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A Journalism Giant Turns 80
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2007 CommentNASHVILLE—One of the nation's crusading newspaper editors at 32, and a devoted champion of the First Amendment throughout his career, turned 80 last weekend.
To celebrate the event, John Seigenthaler invited 400 of his closest friends to a festive party at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Fittingly, the building bears his name: the John Seigenthaler Center.
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Democrats' Best Move Is to Let Gonzales Stay
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2007 CommentWhile watching Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in his bewildering and even maddening appearances before congressional committees, I am of two minds about his future.
First, Democrats should continue to call for his resignation because of his utter incompetence, even though we know President Bush will not budge on removing him. Justice is not well served by this man.
Second, Democrats should allow him to remain in office for the rest of Bush's term and watch him drag down already dim hopes for the GOP in the 2008 election. He will make a fine target.
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Tom DeLay Should Blame Only Himself
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2007 CommentTo no one's surprise, former House GOP leader Tom DeLay is out with a book titled No Retreat, No Surrender.
The title is wrong; it should be My Problems Were and Are Everyone Else's Fault.
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Vitter Has Only Himself to Blame
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2007 CommentVoters should beware of politicians who trumpet family values and position themselves as holier than the rest of us mere mortals. They are probably hiding something.
The latest sanctimonious one to fall is GOP Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. The less said of him the better, but his conduct is so outrageous that you can't ignore him.
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George McGovern's Loser Legacy Serves Him Ill
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2007 Comment (1)A sizable group of primarily old political junkies gathered in Washington last weekend to celebrate the 85th birthday of George McGovern.
You remember him? He's the Democratic senator from South Dakota who lost a presidential race to Richard Nixon by landslide proportions. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. He even lost his home state.
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Bush Iraq Game Plans: Rope-a-Dope and Stall
Tweet Share on Facebook July 13, 2007 CommentPresident Bush's strategy in Iraq can be defined in sports terms of boxing (rope-a-dope) or in basketball before a shot clock (stall). He is playing for time, more time, and still more time.
His latest press conference was a case study in a leader who can't understand why most Americans are no longer with him on the war.
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'The Decider' Decides to Punt
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2007 CommentPresident Bush is not the decider even though he told us so in plain English.
Speaking to a business group in Cleveland, Bush said any decision on troop withdrawal in Iraq would be decided by commanders in the field—not in Washington. He is taking a hike.
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GOP Senator Is a Secret Weapon for the Dems
Tweet Share on Facebook July 10, 2007 CommentDemocrats have a secret weapon for next year's election in the person of Sen. James DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who heads the GOP policy committee in the Senate.
DeMint characterizes the election as the difference between "European style socialism" (read Democrats) and a "free America" (read Republicans). This comes from currently the most conservative member of the GOP minority, whose voting record surpasses even that of Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a rigid reactionary.
Note that DeMint makes no reference to continuing the policies of President Bush or of the war in Iraq. At last he recognizes those two points as losers. For example, we now know that the war is costing even more than we thought. It is over $600 billion and climbing about $10 billion every week.
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What Bush Never Talks About in Public
Tweet Share on Facebook July 5, 2007 CommentPresident Bush reached a new low on Independence Day in an incredible speech to an invitation-only crowd of Air National Guard families in West Virginia. That kind of gathering ensures no protesters inside the hall to disrupt our leader's line of thought.
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Scooter Libby Deserved a Prison Term
Tweet Share on Facebook July 3, 2007 CommentAs governor of Texas, George W. Bush suffered from writer's cramp while signing so many death warrants of convicted felons. He knows something about "excessive sentences." As president, Bush said he respected the verdict of the jury in Scooter Libby's trial and then he commuted his prison term with his pen.
Once again the Bush White House has shown its indifference to the law. Along with Dick Cheney, he has taken a giant step to appease right wing zealots. The decider has decided, but wrong again as he has been on most issues.
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.