So, Newt Gingrich has converted to Catholicism and joins Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush, Sam Brownback, and a bunch of other prominent Republican converts to the Catholic faith.

There have even been reports about a possible George W. conversion.

That's fine with me. I'm an atheist who's married to a Catholic w… Read full post »

The Republicans are well on their way to becoming the strongest third party in American history.

From the hills around Pikeville to the river towns on the Mississippi, all of Kentucky is thinking about one thing--is University of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie going to be fired today?

The universal assumption is that Gillispie is going to get the ax and the air is thick with the… Read full post »

I didn't realize that Michael Steele was in such a bad way in a Richard Nixon, petty-paranoia style. But it looks like the first thing he wanted to do as RNC chair was to flush out his enemies in the Republican Party.

"I'm very introspective about things. I'm a cause-and-effect

… Read full post »

The thing I like best about being a political blogger is that politics and the media are full of people who are worse than me.  There's nothing like looking at the political news for a few minutes to boost the old self-esteem.

Today's a good example. I couldn't watch President Obam… Read full post »

Maybe Rush Limbaugh could best serve the conservative movement by just going off the air.

One thing that was clear from tonight's press conference was why the White House keeps wanting to get Obama out in front of the cameras and on TV. Obama has a ready and… Read full post »

Who could have guessed that Bob Dylan's "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" would create a new cliche genre.

And who could have guessed that the wind would suddenly stop blowing from the right?

I follow the right fairly closely and I don't know that anybody on… Read full post »

Today's the 17th anniversary of my marriage to the Apple of My Eye.  It's hard to believe that we've been married that long.  It's even harder to believe I'd ever get it together enough to be married for that long. 

 But it's a very nice feeling. 

On my own… Read full post »

Ok! I get it. I get it. The Obama administration is trying to preserve the American financial system by NOT fully nationalizing AIG, Citigroup, and other zombie institutions.

The problem from the Obama view is that the whole financial sector was invested in the mortgage-backed securities and credit de… Read full post »

I wouldn't pretend to have opened any windows into the soul of Glenn Beck. Still, it appears that he's experimenting with justifying violent, terrorist-type acts in the Age of Obama.

A few weeks ago, I put up a couple of brief posts on Becks enthusiastic references to militias, depression, and revolut… Read full post »

Yesterday, Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky threatened to resign from the Senate and let Kentucky's Democratic governor appoint his replacement:

Bunning told the gathering that he had lost only one race where an opponent out-raised him by a 5-1 margin, a reference to the 1983 Kentucky gubernatorial camp

… Read full post »

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Someday, I'll be smart enough to realize that spending so much time carting around my daughters is the best thing about being a father.

That's because we get a chance to talk about life.

Today's topics while I was driving my older daughter--Miss Teen-- back to school were piano, getting old, and… Read full post »

Paul Volcker is worried about the understaffing of the Treasury Department in a time of crisis.

"The Secretary of the Treasury is sitting there without a deputy, without any undersecretaries, without any, as far as I know, assistant secretaries responsible in substantive areas at a time of very sever

… Read full post »

It looks like Rick Santelli has decided that he didn't like the heat that came with his 15 minutes of fame. After ranting up a storm at the Chicago Board of Trade and accusing Robert Gibbs of "threatening" him, Santelli slowly but completely surrendered to Matt Lauer on today's Today Show.

It… Read full post »

The Jindal Problematic.  The conventional wisdom is that the GOP needs to expand its appeal beyond hard-core conservatives and the South.  But the conventional wisdom is wrong.  What the Republicans need to do is stop their spiraling decline into freak-show status.  They… Read full post »

Bring back Rush, Sean, Alan Keyes, and freak show Republicans like my Senator Jim Bunning. 

Bobby Jindal is unbelievably awful.  What were the Republicans thinking when they assigned him the response? 

I can't believe that Jindal is using Katrina as a salutory lesson for de… Read full post »

Part II of Obama's speech to Congress 

Now Obama is on to banking--sounds like a pretty comprehensive approach to the credit crunch.

Wants to hold banks accountable for increasing their lending--finally.  Emphasizes the end of CEO abuses--Take that John Thain.

Pres. Obama holds up the prosp… Read full post »

Ok, Obama's going to come on soon.  Let's see if I can make this fun as well as insightful. 

CNN is showing some Republicans.  I caught Susan Collins first.  She was a year ahead of me at St. Lawrence in the frozen tundra of northern New York.  She probably moved to… Read full post »

It's true, I'm the alpha cat of our Kentucky home.  God knows, I never wanted to be an "alpha cat."  But here I am.  "Big B" has looked toward me for meals ever since he changed from "outdoor" to "indoor" status last year.  Now, he's also greeting me in the morning and… Read full post »