3 hours and 39 minutes ago
Instead of asking Hillary Clinton to be vice president, Barack Obama should promise to appoint her to the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote James Andrew Miller. “If Obama were to promise Clinton the first court vacancy, her supporters would actually have a stronger incentive to support him for president than they would if she were going to be vice president,” he wrote. “Given the Supreme Court’s delicate liberal-conservative balance, she would play a major role in charting the country’s future; there is no guarantee that a Clinton vice presidency would achieve such importance.” But how is Clinton qualified to be a high court justice? And wouldn’t a promise to appoint her be just as motivating to the GOP base?
3 hours and 39 minutes ago
“I guess President Bush must think Defense Secretary Robert Gates is an appeaser of terrorists. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, too. And U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker,” wrote columnist Trudy Rubin. She noted that all three support having direct talks with Iran, as Barack Obama does. “What makes the president’s remarks even more hypocritical is the abject failure of his own Iran policy,” she wrote. “No one has strengthened Iran’s hand more in the Mideast region than George W. Bush.”
Rubin argued that John McCain is hypocritical, too. “There is no way Iraq can be stabilized and U.S. troops withdrawn safely without the cooperation of Tehran,” she wrote. “McCain is fooling himself and the public if he thinks he can avoid the issue of talks.”
FYI: In case you haven’t seen it, here is the video of “Hardball” host Chris Matthews trying to get talk-radio host Kevin James to explain what former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain did wrong.
Another embarrassing anti-evolution takeover of the Kansas State Board of Education could happen if voters don’t pay attention and if good candidates don’t step forward. Three mainstream science board members are not seeking re-election, including Wichita representative Carol Rupe (in photo). That gives social conservatives a good shot in November at retaking control of the board and once again weakening the state’s science standards. To prevent that, Kansans need quality candidates who understand the importance of basing science standards on mainstream science, not personal religious views.
9 hours and 7 minutes ago
The Kansas Legislature won’t try to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ third veto of a bill to expand a coal-fired power plant, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, announced Wednesday. But the coal-plant debate isn’t over and may return next session. “I think it’s important enough we need to continue working on energy policy and a solution for this issue,” said Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton. “It won’t go away.”
9 hours and 8 minutes ago
Include FBI agents among those who objected to the interrogation techniques used on detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Agents repeatedly complained that the techniques might violate the law and jeopardize future criminal trials, according to an exhaustive report released Tuesday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine. But those protests didn’t appear to trigger any response from the National Security Council, which includes President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Hillary Clinton made some conciliatory comments in her victory speech in Kentucky Tuesday night, saying that “while we continue to go toe-to-toe for this nomination, we do see eye-to-eye when it comes to uniting our party to elect a Democratic president this fall.” But given that she has little to no hope of overtaking Barack Obama, who won Oregon yesterday, why is she still fighting full force? Much of the speculation about this has been negative, but here are some positive explanations:
The Washington Post reported that Clinton’s advisers say that “a major reason she does not want to be pressured out of the race is that she believes it will be easier to bring her supporters over to Obama once the primaries are over if they think she was able to finish the nomination battle on her own terms.” That makes sense, though it doesn’t explain the aggressiveness of her criticisms of Obama.
Columnist Richard Cohen wrote that Clinton “is acting as any leader would.” He added: “Take a tour of statues throughout the world, and, while you will find monuments to plenty of historical figures who lost battles, you will find none to ‘A Gracious Loser.’” However, Cohen also noted that fighting to the end could have political benefits later. Clinton would be 65 in 2012 and still younger than John McCain is now in 2016, so she would be “positioned to run for president, not as someone’s wife, but as a gritty fighter who just would not quit.”
The New York Times reported that Clinton thinks sexism was a significant factor in the campaign, and she wants to show younger women that she won’t be pushed around. But it also reported that Clinton thinks she still has a chance to win, and the more primary wins and delegates she can get, the more leverage she’ll have to argue for seating delegates from Florida and Michigan.
Right-wing radio hosts have tried to turn Sen. Ted Kennedy into a caricature. But columnist David Broder writes that Kennedy, who left the hospital today after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, “has probably touched more people, in more cherished ways, than any other public figure. And his illness threatens to alter, for the worse, the prospects of every other politician — starting with Barack Obama and John McCain.”
Four local families have filed a discrimination lawsuit against St. Anne Catholic School, challenging a rule that students can speak only English during the school day.
We’re not inclined to wade into a private school matter. But before activists against illegal immigrants get up in arms, some points to consider:
The Spanish-speaking students in this case are U.S. citizens who are bilingual — English is their primary language. The parents aren’t asking that the students be allowed to speak Spanish in classrooms — at issue is whether the students should be able to speak Spanish outside the classroom, during recess or other free time.
It’s too bad that any American student would be dissuaded from being bilingual, when U.S. schools, public and private, actively promote the benefits of being fluent in more than one language. How does this “English only” school rule support that educational goal?
Another top aide is leaving John McCain’s campaign, though this time it is not because of lobbyist connections. Mark McKinnon, McCain’s top media consultant, is leaving because of a pledge he made last year not to campaign against Barack Obama. “I just don’t want to work against an Obama candidacy,” McKinnon said last year, adding that electing Obama “would send a great message to the country and the world.” McKinnon is a former Democrat but was a key consultant in President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns and has been with McCain since 2006. He said he will remain a “friend and fan” of McCain’s campaign.
Pat Salerno, with 18 years of experience managing rapid growth in Sunrise, Fla., appears to be a qualified prospect for the city manager opening — he’s experienced and results-oriented — although his forced resignation in his last job and reputation for secrecy are serious concerns.
“There can be no room whatsoever for holding information back,” said council member Jim Skelton.
It’s good that the council held a public forum Monday to allow Wichita citizens to see the candidate up close and ask questions. (The forum will be rebroadcast on the city’s cable Channel 7 at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.) This models the kind of transparency and accountability Wichita expects in its next manager. Council members and the public still need to interview several other candidates, though, before determining the best fit for Wichita.
Some Hillary Clinton supporters are saying that sexism has played a key role in her faltering campaign.
But if anything, Clinton showed that the nation is ready to vote for a woman for president. She began as the odds-on Democratic favorite and has come close to winning the primary process.
As presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin told the New York Times, the Clinton campaign’s own mistakes have been decisive - “strategic, tactical things that have nothing to do with her being a woman.”
Sexism didn’t defeat Clinton. Barack Obama did.
In vetoing the bill to require Kansas voters to show photo identification, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius suggested the rule would deter turnout. But state Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, thinks she has it backward - that more secure elections would mean more voters. “If people don’t trust the system, they’re not going to vote as much as they would,” Huelskamp said.
It’s a relief that the Kansas Supreme Court saw fit Friday to uphold the conviction of Gavin Scott in the 1996 murders of Doug and Beth Brittain of rural Goddard, even as it overturned his death sentence. That spares the victims’ family, as well as taxpayers, of having to go through another trial. But with the third man convicted under Kansas’ 1994 death penalty now awaiting resentencing before completion of his case, something that could take several years, Kansans are left to wonder about the point of having a death penalty so complicated, costly to prosecute and prone to technical errors.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., sent a letter Monday to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition requesting an independent cost assessment of the tanker proposals from Boeing and from Northrop Grumman/European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. “The United States Congress and the American people have a right to know the true cost of each proposal,” the letter said.
But J.D. Crowe, editorial cartoonist for the Press-Register in Mobile, Ala. (where the Northrop tanker would be assembled), has a different take on the congressmen’s advocacy.
The trucking industry says there’s an easy way for Americans to save on gas — slow down.
Former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves, head of the American Trucking Associations, recently presented a proposal to slash fuel use by 86 billion gallons and carbon dioxide emissions by 900 million tons over the next decade — roughly the amount of CO2 emitted by the population of Chicago in one year. Among the recommendations:
Reduce the national speed limit to 65 mph for all vehicles. Install engine governors to limit new trucks to 68 mph. And reduce congestion by investing in highway improvements.
Graves called the proposals “practical, reasonable and doable,” and he called on Congress to help support the program.
Good luck on that. In 1995, Congress repealed a national speed limit, and 32 states, including Kansas, now have speed limits of 70 mph or higher on some highways.
No lawmaker has stepped forward to endorse the ATA proposal. How serious are we about conserving energy?
The Republican Party lost a fierce defender when Jack Ranson died last week at age 78, after complications from heart surgery. During six years as Kansas Republican Party chairman, 10 years on the Republican National Committee and a lifetime in the thick of high-level politics, the Wichita investment banker not only influenced the Kansas GOP’s choices of candidates and promoted their candidacies but also championed the party as he saw it — inclusive, fiscally conservative and victorious on Election Day. His “big tent” approach put him at odds with the socially conservative leadership of the Kansas GOP in recent years, but many of his warnings about divisive issues have proved prophetic.
Barack Obama came out with a strong statement defending his wife, Michelle (in photo), from renewed GOP attacks on her “proud” comment.
“The GOP, should I be the nominee, I think can say whatever they want to say about me, my track record,” Obama said in an interview shown on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful, because that I find unacceptable.”
He added that the GOP should “lay off my wife.”
This could help Obama. Yes, a spouse is fair game, to some extent. But if Michelle is perceived as being bullied and pilloried by Swift-boaters, Obama’s defense could play well with voters. He’s showing he’s going to protect his family. Voters of either party can respect that.
After her third coal-plant veto Friday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius nixed two more bills today: one to require voters to show photo ID starting in 2010 and another to deny the governor the right to fill a vacancy when a U.S. senator quits or dies in office. The latest vetoes were welcome. The ID bill was a solution for the nonexistent problem of voter fraud that would have deterred some citizens from voting. The Senate vacancy bill seemed blatantly political and unnecessary, given how well current law has dealt with vacancies since 1927. Lawmakers will have one last chance to overturn these and other vetoes when they convene May 29 for sine die, the usually ceremonial final day of the session. Kansans can hope tradition holds and the occasion is too sparsely attended to allow such tactics.
Sen. John McCain has made it clear that he’ll be very socially conservative on judicial appointments. How socially conservative? He’s named Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., co-chairman of his Justice Advisory Committee.
Brownback, remember, thinks abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, including cases of incest, rape and when the life of the mother is at risk.
This might give pause to Democratic voters thinking of supporting McCain if Hillary Clinton loses the nomination.
A new Energy Department report concludes that it’s feasible for the United States to get 20 percent of its electricity needs from wind power by 2030 — about the same share now provided by nuclear power — without the need for any major technological breakthroughs.
Wind power currently provides only about 1 percent of the nation’s electricity.
The report bolsters claims that wind power has arrived and is poised to move from a niche market to the mainstream.
Is Kansas poised to capture this opportunity?
The report does identify some major challenges, such as the need for more transmission lines in remote areas — that’s been a key obstacle in western Kansas. But the study says it’s doable and affordable.
It’s further confirmation that a thriving wind power industry for Kansas isn’t a pipe dream — it’s waiting to be built.
A clean air statute didn’t pass the state Legislature this session, but House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said he thinks a ban will pass sometime in the future, adding, “I wouldn’t want to project what year.”
Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said a smoking law “may not happen next year, but I believe in the next five years you will see it in the majority of states.”
As The Eagle editorial board has argued, it’s just a matter of time before Kansas follows the lead of many other states and enacts a statewide smoking ban. This issue isn’t going away.
Instead of asking Hillary Clinton to be vice president, Barack Obama should promise to appoint her to the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote James Andrew Miller. “If Obama were to promise Clinton the first court vacancy, her supporters would actually have a stronger incentive to support him for president than they would if she were going to be vice president,” he wrote. “Given the Supreme Court’s delicate liberal-conservative balance, she would play a major role in charting the country’s future; there is no guarantee that a Clinton vice presidency would achieve such importance.” But how is Clinton qualified to be a high court justice? And wouldn’t a promise to appoint her be just as motivating to the GOP base?
