2017

Bear with me for a bit and let’s do a little pretending. Let’s assume a portion of the Democratic Party was high-jacked by some very left-wing radicals, beyond socialist and very dogmatic. Let’s further assume that a very poor, very left-wing (sometimes), very charismatic (occasionally) person with a giant ego who lied about almost everything…

In the middle of today’s stunning news of indictments and guilty pleas in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election collusion, a familiar name popped up this afternoon that Iowa politicos know all too well: Sam Clovis. The former conservative radio talk show host and Morningside College professor has been identified by Yahoo News as the…

I have told this story many times in print and on the air. Now it is even more important to repeat it. In the spring of 1966, my junior year at Yale College, a classmate of mine who would be called gay today, but back then much worse words were used, walked past a group…

Democratic Senator Matt McCoy and Representative John Forbes held a press conference last week and presented a simple, common sense health care solution for Iowans. Their proposal “Healthy Iowans for a Pubic Option” (HIPO) solves two Iowa health care emergencies facing thousands of Iowans. Republicans’ policies and actions have created two health care disasters for…

This week Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held an emergency conference call with a number of progressive organizations warning about the coming GOP tax scam plan. His message was clear: “This is the worst tax plan in history!” Schumer’s call to action was to many of the same groups that played such an important…

Iowa public employee unions voted overwhelmingly in favor to maintain their existence this week, despite Iowa Republican politicians’ best efforts to destroy them. Earlier this year, legislative Republicans and then-Governor Terry Branstad passed a wide-ranging collective bargaining bill that limited what Iowa public workers could bargain for. It also instituted re-certification votes with extremely cumbersome rules…

Tom Steyer, the Democratic California billionaire, launched an in-your-face Trump impeachment ad campaign across the country this week. Timing and momentum is everything in politics. It certainly appears Steyer’s impeachment ad launch is timed perfectly considering the momentous exchange between President Trump and Senators Corker and Flake yesterday. Steyer is calling on Democratic lawmakers across…

Details are tucked away in the distant crevasses of my memory about one of life’s teachable moments. That lesson has stuck with me for nearly 60 years. I wish I had that teachable moment on video so I could replay it for people today. It might help with all of the angst we are going…