Daily Archives: June 16, 2009

Letterman sorry about Palin joke

June 16, 200912:26 p.m.

lettermanpalinDavid Letterman apologized Monday for a sex-related joke he made June 8 about Sarah Palin’s daughter. Last week he tried to clarify that he meant to refer to Palin’s 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, and not her 14-year-old daughter, Willow. But he directly apologized Monday to “the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.”
Some had called for some sort of censorship of Letterman, but columnist Kathleen Parker wrote how that would be “far more dangerous to the land of the free than any inappropriate one-liner.” Parker argued that “the best defense against rude comics is not ‘some kind of protection,’ but the rallying cry of people who demand more from their society and themselves.”

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under U.S. politics | Comments (210)

Get ready for Gov. Brownback

June 16, 20096:04 a.m.

brownbackmug6With Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh ending his long-declared campaign for governor Monday, saying that “a run for governor is not meant to be,” and the Kansas Democrats still without a candidate, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., might want to start planning his 2011 inauguration. At this point, Brownback’s desired move from the Senate to Cedar Crest looks unimpeded.

One other tidbit on the gubernatorial front, from the Kansas City Star’s Steve Kraske: “Kansas Democrats are kicking the tires on a new name that’s surfaced for governor. That’s former CBS newsman Bill Kurtis, who resides, at least part of the time, at his Red Buffalo Ranch in the Flint Hills.” But Monday Kurtis told the Topeka Capital-Journal: “No, I am not running for governor. Not interested in it. I’m just trying to survive the depression. And judging from the success I’m having, I have no business handling anybody else’s money, let alone the taxpayers’.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas delegation, Kansas government | Comments (35)

Open thread 6/16

June 16, 20096:03 a.m.

thread-comm64

By The Editors | Filed under Open thread | Comments (283)

Too early to judge Sotomayor?

June 16, 20096:01 a.m.

APTOPIX Obama Supreme CourtSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor was moving too fast given her “very long record,” with 3,600 cases to go over. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are set for July 13. McConnell didn’t rule out a GOP filibuster but added: “It’s way too early to be talking about whether or not anybody opposes this nominee.” Wonder what McConnell made of the declaration by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., on May 28 that he would vote against Sotomayor’s confirmation.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Congress, Kansas delegation, Supreme Court | Comments (19)

Aren’t Tiahrt, Moran on same side on Gitmo?

June 16, 20096:00 a.m.

CUBA-US-ATTACKS-ENDURING FREEDOM-AFGHANISTAN DETAINEESIn their contest for next year’s GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, Reps. Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran “are trying to out-Gitmo each other” as a way to appeal to northeast Kansas voters, suggested Politico.com. They both oppose moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to Fort Leavenworth. But Tiahrt suggested to Politico that Moran vacillated on the Gitmo question during a C-SPAN interview.
Tiahrt said, “I was very clear from the very beginning: I don’t want them in Fort Leavenworth, I don’t want them anywhere in Kansas, and I don’t want them anywhere in America. So there’s a difference in how we approach this.”
Moran’s reply: “I think most Americans think detaining terrorists off our shores is better than detaining them on our shores. From my point of view, Fort Leavenworth is not any place for this to occur.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Kansas delegation, Terrorism | Comments (28)