In a Wall Street Journal column headlined “Red State Story,” Thomas Frank ponders the shock of pro-life leaders at suggestions that their movement could be associated with the murder of George Tiller. The reason for their surprise? “The culture wars are not meant to be taken seriously,” he writes. “Yes, right-wing invective dabbles in nightmare visions of treason and conspiracy and rampant paganism and a homegrown holocaust right here on Main Street, USA. Yes, it ritually denounces liberals as members of a class fundamentally alien to the American way of life. But these are the ingredients of entertainment, not politics.
“Culture war makes you feel noble and heroic. It sells books, it drives up the ratings of ‘The O’Reilly Factor,’ it brings in millions in direct-mail contributions — but everybody knows you can’t make Hollywood change its ways by walking the streets of Wichita carrying a sign deploring the ‘culture of death.’”
The Hill newspaper noted that of the six members of the Kansas congressional delegation, only Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., posted a statement about the murder of George Tiller of his Web site. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., introduced the resolution condemning Tiller’s murder that passed the House Tuesday. It extended condolences to Tiller’s family and “commits to the American principle that tolerance must always be superior to intolerance, and that violence is never an appropriate response to a difference in beliefs.” All four Kansans in the House were part of the unanimous vote for the resolution, which also noted that 38 people in the United States have been killed in places of worship over the past decade.
In a commentary for Politico.com, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, called for the Air Force’s next and (we can hope) final round of bidding for a new $35 billion fleet of air-refueling tankers to be fair and impartial. But he foresees a problem that again could leave Boeing and its workers, in Wichita and elsewhere, outside the winner’s circle: “Unfortunately, the current acquisition system used by Department of Defense favors foreign competitors over American companies. It does this by not accounting for illegal subsidies, waiving complex and expensive regulations for any European competitor and not taking into consideration legal subsidies such as nationalized health care in Europe. By refusing to acknowledge such factors, our government is stacking the deck against American workers at the expense of our national and economic security.” He concluded: “The KC-767 is the right tanker for the Air Force, the American worker and the American taxpayer. It is my hope the Air Force gets it right this time. We simply cannot afford more costly delays.”
“I’ve come to appreciate that it’s not what people call you when you enter the room but what people say about you when you’ve left the room that counts.” — Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, addressing the Harvard Kennedy School’s graduating students (including her son Ned)
“I was a very dispensable quarterback.” — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., in La Cygne, recalling his gridiron days during a reunion of Prairie View High School’s class of 1974
“Someone has a sense of humor.” — Andrea White, spokeswoman for the Kansas Democratic Party, denying that the party placed an on Craigslist for Democrats to run for the U.S. Senate next year
“Madame Secretary, thank you for taking on this difficult job, leaving the beautiful state of Kansas. Today has been a Kansas day of appropriation hearings. Secretary (Robert) Gates testified this morning. He’s from Wichita and . . . he went to a very distinguished grade school. It’s called College Hill. Only went to the sixth grade. I went there not quite at the same time but the same school.” — Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who also incorrectly said during the Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday that native Ohioan Sebelius was “from a town not too far from Russell”
