Open Thread for Thursday, January 15, 2015

Tweet The Legislature is back this week, so the time has arrived when downtown Columbia comes alive with the original purpose of the city’s founding. And here are two or three topics y’all might want to talk about: What did you think of Nikki Haley’s speech? — If you missed it, you can read it here. It garnered […]

Khorasan a worse threat than ISIL? What’s next? Terrorists with superpowers, led by General Zod?

TweetWhen it comes to foreign affairs and matters of national and collective security, Americans are notorious about not paying attention, or not paying attention for long — and then being totally shocked and surprised by subsequent developments. If network news starts showing starving people in Somalia, we’re all, “Let’s send in the troops and feed […]

Headline of the Week: ‘The Cain Scrutiny’

TweetOK, so may it’s a rather obvious play, but I enjoy nautical allusions. It’s the hed on an opinion piece at wsj.com. An excerpt: Sexual harassment claims are notoriously easy to make, and it is impossible to judge the merits of these two cases on the public evidence so far. However, the Cain campaign’s initial […]

Moderation in the pursuit of reason is no vice

TweetBack on a thread yesterday, reader CW offered this: Brad, Did you read Dana Beach’s recent [column] in the Post and Courier? He was lamenting Kathleen Parker’s label of Bob Inglis as a centrist. He saw Inglis more as someone who makes decisions based on his own judgment and that compromising shouldn’t be a virtue […]

I’d much rather hear talk of DeMint than of Palin

TweetA friend, obviously seeking to appall me, sent an e-mail saying, “Oh, you’ll enjoy this…” and linking to this blog post, which I quote in part: And speaking of factions, and again I’m not a reporter, just a consumer of news, it sure seems to me that Jim DeMint is the current leader of the […]

Don’t look for sanity inside Beltway this year

TweetTo elevate a comment exchange to post status, back here Bart said: The GOP may be a joke but it looks like they will have the last laugh come November when the American voters, who are a lot more intelligent than most give them credit for, sends a message that they don’t appreciate being Punk’d […]

Virtual Front Page, Friday, August 13, 2010

TweetThe news on this lucky date: Germany experiences ‘record’ 2.2% growth (BBC) — Well, that’s encouraging — assuming this has effect beyond Germany’s borders. If it doesn’t, perhaps we should relocate. Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Relief Well to Be Completed in Gulf (NYT) — Which will be a relief to us all. Most Americans Still Onboard With Afghan […]

Like father, like son

TweetWhen I saw the headline “Wilson Condemns Health Care Bill” on an e-mail, I thought, “No kidding.” The only thing that made me wonder is that Joe Wilson’s people had forgotten to put “Takeover” into the headline the way they usually do. But it wasn’t from Joe Wilson, but from his son Alan, who’s running […]

Find a better job for Hillary

Tweet This advisory just came in: {bc-broder-column advisory}<{DAVID BRODER COLUMN}<{(ADVISORY FOR BRODER CLIENTS: David Broder has written a column for} Wednesday publication on the potential selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Expect the column by noon Eastern.)<{(For Broder clients only)}<   <   (c) 2008, Washington Post Writers Group Mr. Broder is reflecting the huge […]

Why would Sanford be a disastrous choice for McCain? Don’t get me started

TweetAlternative headline I rejected: "Why I think Mark Sanford is a big phony." I considered that for one reason: It got a lot of attention the last time I applied that thought to a politician, and that’s what this situation calls for. The nonsense we’re hearing about Mark Sanford being considered as a running mate […]

Obama inspires board, offers hope

Tweet By BRAD WARTHENEDITORIAL PAGE EDITORA remarkable thing happened this week to The State’s editorial board — again. For us, it was the equivalent of lightning striking the same place, twice in the same month.    After difficult, agonizing discussions over presidential primary endorsements in both 2000 and 2004, we arrived at a quick consensus […]

Immigration gap column

TweetThe GOP split between rhetoric and reality By Brad WarthenEditorial Page EditorTUESDAY’S debate revealed a significant split in the Republican Party between Reality and Rhetoric, Ideas and Ideology.    Sen. John McCain was asked a question that sounded like it had been dreamed up by Tom Clancy: Would he, in a totally “what-if” scenario, torture […]

Judicial independence column

TweetAmerica must uphold judicial independence at home, tooBy Brad WarthenEditorial Page EditorWHAT DO Viktor Yushchenko, Saddam Hussein, Clement Haynsworth and Samuel Alito all have in common?    Judicial independence.    That is to say, all have been at the center of events that illustrate the importance of that critical element, which anchors our republic in […]

Where’s the perspective?

TweetBack in the ’80s, I was the news editor of the paper in Wichita, Kansas.Part of my job was deciding what went on the front page every day. I made a practice of checking the wire advisories on what the nation’s largest papers were putting on their pages the next day — particularly The Los […]