“The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 — caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) — although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.” — columnist Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
“He consistently ran the wrong message. People aren’t afraid of the ice caps melting when their 401(k)s are melting.” — pollster Frank Luntz
“McCain bet his entire candidacy on the surge in Iraq. He was right, and Democrats were wrong. By any measure, he should have benefited, and Democrats should have suffered, when the surge worked. Instead, as Americans achieved greater success in Iraq — and as U.S. deaths fell to 13 last month, equaling the lowest total in a very long time — the war in Iraq simply fell off many voters’ radar screens. McCain’s resoluteness and good sense went largely unrewarded.” — Byron York, National Review
“As for the Republicans, the lesson of their defeat is the most fundamental in politics. When the party in power fails to deliver either peace or prosperity, voters typically send it packing.” — Wall Street Journal editorial
“Did you see the concession speech last night? John McCain was generous. He was gracious. He was statesman-like. And I was thinking well, he should have tried that earlier.” — David Letterman
To their credit, Mayor Carl Brewer and the Wichita City Council are being both open and deliberate in their crucial choice of a new city manager. On Saturday they narrowed the slate from five strong finalists to three: Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan; Urbandale, Iowa, City Manager Robert Layton; and former Corpus Christi, Texas, City Manager Skip Noe. In an editorial, the Topeka Capital-Journal praised the openness and public involvement being used in Wichita’s city-manager search process, suggesting that Topeka could learn from it should its city manager, Norton Bonaparte, land the Wichita job (which he didn’t).
Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, made news for his indecision about whether to run for governor earlier in the decade. But he’s leaving no doubt about his ambitions now, by filing paperwork needed to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Sam Brownback in 2010. As if his popularity and record weren’t enough to intimidate other potential candidates, the $2.4 million that Moran has amassed in his House campaign account ought to do it. Especially in the wake of Sen. Pat Roberts’ drubbing of Jim Slattery last week (60 to 36 percent), it’s hard to imagine a Kansas Democrat being competitive in a Senate race against Moran. The strongest of them all, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, has weakened her crossover appeal with her aggressive opposition to the Holcomb coal-fired plants and her highly partisan stumping for Barack Obama. And the Roberts-Slattery contest obviously didn’t reverse the curse – Kansas’ 70-year record of sending only Republicans to the U.S. Senate. But it sounded Friday as if a challenge to Moran could come from his right: “I can guarantee there will be others who will get into this race,” said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, also suggesting that Kansans would rather not have two senators from the same congressional district.
“The patient was fatally stricken on Sept. 15 — caught in the rubble when the roof fell in (at Lehman Brothers, according to the police report) — although he did linger until his final, rather quiet demise on Nov. 4.” — columnist Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
