“It used to be that he was incandescent and she was merely inveterate. Now she’s bristling with life force, and he looks like he wants to run away somewhere for three months by himself and smoke,†Maureen Dowd wrote about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
“Hillary is not getting much sleep or exercise, and doesn’t, like the ascetic Obama, abstain from junk food and coffee and get up at dawn to work out on the road. She’s still a long shot and she’s 14 years older than her rival. Yet she’s the one who is more energetic and focused and beaming, and he’s the one who seems uneven and gauzy, often fatigued and unable to disguise being fed up with the slog.â€
“If he hadn’t disagreed with us, he wouldn’t have a chance of being president,” said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., about John McCain and his opposition to the GOP on several issues. “He is the one guy who can be the candidate for us this cycle.”
Kansas is represented on both sides of the congressional debate on what to do about high gas prices, and specifically a House-passed and Senate-blocked plan to rescind $18 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies.
“I don’t understand what some members of Congress tell their constituents,†Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “They send $18 billion to big oil when people are paying $3.45 for gas. Our farmers and businesspeople are getting hurt badly. Working people are struggling.â€
Countered Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, who voted against shifting the tax breaks to renewables: “Any tax increase that Congress imposes on the oil companies would only be paid for by consumers through boosted prices at the gas pump.â€
Even as Democrat Jim Slattery was launching his campaign against Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the latter went on the air with a negative radio ad calling Slattery a “real liberal†and “a Washington lobbyist . . . Gucci loafers and all.†Roberts also had a campaign staffer show up at Slattery’s Topeka kickoff to present the challenger with a change-of-address form. “Welcome to Kansas,†Ashley McManus told Slattery. In truth, though Slattery has been a D.C. lobbyist since he left Congress in 1994, he has owned a home in Kansas since 1974 and never registered to vote elsewhere. Slattery’s response to the carpetbagger criticism? “My opponent is an entrenched career politician who went to Washington, D.C., before Neil Armstrong landed on the moon,†Slattery said.
Meanwhile, the Kansas Republican Party also is wasting no time trying to define Slattery. Check out this JibJab-type animated video that paints Slattery as a Washington lobbyist, failed candidate and “opportunist.â€
Good for the joint Legislative Post Audit Committee for green-lighting a study this week of the impact of illegal immigration in the state. The study, requested by state Rep. Nile Dillmore, D-Wichita, is needed to inform any future state legislation on illegal immigration. It will assess the costs to the state for social services due to illegal immigration, the revenues or other benefits to the state (such as taxes paid), and the effect on the labor market. If the frustrating debate on illegal immigration this session has proved anything, it’s that the state should take action carefully, based on facts rather than fear.
House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, has suggested that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has been plying lawmakers with Final Four tickets and state plane trips to try to prevent them from voting to override her coal-plant vetoes. “I didn’t buy any NCAA tickets for anybody. I didn’t fly anywhere on anybody’s state plane,†Neufeld said, suggesting his pro-plant lobbying has involved “visiting with people.†But both sides of the plant debate were represented among the 11 legislators who rode on the eight-passenger state plane during the NCAA tournament, and lawmakers contacted by Harris News Service about the trips said they’d purchased their own game tickets. “That’s a good try, though,†said state Rep. Julie Menghini, D-Pittsburg, of Neufeld’s lament. The governor’s spokeswoman said it’s routine for Sebelius to offer spots on the plane to lawmakers when she’s traveling in her official role.
“It used to be that he was incandescent and she was merely inveterate. Now she’s bristling with life force, and he looks like he wants to run away somewhere for three months by himself and smoke,†Maureen Dowd wrote about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
