Among other effective notes in Barack Obama’s convention address, he took on directly the GOP’s attacks on the Democratic Party’s patriotism, saying:
“The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America — they have served the United States of America.”
He’s not going to let McCain get away with questioning his patriotism.
As this blog notes, John Kerry — in his strong speech, which didn’t get as much attention as it deserved — also said important things about the meaning of patriotism, and he challenged those who, four years ago, turned his Vietnam protest into something un-American:
“Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us, saying, ‘My country right or wrong.’ Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.”
Amen.
John McCain has chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Sarah who? Most people won’t know a thing about the little-known first-term governor. That said, she is an outgoing, telegenic rising GOP star, a reformer with a Western individualistic streak and maverick image, like McCain.
At the very least, this is an interesting, surprising choice that will get people talking and position McCain as being for change and against status quo Washington. It also appears intended to appeal to women, including disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters.
The most obvious question about this veep pick, especially for a candidate of McCain’s age: Is Palin, age 44 (three years younger than Barack Obama), ready to be president?
Barack Obama gives his much-anticipated acceptance speech tonight, and his biggest challenge might be meeting mile-high expectations.
Obama reportedly is modeling his speech on three previous ones: JFK’s in 1960, Ronald Reagan’s in 1980 and Bill Clinton’s in 1992.
He will have an oversized stage and oversized audience of 75,000. The stakes are high: If he rises to the occasion, it could cement his status as the new leader of the Democratic Party and give him fresh momentum heading out of the convention. If he fumbles, Republicans will be all over it.
Now this is scary: the idea of a Halloween without the elaborate sights and sounds of Broadview Avenue in College Hill.
For more than a quarter century, residents of the 100 block of North Broadview have transformed their street into a Halloween extravaganza for kids, with streets festooned with lights and elaborate yard decorations and spooky sound effects. It’s a must-see experience.
But the event has grown so large in recent years — an estimated 3,500 people visited in 2007 — that it’s become a safety concern, and police say about $1,800 is needed to help pay for barricades and officers to work the event.
This is a wonderful neighborhood tradition that has become a community tradition. It’s well worth saving.
Let’s hope city officials and College Hill leaders work something out that will both keep the event going and enhance the safety of participants.
Michelle Obama’s uplifting, poised speech to the Democratic convention Monday night was terrific, and should silence GOP critics still trying to paint her as an America-hating radical.
Instead, she came off as an all-American Horatio Alger story, someone who rose from a working-class background on the south side of Chicago to the pinnacle of success by adherence to old-fashioned values of hard work and faith and family. It’s a story even Obama’s conservative opponents should admire.
She helped show the human side of Barack, too, with a touching account of how he drove her and their newborn daughter home from the hospital, nervously moving along at a snail’s pace and looking in the rearview mirror. And the Obama kids were adorable when they took the stage.
What’s not to like about this family? The Republicans will have a hard time making Michelle Obama a liability after Monday night, or calling the Obamas “elitists.”
At a recent western Kansas meeting to promote wind energy, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., remarked that he’s considering installing a small wind generator at his Topeka home.
“I want to do it,” he said. “But I don’t want to do it stupid.”
If Brownback wants a smart way to do home wind in Kansas, then he should support a net metering law, which allows residential wind users to sell their excess energy back to the utility and makes residential wind much more economically feasible.
Kansas is one of only six states without some kind of residential net metering for wind. And we’re supposed to be a leader in wind power?
A small school district in Texas has become the first in the nation to approve teachers and staff carrying concealed firearms. Teachers with pistols — what a great learning environment for kids.
The policy change is intended to thwart school shootings, such as the one that occurred Thursday at a school in Tennessee.
But as a Dallas Morning News editorial argued, the district is courting disaster: “Injecting firearms into a school setting opens the door to tragic but avoidable accidents. And there are no certain safeguards to prevent an angry student — or teacher — from getting hold of a gun that was carried into the classroom.
“Parents depend on educators to provide a safe learning environment for their children. Allowing teachers to be armed and potentially dangerous is a frightening prospect.”
In my Friday column, I leap into the debate about a screaming, obscenity-laced confrontation between two debate coaches that ended up with one of them, assistant professor William Shanahan of Fort Hays State, dropping his pants, bending over and mooning his opponent with exposed underwear.
The shout-down happened at a tournament at Wichita State University earlier this year, and a video clip ended up on YouTube this month, where it quickly became a hit.
It seemed to me a pretty pathetic spectacle, and in keeping with the creeping lack of civility and restraint in our public discourse.
On Friday, Fort Hays State fired Shanahan over the incident. University president Edward Hammond said in a written statement, “Everyone has the right to freedom of speech, but these actions are not acceptable for someone who is representing our university.”
Shanahan told an interviewer: “Obviously it got out of control, but to be honest I thought I was in a safe house. I thought I was part of a community that handled its problems internally and that recognized the dangers of exposing ourselves — no pun intended — to the rest of the country. It is so difficult as a nonparticipant to understand what is going on in the debate round.”
Maybe that’s part of the problem?
Iraq and the United States reportedly have finalized an agreement that would withdraw most U.S. troops by the end of 2011. President Bush is expected to approve the agreement.
This is a very encouraging sign that the Iraq war debacle and its mounting costs might finally be coming to an end — at least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
“We have to let go, and we’re not reluctant to do that,” said Gen. David Petraeus. “And the Iraqis are not reluctant to take control.”
How will this development affect the presidential race? Both John McCain and Barack Obama are claiming vindication from the remarkable turn of events in Iraq, which seem to buttress both Obama’s call for a withdrawal timetable and McCain’s claims about the success of the surge.
A computer hacker has uncovered online what he says are official Chinese documents that prove that Chinese gymnast He Kixen, the gold medalist in the uneven bars, is indeed underage, as many people suspect. Chinese birth records seem to show that she is 14 — not the minimum age of 16 required to compete.
The International Olympic Committee said Friday that it has ordered an investigation of He to clear up “discrepancies” and put an end to the controversy.
Meanwhile, IOC president Jacques Rogge went out of his way Thursday to criticize Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt for his showboating after winning the 100 meter dash.
Nonsense. Bolt played by the rules and earned the right to celebrate his historic achievement. The question is, do He and other Chinese gymnasts deserve their medals?
Barack Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential pick Saturday, and the veepstakes talk has reached fever pitch. The media are focusing mostly on Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Tim Kaine and Kathleen Sebelius, who is staying mum. But is it possible that Obama still has a surprise in store?
Ralph Nader, for one, thinks Obama is planning to pick Hillary Rodham Clinton — and that it would be “dumb” not to. “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board,” Nader noted.
If Clinton and Obama can get past their personal animosity and primary wounds, the pairing still might make sense, with Clinton bringing undeniable excitement to the ticket and uniting the party in a way that a Biden or Bayh pick couldn’t. Not to mention that she’s a tough, seasoned campaigner.
I wouldn’t count it out.
On paper, a Wichita Catholic school won a legal victory last week in a judge’s ruling that its English-only policy didn’t violate a group of Hispanic students’ civil rights.
But U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten made clear in his remarks that St. Anne Catholic School bore its share of responsibility for its poor handling of the controversy.
He said school officials implemented a “one-sided” policy “without consulting with the segment of the school it would impact the most.”
He noted, too, a double standard in enforcing it: “The Caucasian students were not told to go eat lunch with the Hispanic students or participate in their soccer games,” he said. “It was all directed at the Hispanic students.”
And where was the fairness, he asked, in expelling a student, Adam Silva, who had never done anything wrong?
Too bad each side didn’t work harder to understand the other’s position and truly find common ground. Too bad this had to end up in a courtroom.
The school might have won a narrow legal victory. But as the judge suggested, the entire school lost.
At the Saddleback Church forum on Saturday, it was interesting to hear the candidates’ differing responses to pastor Rick Warren’s question about how they would define “rich.” He asked for a number.
John McCain said $5 million.
Barack Obama said $250,000.
McCain seemed to realize that his figure could look high.
“I’m sure that comment will be distorted,” he said. “The point is we want to keep people’s taxes low.”
It’s a revealing look at how the two parties view wealth. For Republicans, apparently, mere millionaires don’t qualify. Don’t be surprised if Democrats use McCain’s remark this fall against charges that Obama is an “elitist.”
Friday’s Eagle had a letter from Special Olympics Kansas decrying the new movie “Tropic Thunder” for “retard” jokes and calling for a boycott.
Here is Slate movie critic Dana Stevens’ response to a reader about the controversy: “You hold the view that the movie’s use of what advocacy groups are calling “the R-word” isn’t targeting people with disabilities; they hold the view that it is. But if the discussion is to go forward, shouldn’t everyone at least be willing to see the movie with an open mind toward the other side?”
She’s right that pre-emptive criticisms of movies often fail to judge the offending material in context.
One example: Critics who complain about the “racist” use of the “N-word” in Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” miss the author’s ironic use of the word and his larger point about its offensiveness and racism.
That artistic context may be utterly lacking in “Tropic Thunder.” I don’t know — I haven’t seen the movie.
But it’s satire. And as Stevens notes, “Satire is a notoriously difficult thing to police.”
What if John McCain throws a party and nobody comes? Count Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts among a growing list of GOP senators who’ve confirmed they won’t be attending the party’s national convention next month in Minneapolis.
Instead, Roberts will be campaigning hard on a statewide tour. Although he has a double-digit lead over Democrat Jim Slattery, Roberts apparently feels vulnerable.
Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Cole reportedly advised some embattled Republicans to steer clear of the convention. So far, GOP no-shows include Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Ted Stevens of Alaska and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. And now Roberts.
I think there’s a good chance that Sen. Joe Biden will be Barack Obama’s vice presidential pick. The choice of Biden makes sense on several levels, as Chris Cillizza notes on his blog.
Among other strengths, Biden is the most experienced Democrat in Obama’s area of perceived weakness — foreign policy. He knows it inside and out, as well as John McCain’s weaknesses on Iraq and other strategic policy matters.
Biden is a great campaigner who can also go on the attack — a crucial skill for the second on the ticket.
Biden has a folksy, blue-collar appeal and sense of humor that would help loosen up Obama’s rather academic, aloof image.
He has roots in Pennsylvania and could help lock down that must-win swing state. Moreover, he’s a Catholic and could assist Obama with that important voting demographic.
Biden’s most talked-about weakness: He’s long-winded. That’s it? The important thing is, he’s fun to listen to and isn’t boring. He was great in the Democratic debates.
Another possible drawback: As a longtime Washington hand, he could be seen as old politics, not an agent of change.
But Obama’s greatest weakness is the sense that he’s inexperienced and an unknown quantity. Biden is one of the few veep candidates who reassures on both points.
If I had to pick right now, I’d say it’s Biden.
Spain’s Olympic basketball teams ignited a furor over separate photographs showing the men’s and women’s teams posing while using their fingers to make themselves slant-eyed. They were going to China, get it? It’s amazing that the pictures, a promotion for a team sponsor, didn’t set off bad taste alarms with anyone.
Some defended the pictures as being done in a spirit of fun. Even granting that, these images were offensive and never likely to endear the Spaniards to their Chinese hosts.
Former Clinton strategist Mark Penn approves of John McCain’s Paris Hilton “celebrity” ad and negative ads in general, writing on Politico.com that “Clever negative advertising works. That is reality.”
He adds, “Done fairly, (negative ads) serve a legitimate role” by exposing an opponent’s weaknesses.
He’s right, of course, on one level — negative ads often do “work.” But at what cost?
Note that in the primary, Penn recommended an all-out negative strategy that would have attacked Barack Obama for not being “fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values.”
How would that have helped the party?
Clinton didn’t take the advice — to her credit. Penn’s piece is revealing about the warped mindset of winning at all costs that drives modern campaigns.
John McCain’s latest Web advertisement is a spoof about an Obama fan club but continues to take a low road, visually linking Barack Obama to airheaded young white women in racially and sexually charged ways. Like the Paris Hilton/Britney Spears “celebrity” ad, this one features several women, with one admiring his “soft eyes” and the voice-over calling him “dreamy,” followed by the message “Hot chicks dig Obama.”
Sorry, but the nation deserves a more elevated debate than “Hot chicks dig Obama.”
Obama has responded to McCain’s celebrity ad with his own negative advertisement calling McCain “Washington’s biggest celebrity,” and showing McCain repeatedly hugging President Bush. He’s also running much more positive ads that emphasize job creation, etc.
It’s unclear whether Obama has found a way to effectively counter McCain’s attack ads while holding to his promise to run a different kind of campaign. And are voters even paying attention right now?
The following satirical news story comes from borowitzreport.com:
“A member of the U.S. Olympic diving team was disqualified from competition today when it was learned that he did not have a sufficiently compelling human story line to exploit on the NBC telecast of the worldwide sporting event.
“Tracy Klujian, the expelled diver, was not raised by a single mother, never had a career-threatening injury, and did not overcome a personal tragedy of any kind before making the Olympic diving team, U.S. Olympic officials revealed today.”
The Bush administration is threatening the integrity of the Endangered Species Act by ending a requirement that federal agencies get independent scientific review of projects that could affect endangered animals and plants. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne defended the move, saying that the change will prevent the statute from being used as a “back door” to regulate greenhouse gases and climate change by protecting polar bears and other species. The administration also argues that individual agencies have their own expertise to evaluate the impact of dam, construction and road projects.
But this move should send up red flags, given the Bush team’s record of filling government jobs with partisan ideologues and hacks and of ignoring or marginalizing scientific expertise on a host of issues.
There might be ways the Endangered Species Act could be administered more efficiently, but President Bush’s record doesn’t inspire trust on this issue.
Coach Bill Self’s new contract with the University of Kansas — $30 million over 10 years — is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
I know the arguments: Sports programs pull in millions of dollars for the university. The coach’s salary is partly paid with private money, endorsements, etc. And Self delivered a national championship last year for KU — itself worth millions of dollars for the school. The university wants to keep him.
All the same — the idea of college basketball coaches making CEO salaries strikes me as ridiculous. Especially when heads of medical schools, top professors and other faculty make far less.
Where does it stop? Anybody else think our higher education priorities are out of whack?
Thomas Frank (“What’s the Matter With Kansas?”) has a new book on conservatism called “The Wrecking Crew,” which details how conservatives have actually governed in the Bush years. Bottom line: It’s not about incompetence, it’s about ideology. An excerpt:
“Yes, today’s conservatives have disgraced themselves, but they have not strayed from the teaching of their forefathers or the great ideas of their movement. When conservatives appoint the opponents of government agencies to head those government agencies; when they auction their official services to the purveyor of the most lavish ‘golf weekend’; when they mulct millions from groups with business before Congress; when they dynamite the Treasury and sabotage the regulatory process and force government shutdowns — in short, when they treat government with contempt — they are running true to form. They have not done these awful things because they are bad conservatives; they have done them because they are good conservatives, because these unsavory deeds follow naturally from the core doctrines of the conservative tradition. . . .
“Conservatism, as we know it, is a movement that is about greed, about the ‘virtue of selfishness’ when it acts in the marketplace. In right-wing Washington, you can be a man of principle and a boodler at the same time.”
T. Boone Pickens recently visited The Eagle editorial board, touting his plan to boost wind energy in the Great Plains. It’s a good plan that would bring economic development benefits to rural Kansas.
But one part of Pickens’ vision deserves more scrutiny: He has been buying up water rights in the Texas Panhandle and hopes someday to sell and ship groundwater via pipeline to thirsty cities such as Dallas and San Antonio, along the same corridor that he uses to ship wind energy.
As this BusinessWeek article observes, “Pickens owns more water than any other individual in the U.S. and is looking to control even more. He hopes to sell the water he already has, some 65 billion gallons a year, to Dallas, transporting it over 250 miles, 11 counties, and about 650 tracts of private property.”
Pickens refers to oil a “finite resource.”
Water is a finite resource, too — and Pickens sees it as just another commodity to mine and sell. Is he trying to corner the market for the region? Would his water pumping further deplete water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer and affect western Kansas, which also depends on the Ogallala?
The stalking claim filed by a woman against Wichita State University baseball coach Gene Stephenson has been settled out of court. But the unresolved questions in the case likely leave many Wichitans and Shocker fans with lingering feelings of unease — and doubts about whether WSU has done enough to address this matter, our editorial Wednesday said.
WSU athletic director Eric Sexton has offered no comment on the Stephenson case and settlement except to call it a “personal issue.”
But it’s not merely personal. Stephenson is a highly paid, high-profile public figure whose reputation and conduct are closely associated with the WSU athletic program. That makes it a personnel issue.
