The Hatfields and McCoys

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

“These guys are like the Hatfields and McCoys. That’s why they can’t get anything done in Congress.”

My cab driver pretty much nailed it on the head. Relations between the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress have taken on all of the characteristics of that famous family feud.

The Hatfield-McCoy feud started out when a McCoy came home from the Civil War as a Union soldier, angering a group of Hatfields, who had formed a pro-Confederacy vigilante group called the “Logan wildcats.” They promptly murdered him. Continue reading →

Precise Language Matters

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

Language not only matters (cliché though that is) but begets itself, which can be a problem, too.

Take the last week or so. President Obama told the Syrian government, through the media, that proof of their use of chemical weapons against their own people would cross a “red line.” In fact, it would even be a  “game-changer.” According to news reports, the White House went through a weekend of meetings to discuss the President’s posturing (important in diplomacy) regarding Syria and how he should phrase it. The language he wound up using at a press conference was not what they agreed to and apparently was more direct than they intended. Continue reading →

$248 Million Medicaid ‘Mistake’

BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com

The Governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, announced another ‘mistake’ in the Medicaid projections made by the Administration of former Governor Bev Perdue last fall before the elections. Wonder if these underestimations were deliberate in the hopes of helping the Democrat candidate in the gubernatorial race?

Nah, that never happens. Right? ‘Nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen. Move right along’.

This time, the ‘underestimation’ accounted for $135 million in the state’s largest health care program, Medicaid, for the indigent and infirm. That was on top of another $113 million or so announced earlier this year. Continue reading →

Less Is More

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

In spite of a lot of talk and promises, President Obama is one pick away from filling out his Cabinet-level team for his second term. The scorecard? According to the Washington Post’s Emily Heil and Al Kamen: The number of white men in Cabinet-level jobs increased from eight in the first round to likely 10 in this term and one fewer woman than there were in his first.

Moreover, according to the two writers, the President didn’t do very well in “maintaining diversity, and for those who expected more minorities – especially Latinos – not good at all.”

Assuming Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx is confirmed as Transportation Secretary, it “would bring the number of blacks to only three, down from four in the first term.” Continue reading →

Rubio is Right. National Review? Not so Much.

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I have long been a fan of the National Review.

When I was in college, I would read the National Review to annoy the teachers. I had friends and mentors who wrote for the iconic magazine. I drew inspiration from William Buckley, who was the Godfather of the conservative movement. And you will always be entertained when you pick up a copy of the magazine.

Buckley broke with several conservatives when he came out in favor of legalizing drugs and when he expressed some real doubts about the Iraq war. But that was a while ago, when the conservative magazine marketplace wasn’t very crowded.

Now that publishing niche is very crowded indeed. Weekly Standard has been siphoning off some of its readers. Daily Caller has become the American political version of the Daily Mail.  And of course, the Drudge Report, the conservative news aggregator is the king of all things conservative. Continue reading →

Mark Sanford (R-Appalachian Trail)

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

I had lunch a recently with an experienced Republican operative who happens to be from the South Carolina congressional district where Mark Sanford, the governor who said he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail but really was in Argentina with his mistress, is running for redemption. I also had dinner recently with a Democratic fund-raiser.

The Democrat and our other dinner companions (all three are Democrats) were joking about Sanford’s travails and saying there is no way he can win the special election. The Republican at lunch said he would win easily (Note: he said this before Sanford was nailed for trespassing in his ex-wife’s house watching the Super Bowl with  his young son and “trespassing,” meaning he violated his divorce agreement). When my Republican friend said the ex-governor would win, I questioned him, too, because my New England-based Continue reading →

The Lamest Lame Duck

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The President did a press conference yesterday, where he made some news. None of it was good for him.

He said he still has juice in answer to a Jonathan Karl’s question that asked if the President was still relevant. If the media asks you if you still have juice, that is not good, especially if you are a second term President.

He said that he still wants to close down Gitmo. This was one of his original campaign promises. He ordered it closed four and half years ago. It is still open. What kind of juice is that? Continue reading →

The Day Distance Disappeared

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band lyrics notwithstanding, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the birth of the World Wide Web.

The Web was invented in Switzerland. At the CERN laboratory near Geneva. The acronym CERN originally stood in French for Conseil Europen pour laRecherche Nuclaire (European Council for Nuclear Research). The name has since changed, but the acronym has stuck. Continue reading →

Cruz Doing Cornyn No Favors

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

There are 26 million people living in Texas. About 40 percent of them are Hispanic. About 44 percent of them are White and not Hispanic. About 11 percent of them are Black.

When you live in Texas, you gain an appreciation for Mexican culture and the Mexican people. You have no choice. They are your neighbors.

I worked for a Texas member of Congress once. Tom DeLay had a great appreciation for the Hispanics in his state. He spoke Spanish. He lived in Latin America for a while when he was a kid. Continue reading →

Another Year of Newsroom Narcissism

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Dinner, a dazzling display of media narcissism, is over. But before it slips into memory, as I suggested last year, too, the Association ought to think seriously about not doing it next year. The spectacle is an embarrassment to journalism and the American Presidency.

It reinforces an awful perception of Washington culture. And, staging this circus under the guise of raising funds for journalism scholarships is just short of fraud. The paltry amount of money the Association gives out in scholarships could be raised with a tin cup at the corner of Connecticut and K streets in DC.  The budding reporters are a thin cover for a week of extravagant, self-indulgent Oscar parties. Continue reading →

Gas

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

New data from the Environmental Protection Agency indicates that drilling for natural gas releases significantly less methane (the main component of natural gas) into the atmosphere than previously thought.

Twenty percent less.

This is not seen as good news for the ultra-environmentalists who fervently believe that any fuel made from fossilized plant or animal matter (coal or natural gas) is bad. Continue reading →

Socks and 39, 41, 42, 43, 44

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

So, the other day when George W. Bush (43) opened his presidential library, all the living presidents were brought together. It’s one of those great events in our country when that happens, former combatants joining together to honor one of their own. The Most Exclusive Club in the World.

One of the most fun things about the event though was President George H.W. Bush’s (41) socks. In fact, I posted a picture of the presidents (39, 41, 42, 43, Continue reading →

Regular Order on Immigration

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The goal for John Boehner and pro-immigration reform House Republicans should be to get a vehicle to conference.

It is not to pass the perfect bill. It is not to pass the Senate bill.

The Senate frequently likes to forget about the House. Those pesky House members, who have to face reelection every two years in districts that are mostly packed with partisans, annoy the Upper Chamber to no end. Continue reading →

Can Government ‘Fix’ the Economy?

BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com

There’s several great scenes in the classic ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ where Kevin Kline as the dim-witted narcissistic con-man gets riled up when someone calls him ‘stupid.’

Generally, we have found in life that we won’t follow the lead of someone who calls us ‘stupid’. On the other hand, we have also found that it is very difficult to get people to follow our lead or to even like us when we call them ‘stupid’.

Life just doesn’t lend itself to calling people ‘stupid’ and getting away with it.

Unless you are Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman who somehow has kept his job writing for the New York Times and his Nobel Prize despite having none of Continue reading →

Take a Listen

BY B. JAY COOPER
Reprinted from BJayCooper.com

Those who know me will tell you that I can be quite obnoxious when it comes to word usage. Use a word in a weird way  and I’ll do an annoying rant for hours. Let me be clear, I am not a grammarian. I am not good at punctuation (I once lost a promotion because I was told I didn’t know how to use commas.) But I do favor plain English and not bastardizing the language to puff myself up.

All that as background before I rail about “take a listen” which I hear nearly every time I turn on a newscast lately. Chuck Todd just said “take a listen” on NBC’s Nightly News as he introduced a piece. I think every reporter on CNN  Continue reading →

Bush Revisited

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Thousands of Republicans are on their way to Dallas, Texas to commemorate and celebrate 8 consequential years at the turn of the 21st century.

President Bush is opening his Presidential library, which runs counter to his self-image as a simple, country bumpkin.

Bush was always smarter than he let on in his public image, which I have always thought was a big mistake on his part. People don’t want a simple, country bumpkin as their President. Well, I should rephrase that. Many people don’t want a simple, country bumpkin as their President, me included. Continue reading →

W.

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

I am heading to Dallas for the opening of the Presidential library of George W. Bush on Thursday.

I know that there will be many who, echoing the outpouring of venom in Great Britain upon the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, will elbow their way in front of TV cameras to be as ugly as necessary to get on the air.

I can’t fix that, and I won’t try.

I have known George W. Bush since I was hired to be the spokesman of his dad’s Continue reading →

Sidd Finch Had a 168mph Fastball

BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from TelemachusLeaps.com

Ever wanted to go backwards in time and embellish your record at any level of life?

Well, the Obama Administration is about to do the same thing with their economic record so go ahead, do it. No one will mind or even know the difference, right?

Here’s just one sample of what they are proposing to do: ‘Based on pre­liminary estimates for 2007, this change will boost the level of GDP by about 2 percent, Continue reading →

The Train Wreck

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

Originally Published in The Hill.

The healthcare train currently chugging down the tracks is going to crash, and it is not going to be pretty.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Senate Finance Committee chairman who helped design the healthcare reform bill signed into law by President Obama three years ago, was the one who initially called it a “huge train wreck.”

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, characterized the law as “beyond comprehension.” Continue reading →

How Boston Will Impact Washington

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The Boston attacks will have an inevitable, if unpredictable, impact on the debates in Washington D.C.

We now know that the perpetrators were legal residents, that they were Muslim, that they were Chechen, that they were pretty young. We know the older one was disaffected and unhappy with living in America. We know he was radicalized to become anti-American.

We surmise that the younger one was less radical but perhaps more prone to being influenced by his big brother. Continue reading →