Eagle news columnist Mark McCormick wrote Friday about an e-mail exchange he had with Karl Peterjohn, executive director of the Kansas Taxpayers Network. It reminded me of the comments in an earlier blog string attributed to Cindy Duckett. Peterjohn blasted media coverage of the hiring of Bob Corkins as Kansas education commissioner, calling it “unbelievable, disgraceful and shocking.” And he argued that others without education experience have held school leadership positions, such as former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who became superintendent of the Los Angeles school district. But the point is that Corkins is not like Romer or those other nontraditional candidates. Along with having no education training or experience, he has no managerial experience. His most recent positions have been running one-person offices. So it’s not as if the state hired someone with impressive executive experience and a proven track record of leadership success.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
When Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., was asked by a New Hampshire student this week what one thing he would have done differently as president over the past five years, Brownback didn’t point to Sept. 11 or Iraq or the busted budget or even Michael Brown. He went for Harriet Miers: “We just don’t know her background on judicial restraint and on the Constitution.” True, but it’s hard to tell whether Brownback is withholding his endorsement because he’s really thinking of opposing her nomination or because holding out is doing wonders for his media profile.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
George Bush suggested this week that he chose U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in part because of her religious faith (like Bush, she is an evangelical Christian).
That’s an inappropriate message to send, considering that faith cannot be used as a prerequisite for nominees, and that the White House lectured senators just a few months ago that John Roberts’ Roman Catholic faith was off-limits to questioning and had no relevance to his qualifications.
Bush might have been trying to shore up flagging support for Miers by emphasizing her character, but that only further underscored her lack of qualifications in other areas.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
As Iraqis prepare to vote on a draft constitution Saturday, they are also girding for an upsurge in bombings and other insurgent violence.
After months of political wrangling, the Iraqi constitution is still a work in progress. Whether the document can achieve its main political purpose — to be a vehicle of national reconciliation — remains in doubt.
Still, Sunnis won a key concession this week giving them the ability to try to amend the constitution later, after a new parliament is elected in December.
This weekend promises to be another grim, bloody milestone in Iraq’s uncertain road to democracy. But it is at least that — another step forward, with Iraqis having another opportunity to directly shape the destiny of their country.
Americans’ thoughts and prayers are with the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers who are putting their lives on the line to give them that chance.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have perfected the fake news formula on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” so I’m a bit uneasy about the breakup of the duo with the debut of Colbert’s spinoff Monday. But judging from Colbert’s description of his character on “The Colbert Report,” it sounds as if the two have figured out a way to extend the laughs another half hour.
“I don’t think he’s necessarily a Republican or Democrat,” Colbert told The New York Times. “He is part of the ‘Blame America Last’ crowd. Mostly, he just wants to get those bastards — whoever they are. They know who they are, and they know they’re going to get gotten.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Sept. 11 shook up the priorities in the public square, making it hard to judge what mattered before Sept. 11 according to what matters now. But columnist Robert Steinback asks a provocative question in The Miami Herald: Why is there so little talk of character in the Bush era?
“Isn’t it curious how in the public discourse today one rarely hears references to character as a material issue with respect to political leadership? If an extramarital affair was proof of a vacant character, wouldn’t questionable actions that actually affect people — soldiers, covert agents, Congress, storm victims and the like — be exponentially more serious?”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
