“It’s like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren’t really stranded when we were all watching it on TV,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., noting how the public hasn’t bought the GOP attempt to blame the media for not reporting how well things are going in Iraq. As a result, many GOP lawmakers are making a strategy shift, The Washington Post reported, and are now saying that they don’t agree with every decision President Bush has made but that the choice is either staying and fighting or conceding defeat to a vicious enemy.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
FYI: The Eagle editorial board’s endorsements for the Aug. 1 primary are on our Opinion Web page (on the right side, below the cartoon). There are also short video excerpts from our interviews with GOP gubernatorial candidates Jim Barnett, Robin Jennison and Ken Canfield.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A USA Today story focused largely on the presidential prospects of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., pondered the question before social conservatives for 2008: “Support a candidate who has a good shot of winning but a short history on their core issues? Or back a true believer who faces a steep uphill fight?” (Brownback would be the latter.) “I love Sam Brownback,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “Sam Brownback is a great man, and Sam Brownback is a great senator.” Land added: “Whether he is a credible presidential candidate is up to Sam to prove.” First, though, Brownback will have to do something about the fact that, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll last month, 3 of 4 Americans either have never heard of him or have no opinion of him.
Here is the story’s money quote from Brownback, spoken to an Iowa crowd: “These are tough issues. This isn’t a ride in the park. This is about life. This is about marriage. This is about God in the public square.” He added: “We could win this thing, and we could have another 100 years as the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, and we could lose it and we could lose the culture.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Jim Skelton is still the new guy on the Wichita City Council, but to his credit — and the benefit of his underserved southeast Wichita district — he’s not giving ground to his colleagues without a fight or at least without asking lots of tough questions publicly. In recent days, Skelton has shown leadership in calling for a new committee to improve code enforcement and fight blight, in balking at east and west Wichita getting new fire stations before south Wichita does, and in questioning the cost of the airport terminal project and direction of the airline subsidy plan. Add Skelton’s voice to that of District 4′s Paul Gray, currently vice mayor, and south Wichita is at last getting strong representation at City Hall. Let’s hope these leaders inspire more south-siders to get involved, starting at the voting booth.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
