Kamala Harris as President?
As we face yet another Sophie’s Choice election within less than three weeks, I’ve been waiting to see when and if the Trump campaign would start challenging the person who could end up being President: California Senator Kamala Harris. After all, she would be far more dangerous to the future of America than Joe Biden […]
California Will Miss The Boat On Stopping Sanders
The California primary is too early, and Democrats are going to rue the day that California could not bat clean-up when the Democratic race becomes Sen. Bernie Sanders verses one non-socialist candidate, not half a dozen. With less than week before the California Primary, Democrats simply do not have time to vet the disaster of […]
Putting Conscience Over Party Politics
California Republicans do a much better job of displaying unity around their candidates than their counterparts. It is at least one reason why, even in this bluest of states, a few have broken thorough to claim the governorship and a couple of them rode the Golden State wave right into the presidency. Ronald Reagan was […]
The Return of the Phrase: “San Francisco Democrats”?
Will the phrase “San Francisco Democrats” be revived nationally in the 2020 presidential contest? Opponents of Kamala Harris very well could test that idea. As in 1984 when the phrase was first coined, it would be an attempt to exploit the divide in the Democratic Party.
The High Stakes in the Brett Kavanaugh Nomination
There were few surprises in the rancorous hearings to commend Brett Kavanaugh for appointment to the Supreme Court. They have now mercifully come to a close. Were he to fail in getting the simple majority of votes he needs for Senate confirmation it would cause a tsunami shock with reverberations that will rock the political […]
Now He Belongs To The Ages
Sen. John McCain didn’t quite make it to the presidency but he might have worn the title easily had history gone another way. In an extraordinary lifetime of achievements that catapulted him from naval hero and prisoner of war to re-election to the Senate where he was serving his sixth term, McCain demonstrated the highest […]
California Save the Queen!
MEMO To: Queen Elizabeth II From: Joe Mathews Re: Mutual respect Your Majesty, I don’t mean to rush someone who just turned 92. But it’s high time that you showed California some appreciation—by making our entire state an honorary member of the British royal family. Perhaps that seems a bit much, but ask yourself, Ma’am: […]
Leadership and Autocratic Rule
California has had its share of towering leaders—-Governors Hiram Johnson, Earl Warren, (who also became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), Ronald Reagan, and Governor Edmund G. Brown. Senators William Knowland and Dianne Feinstein along with the first woman House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (both still serving) and the current head of state, Jerry Brown, could […]
Jim Comey: A Political Animal Uncaged
Jim Comey’s testimony was about the most widely anticipated hearing since Oliver North sat before Congress in 1987 during the Iran-Contra scandal. That was six years into Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Comey sat before the microphone less than five months into Donald Trump’s first term. He was poised, calm, collected and extremely candid in his answers […]
Kevin McCarthy, Trump’s Man in Congress
In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 28, the day after Trump signed his executive order temporarily banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, congressman Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, put in a call to Kevin McCarthy, the six-term Republican from Bakersfield, California, and majority leader of the House of Representatives. Among the […]