The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling in 2003 striking down the state’s gay-marriage ban arguably helped re-elect President Bush. Fired-up social conservatives, spurred on by GOP political operatives, put gay-marriage amendments on the ballots in 11 states in November 2004, helping drive voter turnout in those states and elsewhere. In such battleground states as Ohio, it likely was the difference between Bush winning and losing.
So how will Thursday’s California Supreme Court ruling play out? It certainly won’t have as big an impact, as only three states are expected to have the issue on the ballot — California, Arizona and Florida. And though John McCain supports such state amendments, he doesn’t support a federal gay-marriage ban, which rankles many social conservatives. Also, pocketbook issues and Iraq are more important to most voters this election than social issues. Still, McCain and the GOP likely will exploit the ruling as another example of “activist judges.”
Younger voters might not be enough to elect Barack Obama this year, but they will soon have a major impact on elections and politics — and it likely won’t be favorable for the GOP.
“The number of young people in the millennial generation (loosely defined as those born in the 1980s and 1990s) is somewhere between 80 million and 95 million,” columnist Bob Herbert wrote. “That represents a ton of potential votes — in this election and years to come. And the (Center for) American Progress study shows that those young people do not feel they have been treated kindly by conservative policies or principles.”
According to the study: “Millennials mostly reject the conservative viewpoint that government is the problem, and that free markets always produce the best results for society. Indeed, millennials’ views are more progressive than those of other age groups today, and are more progressive than previous generations when they were younger.”
There are easier ways to make a living than being in Congress — and to make a much better living. But Kansas’ lawmakers are getting by or better, according to the Sunlight Foundation. Its new study finds Sen. Sam Brownback, with a $13.3 million net worth in 2006, leading his fellow Kansans, followed by Rep. Nancy Boyda ($2.2 million), Sen. Pat Roberts ($1.7 million), Rep. Dennis Moore ($827,000), Rep. Jerry Moran ($510,000) and the 4th District’s own Rep. Todd Tiahrt ($121,000). The average net worth among their fellow Americans in 2006 was $93,000.
Overall, Kansas’ delegation members fell well within the extremes of wealth or lack of it cited by the study — from California Rep. Jane Harmon’s $409 million to Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings’ $4.7 million debt.
The problem isn’t just that several Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputies violated county policy by sending e-mails with inappropriate racial and sexual content; it’s that they apparently thought the offensive comments were OK. In other words, it would have been just as bad if the deputies had whispered the comments to one another rather than used county computers to disseminate them. It’s good that the office is taking the policy violations seriously and intends to take disciplinary action. But the lesson to the deputies is not about being more careful with their e-mail; it’s about changing their mind-set.
“You don’t walk off the court before the buzzer sounds. You never know, you might get a three-point shot at the end.” — Hillary Clinton, on CNN
Apparently today is the day to make extraordinarily optimistic predictions.
John McCain declared that by the end of his first term as president, the war in Iraq would be won, most U.S. troops would be home, Iraq would be a functioning democracy, Osama bin Laden would be captured, and the United States would have had several years of robust economic growth. Asked afterward if his outlook was a “magic carpet ride,” McCain responded: “I don’t think it has anything to do with fantasy. I think it has everything to do with setting goals and achieving.”
Meanwhile, President Bush, speaking today to the Israeli parliament, made even rosier projections for what the Middle East would be like in 60 years. He foresees “free and independent societies” across the region; that Iran and Syria “will be peaceful nations”; that al-Qaida, Hezbollah and Hamas “will be defeated”; and that “overall, the Middle East will be characterized by a new period of integration and tolerance.”
John Edwards’ endorsement of Barack Obama isn’t a game-changer, and it won’t cause white, lower-income voters to abandon Hillary Clinton for Obama. But the endorsement is another blow to Clinton’s efforts to persuade superdelegates to support her. Today, four of Edwards’ delegates came out in support of Obama, as did the United Steelworkers Union.
Hillary Clinton’s big win in West Virginia wasn’t the most significant election news Tuesday. Rather, it was Travis Childers (in photo) winning a special election for a U.S. House race in Mississippi. The Democrat’s victory in this very conservative, formerly safe GOP district could spell problems for Republicans in November. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, certainly thinks so.
“The results in MS-01 should serve as a wake-up call to Republican candidates nationwide,” he said in a statement. “As I’ve said before, this is a change election, and if we want Americans to vote for us we have to convince them that we can fix Washington. Our presidential nominee, Sen. McCain, is an agent of change; candidates who hope to succeed must show that they’re willing and able to join McCain in a leading movement for reform.”
John McCain’s age could be an issue in the fall campaign. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 39 percent of Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of a 72-year-old first-term president, while 16 and 12 percent, respectively, are uncomfortable with the idea of a female or African-American president.
House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, keeps discrediting himself in his push to expand a coal-fired power plant near Holcomb. He repeated to Wichita Independent Business Association members this week a falsehood about how developers of a proposed oil refinery “were told they’d never get a permit” in Kansas, and that “they’re looking at South Dakota now.”
The Dallas-based company announced last June that South Dakota was the finalist for its refinery, months before Kansas Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby denied Holcomb’s permit request. The company did look at northeast Kansas as one of several fallback sites in case it ran into problems in South Dakota. But after it received zoning approval there, the company notified Kansas that it was dropping its option to buy land here.
Getting an air permit in Kansas was not a problem. Bremby told the company in a letter in February that Kansas was “open for business” and that if the company made the same proposal it had in South Dakota, he didn’t foresee any problem issuing the permit.
As expected, Hillary Clinton won big in the West Virginia primary Tuesday. Though it didn’t change the math - Barack Obama still leads in states won, pledged delegates, popular vote and superdelegates (with more committed superdelegates added today) - the landslide win gave Clinton another emotional boost. Her only hope of winning now rests with getting the Florida and Michigan delegations seated at the convention - which she again called for during her victory speech Tuesday night.
Before its reconstruction began, people used to consider Kellogg a joke. Since then, the joking has been about how long the project is taking. The most-told joke notes that because scientists say the sun will burn out in several billion years, “that means we’ll have to finish the Kellogg freeway construction in the dark,” as then-City Manager Chris Cherches put it in the ’90s. Similarly, when the downtown flyover opened in 1994, colorful signs went up nearby declaring, “And people said the sun would burn out first!”
Local wit Bucky Walters noted in The Eagle three years ago that “historians have always held that the construction of Kellogg was begun by Coronado in the 16th century. However, with the discovery of a mastodon tusk by present-day Kellogg workers, scientists have confirmed that the planet’s oldest unfinished highway was first started by prehistoric man.”
Anyone have other Kellogg jokes to offer? In any case, as our editorial today argues, the seemingly endless construction project remains essential for the community.
A Washington Post article reports that behind the cheering crowds that have greeted Barack Obama in states like Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, his field workers have at times “endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can’t fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African-American president.”
While Obama officials say the overwhelming response has been positive and generous, his staffers recount story after story of whites saying they would never vote for a black man.
One told a phone worker in Pennsylvania, “Hang that darky from a tree.”
In Kokomo, Ind., black high school students holding up signs for Obama along a highway were greeted with racial slurs by several passing motorists.
Whites who don’t see any racism in America should open their eyes.
Libertarian presidential hopeful Bob Barr is unlikely to win too many votes. But in a close election, it’s possible that the former GOP congressman could tip the race away from John McCain. Ron Paul certainly showed during the GOP primaries that there is a significant number of Republicans who favor libertarian ideals. Barr’s complaints with the GOP include government eavesdropping, runaway spending and the war in Iraq.
It’s a common gripe of immigration critics: Immigrants today aren’t as interested in assimilating into American society as past immigrants. But a new study found that as a group, immigrants of the past quarter century have been assimilating at a notably faster rate than did previous generations, the Washington Post reported. And this is in spite of the fact that today’s immigrants arrive here with lower levels of English proficiency and less earning power than immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.
Good news for John McCain: He is favored overwhelmingly by Americans who think our country is headed on the right track. The bad news: That’s only 16 percent of the country, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. Among the 82 percent of the public who said the country is headed in the wrong direction, Barack Obama leads McCain by more than 20 points.
So how is McCain staying close to Obama (Obama led 51 to 44 percent)? One big reason is that the country is divided on what issues are the most important. Obama holds a double-digit lead over McCain on health care, gas prices and the economy, while McCain has a 21-point lead on handling the war on terrorism.
The poll also shoots some holes in Hillary Clinton’s argument that she is the most electable. Democratic-leaning voters said that Obama had a better chance than Clinton to be elected president (62 to 26 percent). And while McCain leads Obama among lower-income white voters, McCain leads Clinton among this group by about the same amount.
No longer the elusive kingpin of the Bush administration, Karl Rove is free to roam about the media and country, offering advice and, as he will in Wichita on Thursday, helping the Republican Party raise money. A New York Times article explored Rove’s new pundit role on Fox News, in Newsweek and elsewhere. Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, revealed that when he hired Rove last fall as a contributor intended in part to “responsibly provoke,” it provoked several hundred readers to cancel their subscriptions. Many people especially are greeting Rove’s thoughts on the Democratic primary battle with skepticism. “Wouldn’t taking his advice be a little like getting health tips from a funeral home director?” said Bill Burton, Barack Obama’s press secretary.
John McCain gave a major speech Monday in Oregon highlighting what he would do to fight climate change. It’s not a popular issue with the GOP base, but McCain is courting crossover Democrats and independents, a key swing vote that could help him win in November.
He’s clearly more proactive on global warming than President Bush — and he alone among GOP primary candidates backed specific targets for reducing greenhouse gases.
That took some political courage.
But as the Washington Post notes, McCain’s overall record on the environment is more complicated and mixed, with votes against greater fuel efficiency for autos and higher renewable energy standards for utilities.
The list of members of Congress in ethical messes gets longer, yet nothing seems to happen to these guys. The latest addition is Rep. Vito Fossella (in photo), R-N.Y., whose drunken driving arrest led to revelations last week that he fathered a daughter, now 3, outside his marriage. So far, he plans to stay in Congress. And why not? Congress is where you’ll still find Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who learned last week that his link to the late “D.C. Madam” won’t even be investigated by the so-called Senate Ethics Committee; Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, despite pleading guilty related to a Minneapolis airport restroom sex sting (though he’s retiring after this term); and Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., despite being indicted in a bribery investigation (he’s even been re-elected since).
It’s been inspiring to read recent Eagle articles about Wichita’s outstanding graduating seniors, such as Ngoc Trang Nguyen, who four years ago didn’t speak English and today is among Wichita East High School’s 14 class valedictorians.
The prescription for her success: “I work hard,” she told The Eagle. One teacher described her as “inquisitive, deliberate, persistent.”
Her favorite saying: “Impossible is nothing.”
She plans to major in biochemistry and dreams of finding a cure for hemophilia.
Or consider Claudia Nieuwoudt of the Independent School, who also spoke little English when she came to Wichita as an eighth-grader. Three years later, she received the highest possible score on the Advanced Placement English test. She loves to volunteer, from helping rebuild hurricane-shattered homes in Louisiana to working as a translator in a hospital emergency room.
Fluent in four languages, she hopes after attending medical school to work with Doctors Without Borders.
What great role models for anyone, not just our young people. Wichita has reason to be proud of its academic stars. They’re clearly going places.
The following satirical headlines come from borowitzreport.com:
BILL CLINTON SWITCHES TO OBAMA; Latest Superdelegate Defection for Hillary
OBAMA PROPOSES GASBAG HOLIDAY; Prominent Gasbags Oppose Plan
OBAMA DE-FRIENDS WRIGHT ON FACEBOOK; Signals Complete Break With Former Pastor
DEMOCRATIC RACE ‘TOO MEAN,’ SAY SWIFT-BOAT VETERANS; Giving Swift-boating a Bad Name, Group Fears
The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling in 2003 striking down the state’s gay-marriage ban arguably helped re-elect President Bush. Fired-up social conservatives, spurred on by GOP political operatives, put gay-marriage amendments on the ballots in 11 states in November 2004, helping drive voter turnout in those states and elsewhere. In such battleground states as Ohio, it likely was the difference between Bush winning and losing.
