TweetIt occurs to me that I should make myself do more short contact-report-type posts, whenever I run into a newsmaker and pick up a tidbit. So here’s one…. Yesterday, I ran into Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt (my long-ago managing editor) getting on the elevator heading up to his office. I expressed surprise that he wasn’t […]
TweetThe “Black Lives Matter” movement has sort of been hovering out there, an amorphous thing that no one seems entirely comfortable with. Not Republican presidential candidates, certainly (some less than others). But not their Democratic counterparts, either. And our governor is pretty adamant in her disapproval. Conservatives are uncomfortable with it, and some liberals seem […]
TweetSorry, but I couldn’t find video to embed of this one. Previously, I shared my delight at the scene from the first season in which Rawls tries to comfort McNulty, whom he hates, while cussing him out. Wonderful device for deepening the viewer’s sense of these characters. (Later, there is further cause to be sympathetic […]
Tweet This is an extraordinary clip, which I thank Norm Ivey for bringing to my attention. HuffPost sets it up this way: When Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) celebrated his retirement from the Air National Guard last week after 33 years of military service, he was greeted at the ceremony by an unexpected guest: Vice […]
Tweet First, I agree with Unitarian Rev. Neal Jones that if our governor is going to invite us to a day of prayer, she ought to invite everybody, and not just Christians. And in the video above from the website of the upcoming event, she does seem to invite everybody. Unfortunately, Rev. Jones received a […]
TweetTwo days ago, I said I hoped that when the SC House Democrats announced their legislative priorities on Tuesday, they would back away from their awful idea of legalizing casinos in order to pay for roads. I didn’t have much confidence that they would, and I didn’t attend their presser. But I’m pleased and surprised […]
TweetI was inspired by this piece by Chris Cillizza of The Fix, who was in turn inspired by this John Harris piece in Politico., headlined “The Dark Art of Political B.S.” For much of my career writing political opinion, I have been told by various people that I shouldn’t keep banging my head against walls […]
TweetYes, I know, that’s what all the cognoscenti call them, but it sets my teeth on edge when they do. As I said last night on Twitter, They aren’t “mid-term elections” for a single candidate on ballot. Calling them that betrays unseemly obsession with presidential politics. — Brad Warthen (@BradWarthen) October 29, 2014 This is […]
Tweet E.J. Dionne begins today’s column thusly: Seth Moulton, an Iraq veteran and Democratic congressional candidate on Massachusetts’s North Shore, has done something with little precedent in political campaigning: He was caught underplaying his war record. You read that right: An investigation by the Boston Globe found that, unlike politicians who go to great lengths […]
TweetAs if I needed further evidence of the fact that Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is the kind of guy we need a LOT more of in Washington, there’s this from a story today about how President Obama doesn’t delegate much to his Cabinet: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said in an interview Tuesday that Obama has […]
TweetThis morning, I was on my way out of having my breakfast at the Capital City Club, and saw today’s WSJ on the sideboard by the door to the grill, and paused to pick it up and glance over the front page. Then I hear someone say “Brad,” and look up and it’s Liana Orr, […]
Tweet When I saw the above headline on the NYT’s homepage, I couldn’t help Tweeting the following: How can they be weary of war? Most of them haven’t BEEN to war. “Americans Weary of War, but Favoring Airstrike Plan” http://t.co/mROWzLq2uF — Brad Warthen (@BradWarthen) September 12, 2014 My point, in case it isn’t clear, was […]
TweetSome of you — the ones involved in state politics or media at the time — may remember Chris Verenes, the young executive director of the SC Democratic Party back in the late 80s. I had sort of lost touch with Chris after those days, when I was governmental affairs editor at The State. I […]
Tweet I got this email yesterday… Hi Brad, I am a staff writer for Governing Magazine and came across your blog while doing some Googling about Lamar Alexander’s walk across Tennessee. (Governing covers state and local governments across the country and our audience is largely elected officials/public employees.) I’m working on a fun piece for […]
Tweet Here’s my third post on my “people (even politicians) are people” theme… Two nights ago, as I was still thinking about my arguments on Cynthia Hardy’s radio show in opposition to the cynical approach to politics, I saw an episode of “The West Wing” that illustrated my point. It was the 10th episode in […]
TweetI got rattled and did a stupid thing in the voting booth yesterday. I had been unaware of the fact that there would be mock-referendum questions on the GOP primary ballot. So they took me by surprise. (The Democrats had their own questions; I just didn’t see those.) One asked whether unborn children should be protected […]
Tweet Here’s the TV ad Democratic SC Sen. Brad Hutto just released. Two quick thoughts: From start to finish, it’s nothing but empty populist sentiments of the “Them ol’ politicians don’t know nothin’, and should stay out of Washington and spend their time settin’ ’round the kitchen table listenin’ to regular folks” variety. The thrust is […]
TweetNo, I’m not saying he’s a terrorist or anything. I’m talking about the very beginning of the TV series — the initial, apparent situation of Gunnery Sgt. Nicholas Brody, freed after years in the hands of terrorists. Initially, to the public at least, the situation seemed entirely straightforward — an American hero had been returned […]
TweetI talked with Oscar Lovelace over the weekend, and he was pretty pumped that the new party he and Jim Rex have started is now fielding its first candidates. Here’s a release about that that the American Party sent out this afternoon: The American Party is proud and excited to introduce our four candidates for […]
TweetCorey Hutchins has written a piece in Columbia Journalism Review about John Monk’s investigative scoop last week, revealing that Speaker Bobby Harrell has sought a secret court hearing on his proposal to remove Attorney General Alan Wilson from Harrell’s ethics case: The people’s court? Will a lone South Carolina judge make a secret decision this […]