Today thousands of Iraqi citizens participated in a free and democratic election. Women voted as well as men. Sunnis voted as well as Shi’ites and Kurds. This would not have been possible without our nation’s 43rd President. And although many have the right to criticize him and celebrate the coming of our 44th, I would assert that few mitigate the perceived failures of Bush’s presidency with some of his great successes.
He’ll never admit it, but I’m sure George W. Bush is smiling today.
Mike Pence (R – IN 6th) was elected Republican Conference Chairman for the 111th Congress by his peers. He has swiftly become one of the most credible and oft-cited Republicans on the Hill. I am proud to say he’s my Congressman, and equally proud to say I’ve met the man.
The ability of the Republican leadership to make a principled stand (177-0 on the proposed Economic Revitalization Act) makes them a force to reckoned with. Just 40 blue dogs will allow Republicans to pass their own legislation. Eleven blue dogs defected from Pelosi’s ranks to join the Republican opposition to big government and wasteful spending.
The Senate version will be interesting. More cooperation is expected in the Senate than there was in the House. More tax cuts are expected to come out of the negotiations in the Senate. Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) has stated that he will oppose the Revitalization Act as it stands. If bipartisan support is what President Obama wants, getting Senator McCain on board will be critical.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated that he expects when the two versions are combined and the House votes again, that there will be bipartisan support. His metaphor is that we’re counting the score in the third inning of the baseball game. It’s not a bad one. But for those of us wondering how much power the minority will have in Congress, this has been a statement that they will be more powerful than expected if they can maintain a unified voice.
You just knew it had to happen:
The Mayor returns from a much needed vacation, and The Star Press – a newspaper that recently admitted it could not “look the Mayor in the eye” due to constant libelous responses in its StoryChat features – is soliciting anger to be directed at the Mayor of Muncie. Its latest leading headline – drafted (or at least encouraged), by the notorious Rick Yencer – is “Mayor Satisfied with Snow Removal upon Return from Hawaii.”
Leading headlines are as much the problem as an uninformed, uneducated horde of bureaucrats on The Star Press’s StoryChat daily. Should it matter that the Mayor has spent her well earned vacation in the comfort of the Hawaiian islands instead of New York City? Its aim is not well disguised – it’s another misguided and editorial attempt to coax the general public into a negative, angry reaction. A negative and angry reaction creates the type of libelous StoryChat comments that The Star Press has so recently rebuked.
It’s time to end StoryChat. It’s time to end leading headlines. It’s time to stop editorializing the front page. It’s time to stop using a journalism monopoly to further divide a struggling community.
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20090128/NEWS06/90128039/1002/NEWS01
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901250315
