Archive for July, 2008
The Georgia House Speaker
By Randy Evans – Twice former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Speaker Tom Murphy faced challenges to their Speakerships from disgruntled Members of their respective caucuses in the United States House of Representatives and the Georgia House of Representatives. Tom Murphy survived both. Newt Gingrich was not so fortunate.
Current Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson has now gotten his first official challenge as Speaker. Blue Ridge Republican State Representative David Ralston has announced that he will challenge the Georgia House Speaker Glen Richardson.
Defining Political Moments
By Randy Evans – Senator Barack Obama handled it in the best way possible – diminish it and move on – as quickly as possible – with the hope that the story (about the picture) would die out and, as a result, most Americans would never see it. After all, the last thing the Obama team would want is an ongoing controversy that extended the political shelf life of a potentially devastating political satirical caricature beyond a media cycle or two.
So, what was it that created near panic among optimistic Democrats? It was the July 21, 2008 cover of the New Yorker magazine. The picture reflects Senator Barack Obama clad in Muslim garb; his wife Michelle Obama dressed with militant gear; a flag burning in the fireplace behind them; and a picture of Osama Bin Laden hung on the wall.
President George W. Bush
By Randy Evans – On January 20, 2009, the United States of America will inaugurate its forty-fourth President. Absent some historic event between now and then, the Presidency of the forty-third President of the United States has for all practical purposes come to an end. At this point, the chances of any meaningful policy changes, appointments, or initiatives by a Republican President with a Democratic Congress in the last days of a lame duck term are nil.
Already, Bush-bashers portray President George W. Bush as one of the worst Presidents in history. (They seem to forget Presidents James Buchanan, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.) Mostly, the unabashed Bush haters trade on an unpopular war, a slowing economy, and a general malaise that has put the country in what can only be described as a ‘bad mood’. In doing so, they ignore the realities of the moment that confirm some momentous achievements of this President.
Change By The Voters
By Randy Evans – In 2006, American voters sent a very clear message to Washington, D.C. Americans wanted change – change from a pattern of corruption in the House of Representatives; change from failed strategies in Iraq; change from political bickering that prevented solutions from becoming reality; and change from the cultural drift from the core values that made America great.
Change is what Americans wanted in 2006; and change is what they got.
In the Congress, control changed from the Republicans to the Democrats in 2006 in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Now admittedly, since that change, things have not gone so well. The economy has struggled and even stumbled with staggering stock market losses that have undermined the confidence of even the staunchest optimist.
God Help This Court!
By Randy Evans – It is difficult to determine which is more shocking – the United States Supreme Court’s decision to shield child rapists from the death penalty or its rationale for unilaterally amending the United States Constitution to do so.
In Kennedy v. Louisiana, as described by Justice Alito in his dissent, the Supreme Court held that “the Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits the imposition of the death penalty for the crime of raping a child. This is so, according to the Court, no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted, and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be.”
