 of them children, who have fled Syria’s civil war for something better.

In this case a collection of make-shift shacks, smelly garbage, little food and no foreseeable future in a Lebanese refugee settlement, where the Lebanese government will not allow construction of better dwellings. Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
AUG 28 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Katrina changed everything.

Ten years ago, as the storm battered first Florida, then Mississippi and then Louisiana, the dreams and expectations of the American people were similarly battered.

Katrina exposed fault lines in our society, shattered faith in our political leaders and the political system and undermined confidence in democracy and capitalism. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
AUG 24 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

We have cheapened the value of the word, “hero.”

A lot of people are brave. Teachers, nurses, local service volunteers, Priests, Rabbis, and Ministers. We’ve applied the word “hero” to most, if not all of them.

Firefighters and police officers who routinely run into grave danger qualify as heroes. Service members who have saved the lives of their mates – often at the cost of their own, do, too.

But, they have chosen to put themselves into situations where the need for heroism is, if not expected, at least recognized as a real possibility. Continue reading →

BY STEVE BELL  |  AUG 20

“Trump driving migrant debate,” read the headline over the lead story in the Washington Post.

The story beneath the headline seemed to imply that Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s rants on immigration have frightened into submission some of his opponents for the Republican nomination for President. Like lemmings heading seaward, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Lindsey Graham, according to the Post, have been suddenly converted to Trump’s way of thinking on several immigration issues, particularly overturning the birthright provisions of the Constitution. Continue reading →

BY B. JAY COOPER
AUG 18 | Reprinted from The Screaming Moderate (bjaycooper.com)

Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Nelson Mendela, Indira Gandhi, Sidney Poitier. What do all those people have in common? Class.

Where has class gone? Is it dying because our politicians and celebrities are over-exposed? Is it dying because we are  so exposed these days that our faults are no longer hidden? Do we just know too much to accept anyone has class anymore? After all, there are cable TV channels and web sites for each of us: left wing, right wing; foodies, sports, hobbyist. We don’t have to be Continue reading →

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  AUG 13

Our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. Megyn Kelly is a bimbo. The Mexicans are smarter than us because they are sending us their drugs, their crime, and their rapists. We have a weak President that [sic] kisses everybody’s ass. Rosie O’Donnell is a disgusting slob. Some women are fat pigs, dogs, and disgusting animals.

Donald Trump getting headlines. Donald Trump branding Donald Trump. Donald Trump ‘having fun.’

These Trumpisms also seem to appeal to the anger seething in millions of people over the state of their lives, their society,  town, workplace,  schools, the country, the world;  the sense that Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
AUG 4 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

“You fell asleep in my car

I drove the whole time

But that’s okay I’ll just avoid the holes so you sleep fine

I’m driving here I sit

Cursing my government

For not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement”

My son gets a kick out of that new song, “Tear in My Heart,” by Twenty One Pilots. I think it’s kind of funny too. Continue reading →

BY RICH GALEN
JUL 30 | Reprinted from Mullings.com

Federal funds should be halted – at least temporarily – to Planned Parenthood until the matter of whether they are trading in fetal tissues for profit is solved.

As you have heard, a group called the Center for Medical Progress, has gone into a number of facilities – including Planned Parenthood facilities – shooting undercover videos about buying and selling tissues from aborted fetuses.

The Washington Post’s David Weigel called the practice ” the little-covered and gruesome issue of fetal tissue sales.” Continue reading →

BY JOHN FEEHERY
JUL 24 | Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

You will never see Dave Espo’s face on Morning Joe.

While he didn’t have a face for radio, so to speak, he also didn’t have the blow-dried look of the modern day reporter.

For 41 years, Espo has plowed the fields of Congress, planting seeds among sources, reaping stories and helping to power the Associated Press. Continue reading →

BY FRANK HILL
JUL 16 | Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com

When you think about it, throughout history the United States has struck some pretty good deals with foreign adversaries.

In fact, some great ones.

Seward’s Folly: On March 30, 1867, “U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward sign(ed) a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as ‘Seward’s folly,’ ‘Seward’s icebox,’ and President Andrew Johnson’s ‘polar bear garden.”‘ Continue reading →