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Lloyd Bentsen: a truly great man
Tweet Share on Facebook May 26, 2006 Comment (1)The term "great man" is thrown around far too much in Washington, but Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a Texas Democrat, who died Tuesday at 85, fit that label.
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Memo to House Democrats: Drop Jefferson
Tweet Share on Facebook May 24, 2006 CommentHouse Democratic leaders shouldn't wait another day to denounce Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, and call sternly for his resignation. Time is not on their side.
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Right flank hobbles Bush on immigration
Tweet Share on Facebook May 22, 2006 Comment (1)The immigration issue in Congress has touched many raw nerves across the country, with no end in sight.Any compromise on a new law seems distant now unless President Bush can find a way for compromise with conservatives in his own party in the House.
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The strange side effects of presidential disease
Tweet Share on Facebook May 19, 2006 Comment (1)The late Rep. Morris "Mo" Udall, an Arizona Democrat, used to say that embalming fluid was the only real cure for politicians with presidential disease. He had it, too, in 1976, when he lost to Jimmy Carter, so he knows all about its potency.
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Cheney needs a Wyoming lesson in civility
Tweet Share on Facebook May 17, 2006 Comment (23)The lack of civility in the nation's capital, especially in Congress, has been a topic of concern for the past few years. The hostility on Capitol Hill is so rampant that there seems to be no solution in a country also bitterly divided into "blue" states and "red" states in the past two presidential elections.
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Handicapping for '08
Tweet Share on Facebook May 15, 2006 CommentSince this is the horse-race season, let's examine the talked-about prospects for president in both parties since the jockeying for 2008 is already under way. The field is huge now, but it will dwindle long before the first caucus in Iowa and the first primary in New Hampshire.
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Shaking up Congress, on both sides of the aisle
Tweet Share on Facebook May 10, 2006 CommentAs low as George W. Bush's numbers are in the polls, he can still look down: Congress fares even worse in virtually every survey. The latest Gallup reading gives Congress a 23 percent approval rating, the lowest in many years. So one would think leaders in both parties should see the need for changes.
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Democrats—one step at a time, please
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2006 CommentThis is a surprise for Republican readers: Read on, and you'll see criticism of Democrats this time. Yes, it is unusual.
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Democrats should pin down the GOP on immigration
Tweet Share on Facebook May 4, 2006 CommentAfter the nation's immigrants have remarkably demonstrated their power in numbers on the streets of the nation and in the workplace, they are talking about moving on to the ballot box.
But will they?
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It's bumper-strip season
Tweet Share on Facebook May 2, 2006 CommentWhen election seasons roll in every two years, the bumper strips come out. And while it is still early in the 2006 off-year voting, favorite slogans can be spotted on the rears of cars.
John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.
