Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline announcedtoday that he would not run for elected office in 2008 — which is for the best. Kline is a man of many talents, but he is not particularly well-suited to serve as a top prosecutor, as he lacks a strong legal background and tends to let his social views direct too much of his focus.
Kline’s announcement came two days after the Kansas City Star questioned him on the amount of time he is spending speaking at anti-abortion events around the country and whether he is paid for those appearances.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In 6½ years in office, President Bush has seen fit to veto only three bills — two about stem cell research, one about an Iraq war timetable and none about excessive federal spending. With House and Senate lawmakers now having negotiated a $35 billion compromise on the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and governors of both parties calling for the expansion before the Sept. 30 deadline, the question becomes: Does the president really want to next use his veto pen to keep millions of kids uninsured?
It certainly sounded that way today, as Bush said Democrats holding out for Congress’ expansion of SCHIP are "putting poor children at risk so they can score political points in Washington." But it’s not just Democrats who support the SCHIP bill — many Republican lawmakers and state governors back the bill.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Despite urging from some in his own party to give up his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, Sen. Sam Brownback seems committed to sticking with it through the Iowa caucuses. But he sees a need to finish in fourth place or better in Iowa, which is "an attainable goal," he told Associated Press. If he doesn’t, he said, "It doesn’t mean that I’ll drop out, but I think it will be hard to continue from that point on forward. We’ll appraise it because you don’t know what other dynamics are going to be in place at that time."
As of midday today, by the way, Brownback had not missed a Senate vote in two weeks — a fact remarkable only because of his chronic campaign-related absences for much of this year.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus talked a lot about Anbar province in claiming that the surge is making progress in Iraq. But what do Iraqis in Anbar think? A survey last month found that 72 percent of them have no confidence whatsoever in United States forces, and 76 percent want U.S. troops to withdraw now. Also, every Anbar respondent called attacks on coalition forces “acceptable,” and they all said that the U.S.-led invasion was wrong. With friends like these . . .
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
In a New York Times commentary, self-described “fervent pro-lifer” Eric Johnston makes an interesting argument that pro-choice, nonreligious Rudy Giuliani could be the means to a U.S. Supreme Court that will overturn Roe v. Wade: “Only a constitutionalist who supports abortion rights can create an anti-Roe majority by explaining that the end of Roe means letting the people decide, state by state, about abortion.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
As if it weren’t bad enough that New Hampshire is the self-appointed kingmaker of the presidential nomination process, at least one of its pundits found it necessary to rub it in — all over Kansas. Andrew Cline, editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader, has a commentary in the American Spectator that imagines the Kansas Legislature has “voted to move the state’s presidential primary to last Tuesday.”
Those prominent Kansans “quoted” as reacting with joy at the news include House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, Senate President Steve Morris and, of course, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who “says” of the “visionary” law: “Every presidential candidate will be forced to have campaigned in Kansas in the three or four months leading up to last Tuesday. And in that time, they will have to have addressed issues important to Kansans, such as ethanol legislation and the really irritating fact that more people Google the ’70s rock band Kansas than the state.” The GOP “winner” was Sen. Sam Brownback, with four votes to Alf Landon’s two. The Democratic “winner” was — oh, never mind.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
