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Ronald Reagan's D-Day Speech
2018-06-07 09:08
At his best, Ronald Reagan could redce an audience to tears with his speeches. I saw him do it on a number of occasions — when the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1985, wh… Read More
The RFK Assassination
2018-06-05 12:21
"Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."Robert F. KennedyToday is the 50th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles… Read More
A Look At The Midterms On Memorial Day
2018-05-29 03:14
For quite awhile now, Democrats have been salivating over the assumption that they could win back the House in November. Nancy Pelosi has been speaking in public of becoming House speaker ag… Read More
2018-05-08 18:06
Democrat Joe Manchin was a popular guy when he was West Virginia's governor.But that was when West Virginia was still a Democratic state.Now, as Manchin seeks his second full term as a U.S… Read More
A Blast From The Past
2018-04-29 03:09
It occurred to me this week, when 72–year–old Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested under suspicion of being the infamous Golden State Killer of the 1970s and 1980s, that it was a l… Read More
Death, Free Speech And Tenure
2018-04-25 02:47
As a journalist, I am a lifelong advocate of free speech — well, the First Amendment in general. I guess it goes without saying that I am a supporter of freedom of the press.It is very… Read More
Barbara Bush Dies At 92
2018-04-19 03:07
Former first lady Barbara Bush, who died yesterday at the age of 92, was a remarkable woman, and her attributes are justifiably being remembered today. She said many things that should inspi… Read More
Thomas Jefferson's 275th Birthday
2018-04-14 03:36
"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferso… Read More
Farewell To A Great Journalist
2018-04-09 03:24
There was a time in my life when I was on the journalism faculty at the University of Oklahoma.The director of the school of journalism was a man named David Dary. A native of Manhattan, Kan… Read More
2018-04-02 03:02
The Democrats are going against the tide of history in this year's midterm elections, which are now slightly more than seven months away.Conventional wisdom says the out–of–power… Read More
Remembering My Friend
2018-03-25 12:09
It was five years ago today that I lost Steve, one of my best friends, to lung cancer, and my mind is preoccupied with thoughts of him.I knew Steve when I lived in Arkansas — Little Ro… Read More
2018-03-23 03:21
I found it amusing recently when former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking of Donald Trump's well–publicized "locker–room" recording in which the future president spoke about wom… Read More
Is It Over In Austin?
2018-03-21 15:33
The recent series of bombings in Austin — and one in San Antonio — appears to have ended overnight. The suspect blew himself up in the wee hours of the morning, and authorities h… Read More
What Does The Future Hold For Democrats?
2018-03-14 21:24
We don't yet know the outcome in Tuesday's special election in Pennsylvania.Well, OK, we do know — probably — that Democrat Conor Lamb beat Republican Rick Saccone for an open Ho… Read More
The First Impeachment
2018-02-25 05:14
It was 150 years ago today that an American president was impeached for the first time.It has been fashionable in recent years for those who lose presidential elections to start calling for… Read More
Billy Graham Passes Away At 99
2018-02-21 19:05
"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."Billy Graham (1918–2018)It has been more than a decade since Billy G… Read More
The Dilemma Of Guns
2018-02-16 16:39
The topic of conversation for the last few days has been the school shooting in Florida this week.I understand that the process of burying the victims begins today. It's a necessary ritual… Read More
The Turning Of The Tide
2018-02-01 17:19
In hindsight it is neat and orderly to say that the Tet offensive, which began in late January 1968, was the turning point in Vietnam.And, strategically, perhaps it was.But public opinion ha… Read More
Lessons From The Past
2018-01-23 19:39
Our political system is an amazing thing.It really is. Oh, I know we all complain about things that government does or doesn't do, and we get mad at our elected officials from time to time … Read More
Taking Back The House
2018-01-19 23:04
Democrats face a similar situation to the one Republicans faced eight years ago. In 2010 Democrats held the White House and both chambers of Congress. Today Republicans do.Granted, the Democ… Read More
Losing Another Part Of My Childhood
2018-01-18 12:00
A snowy day in another January many years ago. Matt is second from right.Life happens in waves.Life is also, as John Lennon observed, "what happens while you're busy making other plans."With… Read More
One Man's Death
2018-01-13 19:04
As I wrote here when Charles Manson died less than two months ago, I get no joy from hearing that another human being has passed away, even one who caused great pain and suffering.That, esse… Read More
The Minnesota Two-Step
2017-12-27 19:33
Let's start with some stuff that is important to understand, although not enough people do:U.S. senators are elected to six–year terms, and the terms are arranged so that one–thi… Read More
A Noteworthy Day In American History
2017-12-19 18:37
Today is the anniversary of two noteworthy events in American history.They are noteworthy for different reasons — and, on the surface, appear to have little, if anything, in common. Bu… Read More
2017-12-14 20:45
Barring a reversal by recount, it appears that Democrat Doug Jones has defeated Republican Roy Moore in Alabama's special election to fill the Senate vacancy left by Jeff Sessions' appointme… Read More
O, Captain, My Captain
2017-12-11 05:43
When I was in college, it was my honor to study reporting under a professor who truly lived the adage that journalism is the first draft of history.His name was Roy Reed, and he once worked… Read More
The Crystal Ball Is Foggy
2017-12-06 16:19
I have observed this year's special elections to fill vacancies created by Trump administration appointments with a kind of amused bewilderment.The special elections were all billed as refer… Read More
What's Past Is Prologue
2017-11-22 18:36
Charles Manson died the other day, and I have struggled with my thoughts about that.He was, after all, 83. He was in his mid–30s when his "Family" committed the 1969 Tate–LaBianc… Read More
2017-11-20 20:23
I have written here before of the advantages of being an incumbent officeholder in an election year. There is clearly a strong motivation for people to support the re–election of an in… Read More
Sorrow For The Victims
2017-11-16 17:12
I recall an observation from Thoreau that the more that people accept a concept or principle as valid, the less interested they become in its many applications.That isn't exactly how he phra… Read More
2017-11-07 04:44
Tomorrow Americans in some places are going to the polls, but this being an odd–numbered year means that most elections will be held next year.Which brings me to another point: There i… Read More
A Tribute To My Mother
2017-10-04 11:20
It will be my great honor and privilege later today to be a guest at a special ceremony honoring my mother.Mom was a first–grade teacher in many places but exclusively in Dallas, Texas… Read More
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
2017-06-24 14:59
Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you must know that there was a special election in Georgia's Sixth Congressional District this week.The district has been in Republican hands for near… Read More
Remembering JFK
2017-05-29 15:44
It is hard to imagine John F. Kennedy at 100, but that is what he would be if he still lived on this day in 2017.Of course, Kennedy is not still living. He has been dead nearly 54 years. He… Read More
This Is Not Watergate Redux
2017-05-26 02:30
People who compare Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey to the Saturday Night Massacre show a stunning lack of knowledge of history. Recent history, at that. This isn't ancient… Read More
Will Control Of The House Flip In 2018?
2017-05-08 00:07
I've heard a lot of talk recently — mostly from hopeful Democrats — that control of the House of Representatives will flip next year after eight years of Republican rule.Given th… Read More
The Death Of A Patriot
2017-04-30 16:57
"The thing that's so appalling to me is that the president, when this whole idea was suggested to him, didn't, in righteous indignation, rise up and say, 'Get out of here. You're in the offi… Read More
Looking Ahead To The 2018 Midterms
2017-02-21 17:24
As they survey the carnage that was wrought by eight years of lurching ever more to the left, the Democrats' only immediate hope is to regain at least part of their control of Congress befor… Read More
Inauguration Day
2017-01-21 06:13
Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States yesterday.Now there are 11 words I never expected to string together in a sentence.I didn't get to see it happen. I was at work. B… Read More
Bring Us Together
2017-01-01 16:28
"There's a difference for voters between what offends you and what affects you."Kellyanne ConwayIn November 1968, when Richard Nixon had finally won the presidency, and he addressed the nati… Read More
Touching The Wet Paint
2016-11-27 18:00
"Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure."George Ca… Read More
How Could Hillary Lose?
2016-11-14 18:13
I don't know how many times I have heard that question in recent days, but I know it has been a lot. I can understand some people's bewilderment. The polls showed Hillary Clinton leading fro… Read More
If I Should Die Tomorrow ...
2016-11-08 11:57
Late last week reports suggested possible terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and here in Texas tomorrow, the day before the 2016 election.No specific locations were mentioned, and Texas… Read More
If I Should Die Tomorrow ...
2016-11-08 11:57
Late last week reports suggested possible terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and here in Texas tomorrow, the day before the 2016 election.No specific locations were mentioned, and Texas… Read More
If I Should Die Tomorrow ...
2016-11-08 11:57
Late last week reports suggested possible terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and here in Texas tomorrow, the day before the 2016 election.No specific locations were mentioned, and Texas… Read More
A Quiet Realignment
2016-11-03 13:45
As these things go, the presidential election of 1896, which was held 120 years ago today, was a quiet realigning election.Political scientists will tell you that a realigning election is a… Read More
The Alternate Reality Of Election 2016
2016-11-02 01:50
We're about a week from Election Day, and I find myself wavering between thinking we are living in an alternate reality or the End Times.It could be both, I suppose, although I prefer to thi… Read More
The Assassination Of Anwar Sadat
2016-10-07 11:47
For most Americans, the war on terror began in 2001, when the World Trade Center was brought down by two hijacked airplanes. For a few, it may have begun eight years earlier when the first a… Read More
Sound And Fury Signifying Nothing
2016-10-04 11:02
"Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."Sen. Lloyd Bentsen to Sen. Dan Quayle, Oct. 5, 1988Tonight the… Read More
2016-09-25 15:14
We are now less than 36 hours from the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I have heard and read many opinions about what each should do to win, but I think I… Read More
The Day William McKinley Was Shot
2016-09-06 13:32
"Father Abe freed me, and now I saved his successor from death, provided that bullet he got into the president don't kill him."James Benjamin ParkerForty–three men have been president… Read More
Releasing John Hinckley
2016-07-28 03:04
I felt torn — and still do — when I heard today that John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, is going to be released after being in custody for 35 ye… Read More
Citizen Kaine
2016-07-23 20:20
The Republican convention has just concluded, the Democrats' convention is about to begin, and Hillary Clinton has named Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate.The tickets are set for N… Read More
Of Glocks And Books And Computers ...
2016-07-16 03:23
There was a memorial service here in Dallas earlier this week for the five police officers who were gunned down by a young black man who was reportedly upset over the shootings of black susp… Read More
My Friend The Hall Of Famer
2016-07-11 02:36
Dr. Donna Lampkin Stephens, a friend and former colleague from my newspaper days in Arkansas, was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame during the weekend.I… Read More
Happy Birthday To My Goddaughter
2016-06-18 21:34
"Where there is love there is life."Mahatma GandhiToday is my goddaughter Nikki's birthday.I never married, never had children of my own. I always figured my life was pretty complete as it w… Read More
California, Here They Are
2016-06-05 19:41
It has always struck me as odd.For most of my lifetime, California has been the largest state (by population) in the country. In November, the winner in California (and that is generally exp… Read More
Jane Seymour
2016-05-30 19:44
When I was a boy, a BBC–produced series called "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" was a big hit on public broadcasting. In six installments, it told the stories of the six wives of Henry VI… Read More
My Mother's Day
2016-05-05 05:00
Today is an important anniversary for me.Yes, I know it is Cinco de Mayo, the commemoration of Mexico's victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is also the anniversary… Read More
The Silly Season
2016-04-23 22:16
Peggy Noonan, a writer whose skill I truly admire, observed recently that 2016, for better or worse, will not be a politics–as–usual kind of year."This is big, what we're living… Read More
Musing About The Big Apple
2016-04-17 22:36
"In the first half of the 20th century, New York was the dominant state in presidential politics. It had the most electoral votes, and of all the large states, it was usually the most evenly… Read More
Is A Contested Convention Inevitable?
2016-04-13 01:57
Before the 2016 presidential primaries and caucuses began, I figured — like probably everyone else did — that, even though there were 17 candidates for the Republican nomination… Read More
On Being President
2016-04-11 00:03
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has written that what Teddy Roosevelt called the "bully pulpit" of the presidency is "somewhat diminished in our age of fragmented attention and fragmented med… Read More
Wisconsin: A Maverick Wild Card
2016-04-03 20:34
"It was Wisconsin, as a matter of fact, that in 1903 first invented the presidential primary, which so many other states have since copied. And the political philosophy that inspired that re… Read More
Abortion And Punishment
2016-04-02 04:46
DONALD TRUMP: Are you Catholic?CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yes, I think ...TRUMP: And how do you feel about the Catholic Church's position?MATTHEWS: Well, I accept the teaching authority of my church on… Read More
Decisions Are Made By Those Who Show Up
2016-03-26 16:29
I had heard the quote "Decisions are made by those who show up" long before I heard Allison Janney (as C.J. Cregg) say it on The West Wing. I don't know who said it first. Some say it was Wo… Read More
2016-03-20 19:42
We have a Republican presidential primary coming up on Tuesday along with two caucuses (Utah and American Samoa) — then two weeks until the next time voters go to the polls. Time is sh… Read More
2016-03-14 11:08
Are you a supporter of freedom of speech?Are you a supporter of what happened in Chicago last night?It is not possible to be both. The two are not compatible.If you support freedom of speech… Read More
2016-03-07 03:55
I've heard a lot of hopeful talk today from supporters of Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz that the results of yesterday's primaries and caucuses are indicative of a shift in the momentum in the… Read More
2016-02-28 15:12
As expected, Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory over Bernie Sanders in yesterday's South Carolina primary.And, as I have observed in recent weeks, the winner of the South Carolina D… Read More
2016-02-27 06:16
"There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other."Madeleine AlbrightI don't know if they have early voting in South Carolina. If they do, then some of the state's Democra… Read More
2016-02-26 06:29
I've been wanting to write about Melissa Click, the now former professor at the University of Missouri, for some time now.I just haven't really known what to say.That is what this is all abo… Read More
2016-02-21 17:44
"History is inescapable anywhere," wrote Richard Cohen and James Barnes in their entry on South Carolina in the 2016 edition of The Almanac of American Politics.They wrote that as their lead… Read More
2016-02-15 16:53
"The Court claims that the Act must equate federal and state establishment of Exchanges when it defines a qualified individual as someone who (among other things) lives in the 'State that es… Read More
2016-02-01 02:44
I remember when Iowa first became a player in the presidential nominating process.As I understand it, Iowa has been holding caucuses since the 1840s, but the caucuses weren't the first&ndash&hell…Read More
2016-01-19 13:12
I have mentioned here before that I have little faith in polls except for the ones in which actual voters participate on Election Day.And the first such actual vote will take place two weeks… Read More
2016-01-09 19:19
The past, as they say, is prologue, and the changing of the calendar to the official start of a presidential election year brings a new seriousness to the pursuits of the parties' presidenti… Read More
2016-01-03 20:16
Dale Bumpers must be a patron saint for anyone who dreams of coming from nowhere and winning whatever the greatest prize in that person's chosen profession happens to be. Bumpers' profession… Read More
2016-01-02 17:58
There was a time when Jeb Bush was regarded as the Republican Party's front–runner for the 2016 nomination — a prospect that elicited groans across the political spectrum. No one… Read More
2015-12-29 00:30
"I have to admit yesterday when I saw that cartoon — not much ticks me off but making fun of my girls, that'll do it."Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas)I have always been an advocate of the… Read More
2015-12-23 04:42
I have written here before of the "Bradley effect," but that was in the context of the 2008 presidential election, a time when voters were deciding whether to elect the first black president… Read More
2015-12-19 18:59
A couple of months ago, I wrote about the "Six–Year Itch" — the clear tendency since the end of World War II for American voters to turn on the party in power by the time of the… Read More
2015-12-19 16:23
"Lawmakers burst into debate over gun control, philosophers analyzed the nature of violence, and the nation was described as grieving."Yet 'grief' suddenly seemed like a faintly obsolete wor… Read More
2015-12-06 16:22
Tonight at 7 (Central) we will witness something that has been a rare event in this presidency — an address to the nation from the Oval Office.People can — and do — call Ba… Read More
2015-11-08 16:46
My stepsister and I were talking about our vehicles the other night, and we discovered that we both drive standard transmissions. That, of course, is a vanishing breed.I'm not sure when my s… Read More
2015-10-18 19:36
For the last seven or eight years, American voters have seemed to be intent upon turning history on its ear.They elected and re–elected a black president while taking away his party's… Read More
2015-10-10 21:17
"Censorship, in my opinion, is a stupid and shallow way of approaching the solution to any problem. Though sometimes necessary, as witness a professional and technical secret that may have a… Read More

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