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Time for a Nancy Pelosi Farewell Victory Tour and new House leaders for Democrats Published in USA Today on August 13, 2018 It isn't on Rolling Stone's list of 2018's biggest farewell tours, but it's time. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn should announce that for the next three months, they are going to travel the country and campaign like heck, raise lots of money and make sure Democrats win a majority of House seats in November — and that after the election, all of them will step down from their positions to make room for a new generation of Democratic leaders. Paul Ryan is third casualty of GOP dysfunction in 20 years. Is major change afoot? Published in USA Today on April 12, 2018 For the first 200 years of this nation’s history, only three House speakers resigned from office, all because they were accepting other political appointments.But in just the past 20 years, an equal number of House speakers, all of them Republicans, have decided to depart under very different circumstances. Democracy on the Line Published in US News on October 4, 2017 American democracy itself was on trial Tuesday at the Supreme Court. At least that's what Paul M. Smith, the Washington attorney representing challengers to Wisconsin's extremely gerrymandered legislative redistricting plan, was arguing. From Washington to Lee to Trump Published in US News on August 17, 2017 When President Donald Trump likened Confederate Army commander Robert E. Lee to slave holders and Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and asked if we should pull down memorials to those two men along with statues of Lee and other Confederates, he perhaps inadvertently raised an important and extremely difficult question about American history. Politics Has Become a Blood Sport Published in US News on May 25, 2017 I have never been physically assaulted by a politician. I have however been verbally threatened on more than one occasion by politicians who didn't like the questions I was asking or the stories I was writing. What happened in Montana Wednesday when congressional candidate Greg Gianforte threw reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian to the ground and punched him is unconscionable. Gianforte belongs in jail, not in the House of Representatives. Ideological purity comes back to bite the GOP Published in USA Today on March 31, 2017 Amid the postmortem over everything that went wrong with the Republican health reform effort, we shouldn’t overlook the role of the system that elects members of Congress. The New Old Hickory Published in US News on February 13, 2017 Donald Trump has hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, next to his desk in the Oval Office and members of his staff are touting the idea that the two men have a lot in common. Vice President Mike Pence has boasted of Trump's victory, "There hasn't been anything like this since Andrew Jackson." That may actually be true. There are already signs of similarities between the two men and it's a cause for significant concern. DeVos vote bodes ill for bipartisanship Published in USA Today on February 8, 2017 We didn’t need more evidence that this country is in for a very rough couple of years, but we got some anyway with the squeaker Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. DeVos, who married into the Amway fortune, has given $200 million to Republican candidates and causes over the years. She has long been a strong advocate for school choice, including vouchers and unregulated for-profit charter schools. She has demonstrated both unfamiliarity and hostility toward public education, even calling public schools a "dead end." Trump's focus on forgotten men masks billionaire agenda Published in USA Today on January 20, 2017 President Trump’s short inaugural address sounded the same themes he repeated throughout his divisive campaign. While it almost certainly resonated with his supporters, it is unlikely to have reassured many of the 65.8 million voters who did not cast a ballot for him. The overall tone of the speech seemed almost angry and grim — with Trump announcing that he is taking on Capitol Hill and all of the political leaders who have preceded him as well as much of the rest of the world. Don't Repeat the Mandate Mistake Published in US News on November 12, 2016 The biggest myth that needs to be dispelled about this election is that Donald Trump and the Republican victory was "huge" and overwhelming. Trump did win rural areas by a commanding margin but in the swing districts and states which secured his victory the margins were not massive but actually razor thin. The Republicans do not have an overwhelming mandate to push through a far-right agenda even though early indications are that they intend to govern this way. The House won't go blue anytime soon Published in USA Today on November 6, 2016 The moment when Democrat Hillary Clinton could expect a landslide victory seems to have passed. But even a huge margin would not improve the odds of her party taking control of the House. That’s because the self-dealing system used by most states, in which politicians draw their own gerrymandered districts to achieve maximum political and personal advantage, really is “rigged” and violates the principle of democratic representation. Right message, horribly wrong messenger Published in USA Today on October 26, 2016 Donald Trump’s assertions that the election might be rigged and that he will only accept the result if he wins (a supposedly facetious remark) have roiled the news media and political waters. But his overall campaign message that the entire political system is rigged against average Americans is the reason he is still in this race despite his horrible personal behavior and outrageous statements. Even though he is a deeply flawed messenger and not up to the job of being president, his message has resonated with millions of Americans who will still be angry and seeking change after Election Day. | ||||||
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